Chapter 359
Chapter 359
Sofia’s pov
I facetimed Kayla later during the day and we talked about a lot of random things while I added the
finishing touches to the painting I had begun to work on today.
After the call with her, I finally exited the art room and made my way into the kitchen, then to the walk-in
freezer in order to get a drink.
That’s where I come across Armani.
I jolted when I came across him, having not been expecting to come across anyone, and also because
I had almost forgotten about Armani’s existence here in the house.
He grinned at me apologetically on realizing that he had startled me but I brushed his apology off and
retrieved the drink I had come in here to talk.
And after that, Armani fell into steps beside me and we began to make our way out of the walk-in
freezer, talking about the weather and some other random things.
I broke the news about me expanding my arts to him, and as expected, he was very impressed and
excited for me, congratulating me earnestly and smiling warmly at me.
We hung out in the kitchen as we slurped on our drinks, perched around the seats before the island in
the kitchen.
I couldn’t help but still be awed about the fact that I was currently talking with Luca’s brother right now,
someone whom I never even knew existed until that time when Luca had taken me into that particular
room that night, where we had slowed danced in. It was almost hard to believe that he had gotten hurt
after getting kidnapped about a month ago, which was all my fault.
Despite how much time Luca had taken to reassure me that it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t help but still
cling to the fact that I had been at fault in that situation.
A particular image of me flinching away from Luca because I had thought he was going to hit me. I
knew that action had shocked and hurt him, and the fact that we’re yet to talk about it, was eating me
up from the inside.
But at least I wasn’t thinking about it every damn time line I used to do when the entire thing had still
been so fresh in my head.
I glanced up at Armani who was gulping down his energy drink, silently feeling grateful for the
hundredth time that he was perfectly fine now.
He caught me staring after a few seconds and arched a brow at me, but I huffed as I averted my gaze,
going back to taking another sip of my cool drink.
“Are you okay?” Armani asked after a few moments, voice light and almost tethering towards it being
teasing, but I knew he genuinely wanted to find out if I was doing fine.
I gave a few nods of my head after a little while.
“I am.”
“Are you sure?” He inquired and I hummed a little in response.
“Yeah, I actually am. I just had some unpleasant thoughts which I got a little bit lost in, that’s all.” I
respond offhandedly, trying to brush his worry off.
“Anything you wanna talk about?”
I mulled over his words a little before shaking my head, forcing a small smile on my face.
“No, not really. It’s actually not that important.” Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
And it really wasn’t important, at least in a situation like this, I really couldn’t tell Armani about what I
had been thinking about, because it mostly involved him, and I’m sure it’s only going to make him feel
really bad.
“Are you sure?” He prodded furthermore.
A small smile tugged at the sides of my lips. Armani was a sweet soul, I really shouldn’t be worrying
him right now.
I slid off the seat and smiled widely at him in order to reassure him more as I spoke.
“I really am fine, for real.”
I picked up the rest of my juice and walked towards the sink to empty the carton, and then I discard the
empty carton into the bin.
“Please don’t worry about me, I’m really fine, there’s no need for you to worry about me, okay?”
He didn’t seem like he really believed me but he nodded at me and smiled at me softly, as I exited the
kitchen.
When I walked into Ryan in the hallway, my breath hitched a little before I caught myself and took a
step back to glance up at him.
“Ryan?” I spoke tentatively, wondering what he was doing here right now.
Ryan’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally spoke.
“The weather is quite nice.”
I nodded almost immediately. “It really is.”
I watched as he glanced above my head and sideways, reminding me of the way he usually did before
when I had just started to be guarded by him.
It took about a minute before he finally spoke.
“I was wondering if you’d like to take a walk around the house?” He asked.
My eyes widened in shock as he spoke, and I watched as he hurriedly continued to speak.
“I mean, the weather is nice and I know how much you’d appreciate the weather and how much you’d
like to take a walk right now. There’s also some part of the compound which you’re yet to see.”
My widened eyes bulged out even more. Ryan had been extremely reluctant to go on a walk with me
the first time I had demanded he take me around the house.
But he was offering to willingly take me this evening.
An excited and pleased feeling bubbled in my chest, this was more proof that Ryan was getting more
and more comfortable around me. It’s also more proof to me that I was finally really getting to him, and
also proof that we were already becoming friends.
“That is… if you’d like to come, but you don’t have to!”
A small smile tugged at the sides of my mouth while taking in the uncomfortable expression on his
face.
Gosh, how cute.
“This might even be a bad idea. You know what? Forget—”
“I’ll come! I’d love to.” I finally supplied a response, cutting into his sentence.
A small hesitant smile tugged at his lips before he glanced away from me once again.
“That’s great then.” He glanced back at me. “Uh, would you like to go get your plushie? I’d help carry it
to and fro for you… because of how heavy it is.”
His offer warmed my heart but I shook my head instantly, the plushie was extremely huge and quite
heavy, I wasn’t sure I wanted any sort of inconvenience on me this evening, even though it wasn’t
going to be any hassle for someone as tall and strong as Ryan.
During the walk, I talked and talked, and Ryan who wasn’t much of a talker mostly did the listening.
It was way nicer than I had expected, especially when I had managed to make him laugh more than
once.
He rarely laughs, so when he does, it tends to be quite endearing.
For some weird reason, not only did the walk feel really nice, but I also felt quite safe and almost drawn
towards him in a way.
That realization weirded me out, which was why I refused to think about it and instead focused on
enjoying the rest of the walk.