Hi, guys! So, I took a lot more time to update this chapter (this week has been CRAZY! xD), because I was planning to structure it in a certain way but it wasn't possible to do it and publish today, so I had to change it a little. I'm traveling to Turkey tomorrow and I don't know if I'll be able to update another chapter anytime soon...
But I hope you like it! And see you (kind of) in two weeks!
The morning came too early for Rose's liking. She stretched getting up for her comfortable bed. She dressed her night robe and walked to the balcony. The bedroom had a very nice view to the landscape, where the first signs of life started to show. The sun was peeking through, slowly rising, as if afraid to show its brightness to the world. The mountains were still covered in snow while the valley got ready for the Spring's arrival, little flowers blossoming from the ground creating a colorful and extensive "rug" that stopped at the beginning of the garden. The forest at the base of the mountains was, as always, surrounded by wildlife, the birds singing beautiful melodies...
Oh how Rose loved the countryside! Being in contact with the nature was very relaxing and she surely needed that. Also, the fact that it was an isolated house, with no contact with other humans whatsoever, helped her loving it even more. She laughed remembering the times when she and Lyra spent the holidays there with their families while they were still in high-school, their walks in the forest, horse riding... She remembered being so happy at the end of the first day of school when they found out that their mothers knew each other from when they were in school together. She and Lyra have been best-friends ever since.
She shook her head at the memory, smiling like an idiot while picking up her ringing phone.
"Hello?" she asked already knowing who it was.
"Rose, hi! Did I wake you? I was just calling to know if you are okay."
"No, you didn't wake me. And I'm fine! Don't worry about me." Rose laughed "I just got up and looked at the beautiful morning view. That made me remember the fun times we used to spend in here on the holidays. Do you remember the forest... the horses...?"
"How could I forget?! And the lake..."
"Oh, the lake! I loved that place! Do you know if we can still go there? I have such fond memories of it..."
"I think so... although you should ask Peter. He knows the place like no one else!"
Rose laughed "I will! Anyway, isn't it too early for you to be up?"
"It is, but I'm working early to be able to go there to keep you company!"
"There's no need for that! I'm fine on my own!"
Lyra laughed sarcastically "Sure you are! Look where that got you!"
Rose sighed "Fine! When are you planning to come?"
"I don't know. Maybe at the end of the week..."
"Thank you Lyra." she said in a quiet tone.
"For what?"
"For supporting me and for letting me stay at your house." she laughed "Both of them."
"You know you can stay there for as long as you want, don't you? My mother travelled to Florence last week to be with my father, but she wouldn't mind anyway."
"Thank you! And if you talk to her, say that I miss our talks, would you?"
Lyra laughed "I'll let her know. She will love to hear that!" Both friends laughed remembering how much Eleanor Bianchi loved to speak. "Rose? You're gonna have to talk to him eventually. Or are you planning to ignore him all your life?"
There was a moment of silence then Rose spoke "I know, and I want to clear things up! I just need some time for myself... You understand, don't you?"
"Of course I do! Just don't take too long, because he might not!" Rose heard Lyra say something in the background to someone, then to her "Sorry Rose, but I have to go! Duty calls!" she apologized.
"No problem! We'll talk later, okay?"
"Okay. Bye! Be safe!"
"I will, bye." Rose laughed.
In that moment, she heard someone knocking on her door.
"Yes? Come in!"
"Miss Rose! I heard voices and I wondered if you would be up!"
Rose laughed at Margaret, the cook and housekeeper, and walked towards her bending over to kiss the her cheeks.
"Margaret! It's been so long since the last time I saw you! You look even more beautiful, age is doing you good!"
The older woman laughed with tears of joy in her eyes "Oh Miss Rose, you're always so kind! What time did you arrive?" the women hugged each other.
"Last night. It was so late that everyone was already sleeping."
"Oh, but did you have enough hours of sleep, my dear?" The brunette asked worried.
"Yes, I couldn't sleep anyways..." she trailed off.
"Alright. Now come on, get dressed while I prepare breakfast!"
Rose laughed "Yes, ma'am!"
A few hours after sunrise, Scorpius was sitting on his favourite chair by the window, sipping on the hot tea he prepared, deeply nervous.
