Escape - Chapter 1.2
Chapter 1.2
His unwavering gaze held no trace of hesitation. Adeline felt a strange sensation, as if the icy shard piercing her heart had suddenly melted away. The pounding anxiety vanished, replaced by a bittersweet tingling. Embarrassed by her childish behavior, she looked away.
“…Fine. Just come home early today.”
Damian chuckled at her grumbled words. He lightly ruffled her hair before rising from the bed. His uniquely refreshing scent lingered in the air as he moved. Adeline turned onto her side, watching him go.
Just as his straight, sharp back reached the doorknob, Damian paused, as if remembering something. He turned his head.
“Adel, actually, there’s something important I need to tell you. Even if I’m late tonight, don’t go to sleep. Wait for me.”
On the nights he was ‘out,’ he often came home late, and he always insisted she sleep first. Adeline blinked, surprised by his request.
“Huh? Important? What is it? Tell me now.”
“…It’s a long story.”
Judging by his subtle expression, whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be bad news. Well, as long as it wasn’t bad news, it didn’t matter when she heard it.
“Hmm… alright. Be safe. And pick up some cornbread on your way back.”
“No way.”
“Playing hard to get again. You know you’ll come home with both hands full.”
Her first love, no, her husband, paused at the door and looked back once more. She mimed the words “cornbread” while waving, and he chuckled, shaking his head before leaving the room.
Slam. Click.
Not long after, Adeline, catching the glint of her wedding ring on her left ring finger in the ceiling light, murmured, “Oh, I remember.”
She recalled exactly what she’d said to Damian in her dream.
“Please, don’t bet everything on someone like me.”
She’d clung to his arm, weeping. She’d felt a heart-wrenching pain watching his retreating back as he gave her the ring.
She didn’t understand what it meant, but there was no need to analyze it. It was just a silly dream. For whatever reason, he would never leave her first.
“That foolish man loves me far too much,” she whispered to her thumping heart. Turning off the light and closing her eyes, the lingering sadness seemed to dissolve into the darkness.
***
“…She told me I wanted a break up.”
Preposterous.
Damian tilted his head, lighting the cigarette between his lips.
Thirteen years, from fourteen to twenty-seven, half a lifetime they’d known each other, yet Adeline didn’t know him. She didn’t know the intensity of his obsession, how he’d clung to sanity after losing his parents only because of her, why he’d joined the Royal Guard, a path he’d never considered.
If he were to break up with Adeline, everything he’d built would become meaningless.
Everything had been for her. Just to see her smile, even for a moment; that single, imprinted smile fueled him.
Even this intriguing situation he was currently entangled in was for her. Damian’s gaze drifted to the cryptic message flickering in the corner of his vision.
The secrets he’d kept from her would end today. When he returned, they could discuss everything. He didn’t know how she would react, but at least he could finally grant her her deepest wish.
Trying to conjure Adeline’s radiant face, Damian pulled a pocket watch from his uniform coat. It was an antique gold piece, an eagle emblazoned in the center. As he stared at it, a cheerful voice cut through the air.
“Ah, looking tired again. Newlywed life, eh?”
Damian slowly turned his head at the sound.
It was Luce, his colleague and partner for today’s mission, grinning as always. Glancing at him, Damian tucked the watch away and responded to the question with another.
“Where’s the best place for cornbread?”
“Huh? Cornbread? The corner shop on 15th and Central is the best, obviously. But what’s with the sudden menu?”
“Adel asked for some.”
‘Adel asked for some’! Luce faltered, muttering that the other recruits should have heard this. It was an unbelievable line coming from the perpetually stoic Damian. Luce’s hands practically trembled every time he witnessed how Adeline transformed this imposing man.
From the moment they joined, Damian’s looks and skills had made him popular. Incredibly popular. But he wasn’t exactly kind to the women who flocked to him. He conversed easily enough with his male colleagues, but he drew a sharp line with any woman who might misinterpret his intentions. It seemed almost unnecessarily harsh.
The one who’d breached that wall was Adeline La Graciel, their only female colleague.
Luce didn’t know how she’d managed it, but he knew one thing for sure: Damian was head over heels for Adeline. He had been from the very beginning.
If Adeline casually remarked, “Damian, I really want a heart,” he’d probably offer her his without a second thought.
“No, seriously, let’s have a heart-to-heart. What is it about her? Fine, yeah, she’s pretty.”
And had quite the temper. Luce still hadn’t forgotten the time she’d yanked his short hair.
“She’s pretty,” Damian agreed with a chuckle, amending his previous statement. Then he looked down at his hand. Following his gaze, Luce noticed the white diamond ring on his long, elegant finger. A simple, androgynous design, a single diamond set in a silver band.
A wedding ring.
