Chapter 318: Going Out

Slowly, my mind started to recall the various questions that Harvey had asked me about what I wanted. Back then, I didn’t know that my future was at least partly dependent on the decision that he would make. My brain suffered from information overload, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. On the other hand, I could feel that Hayden no longer wanted to discuss this.

"Where are you going?" I asked when he stood up.

"I don’t know," he replied like he really had no idea.

I stood up to follow him, but he turned around and gave me a smile that looked very strained and depressing.

"Good night…" I said softly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With that, I watched as Hayden walked out of his room. I had no idea where he was headed, and I wondered if he knew that himself. However, it was clear that Hayden wanted to be alone. He probably needed time to think, and time wasn’t an indefinite resource to us.

After the door closed behind Hayden and I was left all alone in his large living room, I sank back down onto the sofa, and I quickly realized that I needed to do a lot of thinking as well.

Having a chance to have a proper conversation with Hayden was a difficult chance to come by and I was determined not to be so confused and unsure about my answers the next time that we had this conversation.

Answers and decisions. I need to make some decisions and arrive at some answers. When the sun rises tomorrow, we will have only six days left. Either we decide to get married, or we probably have to part ways forever.

…

Not surprisingly, Hayden did not return to his room that night. I went to sleep alone and woke up alone on his bed. If he wouldn’t even sleep in his own bed, then maybe I should just head back to my room. What’s the point of me sleeping in Hayden’s bed if he wasn’t going to be there?

I woke up with a nagging headache that I knew wouldn’t go away until I had my problems sorted out. Ignoring the mirror so that I wouldn’t have to face the state that I was in, I quickly showered and got dressed. It wasn’t late but I had a sense that Hayden wasn’t in the mansion. Either he did not return last night and or had gone out early in the morning.

Staying in to think wasn’t something that Hayden was good at.

As for me, I already had my destination for the day decided. Hayden could go out and the man that I wanted to see would probably be where he always was. Without hesitation, I headed to the dark hallway that led to Harvey’s wing of the mansion. The closer I got to my destination, the more impatient I became and soon I found myself running down the hallway towards the door to Harvey’s living room.

"Good morning, Malissa," Harvey greeted me the moment that I walked in.

Unlike the other days when Harvey would just be lazing around on the sofa with a book in his hand, today Harvey was on his feet while he fixed his hair in front of a mirror. On top of that he was immaculately dressed as if he was going on date with the love of his life.

"Harvey…are you going somewhere?" I asked.

"Are you here to visit me because you miss me so much?" Harvey asked instead of replying to my question as his hand continued to style his blond hair.

I had to say that he looked very much like Hayden at that moment. They practically look alike from behind that it was scary.

"Umm…no…" I replied.

"You could have at least played along, you know. So, you need to talk?" Harvey replied teasingly as he correctly guessed the reason why I was there.

"Yes, do you have some time?" I asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no. You were right earlier; I’m heading out today…" Harvey said as he turned around to face me.

I sucked in a breath and held it as my eyes widened in surprise. He really does look like Hayden or was it the other way around because Harvey was born first? The way he dressed and styled his hair today made him look even more like Hayden than usual and I was starting to wonder if that was done intentionally.

But I thought that the dead wasn’t supposed to go out wandering about.

"Where are you going? I thought that you couldn’t go anywhere," I asked in slightly confusion.

"Wrong. I told you before that there are many things that I can do while disguised as Hayden and I’ve gone out before too," Harvey quickly corrected me as he waved a finger at me.

The place he mentioned that he goes to quite often…

"Are you going to see Amelia by any chance?" I asked.

"You’re not so dumb after all," Harvey replied as he strode past me casually.

"What is that supposed to mean…" I muttered.

"Just like it sounded. Want to come along?" Harvey said invitingly before he smiled at me.

"I can?" I asked.

"Do you want to?" he asked, once again replying to my question with another one of his own.

Hayden would kill me if he found out, though. But…I’ll be with Harvey so that should be fine, right?

"Yes. I want to," I admitted.

It had been so long since I’ve been outside of the mansion apart from going out to that meeting with Ethan, which I couldn’t actually count as going out of the mansion. The other reason that I wanted to go was that I wanted to see Amelia.

Since last learning that I was probably going through the same set of problems that she had gone through, I just felt like I might figure something out if I got to see her even if she couldn’t speak to me in the state that she was in.

"Let’s go then. We can talk on the way there or when we get there…" Harvey suggested brightly.

"Hayden is going to get so mad about this if he finds out…" I mumbled as I hesitated.

--To be continued…