'Today is the day. I'm going to talk to her, clear things between us and everything will be solved! Oh, who am I kidding?! She'll drive me crazy before all that!' he thought shaking his head at it with a little smile on his lips. Suddenly his phone started ringing.
"Hello Albus."
"Good morning! So, are you going to see Rose?" he asked curious.
"Yes... we really need to clarify the situation. Do you know if she's still with Lyra or not?"
"No...why?"
"Well, I would prefer to have someone else in the room while I talked to her. You know, for safety, if she tries to kill me..." Scorpius replied with laughter present in his voice.
Albus laughed "Yeah, good luck with that one, mate!"
"I know! I have to go get ready. Bye Al!"
"Bye!"
Scorpius sighed 'Let's do this...'
Half an hour later, he knocked on Rose's door. No one answered. He knocked two more times, getting always the same answer. 'Maybe she is with Lyra' he deduced, grabbing his phone and dialing Lyra's number.
"Scorpius?"
"Hi. Is Rose with you?" he asked impatiently.
Lyra hesitated "No..."
"Do you know where she is? Can you tell me? I need to speak to her. It's kind of urgent."
There was a long silence, then he heard Lyra sigh "Listen Scorpius: I know where she is, but the only thing I can let you know is that she doesn't want to be found, specially by you, At least, not at this moment." she said carefully.
"But I need to clear things up! Please Lyra! Just do me this little favor and tell me where she is!" he pleaded.
Lyra huffed "Meet me at my house in one hour. I'm not going to reveal you anything about Rose's location but you need to know a few things..."
"Thank you Lyra! You're the best!" he exclaimed.
"I know." she scoffed and rolled her eyes "Just hurry up, my patience is already running thin." she warned hanging up.
Exactly an hour later, Scorpius was waiting on the luxurious lounge area on the back of Lyra's house for her to emerge from the kitchen, sighing in relief when she did.
"So" the blond man started "are you going to tell me explain me anything or...?" he asked, taking the cup of tea from her hands and sipping on it to calm his nerves.
"Yes." Lyra paused analyzing his face "First, you need to know that she made me swear that I wouldn't tell you where she is." he sighed disappointed "But I can help you understand why Rose reacted the way she did." she paused remembering something and mumbling "Hum.. well, at least a part of the 'why'..."
He scowled but decided not to question "You mean overreacted." he retorted, making Lyra sigh.
"Well, you're certainly not helping your case! She is confused, but most of all she's afraid!"
"Of what?! I realized I liked her at the same time she did and I didn't run away practically screaming my head off!"
"Her case is a little different..." she answered adverting her eyes to the grass at her feet.
Scorpius frowned "Different?" she nodded still looking down "Okay, what happened? Because this is not the first time someone says that and I want to know why." he demanded with a hint of desperation in his voice. "Please Lyra, tell me!" he exclaimed grabbing her hands.
Her expression seemed to falter a little "It's not my place to tell... Rose is the only one who can show you what happened before, not me." she shook her head determined.
The blond closed his eyes and sighed "Now, I'm officially worried." he stood up pacing around. Suddenly he turned around looking her in the eyes "Where is she?"
"I won't tell you." she looked down.
"Lyra, listen to me! Please!" he pleaded on his knees in front of her "I need to know where she is! I can't sleep, my mind is filled with thoughts of her 24/7 and I lost appetite 24 hours! I'm going crazy and it's her fault!" he took a deep breath "And now you're telling me something serious happened to her and I'm even more worried! Tell me Lyra, please..." he confessed desperately grabbing her hands "Please..."
She looked down, mentally apologizing to her best-friend, before replying "Rose..." she sighed disappointed with herself for not keeping her mouth shut "...she is staying in my country house in Virginia Water. Albus knows the way..."
Scorpius looked at her and his whole face lit up "Thanks Lyra! I owe you!" he hugged her and stood up. He turned around with every intention of running away to find Rose before being interrupted by Lira's voice.
"Scorpius!"
"Yes?" he looked at her over his shoulder.
"Don't screw things up. And good luck!" she wished.
He smiled "I won't. And thanks." he turned his head and ran towards his car 'I'll definitely need it!'. Scorpius sped up to Al's flat, the place where he knew he could find him.
(...)
