Elijah wondered who the man to whom Hayley had given her affection to was. As he kept looking at her, she turned her head away from him. Her face was slowly turning red. He had never seen her disheveled or wearing a man's clothes. When she went to the village, she put on her best dress to look as womanly as possible. She knew he bore feelings for Tatia, and she had all that a woman should have. She never thought he would even gaze at her again after seeing her that way.

"May I help you?" Elijah said, crouching beside her.

She hadn't heard him walk up to her; she was too distracted by her own thoughts of him. She looked up at him, and she almost fell on her back with how close he was. Months he had been staring at her without as much as a step, and now he took all those faltered steps all at once.

"If you know how to make a wild rabbit blood stain go away, yes." She finally answered him, and she wanted to hit herself.

The first time you are talking to the only man that makes your heart beat faster and you talk to him like you want to hang him, Hayley thought. Really good, Andrea.

"I think I can help with that, if you would give me a moment," Elijah answered before standing up and walking towards his brother, Finn.

Kol and Rebekah were trying to drown one another, and they almost took Henrik with them.

"Children!" Elijah admonished them with a loud voice, "Behave."

Hayley let out a chuckle as she watched the two siblings tear apart from each other. Elijah was talking to Finn now, and she couldn't hear him as he was too far away.

"Quite the handsome lad, Elijah, isn't he?" Niklaus was leaning against the wall, carving a piece of wood with a knife.

Hayley doesn't say anything, mainly because her words were caught in her throat. She wanted to refute it and the implication that came along with it.

"It's alright, love, your eyes say it for you," Niklaus said with a mischievous smirk.

She knew he was toying with her; she had seen him do the same thing with Rebekah multiple times. She wondered for a second if he saw his sister in her or if it was the opposite. She pushed the thought away, thinking that it didn't matter; she didn't see anything in him.

"Niklaus," Elijah warned his brother, and the younger one took a step away, putting his hands in the air before joining the others.

Elijah gave her the pouch he took from Finn. She furrowed her brow, pulling the string open. An embarrassed smile came to her lips.

"Oh… salt." She whispered.

She felt her snark vanish, and she didn't know what to say. He didn't have to help her, and she compared herself again to Tatia. She knew he would have done the same thing to her.

To anyone,she thought.It was just who he was.

She felt selfish for wanting his kindness to be only directed at her. Her cheeks blushed with embarrassment, and she looked up at him under her eyelashes. He was waiting for her to tell him something, anything. He only wanted to hear her voice again.

"Thank you," she finally said as she poured some of the salt on the stone, adding water to make it a paste.

"You are quite welcome," Elijah replied to her, unsure what to do next. Does he stay? Does he try talking to her?

"You can sit down, you know?" Hayley said to him as she put the paste on her tunic.

He smiled at her softly, sliding to the ground beside her. He wished he had berries or dried meat to give to her. He wanted to share something of his own, even though he didn't have much.

"Why aren't you swimming with your siblings?" Hayley finally dared to say something.

She couldn't bear the silence. There was already too much silence in her life. He was startled by her question; he didn't believe she was talking to him. He thought she only asked him if he wanted to sit out of politeness.

After a moment, he answered with a chuckle, "I swim too much with them already."

Hayley looked at him and wished she could say the same—that she swum too much, too. But she couldn't remember the last time she took a swim. It had been so many years ago, she wasn't even sure she remembered how to do it. Elijah noticed the sad expression on her face, and he just couldn't keep himself from asking her about it; it was in his nature to inquire about those he cared about. Even if he had only done it from afar.

"What is it that troubles you?" Elijah asked her, and the question seemed unreal.

It had been a long time since anyone had asked her that. She made sure her parents never saw anything but happiness, or at least satisfaction. A little boredom and anger would seep through the crack in her façade, but no one ever asked about any of that. She didn't know how to answer. Does she tell him the truth? Wouldn't it be too much to tell a stranger?

"I haven't taken a swim in a long time, that's all," Hayley finally said, the other half of the truth tucked into her heart. She wouldn't burden him with her pain; she already saw how burdened he was with his siblings.

