We'll talk tomorrow

"I . . . There's no way to explain what I've done, but. . . " Joseph began, but Aria cut in, "Run."

"Huh?" Joseph was surprised. Hadn't Miss Anhao said that Aria was basically fine now? Had she sustained any internal injuries?

"Come on! Leave!!" Aria implored. Joseph slowly got up, wondering what was wrong, but apparently that wasn't fast enough for Aria. "Faster, come on!! You'll get into serious trouble!" she snapped.

Joseph opened his mouth to argue, but heard it the next second. Footsteps, coming towards the recovery ward.

It was Miss Anhao no doubt.

"We'll talk tomorrow." he said, flying towards the window and disappearing through it. Aria gave a curt nod and lied back down and closed her eyes.

She lightly twirled her fingers and the window closed with a snap just as Miss Anhao's figure entered the recovery ward.

She came in, cast a look at the sleeping Aria. Miss Anhao sighed and went to the window. She opened it and looked out. Finding nothing, Miss Anhao closed the window, sighed and walked to Aria's bed. "I know you take it upon yourself to take care of everything. But remember to take proper rest too." she whispered, planting a soft kiss on Aria's forehead and leaving.

Joseph wanted to kick himself as he waited atop that tree to make sure Miss Anhao had gone back to sleep before leaving to sneak off to his own room.

Why on earth had he told Aria that they would talk tomorrow? He had the perfect excuse to rush out of the recovery ward. Aria wouldn't have been able to call out, and all he had to do was not show up here anymore. He had already made sure of the fact that Aria was all right, her being able to sense him was proof enough.

So Joseph had now lost the only excuse he kept telling himself of coming to the recovery ward, and technically, he didn't need to come there again.

"I am such an idiot!" Joseph cursed himself as he flew towards his window. "But it was nice to hear her voice, wasn't it?" A little voice inside Joseph whispered, and he had a smile on his lips, Joseph realised with a start.

"Can never stay away from her, can I?" Joseph muttered. He had finally accepted that there was no way Joseph was ever going to be able to stay away from Aria. And he felt a weird kind of releif wash over him when he realised that he didn't have to. Aria didn't blame him for anything, well except for his actions after returning to the academy. Which was highly understandable.

"How do I always end up making the worst choice." Joseph wondered to himself as he landed on the windowsill of his own room with a soft pat.

Aria woke up the next morning not knowing what was going to happen. It was quite a new feeling for her, and she hated every second of it. She had no idea what would happen among her friends, had no idea how she was supposed to graduate, or even study for that matter. The queen hadn't been there to see her yet, so she had no idea if queen Amber would realise that Aria wasn't her daughter.