The doorbell rang and minutes later a tall young man with curly brown hair and blue eyes opened the front door.
"Hey, Scorp! Did you talk to Rose? How did you manage to survive?!" he mocked grinning at his blond friend.
"Ah ah, very funny. And no, I didn't talk to her." he answered annoyed and entering the house to sit on the sofa.
"You didn't?!" he asked surprised while closing the door and sitting in front of his best-friend "Don't tell me you were scared!" he mocked again leaving Scorpius even more impatient and annoyed.
"No, I wasn't scared!" he rolled his eyes at his Al's theory "I couldn't find her. She is not here."
"What do you mean with «She is not here»?" Al asked even more surprised with the developments, or lack of, in his friend's life.
"I mean that she is not here. Not here, as in London."
"Then where is she?!"
"She is in Virginia Water"
"Lyra's country house..." Albus mumbled finally understanding what happened.
"Yes... And I need your help. You know where it is, don't you?" the blond asked expectantly for a positive answer.
"Yeah, we used to go there on the holidays. Beautiful place, very peaceful..." he replied with a thoughtful look.
"Al, focus! I don't care about the place, I just want to find your cousin and talk to her! Are you going to tell me how I can find the house or not?" he rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow when his friend grinned.
"Better! I'll go with you!" he answered pleased with his idea.
"Fine, but hurry up!"
"Okay, I'll call Charles to let him know we're coming."
"Who's Charles?" he asked confused.
"Charles and his wife take care of the property when no one's there."
"Okay. Just ask him not to tell Rose that we're coming, or she might run..."
"Good idea!" he stoop up grabbing the phone from the table.
Meanwhile, at Lyra's country house...
"Miss Rose! Lunch is served!" Margaret alerted from the dining room.
"Be there in a minute!" she replied from her spot on the garden.
Rose sat against the stone wall with her knees up and her arms crossed on top of them looking at the horizon. The red-haired beauty was lost in her thoughts of her situation with Scorpius until she saw a hand stretched out at her. She looked up and saw a tall young man. A shirtless young man with a muscular body, brown skin, chiseled features, short light-brown hair and green eyes. And to make him even more interesting, he had a sexy stubble that gave him an exotic look.
'Scorpius who?' she thought, a timid smile resting on her lips 'Damn! He's so hot that he should be considered illegal... wait a minute, I know him! Think Rose, think...'
"Oh my god! Peter?!" she called him grabbing his hand and standing up with a surprised look.
"Hello Rose. Long time no see!" he smirked "What are you doing here alone?"
"Oh, you know, relaxing!" she laughed "And you! You look good! Like hot, really hot!" she acknowledged with wide eyes.
Peter laughed shaking his head "Oh Rose. Tsk tsk tsk" he mocked "You are way hotter! Time was clearly very good to you!" he winked.
"I can't believe it!" she confessed bewildered "You're flirting! Oh my god, what happened to the shy boy who was afraid to talk to girls?!" she asked with a mix of surprise and satisfaction.
Peter smirked "He grew up..." and laughed. "Yeah" I can see that!" she smirked directing her eyes to his muscular torso and laughing along.
"Peter! Stop distracting Miss Rose and bring her in for lunch!" demanded Margaret "Oh! And put a shirt on! I've warned you not to walk around shirtless on Winter!"
They both laughed "Yes mother!" he replied smirking.
The red-haired leaned in his ear whispering "She is more demanding than I remembered..."
Peter laughed and did the same as her "Welcome to my world... But come on, we better go before she kills me!" the pair laughed and walked in to the dining room.
"Miss Rose! It's so good to see you!" Charles said as he saw them.
"Charles! It's good to see you too! I've missed you!" she replied hugging the middle-aged man.
"We missed you too, everyone in the estate, including the horses." he said smiling "Ah! I see you've already met Peter again! My son grew up a lot since the last time you saw each other, didn't he?" he winked at Rose.
She laughed "Indeed... It was a very interesting change." she wiggled her brows making the other three laugh and sat at the table.
A few moments after they started eating, Charles phone rang. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this" the man apologized walking away from the room to another one for more privacy.
Peter frowned "That's strange. Who might it be?" and asked to the women, making they both shrug.
As I said before, it wasn't suposed to end like this, but I will make it up to you next chapter :)