Chapter 8

When she returned to the house she noticed that upon hearing her approaching steps he smiled before opening his eyes.his voice is gentle as she approaches. "Did you have a pleasant walk?" She only nods her head in reply. She sits down next to him on the step her eyes fixed forward.

"Violet—" he swallows, trying to calm his nerves. "She was on the mountain with me."

"And you shared a tent?" She asks with a blank face, not even noticing the shock on his face as she waits for a reply.

"Not how your implying." He huffs.

"We should get back to work." She stands and is shocked when he grabs her arm. "Mr.—"

"Leon." He interrupts, despite his heart racing as he holds her arm, fascinated by how warm and strong it is. "Please."

She sits back down carefully and hardly above a whisper. "You're saying that the two of you are just friends?" He only nods in response as he releases her arm. Her eyebrow raised as she looked at him. "A friend who tries to kiss you?"

After recovering from the way her deep blue eyes make his mind swirl whenever he sees the he sighs deeply. "She knew I hired a doll and was hoping to pull a prank on the doll."

"Seems she succeeded." Violet's expression rests back to her usual emotionless appearance.

A silence grows between them as a wind blows past them and through the house. Violet decides to break the silence with a question. "Have you kissed her before?"

Leon blinks in surprise and starts replying without thinking about his words until it's too late. "No! I've never kissed anyone, or been kissed..." he hangs his head in an attempt to hide the embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"Me neither." She says as she looks out over the water. He looks up at her, watching the way her Messy blonde hair moves across her cheek as she continues. "I wonder— what it's like— to be kissed by someone you love." She subconsciously moved her hand to her lips and brushed the gloves fingers across them.

Leon watched and wished with everything that she was thinking about him and not who he thought she was when she touched her lips, because all he wanted in this moment was to lean over and kiss her. "Someone like the Major?" He asked.

The small smile he was still getting use to seeing on her appeared again. "Maybe. He said he loves me, those were his last words. I've come to learn what he meant. I told you before how my existence was tied to his... I don't think that's what he wanted. He also told me to live and be free. So that's what I'm going to do. I think, even if he is still alive like I think he is, he doesn't want me to live my life just to find and serve him again. So I'm trying to just—"

"Find your own path without being stuck in the past." He looks up at the sky as he realizes they're on the same journey.

Violets heart fluttered. He said what she was thinking, he knows what she is going through. On top of the heat from the day she felt something warm in her chest as she looked at Leon's profile and remembered when she closed her eyes to envision the universe it was those soft blue eyes she saw. She was beginning to realize what all of these thoughts and feelings she'd been having towards Leon added up to when he turned to her with a crooked smile. "Violet. Tomorrow evening is Fern's birthday, would you accompany me to the party?"

Violet blushed, something he saw as a good sign. She spoke in a pleasant tone. "I will consider your invitation." Her eyes finally meet his and they both mentally pause to appreciate the view. Violet is the first to snap out of it. "Who is your next letter to?"

He smiles brightly. "Ms. Fey Stephanotis."

Violet looks a little stunned. "You found a family member?"

He laughs. "They found me. I guess it would be more accurate to say that the hospital found her. They were trying to find family for me to make decisions and Incase I didn't pull through." Violet's heart burned and twisted thinking about a world without Leon in it as he continued. "After a long conversation we figured out that we are actually cousins. When I was in the hospital she said that she might have letters from my father from after he disappeared. I told her I would write her as soon as I could so she would know where to send anything she finds." Violet's hand had raised her her chest as he spoke and clenched the brooch from the Major.

"Leon, I'm so happy you found family." Her smile reached her eyes, which were also teary. Without thinking he reaches and wiped the rest that had started to fall. They both blushed as he quickly pulled his hand back and apologized.

Violet thought to herself "no need to apologize. I'm glad you did it." But outwardly she just nodded.