Free Web NovelChapter 109: Chapter 109
*A/N: are the author’s notes too much? i’m home for Easter and its a full house which means i have less time to write. i hoped that this wouldn’t affect me much but lately, I’ve only been able to put out single Chapters. I apologize and ask that you bear with it till the end of the holidays*
Dio briskly did a quick sweep of the ballroom. He was certain that Louis wasn’t here any longer but he wanted to tie up loose ends. By the time he was done searching, he was certain that Louis should have returned from the bathroom if that was where he went.
He left the ballroom next, briskly making his way down the hallways that led to the grand stairs. It was so odd to lose Louis that he wasn’t sure what to do, he had no idea of where Louis could have gone.
It was also so odd for him to just leave that it worried Dio even more. He made his way across the foyer and outside the doors, noting that the sounds from the ballroom immediately faded away as soon as the moon came into view.
The evening air was crisp and cool, blowing the tendrils of hair that escaped Dio’s half-up ponytail in his face. Much like he expected, there was no one outside, nothing but empty carriages.
-*-
"Don’t you want to return to the ballroom?" Louis asked after a long stretch of silence, neither affirming nor denying Tristan’s words.
Tristan still held onto him. "No." He said resolutely.
Louis expected this, "So what do you intend to do? Hold me till the ball ends?"
"You say that like it’s something I wouldn’t want."
Louis gritted his teeth, "Let me go then, I’ll stay here with you till the ball ends."
"No." Was Tristan’s only response.
Louis considered head-bashing the Alpha to ease his grip because his position didn’t allow for him to kick him and his hands were held down, he didn’t because it would hurt. Tristan wasn’t stupid even if he was completely unhinged, it would also be impossible to deceive him.
Louis wasn’t a really good fighter, as the pacifist he was, he would rather issues be resolved without resorting to violence. But the bind he currently was in clearly couldn’t be resolved peacefully, and he was starting to get panicky.
"Why me?" He blurted out, leaning backward when Tristan gave up on holding his arm in favor of his waist, this had Louis partially on him.
Tristan seemed outwardly calmer when Louis looked to have accepted his fate but the strength in his hold didn’t wane. "Why not? You’re awesome. You’re popular, you handle so many responsibilities, you’re respected by the professors, and you’re brilliant... You agreed to tutor me without hesitation when most people would rather peel off their faces than talk to me..."
Louis didn’t want to be that person but he could almost see why people kept their distance from Tristan. He was about to say something about this and suggest that Tristan try approaching social situations differently but he stopped himself in time.
Niceness was like a drug to Tristan, if he showed any more kindness he had no idea how the Alpha would take it.
Louis had to stifle a sound of surprise when right in the middle of his tirade, Tristan suddenly pulled him on his legs, giving him no room to struggle. The longer Louis stayed in the gardens with Tristan, the worse his situation became.
He was then forced to listen to Tristan go on a tirade about how considerate and thoughtful Louis was while teaching him, making sure he understood. He found himself wondering if that was also a ruse and if Tristan didn’t even need the tutoring.
It went downhill from there, Tristan explaining in detail how a hobby of his was watching him. Tristan seemed to be very impressed by the fact that whenever he bumped into Louis, Louis remembered him by name and acknowledged him.
As Louis sat on a near stranger’s legs, locked in by said stranger’s arms so he couldn’t move, he found himself thinking that maybe his friends were right and he should stop tutoring others. But it wasn’t because it was to his own detriment but to stop more students from getting creepily obsessed with him.
It had been more than twenty minutes now since Louis was tricked into leaving the ballroom. Tristan had finally stopped talking and just seemed content to rest his head on Louis’ shoulder.
Louis however sat ramrod straight, too tense to even take a deep breath. He wasn’t Errol but he if got a head start, could he get away from Tristan? The whole situation was so ridiculous that it made Louis want to laugh or maybe cry a little in frustration.
Overthinking his plans would just make him reluctant so he just did it, hitting out with his elbow at the same time that he pushed away from Tristan, kicking the curled-up Alpha in the shins before turning around and running off in the direction of the ballroom.
He noted that Tristan hadn’t made a sound when his elbow connected with his side hard enough for Louis himself to wince. He didn’t look back even once, racing over the cobbled path.
He felt his heart thud painfully in his chest when he heard telltale footfalls behind him but he didn’t slow down. All he had to do was get to the ballroom or at the very least, past the entrance doors. There was more likely to be someone else inside the building than outside here where it was cold and dark.
Louis didn’t care that he would be making a ruckus, he slammed open the front doors of the building and skidded across the marble floors of the foyer, slamming right into an unsuspecting Alpha. Fortunately, the Alpha caught him, putting a stop to his momentum.
"Lou?" Dio muttered in surprise, looking up again when someone else burst through the front doors. freёwebnoѵel.com
Louis let out a big sigh of relief sagging against Dio as he tried to catch his breath. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you." He said in between harsh pants.
Tristan slowed to a stop, ignoring the cold look in Dio’s eyes as the other Alpha tried to make sense of what was going on. He kept his eyes on Louis instead, an inscrutable expression on his face.
Tristan didn’t say a word, he just calmly walked past them, slipping his hands in his pockets as he did.
"Who was that?" Dio asked suspiciously, looking over his shoulder at Tristan who was currently going up the stairs.
Louis was still trying to get his racing heart to slow down, wondering if there was any use in telling Dio about Tristan. He feared that Dio would go right after him and that was the last thing he wanted. Dio didn’t need to get hurt over an incident that would never repeat itself.
Louis knew now to steer clear of the insane Alpha, and as long as he didn’t pull another stunt like this again, Louis would let the matter go. Who knew that being nice also got you into dangerous situations?
"Nobody important." Louis said, taking deep breaths.
Dio would have tried to get out more information but he was overwhelmingly relieved to find Louis. A quick check told him that his friend was unhurt but why had he been running? It also looked like the Alpha that had come in after him, had been chasing him down.
"Were you looking for me?" Louis looked up at Dio with a nervous smile.
Dio held his gaze, Henri had told him to communicate more. "Yes, I was." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Louis looked away, a little flustered, he hadn’t expected Dio to bluntly admit it. He tried stepping back but Dio stopped him, making him look up again.
"Want to dance?"
Louis did a double take at this, caught off guard. He thought that Dio would further try to get more information out of him about Tristan. "Right here?" He blurted out, hearing how ridiculous he sounded after he said the words.
Dio had his hands on his waist, a fond smile on his face. "If that’s what you want."
Louis tried to hold back his laughter and failed, "I don’t know why I asked that..."
"Nothing wrong with dancing here." Dio countered, humor in his eyes.
"We can hardly hear the music, anyone walking past would think we’re crazy." Louis said with reason, letting Dio pull him forward nonetheless.
"We’ve danced without music before."
Louis couldn’t deny it, they had danced without music but that years ago when they were just learning to dance. He let Dio lead the dance anyway, smiling and laughing genuinely for the first time all night.
Maybe this was the reason the entire night had been a wreck because he wasn’t with Dio, it had always been the two of them. So what if Dio had become more verbal? It didn’t change anything because here they were dancing to the sound of laughter and shuffling feet like they used to when they were twelve.
Louis quickly ran out of breath from laughing so hard, his panic that had stuck to his skin like the cold night air of the garden had been warmed up, the trepidation he once felt now a distant memory.
"Want to get something to eat?" He suggested after their short dance ended, starting up the stairs.
Dio walked behind him with a peaceful expression. "Yes."