"Do you want to take one, now?" He asked her, looking at her intently.

Hayley wanted to hide. The feeling of his brown eyes on her was too much all of a sudden. She knew he would see everything about her if he stared too much. How her clothes hung on her body and how thin she was. The better life her mother came looking for wasn't better for her.

But it was better than my old life, she thought.

"Look at them," Hayley said, turning her eyes away from his face before she spilled the truth about her heartache. "I mean, I don't want to intrude on that."

The five siblings were all swimming. Niklaus was trying to drown Kol, while Rebekah and Henrik were cheering for him. Finn was on his back in the water, unbothered by their antics. It was so… ordinary—the kind of ordinary Hayley often dreamed about.

"I don't think that they will notice you, even if you drown," Elijah said with amusement, lacing his tone.

Hayley chuckled a bit at that. As Elijah's gaze became too intense, she focused on washing her tunic again. The blood was slowly fading away, and she was grateful to Elijah for that. She stood up and put it on one of the stones to dry in the sun. She went to sit beside Elijah again, only to find him gone. She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She felt a twinge of pain in her heart, disappointment filling her. She thought they were having a special moment together, but her hopes were crushed to dust as she walked to put her satchel on her shoulder. The tunic could dry on her window. She just wanted to go home.

"Forgive me," Elijah said, coming from behind her. "I did not want to disappear on you, but I saw a bush of berries, and I could not help myself."

She let out a sigh of relief, one he didn't miss. He showed her the pouch of berries he had and nodded his head towards the lake with a slight smile. She took it as an invitation to sit with him again. She put her satchel down and followed him.

The sun was shining brightly on them. She watched him as he washed the fruits and walked back to her. He watched her as she sat in the grass, her arms around her legs. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Even if she wore another man's tunic, he swore to himself that he would fight for her.

"I love berries." Hayley let the admission slip away from her, her cheeks blushing softly.

"I will be sure to remember that," he replied, standing before her and making her blush even more.

He offered the pouch to her before sitting beside her, closer than he had been before. She didn't move away, and he took it as a sign. He could see his life with her, how they would make each other happy. From the few glimpses he had of her, he knew she was kind and compassionate, fierce and protective. He only wanted to know more about her, who she was when nobody was around.

Hayley felt her heart hammer in her chest. A slight move of her arm, and she would touch him. Their fingers didn't even brush when he gave her the pouches. She wanted to know what it would feel like when her skin met his.

They ate in silence, and even though it was a comfortable one, Hayley wanted to fill it. But her words escaped her, and all the questions she wanted to ask him were eluding her. She looked at his hand and saw a fresh scar on his forearm. She lifted her head to see that he was looking at his siblings with a fond smile.

"How did you do that to yourself?" Hayley asked him, unable to refrain herself when she finally found something to ask him.

"I did not do it to myself, it is merely the result of a petty fight with Niklaus," Elijah answered her before popping a berry into his mouth.

"Over Tatia?"

He looked at her with surprise etched on his face, finally moving his gaze away from the lake. He didn't think she noticed that much about him. He knew she was Immune to the villagers' gossip as she didn't talk much to any of them. He stopped himself from smiling with delight. Elijah's heart fluttered; maybe, just maybe, he had a chance to win over her heart.

Hayley couldn't meet his eyes. She admonished herself for not keeping her mouth shut. Those two words had told him more about her feelings towards him than any other one she said.

"Yes, but not for the reasons you think," Elijah replied, still looking at her.

Hayley shifted, putting her knees down. She slightly turned on her side, bracing a hand against the grass to support her weight. She was closer to him. Had his siblings looked their way, they would think they were about to kiss. But she still didn't look into his eyes.

"Can I ask why?"

"Tatia had already stated she could not and would not choose between us, so I chose for her," Elijah answered, the words coming naturally to him.

