Chapter 12-2

The two of us were staring at the spot that he was standing in. We just slowly blinked for a while as our brains tried to figure out what happened.

"That was odd even for him." Joy pointed out after the shock wore off. "Well, we better look for the idiot."

"We should check our room first. He might have gone straight there. Since that is the easiest shadow to get to."

'I wonder why he acting like that. His behavior reminds me of the summer before Alex and Viktor got together. How Viktor would act shy around Alex until they got together.' I thought before it finally clicked in my head.

"Do you think that Bram has a crush on me?"

Joy started to choke on her apple and I had to pat her back to help her. She took a deep calming breath before answering my question.

"The shock aside, I think that Fangs does. Due to our crazy village, he could be afraid to ask for fear of you turning away from him. You two are nearly inseparable since we were young and he doesn't want the chance to lose that."

"Oakgrove really messed us up. I wonder why our parents kept us there."

"You mean to say that your mother never told you the story." Someone said behind us.

Joy grabbed my arm in fear as we turned around, but it was just Mr. Harker. Her nails were digging into me until she calmed down. I am tempted to call them claws from how sharp they are.

"What do you mean, sir?" I asked while checking for wounds.

"Follow me to my room and I will explain to you." The two of us nodded our heads. "Bram is already waiting over there. He nearly gave me a heart attack when he ran into my room." We turned back around before he started walking away. "Oakgrove has been in the control of one family for generations, and it wasn't till recently that it spilt into two lines. The women of the family were mostly mages and controlled the village."

"Whose family line was it?" Joy asked.

"The Oakleaf line," I widen my eyes at the name, "and the current heads of the family are Lily and Lilac Oakleaf."

"My mom is one of the leaders of the village! I never knew that but that explains why she had to leave the house so much."

I always wondered why my mom and Aunt Lily kept their maiden names. I guess that is the reason why.

"Florence will become the next head after them."

"But, why did you and my family move there?" Joy asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Because during the war, it was the base of the Wolves of Freedom, under the unknown eye of most of the villagers. Joy, your father was a great healer and he wanted to protect you and your mother, so he came to Oakgrove. Yes, most of the villagers hate werebeasts but very few of the old families hated mages. It just that a lot of the families later on married assholes that were anti-magic." We finally got to outside his room and he stopped. "Let me go talk to him before you see him."

We watched him walk into the room and the door closed behind him.

"If you bloody like someone, then tell them!" We did our best not to laugh at the word choice. "When I first told your mother that I liked her, I spoke gibberish for ten whole minutes!" We were holding each other while trying not laugh loudly. "If you are so worried about what I think of you dating a guy. You should know that I tasted that fruit many, many, many times before I met your mother."

We could hear the 'ew' noise from inside the room. We fell to the floor laughing from how funny it was.

"I should go; I don't want Anna to drag me away in the middle of dinner for dating advice, so I might as well deal with it now. I will save you and Bram a seat. Good luck and I will see you later."

"Say hi to Lewis for me."

I waved her bye as I heard some more yelling from behind the door.

'Even if he has a crush on me, it could fade away if he meets someone better than me. I could lose him forever just for being myself,' I started to breath slowly to make sure I don't panic, 'I'm broken, people always throw away broken objects.'

I could feel myself slowly falling into the abyss within my soul. Every year I could feel myself falling deeper into that dark hole in me. There are times that I could pull myself out of it by myself, but there are some times where it would take days.

"Hey! I am still talking to you! Don't walk out on me!" I barely heard someone say before I was pulled up into someone's chest.

"Hey, listen to me. Breathe in and out slowly," I could hear Bram's voice brushing against my ears, "I'm sorry," I felt my ears twitch with every word, "I'm sorry that I didn't know about your pain until this year. I am sorry for being too scared to admit that I wanted to stay by your side and protect you from yourself and the world. I am sorry that I could not tell you to your face that I love you. I'm sorry that I'm not as strong as I pretend to be."

I lightly pushed away from him and looked into the dark green eyes. The doubt and fear slowly started to fade away as I saw all the love and affection in his eyes. I realized that one of my biggest doubts in life was that I was afraid of opening my heart. However, I believe that it is time for the doors of my heart finally open up.

"It's not your fault; I have always had to deal with the darkness within me by myself. I was so used to losing people because of the way I am, that I thought that I was going to lose you."