Edith was walking away from the house as fast as she could.
The tears she had managed to hold back all the while when talking to Bertie were now slowly trickling down her cheeks. She had been unable to hold them back any longer, but she didn't want anyone to see her cry. Especially not Bertie. So she intended to take a walk in the park to calm herself down.
Suddenly she heard Bertie's footsteps behind her - well, she heard somebody's footsteps, but who else could it be? It sounded like he was actually running after her.
What was he up to? She didn't know, probably he had something more to say about trust and the lack of it. She definitely didn't want to hear it. She only wished he would go away and leave her alone.
She dried her eyes quickly, pretending that she was only fiddling with her hair. She didn't want him to see that she had cried.
"Edith", he called from behind. "Edith! Please! Please wait!"
But she just walked on, without even turning her head around. She was intent on pretending that she hadn't heard him at all.
...
Then Edith heard a strange sound. First a thud then a crash and after that a suppressed oath. It sounded like Bertie had stumbled on something on the turf and fallen onto the ground.
Edith didn't manage to pretend she hadn't heard Bertie any longer. She turned around and saw him lying in a heap on the ground, motionless, looking like all his strength had gone out of him.
The whole thing looked rather funny, and Edith was just about to start laughing when she realised that he could have hurt himself. Perhaps he had broken something, she thought. Or got a bad wound from a stone or a root on the ground.
She didn't find it funny any longer. She worried about him.
Oh, god! Why couldn't she stop loving him when he didn't want her?
...
Edith took a few quick steps to get closer to Bertie who was now slowly turning around so he could sit up.
"Are you hurt? Did you break anything?" Edith asked, her voice full of kindness and concern.
"No, I'm not hurt. And nothing is broken," Bertie said. He was looking down at the ground, as if he was ashamed of what had happened.
"Are you sure?" Edith asked.
"Nothing is hurt, I assure you", Bertie repeated. "Nothing is hurt except my pride. But that was already hurt before I fell..."
Then he looked up at Edith and saw that she was smiling at him.
"Why was your pride hurt?" she wondered. But before he had time to answer that she reached out her hand to help him up, and he took it, thinking about what to do next.
AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you for the kind reviews to last chapter. Plese leave a comment!