CHAPTER 10

SECOND ATTEMPT

Dante

7:00 a.m.

Aboard on the train to Romania.

"Has anyone seen Zhalia?" I asked Lok and Sophie.

Sleeping seemed to be impossible last night. I woke up after every fifteen minutes to check how she was doing. Lok had sold his entire world to his sleep. Well, he was tired and he stil hadn't recovered from his injury completely. So, I wasn't surprised when he didn't stir a bit. Sophie, to my surprise, had stayed beside Zhalia for the whole night. Well, almost, since I forced her to go to sleep. I felt awful for screaming on her like that. Never had I behaved like that with anyone. It wasn't a pity mistake, though. Giving a right medicine is essential. Zhalia, however, looked peaceful when I'd woken up to attend to her. The sleeping pills probably made her forget about her pain. At least she slept. I needed her to be in good health for her next mission.

"I met her at the logia at cock-crow. She must be in the washroom now." Lok answered.

"How was she?"

"She looked pretty well to me. We just talked and I told her about Sophie's mistake."

"Oh no, you didn't!" Sophie screamed and hit him with the book she was reading.

It was a crazy scene to witness. Sophie was trying to pound on Lok with all her might while I pulled her away from him. I noticed that she'd been losing her patience a lot these days, especially when she was with him. I might talk to her later about it. Right now I'd to stop these kids from eradicating each other.

"Stop it you both!" I screamed. But my words fell on deaf ears, for they were still exchanging blows.

Actually, it was only Sophie who was beating him. Poor Lok was unsuccessfully trying to dodge her every move.

The train stopped abruptly, making Sophie fall on me and Lok on her. I was right below the two, and in a dire condition. My head had socked the window, Sophie's leg tangled with mine and Lok's, some of her hair were entering my mouth and Lok had his hand on my forehead, probably for support.

"Great. Now can you get up? I might turn into an omelet." I managed to speak somehow.

"Sorry." They both mumbled as they got up.

"I would like to speak to you later." I told Sophie and she gave me a small nod.

"By the way, where are we?" Lok said as he looked out.

Upon looking outside, I realized we had stopped at a station. I took out my phone immediately.

"Ploiesti." I said after some time.

They looked at me for a while before Sophie asked, "You know Romanian?" as she directed towards a sign board.

"I've got a GPS navigation system in my phone." I simply answered.

"I'm going out for a while. Sophia's not feeling well." Lok said.

I gave him a confused look since I didn't know who he was talking about. Sophie noticed the expression on my face and explained, "He's talking about his pet caterpillar."

"Pet caterpillar?"

"Lok's specialty." She said and winked at me.

'NEXT STOP: BUCHAREST!' The speaker in the train announced.

"Don't go out, you might miss the train." Sophie said to Lok, who promptly went back to his seat.

It has been nearly thirty minutes now, and there was still no sign of Zhalia. I just hoped that she was alright. In fact, she should have gone alone like that when she knew that she wasn't well. Moreover, I had to tell her…..those words. I knew how badly I had messed it up last time when we were alone in her room. In immense nervousness, I blurted out 'those words' out in Italian. It was a good thing that Lok distracted us. Maybe I wasn't ready for that. Not that I didn't love her; I wasn't ready to tell her. I didn't want to startle her, which I was sure she would, considering the fact that love was an alien concept to her. I think she had never fallen in love before for she had a reputation of being a lone wolf. You really can't trust anyone when you work alone. I guess working with a team changed me. I can at least boast about having friends and future lover, if everything goes on smoothly. If, however, she refuses me, I think I'll be able to manage the heartbreak. I'd already experienced it once during my teen years. I remembered that early spring season when I was seventeen and met her for the first time. It was Metz who introduced her to me. She was his distant cousin's daughter and her name was Constance. At first, it was just a casual date and I had no plans to settle down in a relationship at such a young age. But something happened, and I started to like her more and more each day. We had soon confessed our feelings for each other and that began our serious relation. It felt as if we were made for each other and were meant to be together forever. I was sure about. Who knew that 'forever' would only last ten months? I caught her cheating with another guy at a party, and even though she apologized to me many times and told that she loved me and no one else, I dumped her. It did take time to heal and forget her, but I succeeded. I was young at that time and that love was immature. We both were juvenile and it was our first love. As the time passed by, I eventually forgave her, although I never saw her again after that incident. I dated many women after that, even Scarlet, although I found her a little too glamorous for me. Zhalia, on other hand, was perfect for me. She was simple, yet there was something about her which attracted me towards her. Probably, it was her 'no-nonsense' attitude. Or maybe, it was because she remained loyal to us even when she worked for Klaus. Maybe, it was because there was a feeling inside me which wanted to protect and fulfill her every need she didn't get before.

It was definitely love.

The thought of it brought a smile on my lips.

"Dante to Earth! Dante to Earth!" Sophie screamed in my ear.

"What? What happened?" I asked.

"We've been trying to ask you that what time we will reach Bucharest." Lok answered.

I looked at my phone again and said, "About an hour or so."

He simply nodded and went back to caressing his pet caterpillar.

That boy is so weird. I, however, don't mind his peculiarity until he does his job well.

I told them that I was going out for a while. But they didn't pay heed to me for they were still fighting over the previous issue. I sighed and opened the door, only to collide with someone behind me.

"Hey, watch out!" the person said.

"I'm sorry…Zhalia?"

There she was standing in front of me as she stared at me wide eyed. She looked as if she hadn't slept for thousands of years for her eyes had bags around them and her hair was boisterous. That really bothered me.

"Are you okay?" I asked immediately. Maybe she was still struggling with the ache.

She just nodded.

"You must get a nap. You're a mess!" I advised her.

"I'm not sleepy."

"It doesn't look that way."

She chose to ignore me and instead asked, "When are we reaching Bucharest?"

"In an hour."

Her eyes grew wider, as if she was panicked.

"Are you sure you okay?"

She probably realized what expression she was giving and tried to relax.

"Zhalia, since you're not sleepy, can I talk to you?"

"We're talking."

I shook my head gently and said, "No, I mean, alone."

She had a confused look on her face, but agreed. I took her hand and led her towards logia. Her grip on my hand was deadly, as if she was scared of something. She was probably very tired. I should have let her sleep.

We soon reached our place and I realized that she was shivering. Well, it was explainable as the weather was pretty cold and she was hardly covered with anything warm. So, I removed my coat and wrapped it around. Thankfully, she didn't protest.

It felt like eternity, but I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of her. I had prepared what to say, but it seemed like I've forgotten almost every word.

Alright, Dante. You can do this. I tried to convince myself.

So I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

"Zhalia, I –"

"Dante, can we talk later? I'm not feeling well."

I abruptly shut my mouth.

She continued, "I'm sorry. You were right. I need to sleep for a while. We have a mission and I need to be fit for that."

I remained quiet.

"Let's go now. It's cold out here." She said and went inside, leaving me alone.

And I though this would be as easy as one, two, three.

Well, at least she had my coat on.

But there was a feeling that told me that she was hiding something from me. I don't know what was it, but I knew it bothered her a lot. She wasn't in best of her health ever since we had left Moldavia. She was facing a problem; I was sure about it. Maybe I'll talk to her about it later, after I'd talked to Sophie.

I sighed. There was so much of talking to do.

I know it has been ages since I last uploaded and I'm really sorry for that. I had been on a college road trip (I'm definitely not talking about the move, lol) and then there was cricket fever every where I went, so yeah, I was pretty indulged in the game too. And, no, I didn't forget that I had a story to complete. So, enjoy until next upload!