Her name sounded lovely on his lips.

She let out a surprised laugh.

"She came in to the living room after us, how come she arranged all this so quickly?" they both started walking towards the door.

"We woke up a little early, so while I went to get the passenger's list she arranged the training room. By the time I returned she is in the middle of arranging those weapons." rose grinned.

"So it was you who cooked the pasta? Then are you going to cook for us daily?" helen's lips curved up as she closed the door to the training room and they walked in to the manor.

"Don't push your luck" she said and rose laughed "I was hungry and bored out of my mind, that's why I cooked" they walked in silence as they entered the living room. Then rose stopped and asked

"There are other two rooms in the second floor, but they are locked, why?" helen looked up as if she could see all the way to the locked rooms. What was she supposed to answer? That they are locked because she didn't want others to see her parent's room? That she didn't want them to find out they lived in separate rooms?

"They are not used anymore, that's why they are locked."

"Oh" rose squinted her eyes at the towering iron door behind the stairs.

"I thought it was a wall a when I first saw it. What is that room?" she asked starting towards that room. Helen clenched her jaw and followed her. Rose pushed the door but it didn't budge.

"It's locked"

"You don't have the keys?"

"I do, but do we really have to go inside? It's just a library." rose's eyes went wide like she just heard a top secret.

"Get me the keys, fast fast fast!!" she urged, pouncing on her feet. Helen sighed

"Fine" rose waited until helen came back and grabbed the keys from her. The door opened with a loud click and they walked inside.

"What the hell.." rose muttered, looking around the towering bookshelves. As she passed the shelves one by one, it left her more and more in awe. So many books, so many genres, whoever used this library they must have really loved books, she thought absently. She looked around and found helen standing near the sitting area by the fire.

"It looks so cozy" she commented staring at the sofa covered in soft pillows and blankets. Helen just stared at the sofa, her gaze distant.

She remembered her mother sitting there on that very sofa, and reading books. She loved books, so much so that sometimes she spent weeks curled up in the library. When she asked her why she liked books so much

"They are my escape from the reality, sweetie" she'd say, her gaze soft and loving. She missed those moments, she missed her mom so badly, but she hate herself for it, she hated herself for even thinking about her mom.

"Helen?" she blinked and turned to see rose staring at her with a puzzled look.

"You know you sometimes you remind me of zayne." Joke of the day.

"Why?"

"Sometimes he gets that look on his face you know, like he's here but not really here and sometimes he looks so damn sad that I had to wonder if anything big happened but the next second he looks normal again and I don't know if I'm hallucinating or if he's just better at hiding" helen couldn't picture his sad face at all. All she saw when she thought of zayne was him being a complete ass with a poker face but, she didn't know much about him didn't she? So how could she know what he's like when he's sad.

"Does my face have 'I just lost my life' written all over it? Is that why I remind you of zayne?" she asked. Rose giggled

"Well, if you put it that way, yeah you do look like that sometimes, as if your body's here but your mind and heart elsewhere"

"I didn't know the devil could actually feel emotions" she said trying to change the subject. Rose well aware of that particular fact, smirked at her

"Trying to change the subject now, aren't you?" helen let out a rueful sigh.

"God's you're so brutally honest" rose laughed.

"I am and to answer your question, when I first met him, I felt like I was talking to mountain with a poker face too" helen's lips twitched.

"Don't you smile, you look the same as him you know?" rose poked her cheeks with her fingers

"There, you look better when you smile that way" and helen suddenly felt self conscious.

"Whatever" she grumbled turning around. "Why did you look so excited when I said it's a library? Do you like to read?" rose smacked herself on the head.

"I completely forgot and no, I don't read, it's celeana" she said and sprinted out of the room probably to tell celeana.

Helen looked around the library and felt a real headache coming on as she just remembered something. Earlier, at the table, she was too focused on how zayne would react to the file that she almost forgot last night's events. The last time it happened it was different, because she was completely drunk but yesterday she didn't even drink half of the bottle. The moment she stood in front of that room's door, she felt someone's eyes on her and when she turned she saw zayne swiftly hiding behind the curtain. She should've just gone down to her room immediately, but she felt dead tired in her bones, and she wondered if coming here, especially this manor was a bad idea. She didn't feel tired even when if she ran around all day, but staying in this house felt so exhausting. Every room brought back memories she wanted to forget, thoughts she didn't want to acknowledge and she was damn sick of it. of everything. So she fell to her knees there, like a pathetic piece of shit but she didn't expect zayne to come out. She didn't think he'd care and she should've let him know that she was not sleeping and that she was not drunk at all but maybe it was because she was tired or maybe it was because of the way he called out her name softly.

Helen.... he had called and somehow her name felt lovely on his lips and there was something different about zayne that night, with his frantic eyes and soft tone that made her think maybe it was okay to be vulnerable for once. So she shut her eyes, letting him think she was drunk and when he saw those bottles in her room she knew he believed her to be drunk out of her mind. But she wasn't and those bottles... they were already there when she entered the room, probably left behind by the servants who stayed in this room.