"What did you just say?" Bryce inquired for the third time that evening. He didn't know exactly what to feel or how best to contain the excitement coursing through his veins.
Listening to Hera say those words to him felt like a dream. A wild dream or was it a fantasy dream? What exactly do you call a dream that you didn't think was ever going to happen but then it did happen and now you're suddenly feeling ecstatic about it? Yeah, that was exactly how Bryce felt at that particular moment. Like he could suddenly carry the entire world on his shoulders. For the first time ever, he felt good about himself.
He knew just how tight-lipped and reserved Hera was, so saying something like this to him had definitely taken a lot of courage and a lot of guts. He felt proud to know that he was the first person that she had ever opened up to about her feelings. This right here was the moment he had always craved. The moment he had always wanted to happen. He had been waiting for this day patiently and now, it had finally happened. And to think that his day at the office had been nothing but a series of anger and blatant irritation only to come back and hear those words directly from her mouth.
If he was having a bad day before, he was definitely feeling better now. A whole lot better. If he knew that things would turn out like this and that Hera would eventually fall for him, he would've introduced Ben into the picture years ago. Anyways, it's happening now and that's what matters.
"Are you okay?" he asked when he noticed how quiet she had become. She was no longer talking and for a moment there, he had almost mistaken her for a statue. She rubbed her hands together nervously and when she brought her eyes to meet his inquisitive ones, he saw that tears had gathered in them. She was on the verge of breaking down and the way she rubbed her hands together like a child who had been caught proved it.
"I don't know what to do," she answered in a low voice. A stray tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away hastily. Hera was sure that she liked Bryce. If she was being honest with herself, she more than liked him, but she felt guilt deep inside her. Like she had done something very bad and unforgivable. Like she had done the unthinkable. What would the sisters at the convent think of her now if they should find out about this? Would they hate her or worse?
The main aim of coming here was to find a job so that she can live a better life, but now she has gone and involved her heart in it and she doesn't know how to feel about what she had just said to him. She felt like a fool too. She had been trying to suppress her feelings and one outing was all it took to come running down on her.
Bryce took steady steps towards her so that he didn't scare her away. The last thing he wanted was for her to run out on him. He couldn't afford that at this very moment. When he was sure that he had gotten close enough, he held her with both hands and pulled her towards him. She willingly gave in without fighting, without struggling, and without any form of resistance.