The Bitter Taste

Chapter 24: Crossed

His hands felt warm and compassionate, but at the same time, she knew that they were just as greedy as they were overflowing with selflessness. His feelings for her were those that she spent most of her time thinking about, dreaming about, and wanting so desperately up to the point that she wouldn't give them up even if it meant hurting him in the end. However, even if those feelings flamed passionately back then, and still continues to flicker until now, she knew that there was just this one thing that held her back. She didn't know what to call this feeling, since she honestly couldn't discern what it actually was, but through out her entire life of hardship and fear, she grew to trust that one thing that always seemed to stop her right before dangerous edges.

She supposed this was one of them.

"Mr.Runciman, I know that we are both aware of the circumstances." She said, resting her other hand on top of his so that they returned to their original position on the table. "I don't think this would be a healthy decision to make, considering your friendship with the Earl and your engagement with Ms.Vanderbilt."

He spoke no words, but his face was able to send a million messages all at the same time. He looked down, focusing on the hands that were piled up on the wooden table. After a few moments of silence, Jane spoke again.

"I'm really so-" she said, until she felt a palm cupping her right cheek. Jane froze right then and there, not knowing what to do. His hand was touching her face, so lovingly, and the way he gazed at her with such gentle eyes erupted a fluttering sensation in her chest, as much as she tried to suppress it.

"Wh-wha" the young brunette could only stutter, as her surroundings slowly melted into something she could not comprehend, for it seemed as if everything her eyes had focused on was merely his face, staring right in front of her, leaning towards her, and eventually, touching her. All Jane's senses became numb, and the only thing she could feel was the rapid beating of her heart as his body became much closer to her's than it ever was before; there was never a man who came this close towards her, neither was there ever such a man daring enough to do so.

Suddenly, a ringing sound had interrupted them. The door opened.

"Lady Vanderbilt! You mustn't get yourself wet!" Ms.Warden, the personal assistant of Ms.Vanderbilt, exclaimed as the young woman came storming inside the shop.

At first, everyone simply shared glances. Neither of them said a word. Jane widened her eyes at Ms.Vanderbilt's sudden appearance, but it later died down, and she ended up standing up from her chair, walking up towards the noble with her hands sweating as if a faucet had leaked. "Ms.Vanderbilt, this isn't-"

"Isn't what?" she immediately replied, not even sparing her the time to explain.

Jane, however, probably didn't even know what to explain, since she was greatly aware that this predicament was partly her fault. She had no excuses, and now she had a price to pay.

"It's not her fault." The Viscount stood from his chair and walked in front of his fiance with a grave expression locked on his face. Once he stopped right in front of Ms.Vanderbilt, they battled through intense glares. His masculine ones against her frail, feminine ones; it was as if they were communicating simply through their trembling eyes, and one could not bear witness the feeling dug deep in her fragile heart right at this very second. A love affair wasn't something you'd stumble upon everyday, especially if it was your partner who was cheating on you.

As if a string had snapped, tears had begun to fill her eyes with so much rue. Even without speaking words or receiving them, she knew very well what was going on, and now she simply stood vulnerable and weak in front of the man she truly loved.

The Baron's daughter was soaked from the rain, but also dry because of the suffocating, cool air, exhausting her entire being. Ms.Vanderbilt gave a silent sob while the quietness of the place overwhelmed her more than she would have preferred.

"I see..." she whispered, now focusing her gaze on Jane. The young noble didn't look angry, nor did she seem a tad spiteful towards her. "Excuse me." she nodded at the both of them, bidding them an unspoken goodbye as she left with trailing sobs and a young guardian who was clearly judging them to the lowest degree.

Jane approached Mr.Runciman and clasped his wrist in her hand. She then threw him a speechless, cold look. "Mr.Runciman you must go after her!" She exclaimed. "Tell her that you didn't mean it, tell her that you love her, and just-just say you're sorry!"

Mr.Runciman merely let out a sigh and walked towards the entrance door. As he stood before it with his hand ready to twist the knob, he gave one last melancholy expression before welcoming another echoing chime in the bookstore. "I cannot lie to her." He said, his voice sounding as faint as a man telling a lie himself.

Jane couldn't believe what just happened. She barely moved an inch to do anything that may help her situation, and simply remained lost in her own confused world, both grieved and on edge.

---

No one knew what came up in Ms.Vanderbilt's mind. May it have been because of stress or sheer impulse, she found herself walking briskly, straight towards the manor of the bed-ridden Earl. Ms. Warden followed earnestly, being the loyal servant that she is, along the cold corridors of a man who's personality was known to be notorious.

"May I ask, Lady Amelia, why we must come to visit the Earl during such a late hour." She said. "It isn't good to arrive uninvited."

The day certainly was at its reaching finger tips towards a close, but that obviously didn't stop the young noble in doing what she wanted.

"Don't worry Holly, he knows me well enough to say that I am not even a speck of dust close to what defines good." She whispered as the both of them continued to walk inside the wide hallways of the manor, trying to recall what would most likely be his quarters as based through the different sectors of her oldest memories.

"If my memory serves me correctly, this bedroom must be his."

They stood before a two-door entrance down the end corridor of the second floor. It was the very last one. She remembered how he used to tell her that he chose that room simply because it was the most secluded amongst the rest that were closest to each other. Also, it was bigger. It was the only one that had intricate wood carvings of mysterious symbols, and a few pencil marks near the hinges that labeled both their heights during their years of growing up.

She sighed at the memory.

"Why are we here, Milady?" Ms.Warden asked.

Ms.Vanderbilt furrowed her brows and pursed her lips as she nearly chocked another tear out. "I don't know." She muttered.