I wanted to lose myself

"Wait!!" Aria called out, wincing at the end of the single word. "Sit down." she managed before going back to breathing through her mouth in an attempt to slow down her breathing back to normal.

Jacob gave one last look to the door of the recovery ward, mostly to make sure Miss Anhao hadn't heard the commotion was wasn't coming in. After making sure nothing of the sort had happened, he sat back down. Seeing that Aria was still struggling, Jacob was up once again. "Are you sure you're fine?" he asked, this time taking a step in the direction of her bed.

Aria nodded and said, "Give me a minute." Her voice sounding a lot more controlled this time. Jacob nodded, deciding to trust Aria. She already sounded a bit better. He sat back in the chair and watched Aria as she slowly evened out her breathing.

Jacob looked at Aria right now, eyes closed and breathing heavily, with barely any skin visible beneath those bandages and the golden hair spread out behind her, hanging from the railing behind her head. He blinked as he was struck with how beautiful Aria was.

Jacob blinked. He had known that Aria was unearthly beautiful. Everyone knew that. He often forgot to breath whenever Aria dressed up, she looked so absolutely stunning. But right now, all weak and battered, lying there covered in bruises, Jacob thought that Aria looked very beautiful.

Beautiful was such a common word, thrown about recklessly for anything and everything, Jacob thought. It was not a word that was enough to describe Aria. But alas, it was all he had.

As he sat there, Jacob had no idea why, but his mind wandered to the first time he had been so struck with her beauty. It had been back at their village, he and Aria had just had a fishing match, which he had lost, Jacob remembered bitterly. And Aria had stood there in the sun, drying her hair off, and Jacob hadn't been able to take his eyes off her.

It had been how long ago? God! Had it only been a little more than an year? Felt like a lifetime had passed. Both of them were such different people then.

Aria had been a mystery, that hadn't changed. But she had been a lot more carefree, and she had smiled a lot more, Jacob realized with a start. How long had it been since he had seen Aria smile and laugh without a care in the world? Actually, how many times had Aria laughed carelessly in the past year, he wondered. Aria seemed different in the capital. Like she belonged.

Maybe she did, Jacob thought. Her powers were more closer to people here than in the village. But it was almost like she didn't really want to belong. Even the previous week at the Scott mansion, Aria looked exactly like people from the royalty. She talked like them, moved like them, and even carried herself like them. But Jacob had noticed a little shine in her eyes that had been there whenever Aria returned to the village, which seemed to be lost when she was with people who seemed to be her equals.

Jacob looked up from his assessment of Aria when she called his name.