Catherine POV
Currently, I'm in the Sinclair's household with the usual...Tutoring just like always.
We just finished our studies and went to the garden for a small break, looking around at our seats as the leaves change color. We worked really hard for our studies today after all, so we definitely earned a well-deserved rest.
Well, we are supposed to relax and enjoy our break, but...
Every once in a while, I can feel Samuel glaring at me, as if he wants something, and when I try to stare back, he breaks his gaze as if he wasn't staring at me a moment ago.
What does he want? It's making me uncomfortable...
Because of this, I started second-guessing all my actions that I did to Samuel for the past few days.
Is he still angry with me about me teasing him last time? Should I apologize again?
But after being too deep in my thoughts, Stella broke the silence, whether intentional or not.
"By the way, haven't you finished reading the book about birds?"
"I am finished reading it already. It was quite a fun read."
"I'm glad that you enjoyed it. It does look interesting. Maybe we could buy another one on our next outing?"
"Yeah...Oh," he muttered as if remembering something.
"By the way, I forgot about the book we'll talk about today in my room. Can you get it for me?"
"Sure thing...Anything for you." Stella smiled as she entered the house once again.
Ahhh...She truly is an angel.
With us being alone together, I turned my attention to Samuel.
God...It's so awkward... How do I start? Maybe it's fine to retort to our usual banter.
"Wow...How gentlemanly of you to ask Stella to get something for you."
Crap...why did I start with that? I forgot that I was supposed to apologize for my past actions.
"I didn't want to...It's just the only way I can think of to distract Stella from us."
"Us? What do you need from me?"
Me? Why does he want to be alone with me?
"Please don't tell Stella about this. I want this to be a secret from her." He muttered as he looked around, making sure that Stella wasn't here.
What is Samuel doing? While I don't know what he fully thinks of me, it seems that he is only friends with me because of Stella. Without her, he would try to limit his time spent with me.
"Don't tell me... You're threatening me to stay away and never come back?!
I didn't know he disliked me that much?! Did my argument with him last time get to him?
"What?! Are you out of your mind?! Why would I do that?" He was flabbergasted with my response.
"So you're not trying to threaten me?"
"No?!"
With that response, I heaved a sigh of relief, making me glad that I didn't get on Samuel's bad side.
"Besides, it would make Stella sad if you didn't visit us anymore."
You would only do it for Stella, huh...
"So, what do you want from me then?"
"I need your help in my plans for our outing."
"Outing? You mean us going out in a few days?"
"Yeah... I'm worried that you guys wouldn't enjoy it, so I wanted your thoughts about it."
"Did you ask Stella about it? I'm sure she would help you also."
"I... didn't want to tell Stella about it because I don't want her to worry. She's supposed to enjoy that after all."
"Aren't I included in that excursion? So you mind if Stella knows about your worries, but with me, you don't mind if I do?"
"You're...different."
Different? What does he mean by that?
"It's not like I haven't made any plans whatsoever; I mean, I'm finished with it after all; it's just that I wanted some advice from you if you think she would enjoy it."
Yeah... Right...
As he keeps trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, he, unintentionally, is just spilling out that he isn't finished yet with the plans and is having difficulty with planning it out. It just made me realize how unprepared and stumped he is.
It seems like he hasn't finished his plans yet, but it doesn't seem like he forgot about it and just created the plan on a whim. He must've been thinking really hard about our outing. It seems like he really is doing his best. He genuinely wants to make Stella happy with our outing in a few days.
"Augh...You know what...I shouldn't have asked you for help... You only think that I'm more pathetic than ever..."
"I never said anything like that..."
"I can feel it..."
"Feel it...What are you? A psychic?"
But as I looked at him, he is shuddering as if he had no choice but to ask me for help.
It must've been difficult for him to open up about his troubles, especially to me. He really went out of his way to do his best for Stella. He truly wants to make up for everything.
"Listen, we may bicker a lot, and sure, we say things a bit too far sometimes. But at the end of the day, we're still friends, Samuel. You can rely on me on anything you want. I won't mind," I said, trying to reassure him.
"I'm sure Stella would be absolutely delighted to see how much effort you've been putting in this outing."
"Wow...That's the first time you say something nice to me."
Wow...Painting me as if I had a venomous tongue.
"Anyways, I'm going to help you... Tomorrow, I'm going to give you a list of all the places that we've already gone to and if Stella enjoyed going to that place. Also, I'm going to give you suggestions on where Stella wants to go from our conversations. If you have any questions or clarifications, you can ask me anytime when I'm here."
"Oh...Um...Thanks for the help."
"Why did you hesitate?"
"It's weird...seeing you helping me... It is something that I didn't imagine you doing."
"Do you want me to punch you?"
Well...At least, we can go to bickering just like always. I'm just glad that he was not glaring at me because I made him angry.
"I'm back. What are you guys talking about?"
As we were too engrossed with our conversation, or rather bickering, we didn't even realize that Stella had already come back with a book in her hand.
Crap... We forgot to make an excuse.
"Umm...Samuel is just asking me for some tips on learning fast. Right, Samuel?"
"Yeah...I mean, she's chapters away compared to us... I just thought that there are some tricks she hasn't told us yet." Samuel smiled, trying to back up my lame excuse.
Oh God... We are terrible at lying.
"If you say so." Stella had some suspicions about our tone, but it seems that she believes us.
How?
As we are about to start strolling around the garden, I tugged on Samuel's shirt.
"I'll do my best for your outing. If you need help, I'm here all the time," I whispered to him, reassuring him that everything will be alright.
As I comforted him about the upcoming outing, I saw a side of him that I never expected.
"Thanks," looking away as he said it to me.