Nicholas felt as if he was about to take a ride to the underworld as he sat down close to Christabel Bloom, outside her house with the thoughts of breaking up with her still hidden somewhere inside his mind. He felt cold as Christabel touched him with her warm hands and asked him if everything was fine with him.
"I am fine," he lied to her. "Although I am feeling kind of cold now, I am still fine."
"That is good," Christabel managed to form a weak smile on her face. "I got the results of the race I had on the day I fainted."
Nicholas shook his head as he remembered he had totally forgotten about the results after the incident that had happened to her.
"How was the results?" He asked.
"I won," Christabel said with zero excitement in her voice. "I won the race, Nicholas but due to some certain rules, I can't claim the participation bonus, a place in the state championship and other deals involved. I know it sounds bad because I felt bad when the news came to me. I felt bad because I had given up hope and was less interested in finding out how the race ended. Then, yesterday, Samantha ran to me and informed me about what they had done to me. I felt devastated at first because I was expecting them to show some level of consideration because of what happened to me. Instead of consideration, I got this tough eye opener telling me about my win and my disqualification from the process because I fainted. I felt very bad when I read it because I know how hard I worked to get a place in the state championship."
Nicholas drew her closer and rubbed her shoulders gently. He understood how she felt because he had been in different situations where the winner had to give up his medal because of the influence of his parents. The world was unfair.
"I came here to talk to you," he said, clearing his throat. "I came here because I have realized I am incapable of facing my parents alone."
Christabel sighed.
"I know I assured you that I had a plan on how I was going to deal with them. Yes! I did have a plan on how I was going to deal with them. But, right now, as I am talking to you, I don't know if I can be able to follow up with the plan because I am afraid."
"Why are you afraid?" Christabel asked gently. "I thought you had everything under control."
"I did," Nicholas confirmed the words he had said to her the last time they met. "I did have everything until control until I thought deeply about my life yesterday."
Christabel sighed again. It was a long sigh. She didn't even know if they were moving in a reasonable direction. She only knew they were moving. She only knew he was leading the way and she was following blindly as she had always done.
"We have to find a way to tell my parents about us," Nicholas continued with confidence in his voice. "We have to make them understand that there is something special going on between us. It is the only thing I can think about that could stop my marriage with Jessica Bolton."
Christabel folded her hands as she lowered her gaze. Reality dawned on her as she suddenly realized that she had placed all her faith in Nicholas fixing their problems without considering what would happen if he was unable to fix their problem.
"What are we going to do now?" She asked as if she didn't hear what he had just said to her.
"We have to tell my parents," Nicholas informed her again, quickly. "We have to make them understand that there is something going on between both of us that is growing very fast."
Christabel's eyes suddenly turned dull. "Do you think they are going to understand what is growing between us?" She asked. "Do you think they are going to be kind enough to reason with us when we tell them that we want to be together? Do you think they are going to just end your marriage with Jessica Bolton and call their plans a foolish mistake of their minds? You have to think Nicholas Wild. You have to make sure you are using your head properly before we end up falling inside a deep hole."
Christabel's words echoed inside his mind as he thought of their situation with every form of reasoning he had left buried inside him. And, even though he knew that she wanted him to tell his parents about their relationship in the past, he knew that her refusal to go on with his plans of coming clean was valid to a large extent. His parents wouldn't consider ending the plans they had for him to marry Jessica Bolton because they had found out he was in a relationship with Christabel Bloom. They wouldn't even consider looking at his face because they had found out he was in love. He knew they would treat his feelings as trash as they always did. He knew they would tell him to go to his room until he was fully himself and ready to reason. He squeezed his face as he stared at Christabel's face. She was not smiling now and her lips were pressed tightly together as if she was ready for war.
"What do we do?" He asked her gently.
"Good question," Christabel managed to smile as she acknowledged the fact that he was reasoning in the way she wanted him to reason.
"Okay. . ."
"I have a plan," she smiled again. "I have a way I am going to make your marriage with Jessica Bolton not hold."
"What do you have in mind?" Nicholas wondered as he stared at the serious face of Christabel.
"You will have to wait and see, Nicholas Wild," she said. "Patience is the solution to our problem. It is the key!"