She turned to look at Damien who stood there looking at her. Her smile continued, receiving one from him. As complicated as he appeared in front of strangers, he was actually simple. Bringing her here to show the butterflies under the light.
This time it wasn’t the butterflies she was looking at but Damien. The sunlight falling on one side of his face and the other side carrying the shadow. She didn’t know what took over but the emotions that had only begun to brew compelled her to look at him.
His eyes looking at her intently while she stared back at him. The wind that blew through the forest, breezing past them, she walked towards him with their eyes not breaking away for a moment. Going to stand in front of him where the smile slowly started to lower down with her heart beating louder than before.
It was as if Damien already knew what was on her mind, being in sync with her emotions. When Penny raised her face, standing on her tiptoes he leaned forward to meet her for the kiss she had intended. Not overthinking, she went with the flow, letting her heart loose and kissed him on his lips with her eyes closed.
It wasn’t a deep kiss like the ones Damien had given her but a simple one where she pressed her lips on his.
And she pulled back while lowering herself back on the ground. Letting her eyes slowly flutter open she saw Damien looking at her. Though he knew it, he was slightly taken aback not expecting her to kiss him. Her eyes looked bright and alive, the jade green eyes trying to mesh with the forest as if she were part of it.
“That was too fast,” he said making her internally smile.
This time when Penny took a step, Damien’s hand curled around her waist to bring her close. With her toes standing back on her tips, she could see Damien waiting for her to take the initiation. She gulped, the spell of courage breaking. Going close to his face, she felt the heat of his lips but was it her own heat that could feel right now? Her head felt heavy but she leaned forward anyways, this time pressing her lips on his which felt soft and supple.
Feeling his arms holding her in his warm embrace she kissed him before feeling him kiss her back, taking his own time to savor her lips. Penny felt her heart lighten, the feeling of her floating with the wind breezing around them as the sun began to dip down.
Pulling back, Penny felt as if the sky had darkened suddenly. How long did they kiss? It was only a few moments ago that the sky was still bright in color before she had closed her eyes.
“Who knew butterflies could do the trick. If I knew this I would have brought you here the very first day,” Damien commented with one side of his lips pulling back, his eyes shining with mirth and joy. Penny, on the other hand, rolled her eyes.
It would be better not to tell him that it wasn’t the butterflies that were responsible for the kiss. He would only puff his chest if she were to tell it to him.
“Did you finally fall for me?” he asked to see her eyes widen immediately.
“I did not,” she was quick to deny his question.
“My,” he sang, “Who knew that miss Penelope went kissing men as a thank you,” he teased her, her cheeks turning red, “Do you want to go back home? We can stay if you want.”
“We can stay here for a little longer,” she said. He let her go from his embrace but took her hand in his. Linking it with his mindlessly.
“Let’s go on the other side. This is going to turn darker in a few minutes,” said Damien taking her along with him through the forest.
The week had been gone by too many things happening and last week Damien had been busy with council work while he had sent Penny to the church where she was only beginning to learn the number of potions that were present in there and how to make one without tapping into dark magic as some of them had the different components which could switch to white and black if one wasn’t careful with it. It had been only two days.
“Do you come here often?” asked Penny when they came to the edge of a cliff where beneath it was a blanket of trees.
“Sometimes,” he answered. Seeing a rock there, Penny went to stand and lean her back so that she didn’t have to keep standing, “It isn’t too different from the mansion.”
Now that Penny had kissed him, she didn’t know what to speak with her heart that she was still trying to hold down from fluttering like a butterfly. It felt like a rush of adrenaline high that was trying to come down.
Silence surrounded them but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. It was pleasant. Something that was quiet and calm that put the mind to ease. Damien had taken a seat on the rock next to her. After some more time passed, Penny asked,
“Damien?”
Damien who was looking at the sky turned his eyes towards Penny, “Hmm?”
“Do you think my mother is still here? In Bonelake or in this town?” it somewhere tugged her heart with the possibility of seeing her mother so that she could ask why she did what she did. At the same time, something popped in her mind making her frown.
“My aunt,” she whispered which Damien caught on it.
Her aunt! All this while she thought her aunt and her mother were sisters but it seemed like it wasn’t the case. Her mother was a black witch but her aunt was a human.
Catching Penny’s trail of thoughts, he stated, “Looks like we’ll be paying a visit to your relatives house.”
