Chapter 26

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She paced Sébastien's bedroom a few times as the reality of what had happened set in. The drinking, Olly dragging her to a room, Sébastien having to save her and then fight Olly the next morning.

It was a disaster, she'd done nothing but create chaos and drama and the idea of Sébastien getting hurt because of her was too much to handle and she broke down. It was all too much as misery seemed to follow her wherever she went and she slid down to the floor.

Since arriving she'd done nothing but make his life harder while he had done nothing but show her kindness and a limitless amount of patience. She didn't deserve that, she knew. She was like quicksand, dragging down everyone around her.

If only there was a place for her to go, any place at all, she'd use it to remove herself from his life. It was the best gift she could ever give him, even if he'd deny it if he were to hear.

Her chest felt tight and breathing became a chore as a million thoughts ran through her mind which distracted her enough so she didn't hear Sébastien return again.

"Ava?" he asked worriedly while kneeling next to her, shaking her shoulder to make her look up at him.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out before covering her face with her hands in shame. She didn't want him to look at him or show her any kindness. It was undeserved.

"What's going on? Ava?"

"It's all my fault. Everything."

"It's not. Just talk to me."

"No. You should be like this, you can't be nice to me. You should be angry, furious even that I got drunk and then I caused all that drama the night before and even this morning was my fault."

"What did you see?"

"It's my fault," she started crying again, not wanting to be consoled or having her thoughts changed. She needed to be punished, and if he was smart he'd take back everything he ever got her and throw her out right there and then.

"He had no right to still be here after what he tried to do last night, it was his own fault," Sébastien replied quietly before reaching out to stroke her hair. It was a comforting gesture, and the unexpectedness was enough to temporarily distract her train of thought. "Come downstairs with me," he suggested. "Everyone has gone home so let's eat some breakfast. You'll feel much better after, I promise."

He got up and held out his hand, which she briefly looked at before slowly taking it. His large hand completely engulfed hers and she could feel the callouses underneath her palm. The feel of his skin against hers sent sparks up her arms and straight into her heart. Like an electric shock to restart the vital organ it made it beat faster than ever before but she didn't quite understand how her feelings had increased so much overnight.

The feelings were already there, she knew, but this was something else. Something stronger.

A desire to actually be more to him than just a maid shook her awake but unlike her heart, her brain didn't agree. It was stupid and would go absolutely nowhere. She'd been nothing but a bother to him and she should be glad he didn't absolutely despise her by now.

He pulled her up with no effort at all before releasing her hand, letting the moment drift away.

They didn't talk while walking down the hallway and down the stairs and she was grateful for that. The little moment to gather her thoughts was much needed as she still worked to calm herself down from the breakdown from before.

What she hadn't noticed before was the absolutely disastrous state of the apartment. Trash was littered everywhere and there wasn't a single floor that didn't have at least five cups and an empty bottle laying on it.

Worst of all was the living room, where there wasn't a single square foot without trash. A vase had fallen on the floor to pieces and there were trampled down M&M's everywhere. A sweater was strewn on the couch and there was a white substance on the coffee table, making her wonder to what degree Justin had been joking about getting cocaine.

Sébastien ignored all of it and walked towards the kitchen, which remained relatively unharmed save for the spilled liquids on the floor and counter. She wasn't quite sure what he wanted her to do so she just watched as he opened the fridge to get a carton of eggs.

Next, he bent down to grab a pan to cook them in and put it on the stove before turning around briefly just to say, "sit down," while pointing at the stools around the kitchen island. He didn't wait to see if she actually did, probably knowing she'd do it blindly.

She watched him toast some bread in the pan before baking an egg and putting it on it. She'd never eaten something like that before and didn't quite know what to call it.

He made a plate for both of them before setting it down on the table and sitting down on one of the empty stools. "This looks great, thank you. What's it called?"

"It's a croque madame, eat up."

"I thought you said you couldn't cook," she said suspiciously while eyeing the dish in front of her. It was too fancy to just make up and it even had a fancy name.

"It's just toast with an egg," he replied with a small smile before taking a bite, prompting Ava to do the same. Just toast with an egg didn't cut it in terms of description. It was the tastiest combination of toast and egg she'd ever had and she only now realized how hungry she'd been.

"It's really good, though," she complimented, making him boyishly smile back at her. Her cheeks heated up so she quickly diverted her attention back to the food in front of her in an attempt to hide it. Why did her body always betray her feelings?

Surprisingly, eating relieved the nausea she'd been experiencing before, leaving her with just the headache pounding at the back of her head.

The last bite made her long for more but she didn't want to ask him to make her more and instead she turned her attention towards the mess around the house. It would take forever to clean it all up and she was already dreading the moment she'd have to start.

"How are you feeling now?" he inquired, having finished his meal as well.

"A lot better now, thank you."

"I think I'm going for a walk later, you wanna come?"

The question made her heart speed up at the prospect of going on a walk with him. Just the two of them. But as always, reality got in the way and she remembered that she had a whole apartment to clean before she could start thinking of doing anything else.

"Oh, I'd like to but this mess is going to take ages to clean," she replied while gesturing around her but he didn't seem to be worried about it all and just shrugged.

"It'll be fine, don't worry."

"But I'm supposed to keep the apartment clean, and it's not even my day off which means I'm already behind on work because I woke up so late, and then there's--" she rambled, growing more anxious with every word she said as she realized what a bad employee she was being.

"Ava," he said calmly, effectively interrupting her. "It'll be fine. Just get dressed and we'll go."

She wanted to protest but the simple act of going on a walk with him excited her enough to convince herself that she could do this, just for once. So instead she nodded, and took her plate before he took it from her and said, "just get dressed."

After nodding she quickly took off to get changed and picked a simple pair of jeans to go with a navy blue shirt. She rushed back downstairs to see him waiting for her in the hallway while typing on his phone so she took the moment to put on her shoes and coat.

"Are you ready?" he asked, putting away his phone. His brown eyes looked straight at her and he seemed calmer than he'd been before, calming her in return. When did he gain that much control over her emotions like that?



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Short chapter but I might update again within the week.

Lemme know what you thought!

See you next chapter

xx May


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