He knew It in his soul that she would keep his words to herself. In the few moments he had talked to her, he was already considering her his confidant. Hayley's heart was about to explode in her chest. It was not a pleasing feeling because she thought he fought Niklaus to win over Tatia. She knew he had won, he was just a better fighter. Sitting so close to him suddenly felt wrong.

She was about to move away from him when he continued, "I told her that I was letting her go, and she could have Niklaus, but he didn't like that the little game he was playing was over, so he pulled his sword at me, claiming that if he was to have Tatia, he would have her like a man should: with a duel."

"Was it a first to draw blood kind of duel?" Hayley asked him, her hopes up and shining.

"No, it was a first to lose his sword kind of duel," he answered, using words similar to hers and so different from his usual choice of words. "His sword cut me, but I took it from him… after failing to dissuade him to stop his useless antics."

Hayley knew the reason why Niklaus managed to cut Elijah was because the latter didn't want to fight with his brother. It was different from their trainings; Niklaus was willing to hurt him to prove himself worthy of Tatia's affections. Hayley thought about how she would like to shoot one of her arrows at him. The feeling was so strange—an anger towards someone she didn't know for reasons she didn't understand.

"So, it's over between you and Tatia?" Hayley asked with a renewed confidence.

"Yes, it is," he replied with a soft smile.

There was a glint of sadness in his eyes, but the shimmer of hope was brighter. Hayley finally looked him in the eye, ready to confess that she knew he had watched her every time she went to the village. That she wanted to meet him again, far from prying eyes. But Rebekah was already on them.

"Elijah, mother is looking for us," Rebekah said without acknowledging Hayley.

She had seen how Niklaus and Elijah were looking at her. She only thought of her as the girl who would play with the older brother's heart while frolicking with the younger one.

"Come on, Elijah, Finn said father is back," Rebekah urged him while pulling him by the arm.

He stood up quickly, glad that he didn't take a swim with his siblings. Had it been winter, Mikael would have congratulated him for his resilience in freezing waters. But it is the end of summer, and having fun wasn't a behaviour worthy of a warrior in his father's eyes.

"I… I hope I'll see you again, Hayley," Elijah said to her, and he walked away with his sister by his side.

He would have asked her if she wanted him to walk her back to her house, but every moment spent making Mikael wait was a risk to his siblings. He knew she could take care of herself, but the feelings of protectiveness didn't go away as he did. He only hoped he could make it up to her.

Hayley watched all six siblings go and wondered what it was like to have so many people by your side. People you could laugh with and have fun with, but also fight and cry with. She quickly stood up, removing her father's tunic, and putting her own on. It was not completely dry, but all that mattered was that the blood stain was gone. She folded the brown one and put it over her satchel.

As Hayley walked through the forest, she bent to pick up a yellow flower. A red one caught her eye, and soon enough, she had a whole jumble of them. She had the rest of the day to herself. Her mother would have already made dinner, and she could colour her clay plates outside, near the small fire.

As she arrived home, Hayley quickly hid the tunic in a chest before giving her mother the rabbits. Hayley didn't like watching as her mother skinned and cut them. Fortunately, that day wasn't one of those days where her mother would tell her she had to learn how to skin animals because she wouldn't always be there to help her. Dinner was served by sundown, but Hayley barely ate anything.

Instead, she just crushed flowers and mixed colors. The night was silent, and her mother had gone to sleep without her. But Hayley couldn't stop thinking about Elijah and the moment they had shared together. Her heart hammered and her cheeks reddened; she would have been ashamed if she wasn't alone. But she was, and a smile took over her lips.

A twig snapped In the close distance. She quickly grabbed a knife and turned to stab whoever was behind her. The stranger caught her hand in the air, and she thought she was done for. Her body kept the light of the fire from reaching whoever was before her. It was only when he spoke that she let out a sigh of relief.

"Forgive me," Elijah said softly, still holding her wrist. "I did not mean to startle you."

Even if that wasn't how Hayley thought they would touch for the first time, she wouldn't have had it any other way. She smiled at him shyly, with her teeth peeking, and he returned it with a bright one as he lightly stroked the skin of her wrist.

We would be alright, she thought. We would be just alright.