Page 33 of Neptune

"Just finished my bachelor’s degree," I said, suddenly reminded of all the responsibilities waiting for me.

"What brought you here? You're clearly not an artist." She rolled her eyes.

"I guess I'm here to escape," I told her truthfully, and her gaze showed that she was being attentive. "Bingo. I'm no artist. I suck at painting." I smirked. "But my brother is good at that. He's always here during winter. Painting."

"So, you're here with him," she said.

I shook my head. "No. He passed away a week ago."

My answer caused a horrified look to skate all over her face. "Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," I cut her off.

Silence fell between us. But strangely, it didn't feel uncomfortable. It felt the other way around. That was odd, because we were no doubt strangers.

But why did my heart tell me that she wasn't?

Another thing that bothered my mind was that I’d just spoken about Victor without feeling the great agony I'd always felt before. That was something.

Cassie looked up at me again, a soft smile on her lips. "You know what? I came here to escape too," she said, and another silence crept between us.

I waited for her to say more.

"And now that you've treated me these super delicious meals, you kinda make me feel guilty." She plastered a cute pout on her face. "Do you want to do something fun? 'Cause I know this fun place that you might be interested to see."

My eyebrows rose, and a small smirk crept on my lips again. "I'm hella curious about that, but not until you finish your dessert."

Now, it was her turn to raise her eyebrows.

"Does cream strudel with vanilla sauce sound good to you?" I smiled .

Cassie let out a burst of laughter, one that sounded like a melody in my ears.

"I would very much like to have that," she said, while I called the waiter to get her the dessert she was craving.

We stepped out of the cafe, and I watched as Cassie took in the fresh air, inhaling a deep breath as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked up at the sky, a big smile on her face as she walked with her arms wide open.

While her eyes were locked on the sky above, mine couldn't leave her. Something about her just drew me in.

She'd said that she came here to escape, just like I did. But right now, she acted like all her problems had vanished into thin air—it gave me hope that there was indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

"Look at the sky," she exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "It's so pretty."

I scoffed, walking behind her. "What's so special about the sky?"

She spun around to face me, a grin on her face. "It's limitless, like freedom, like the ocean too. And it's blue. Blue is my favorite color."

Watching her happiness was like drinking water in the middle of a desert. This girl was really something.

She frowned, as if deep in thought. "Actually, I love blue because of the sky. It's not that I love the sky because it's blue. No. No," she mumbled to herself, stumbling upon her own words, and I found it amusing.

I arrived at her side as we kept walking. "Where are you going to take me?" I asked. "What is this fun place that you're going to show me?"

She winked at me. "You'll see." She laughed.

I knew that her gesture wasn't aimed to flirt and that she was just being playful, teasing me. But, fuck . This girl had zero idea about her effect on the male population, and the thought of her doing the same gesture casually to any other man made me want to break something.

Hold up. What was I thinking?

While we were walking farther down the road, I caught her wrapping her arms around her waist, shivering.

"Are you cold?" I asked, feeling that the wind was a bit chilly, and she was only wearing a sweater.

"A little." She bit her lower lip.

I wouldn't have thought twice about lending her my jacket, but she needed more than a jacket. I didn't know why the hell she'd decided to wear only a sweater here.

Even though it had been warmer earlier during midday, the weather would only get colder from now on. Luckily, Victor's house was just around the corner.

"Follow me," I said, quickening my pace, and she followed suit.

Once I reached the house, I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, heading to Victor's room.

I hadn't thought much when I decided to come to Hallstatt so I hadn't even brought my clothes—it didn’t help that there had been a lot of drama going on in my family making me want to escape here in a flash.

But Victor had kept a lot of clothes in his wardrobe, including the coat that Cassie needed right now. I browsed through the coats, picked one and strode back toward the front door.

Then I noticed that Cassie had stayed outside—she didn't dare step into the house. I realized that I hadn't offered her to come in, so she preferred to stay outside even though she could get warmer inside.

She was different from those girls who wouldn't think twice to barge into my privacy and throw themselves at me whenever they had the chance.

Once I stepped out, I draped Victor's coat around her body and locked the door.

"Thanks for lending me your coat," Cassie said, slipping into it.

I helped her zip the coat until it fully covered her sweater, and relief washed over me. She should have been warm now. "It's my brother's."

