Chapter 7
500 Words
The moment Joan etched into the ballroom, Sophie pounced upon her, visibly a bundle of questions.
"Joan, what happened? How? Did he catch you? Did he kill you?"
Joan looked at her and drawled "how on earth can he kill me? I'm still alive idiot."
Sophie shook her head "I didn't intend to ask you that question, it just simply slipped.But did he-"
"Kindly hold on Sophie!" Joan said catching her breath in a rhythmic movement.
Sophie's eyes fluctuated back and forth nervously, her lips puckered from all that excursion.
"He did not harm me" Joan said and then she spoke in a wry tone "nor was I killed."
"Please" Sophie begged "I ain't jesting."
Joan blinked, "I was saved by a gentleman."
Sophie suddenly slumped her shoulders "every story has a hero."
Joan rolled her eyes as she mused "I'm not surprised that you're not surprised."
Sophie smiled and nudged her elbow lightly in Joan's ribs "tell me further..."
Joan narrated the whole incident, concluding with "but I don't know who he was."
Sophie raised her brows and walked back into the ballroom, as Joan followed suit, and they settled on a red sofa.
"And here I thought my cousin knows everything" Sophie said and bit her lower lip.
Joan's lips pursed in thought as she tried to recollect his face details, "I may have the ability to describe him."
"As if I would like to state otherwise" Sophie said in a weary murmur.
Joan missed her cousin's words as she started to describe him "he had an unique masculine allure....his eyes were blue...you know the shade that resides amidst cyan and periwinkle, and he surely had lips curved at the corners, with thick brows-the rich lustre of burnt sienna. He..um....also had this new fresh scar on his left cheekbone...but I rather thought the scar looked pretty."
"And here I thought my cousin is a total nut" Sophie drawled.
"What do you think of me?" Joan demanded.
Sophie shrugged.
Joan let her shoulders fall down, as she flexed her fingers.
"Let me guess who he might be" Sophie said.
Joan remarked upon Sophie's words. Trust Sophie to be the cunning one, but she had a brilliant memory when it came to remembering someone's details. She did possess that trait.
Sophie closed her eyes for a touch too long, so long, that Joan thought she'd fallen asleep. But Sophie sprung up with a loud "It's Lord Hugh Ceevanford!"
Joan was charmed. Charmed by her cousin's ingenuity. Her cousin was surely a prodigy.
Suddenly Joan felt the name Hugh ring deep in her heart. She could feel it somewhere amidst the scene that took place at the backside of the ballroom. Joan curved her ears into her heart and tried to yearn the name Hugh out of the memories woven into reminiscence.
And with a blinding intensity, she grasped the second when William had called the Gentleman as Hugh.
Joan clasped her hands together, as she murmured "Hugh! It's Lord Hugh!"
- Writer
