Chapter 14: Whenever You're Ready

Mia's POV "So what's the deal with you and that guy anyway?" Kaya asked me once we had gotten out of class and into the car Sol had lent me. "Sol?" I asked as I buckled myself in and pulled out of the parking lot. "Nothing's going on. Why?" The woman scoffed beside me and shot me a sideways glance. I laughed and looked at her funny. "What?" I stressed as she only shook her head. "Oh, come on, Mia! Even you can't be that blind. He offers you a job with a very, very decent salary from what I've heard. He gives you a room in his gorgeous mansion plus a car to use as you please, just because you are his old family friend?" I bit my bottom lip as I turned at the sight of the green light. From our new position on the road, I could see the light of the setting sun. I pulled the visor down to protect my eyes. "He's a really good old family friend." Kaya groaned at my weak reply. "Sure, really good family friends give you cars and comfortable rooms in their mansions. Seriously, he's totally into you." 'And he might totally be into my blood.' I added this possibility without speaking out. I shook my head at her. "Where am I taking you?" I turned my head to her and watched as she opened her phone and waved her hand loosely. "Let's go to your really close old friend's luxurious mansion." I rolled my eyes. "I have to pick up my stuff there and then go back home." "Are you sure you're alright?" "Hm?" She turned to me. "What do you mean?" I shrugged. She continued, "Because of last night?" "Yeah, I mean," I spoke as I turned into the driveway of Sol's mansion, "that guy was totally weird, right?" "Well, I don't feel anything besides a headache. I definitely won't be going back there again." Kaya told me as she got out of the car and made her way to the front door. I nodded my head at the security on our way up. "That's probably a good idea." I turned the key in the door. "It was a pretty weird place." When I turned back to let Kaya go in first, she was looking at me with a knowing smile on her face and a raised eyebrow. "What is it this time?" I asked, knowing that look on her face. She shrugged and walked past me. "Your good old friend gave you a key to his house." "Oh, for the love of God, Kaya, truly, there's nothing–" I was cut short when I saw Sol standing in the middle of the living room. He was wearing a tight black shirt and black trousers. He had a book in one hand, and a set of reading glasses sat on the bridge of his nose. I found myself swallowing involuntarily and saw Kaya roll her eyes at me from my side view. "Hey," Sol greeted us. "Did you sleep well?" The question was directed towards Kaya. She nodded and thanked him before leaving to get her stuff from the room upstairs. I found myself wringing my hands together awkwardly as my eyes darted around the room. It came in contact with the place I had stood last night, and I felt my face heat up before I moved to leave. "Um, Mia?" Sol called after me. I stopped and turned to him. When he motioned me over, I tilted my head but walked toward him, nonetheless. "She didn't do something weird last night, did she?" I instantly knew what he was asking and shook my head quickly. "No, no." I lowered my voice to a whisper. "I checked everywhere. There were no bite marks or strange behavior. I even asked her about it, and she said she was feeling fine. I think we're safe." He breathed out as he listened to me. It was sweet of Sol to concern Kaya, but I realized it was probably him doing his duty to ensure that there were no unregistered new vampires in the area. Licking my lips, I turned from him and looked at his glasses that now sat on top of his head. "Bit of an overkill, don't you think?" I pointed to the glasses. He laughed, taking them off. "You think so?" I only nodded and smiled at him. I could feel the tension in the room slowly begin to simmer down. He pulled me further away from the staircase as he lowered his head to talk softly. "Look, I... Um... Last night…" My face warmed when he was talking. "I didn't mean to come across on purpose… If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable…" I could tell Sol was racking his brain for the right way to approach the topic, and I shook my head. "No, no," I interrupted him. "It's totally fine, I mean—no, I didn't feel uncomfortable." "I know, but that's the thing. I don't want you to feel any discomfort. I want you...." He sighed loudly and took off his glasses. "I want you to trust me." My eyes widened at his confession. I tilted my head in question. "I know you don't want to talk about certain things like why you were wearing those bands when I found you–" "Sol," I tried to explain, but he continued talking. "I would really appreciate it if you just… shared your past life with me sometimes. I barely know you, and I don't want any other bad things to happen. I really have no idea how to protect you if you don't tell me anything." I felt my eyebrows pull together as anger slowly began to pull up inside me. The way his expression changed from worry to shock told me he could sense the change too. "I'm not asking you to protect me." "I know, I know I'm sorry, but…" Sol sighed again and ran his hands over his face. "I can't stop this feeling like I have to, you know? Not even if I tried to." "Sol, seriously, please try your best to control that kind of protective feeling. Okay? You asked me to be honest and share my past life with you and even trust you. But I can't do that." "Why not?" he asked. His voice was harder now but not demanding. I felt myself shrink back slightly and just sighed. "I don't know!" I threw my hands up in the air. "One day, if you find your father becomes the real reason causing all the trauma and bullsh*t you went through in your life… What do you think? Do you think you could trust anyone? Could you? " We both froze at my outburst. I stared at him with widened eyes as my hands slowly lowered to my sides and a groan escaped me. The next thing I knew was Sol was slowly reaching out to me. His movements were slow enough that I could tell what he was going to do. I knew he was waiting for me to pull away, but I didn't. Instead, against everything I had been teaching myself in the past few years, I allowed him to pull me into a hug and hold me. We stayed like that for a moment before he spoke. "I'm sorry." Sol pushed me away slightly and looked at me with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you." There was a kind of dejected look in his eyes, and I hated the rejection. I knew he was feeling upset. I hated myself because I hurt him. "Being someone who also had troubling experiences with his father, I should understand you better than others. Sorry for forcing you to share your experience. You're not ready to share." I closed my eyes at the sensation of his thumb brushing my cheek. "Thank you," I whispered to him. "But," Sol said, "if there is anything, even the smallest thing, that you think you can share with me, then I'd like to hear it. I want to learn more about what type of person you are." I smiled at him and laid a kiss on the palm of his hand. I saw a wide grin spread across his face and pulled away from him as I heard Kaya come down the stairs. ###