Page 18 of Valentine's Miracle

“Hands off,” Silas warns, the tone just a thread too dangerous. A little bit more eerily daunting than the usual voice where it’s velvety and rough, and it sends shivers down my spine.

“Sorry, sir. Silas is a bit protective.” Sebastian laughs, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“No, no,” Fyodor shakes his head and boisterously compliments the man that probably wants to shove a boot down his throat. Fyodor tends to bring that side out of many people.

“I am glad that my precious victory goddess is in virtuous hands!”

I roll my eyes as Silas walks beside me, sharp green eyes gauging the man beside me while Sebastian just laughs in his hand.

“That was once, and I won a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.”

I didn’t know that festivals can let people win more than stuffed animals. That was the first time I had been gifted antiseptic with a congratulation from the vendor.

“You did it for me,” Fyodor coos.

“You were whining,” I correct.

“I was bleeding.”

I sigh harder while the choked laughter from Sebastian grows louder in the elevator. “It was a scratch, you man-child.”

“Infected by bacteria.”

I have the slightest energy to keep my fatigue from resurfacing from last night’s awful sleep. Silas’ words have been echoing in my head while my eyes were staring into the darkness of the hotel room, and I did not dare to turn on my other side to risk looking at him.

“What are you doing here? Conventions aren’t your style.”

The Russian man hums, tapping his chin with a slick black suit crumbling by his action. Fyodor steals a glance at Sebastian who’s looking at the buttons on the elevator, unaware and unsuspecting of the signature stare that I’m familiar with.

Fyodor fancies Sebastian.

Oh dear.

This is going to be interesting.

Chapter Six

Silas

My opinion on this Fyodor man is still up for discussion.

He irks me because he knows things about Victoria that even Sebastian didn’t know, but I don’t dislike him because he is respectful yet retains the ability to bring laughter to the table.

I haven’t seen Victoria laugh like that in years. A part of me is hurt that she doesn’t laugh like that with me, but then I would remember what the reason for it is.

“Question for a student here,” Sebastian says as he raises his hand. “How’d you two meet? You guys look like you’re from different worlds.”

“It was a rainy morning at freshmen orientation. Everyone had to find shelter because it was the worst rainstorm that came abruptly.”

My eyes naturally move to Victoria. I have stopped trying to lie to myself that she doesn’t mean something to me. Victoria is important, but my mind is just not willing to accept it, and this stubbornness only gets fueled by my determination to not lose my heart once again.

I admit that she will always be something to me but putting a name to it will require nothing short of an apocalypse.

“Then I see her with a blue and white umbrella. They were sunny clouds on a rainy day. It was my calling. I just had to know her.”

Sebastian’s expression pinches, eye twitching a bit while his lip purses. “That sounds… strange.”

“Before I could hear her sweet, honied voice, she uses a wrist flick of perfection to launch her hot bagel into my face.”

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