Surprise crossed her expression. She looked uneasy.

"I..." she faltered, making me raise my eyebrows. "I won't lose this coat. I promise."

And that made me want to laugh.

Cassie, Cassie...

???

We were walking down the road, and I still didn't know where she was going to take me. I bit my smile, watching as she scrolled through her phone, like she was trying to find directions to the place.

She snapped her head around, looking confused, and I found it even funnier.

"Come on," I said. "If it's that hard to find the place, why don't you just tell me what it is? Maybe I can help you."

"Just wait," she insisted. "I'm trying to find a way to get there."

That made me wonder whether we had to take a mode of transportation to get there, either bus or train.

She let out a long sigh, frustrated. But then, when she saw an older woman waiting at the bus stop, she rushed to her.

"Excuse me, do you know how to get to Dachstein Ice Cave?" she whisper-shouted at the woman, thinking that I wouldn't be able to hear it. How wrong she was.

"Yes. Are you planning to go there?" the woman asked.

Cassie nodded with enthusiasm.

The woman plastered a sad smile. "I'm sorry to say this to you, but the ice cave is not open during winter. They always close it during this time."

That answer made Cassie's face fall. When the bus arrived, the woman threw her an apologetic look before stepping into it. Cassie turned around in my direction and let out a desperate sigh.

"Hey." I approached her, wondering why her mood suddenly dropped.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I thought that I could bring you to somewhere fun, but I failed miserably."

She walked past me, and I followed her again. My eyes softened as I looked at her dragging her feet with disappointment. Was she trying hard to make me have a good time after I treated her to all the delicious signature dishes in this town?

What was so special about the ice cave? I didn't know when it happened, but I felt like when I was here with her, wherever we went didn't matter.

"Hey." I bumped her shoulder as we walked side by side, teasing her. "Come on. Why that pout?"

But she just let out another sigh, still deep in thought.

"Cassie." I stepped in front of her and walked backward, pushing my hands into my jacket. "Why so serious? Who cares if the ice cave is closed? We can still have fun somewhere else."

But she still looked down at her feet as she continued walking, probably thinking of some other destination to make up for the failure.

"Earth to Cassie," I said, but she was still lost in her thoughts.

A smirk crept on my lips as an evil idea struck my mind. I grabbed a pile of snow from the road and threw it at her face.

She let out a small scream, shocked. She must have not expected that. The snow fell from her hair, which I obviously just ruined.

"Luke!" She glared at me, and that made my smirk even wider.

I threw another snowball at her face, making her jump, her eyes squeezing shut, her jaw dropping. Annoyed, she snapped her head toward me, flashing me another dangerous glare.

"Luke." She gritted her teeth.

"Oops." I grinned before speeding off, Cassie running after me.

She grabbed a pile of snow to attack me back, but she missed as I easily dodged her bullet.

"Come back here!" she demanded, and I laughed .

Soon, we were two people involved in a snowball battle, throwing piles of snow and dodging each other's attacks.

People on the street stared at us—some of them shook their heads in disbelief, as if they were thinking that we were grown-up people playing like kids, while some others looked at us with envy.

I turned around the corner and hid behind a wall, waiting for the perfect time to attack Cassie again with the snowball in my hands. Just as I peeked, Cassie bumped into me. She jerked backward, but before she could fall, I pulled her hand, making her face hit my chest.

A roar of laughter escaped from me. She looked dumbfounded, so eager to get back at me that she hadn't even watched where she was going. "Watch out, will you?"

Slowly, she pulled away, staring at me like I was some kind of mystical creature, my hand still holding her wrist. After a few seconds, my laughter gradually faded, but she was still staring at me.

"You..." she echoed. "You look really good when you laugh. Do you know that?"

I froze. Did I just laugh out loud?

Boisterously?

But I hadn't had a good laugh since Victor passed away. Was this the first time I’d done that?

Cassie's face flushed. Maybe she’d just realized what she'd said, her cheeks turning pink.

The more I stared at her, the more I felt something inside my chest, like it was harder to breathe. The way I gazed at her seemed to trouble her—I could feel her pulse quickening against my hold on her wrist.

"What?" she whispered, probably wondering why I couldn't take my eyes off hers.

But no sound left my mouth, because I didn't know how to answer her.