Chapter 19: A Blond Boy's Heart (part 2)

Meanwhile, the moment Alythia darted out the door Damien was left sitting there utterly stunned.

He heaved a deep sigh as he walked through the garden towards the cafeteria to get some food.

Every now and again he would rub his burning eyes with the back of his hand.

However, when he got to the fountain he saw the figure of a girl sitting on its edge. The girl seemed to be upset because he could hear the faint sound of whimpering as he approached.

The moment she glanced up Damien could've sworn his heart skipped a beat.

She was absolutely stunning.

The girl was very petite and had a small roundish face – like the face of a doll. She had fair skin and long black hair, which she wore in two loose pigtails. Her large blue eyes were staring back at him from under her thin-framed spectacles.

Damien noticed the small teardrops in the corner of her eyes and saw that her knees were slightly bleeding.

He instantly bent down on one knee and put his hands over the wound "I'll make it stop hurting ok? So just bear with me a bit"

The tiny girl nodded and saw a bright white light glowing around the boy's hand as he softly chanted a spell.

She saw his jaw clench, and after a few moments the wound had completely healed.

Just as Damien was about to look up, he suddenly felt something crash into him and he somehow ended up on the ground with the girl's arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"THANK YOU Sir Knight!!!!! Awww thank you thank you thank you!!! It was hurting so much and I was all alone but then you came to save me, I'm so grateful!!"

As she slightly pulled her head back she saw his widely stretched eyes staring back at her.

Damien's face was completely red. He was much too shocked at the sudden physical contact to properly respond so he just continued staring at her – his expression utterly stupefied.

"Oh gosh I'm sorry!!" the girl exclaimed as she rushed to her feet and held out her hand to help him up. He was still in a daze but took her hand nonetheless.

The girl eyed him curiously. "You know Mr. Knight, for someone who can heal others so easily you seem to be quite wounded yourself"

"Huh?" Damien managed to say, completely unsure of what she meant.

"Your eyes" the girl continued, stepping closer "They're red around the edges... were you perhaps crying?"

The blond boy shyly turned his eyes away. He tugged at his hair in an attempt to hide his face from the girl's piercing gaze.

She let out a sigh. "Mr. Knight... I don't know what's wrong but you helped me out just now so... If you want someone to talk to then I'd gladly listen... to you know, return the favor" she added with the sweetest of smiles.

Damien thought her expression rather cute, like an adorable little animal – something like a puppy – eagerly waiting to be of use to its master. He chuckled at the hopeful expression she wore and thought it quite hard to resist her when she made a face like that.

He quickly glanced around and, seeing as there was no one else in earshot, decided to indulge her in her request.

"Well....today is... um..." Damien hesitated for a bit before continuing "Let's just say someone I cared about died a few years back... today was supposed to be their birthday" his voice chocked a bit as if he was fighting back tears. "And to top it all off someone else I know who reminds me of them said something stupid earlier and I got really mad... so I feel a bit guilty and----"

But he was cut off when he felt two tiny arms wrap around him and was once again caught up in a tight embrace.

"Mr. Knight I'm so sorry that happened to you... that must be painful" she whispered into his ear. "Loneliness is a terrible thing but, you know, nothing in this life lasts forever... not even something as dreadful as loneliness. So even though it hurts right now, it will pass I promise".

The girl felt the boy's arms wrap around her as he slightly began to tremble.

She smiled to herself when she realized how soft-hearted he was. However, her heart started to ache as she thought about why he would so easily break down in the arms of a stranger. What she concluded was that he most likely did not have anyone else that he felt he could confide in.

After a few minutes the shaking stopped and Damien pulled back. "Ah... sorry... I just..." he seemed very self-conscious at his sudden emotional outburst so the girl tried to not embarrass him any further.

"It's alright" she softly hummed. "You can talk to me anytime you need to alright? And then in return Mr. Knight has to heal me again whenever I fall..." she thought for a moment before changing her tone to something rather playful "but be warned I'm quite the clumsy type".

Damien smiled down at the girl and found himself wondering what a sweet lady like her was doing all alone in the school's garden.

"KLOEYE!!" he heard a voice yell from a distance. The girl tilted her face in the direction of the noise.

"Ah brother, where have you been?" she innocently asked.

Karlyle stared at the 2 teens and the wind around them picked up.

"What the hell are you doing?" he growled while glaring at the blond boy.

Damien, who by now noticed that he was still holding the tiny girl in his arms, suddenly released her and even found himself stepping back a few paces.

It all looked quite suspicious.

By now the wind was wildly blowing all around them as Karlyle clearly misunderstood the situation and thought Damien had been up to something indecent.

Also the blue-eyed boy's guilty expression didn't provide the slightest aid in proving his innocence.

"Kai! What's wrong?"

A sweet voice echoed through the garden and the wind instantly calmed.

Karlyle felt the girl's arms encircle him from behind.

After hugging him briefly, she walked around and cupped his face with her hands "Hey, focus on me... just look at me for a bit until you calm down okay?"

While Alythia was busy soothing a certain overly-emotional dragon, Ray and Blake also rushed onto the scene.

Damien felt a headache coming on. He could not understand how this adorable little creature right next to him was related to that monster.

"...there must be some mistake..." he murmured to himself.

But there clearly wasn't. She had already called the brute as such and if he looked closely he could actually see the resemblance.

He groaned as he realized how complicated today's lunch had gotten. He was just on his way to the cafeteria – he just wanted a sandwich but NO, instead THIS had to happen.

Kloeye noticed the blond-boy's emotional turmoil and decided to try and cheer him up a bit.

"Mr. Knight" she said as she merrily wrapped both her tiny hands around his arm. "We're about to have a picnic, would you like to join us?"

Damien glanced at Karlyle's disapproving stare and wanted to refuse before another hurricane broke out in the garden but the girl continued pressing him "Please, it would make me really happy if you did".

She asked him with such a sweet voice that he felt himself automatically nod before even realizing what he had done.

By now Alythia had caught on to the whole situation and a gigantic smirk spread across her face.

As all 6 of them sat down on the two blankets she found the atmosphere quite amusing.

'Fufufufufu Karlyle and Damien are busy glaring at each other, Ray and Kloeye are chatting about – pretending not to notice, and Blake is gobbling down all the food and too unaware of his surroundings to actually feel awkward about it'

"Ah what an interesting progression..." she mumbled under her breath as she went about her business – munching down on a lemon tart.