Scarlet's Decision

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CHAPTER 19

Bang!

The door closed behind him as he stepped into the poorly lit room and took off his cloak.

Quickly, Cairo's little hands went to hang his cloak on the nail at the left-hand side of the door and turned.

"You had a late errand?" He heard a lovely voice ask and turned around quickly.

"Sister," his eyes gleamed calling her out like that and he walked further in. "I did not think you will return home on time today."

"Me neither but I had a message to deliver," she informed him and turned away. Her sadness was evident on her face with one look but she could not be bothered by it.

If there was anything, she wished that her brother would not guess what it was.

Sensing something wrong, Cairo's gaze darkened as he closed the gap between them and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't hide from me. You know I can sense things as much as you do. I can sense emotions too," he pressed on. Still, she said nothing.

"Claire, did any of those men touch you?" Cairo asked, scrutinizing her with his eyes.

Her eyes flew open as she turned around to look at him. "They didn't. No one did."

"Then what happened that got you all sad?"

"Nothing. You are young, you do not have to worry about much. Just be okay. That is good enough for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She caressed his cheek softly while staring lovingly at his face. "How was work?"

"Same as usual."

"Nothing different?"

"No. The bone man seems to have gotten good enough pay for his services this time. And I lost one of his pocknosing clients once more."

Saying this, he stepped away from her and twirled around playfully. "It has been a while since I lost someone whole they failed me, hehe. It felt good once more."

"Tailing?"

"Yes. Anyways, did you deliver your errand?" He asked, taking his sister's mind off his matter.

"I did. Okay go get clean, I would serve your meal."

Cairo nodded and took his leave. While he was carefree about their conversation just now he did not know what was going through Claire's mind.

'Something is not right?' She noted internally.

********

That night, Zale had waited for a long time close to the crossroad but he saw no one returning.

In the end, he was forced to retreat that night and plan for another day.

The next morning came as quickly as the blink of an eye. Not wanting to remain seated in the house all day, he decided to check up on Pearl.

With their little meetings now and then, he got a clear understanding of the time and period of her coming.

And so he knew she would visit that day.

Meanwhile, Pearl left the house as usual with nothing more than her basket which she had planned to use in getting some wildflowers.

Just like the previous time she waited for Scarlett's arrival and to her surprise she was not disappointed.

"Funny I should find you seated here alone," Scarlet's sharp voice resounded from behind her, pulling her out of her train of thought.

Pearly turned on her seat and as her eyes landed on Scarlet, a wide smile formed on her lips.

"Scarlet!" She rise from the log she had sat on and raced to where her friend was, immediately impaling her in a bear hug. "Oh, Scarlet. I missed you."

"Hmm."

Having seen her before with someone else, Scarlet wasn't exactly thrilled by the words she was hearing.

Still, she acted normally and returned the hug. Soon she pulled back and made her way over to the log that Pearl had occupied a few minutes ago.

"Come, won't you sit?"

"Sure." Following her, both ladies sat down on the log and stared ahead at the beautiful scenery before them.

"I know we haven't seen each other in a few days now, but I do hope all is well with you, Scarlet."

As much as she wished to know what had happened to her friend, she did not know if she should ask her right away or allow Scarlet to speak on her own.

And just like she had predicted, Scarlet waited a few minutes before speaking.

"Pearl, I am fine and I am not."

She shifted closer to her friend and placed a hand on hers as she lifted her eyes and met her gaze.

"Tell me all about it, Scarl, I'm here."

"Thank you." She breathed in and shut her eyes once more. "I fell in love Pearl," Scarlet announced, shocking the living daylights out of Pearl.

Seeing the shocked expression on her face, Scarlet let out a loud laugh before her face turned a bit serious.

"You're not joking?"

"And why should I be? Shouldn't you be happy for me at least?"

"I am. I'm just shocked that's all," she explained.

"I see."

Shaking her head, Pearl cleared her throat and turned in her sit to face Scarlet properly. "Tell me everything."

Without wasting time, Scarlet took hold of the opportunity to tell Pearl about the mysterious man who saved her when she was ambushed and claimed they had love at first sight.

As though that was enough, she stated she only wanted one thing and that was to elope with him.

"No!" Pearl disagreed almost instantly and stood up from her seat.

Her gaze remained firm as she stared at Scarlet like she was seeing a stranger.

"Scarl! How can you leave everything behind and just elope with someone?"

"I need to. My parents would not approve and I do not want to miss out on this chance of love," Scarlet reasoned defiantly.

She went ahead to persuade Pearl to see reasons as to why she would do that.

In the end, Pearl gave in but with her conditions, considering her help would be needed for the escape.

"Fine. I do not agree but I will think about it. And for the record, I am still against this insane decision of yours," Pearl reminded her.

"I know but would you have me locked up in the palace for life? Not to see you and be happy?"

Having the emotional card being played on her, Pearl sighed and shook her head.

She knew better how Scarlet was when it came to being free.