Three

Chapter three

Amelia

It had been about three weeks since I had found Alaric and started treating him. The times when I would go to the shack to give him food or to change the dressings on his wounds were the most fun part of my day. 

We would talk and laugh about a lot of different things, and Alaric actually had a great sense of humor. He was fun to talk to and he always had something to say.

The rate at which his wounds were healing quite alarming. For the intensity of the wounds that I saw on that first day, it was surprising. I had asked him why his wounds were healing so quickly, but he always said that was how his body worked. It was really weird.

It was currently morning and I was on my way to the shack to meet Alaric. I had brought him some food and a change of clothes. Alaric had told me that he had seen a waterfall somewhere in the forest and that it would be interesting and fun if we took a walk and went there for a swim. 

When he told me, I disagreed at first because I was still scared of going into the forest, but after a while of convincing and Alaric telling me that he was there to protect me, I finally agreed. I just hoped that no one would see us.

I knocked on the door of the shack and I heard Alaric's voice grumble inside before standing up to open the door. I laughed because he didn't seem to be a morning person.

"Good morning." I said to Alaric with a ile on my face.

"Good morning mi'lady." He said as he took the tray and clothes from my hands and went inside.

"I trust you had a good sleep." He said and I nodded my head.

"I trust you did too." I answered as he sat down on the makeshift bed with the tray of food in his lap and I on the chair.

"Thank you for the food." He said and dug in.

I watched him eat with a smile on my face. The way Alaric ate was different from the way anyone else that I had seen ate. He ate so mannerly, even the way he walked and did things. He did them so graciously and without mistakes, that even I that was a lady found it intriguing.

"What about your parents aren't they at home?" He asked when he was done with the food. 

"Well, they're not at home today. They've been out since dusk, they had something important to attend to and won't be back for a while, that was why I agreed to go to the waterfall today, because we could spend as long as we like there."

"Okay then, if that's the case, shall we get going now?" He said standing up and holding his hand out to me.

I took his hand standing up and smiled back at him. "Yes, we shall." 

We marched out of the shack and I closed the door behind us. I let him lead the way as we left the front of the shack. I was still a little bit scared of what could be inside the forest, so I was a bit hesitant to leave the clearing and step into the forest.

I stood there before the line that demarcated the clearing from the forest, and my heart rate increased. I swallowed, taking deep breaths slowly to try to calm myself down, but nothing seemed to be working.

Alaric had already gone a while when he noticed that I wasn't following behind him and turned back.

"What's the problem?" He asked as he walked back to me.

"I'm scared. My parents have told me a lot of bad things about this forest, so I don't know if I really want to be going into it. They said that there were wild beasts in there that could maul a person and kill them." 

Alaric let out a husky laugh. "There's no wild animal in there, Amelia. What happened to me wasn't caused by a wild animal and besides you went into it to save me." 

I sighed. "That was different. I was really curious about the noise that I heard from it, and that was why I went in, but right now, since there's really no reason for me to go in, I'm scared." 

"You don't have to be scared Amelia. I'm right here next to you. Do you really think that I would let anything happen to you?" He asked and I stared at him, knowing it was true.

"And besides, all the time I spent in the forest, I never saw any wild beast or anything that would eat you up, if not, you would never have found me and I would probably be dead by now." 

He held out his hand to me. "Trust me." 

I looked into his eyes. They held such sincerity that I couldn't hold back. I placed my hand in his and let him pull me into the forest. 

Even after pulling me in, Alaric didn't let go of my hand, instead he held unto it tighter, and that was the only thing keeping me grounded. I stared at our hands clasped together as my heart skipped a beat, not because ofy fear of the forest, but because of Alaric's hand that was in mine.

I had noticed for a while that whenever I was around Alaric, I acted different and I became very much aware of his presence. I noticed every single thing he did and every gesture he made. I had started to like him, but it was inappropriate for a lady to approach a man first, so I kept it to myself.

When we got to a particular place and he saw that I was calm, he let go of my hand and led the way.

"How did you know that there was a waterfall?" I asked Alaric.

"I noticed it after I was attacked and was crawling around looking for help." He replied and I frowned.

"How can you notice a waterfall in that condition?" I asked, an amused look on my face.

"Well, I took notice of all the landmarks that I could, just in case I wanted to return back to where I was coming from." He said and I nodded, impressed.

Before we reached the waterfall, I could already hear the sound of the water and was feeling excited already. I ran past Alaric, because I could already tell which direction it was in and when I rounded the corner, I stood there in awe.

Alaric came and stood beside me and I stared at it, frozen in place withu mouth hanging open. He had a smile on his face as he watched me and then walked past me to get closer to it. I walked forward on shaky legs as I stared at the beauty.

The water was gushing out of what seemed to be a small hill and was pouring into a lake below. It has to be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe that I had been missing out of something so beautiful all my life.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Alaric said, smiling at the expression on my face.

"Yes it is." I walked towards the water, as I had gone past my initial shocked stage and dipped my toe into the water. 

I quickly took it out, shocked at how could the water was, even when the sun was up. I turned back to see that Alaric had already taken off his shirt and was left in his breeches, so I immediately turned back, a blush staining my face.

I heard Alaric scoff behind me before I heard a loud splash in the water. I turned my head to it and saw Alaric in the water. 

"Won't you come in?" He asked. 

"I will, just give me sometime to prepare myself. I've never entered into a body of water before." 

I walked up to the small protrusion of land where Alaric had jumped from and stood there, taking deep breaths.

"Come on, you can do it!" Alaric shouted from below me.

"Okay, you can do this." I said to myself and closed my eyes as I jumped. 

I felt myself suspended in the air before I felt the water engulf me wholely. It was at the moment that I remembered that I didn't know how to swim, and I felt myself going down on the water, my arms flailing looking for something to grab unto, but there was nothing.

The water was getting into my eyes and was burning me. I tried to scream, but water only rushed into my nose and mouth, filling my stomach. Suddenly, I felt someone take a hold of my arm and pull me up. 

My head came out of the water and I took in as much air as I could and coughed up some water hysterically. Alaric wrapped his arms around my waist as he held me close to him. He then pulled me to a shallow part of the water, where my feet could touch the ground.

"Calm down." He said, rubbing my back. "My apologies, I forgot to ask if you could swim."  He said and after a while of coughing, I finally calmed down.

"No, it's not your fault. I went overboard because I was too excited." 

That was when I noticed how close I was to Alaric. My hands were placed on his bare chest as he stared at me, worry and concern written all over his face. My heart skipped a beat before picking up as I stared into his eyes.

My hands crawled up his chest to his shoulders and wrapped themselves around his neck. It was as if I was being held in a trance as I moved closer to him, staring at his lips, the urge getting stronger.

My eyes fluttered closed and I could already feel his warm breath on my lips as they brushed his, the warmth that his bare chest gave off was becoming even more intense before I could no longer feel them.

Alaric had pulled away from me, his warm body leaving me cold and shaking as he stood more than an arm's length away from me.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. "I think we should head back now." He said and went to pick up his shirt that he had thrown to the floor. 

I watched his back as he walked back where we had come from. My shoulders sagged as I beat myself up inside, but his actions had made one thing clear.

He didn't have the same feelings I had towards him, at least not yet.