EVERLASTING (Charlotte's Story)

Chapter 93/ 240: Freedom

I stepped into the room, heart beating like a band on a street march.

Slowly, Mrs. Brooks shot me one last silent smile as she shut the door behind me very carefully.

In a clear and cautious attempt not to disturb the sleeping beauty in the room. Aha, so he really just fell asleep again.

At the thought, my eyes directly fell on the person in question.

And damn, was the description of a sleeping beauty an understatement to him.

Tiptoeing, I approached his bed, and the slowness in my motion allowed me to take in the scene in detail.

He was on a master bed that was placed in the middle of the room but also had its back to the wall.

The room had no lights on, but as I gazed into him, I realized that this room, similar to the one in his estate in Belgravia...

Had a window ceiling.

Yep, meaning, when I looked up, I saw all the stars and the moon and the clouds in the dark silent night.

Sending so much serene and majestic light...

That, as I shifted my gaze down...

Were so divinely reflected in his perfect features.

I was close enough to the bed by now.

Enough to observe his features...

Very... carefully.

He was asleep.

And a weird thought crossed my mind as I eyed him.

It was the idea that, sometimes when you have looked at someone for so long and admired them for so long...

You become able to tell more and more of their beauteous features every... time.

You're able to see them in a new light and you notice the slightest difference in them every time you look at them.

Gazing at his sleeping features, I noted a small, barely notable scar under his left ear for the first time. It looked like an old scar, and I was surprised I'd not noticed it before.

Roaming my eyes carefully over him further, I noticed he was relatively uninjured from the encounter in the estate, contrary to me, with his beauteous features still intact.

As I kept my focused observation on him, it occurred to me that I've seen this man sleeping only a handful of times ever since I've known him.

The first was back in his estate in Belgravia... where he was fast to wake up and I was so anxious and fidgety back then.

The second was when he was in the hospital, when he was under the mercy of an oxygen machine and I was grieving my eyes out as I realized I loved him.

The third, when he was sleeping beside Bianca serenely and I... kissed him.

The fourth was when he underwent an operation in his room, and I read him a poem.

And the fifth... was when I slept next to him after he discovered I was Daisy.

In each of those times, I'd seen him in a certain light and situation.

Similarly, this time...

I was seeing him under a sky that competed with his beauty and complemented it at once.