Hide & Seek - Daniel Le Domas.

🥀 Chapter Three 🥀

* Edited *

Grace and Alex were married, finally. The two were now husband and wife, and Monica couldn’t be happier for them. Even while trying to ignore the nagging feeling lingering within her that the night wouldn’t end well.

She wanted to be positive. She had to be.

So, with the desire to remain that way, she had snuck off on her own until she found herself wandering the music room she hadn’t even known existed until now. Truth be told, the room felt empty and unoccupied. Even when she moved to sit on the sofa with a heavy sigh and hands clasping anxiously together.

“Trying to convince yourself that everything's going to be okay?”

Her gaze quickly shifts towards Daniel as he enters the room with a glass of bourbon in hand and a frown etched on his face. He walks slowly into the large space, his eyes never quite straying from hers as he approaches the sofa she is sat upon.

She feels her heart skip a subtle beat as she takes in his new, slightly dishevelled appearance.

He no longer wore his suit jacket, and his bow tie he’d been wearing earlier now lay around his neck, untied. Meanwhile, his hair no longer looked neat and combed aside. Instead, his messy curls sat naturally upon his head, making him appear all the more attractive in Monica’s opinion.

He offers her a small, meek smile as he sits himself beside her with a soft exhale – one that becomes a groan the moment she leans forward and takes the glass of bourbon from him. He watches with mild annoyance as she lifts the drink to her lips and, without another glance spared in his direction, gulps the contents down before placing the empty glass on the table beside them.

“Yeah, help yourself.” he mutters.

“You shouldn’t be drinking, Daniel.” she discourages as she leans back against the cushions.

He frowns at her, clearly unhappy. He didn’t want her to think of him as a burden, as someone she had to constantly watch over and protect. He didn’t want her to feel the constant need to take away his alcohol. It wasn’t her place.

He was fully aware that he had a problem; he's an alcoholic. Hell, everyone around him knows. It's no secret. Yet, Monica's the first person to ever actively attempt to help him. She's the first person to show him care and concern over this. And if he's honest with himself, he might just admit how foreign that feels for him.