Water! It was all around her, suffocating her, wanting to kill her.
Her body, small and weak, was washed about in the dangerous, angry whirlpool of water. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t control herself. She wanted to scream for help, but when she opened her mouth, water rushed in and suffocated her. She shook her head, tears burning in her eyes, her heart intense with pain.
She was scared. Her heart raced. Her body ached. And she knew she wouldn’t last. She’d die soon. The water spirit would take her far away. She knew it would please her new brothers and sisters a lot.
She closed her eyes.
She was exhausted and couldn’t fight the water anymore.
Then she stayed still. She felt her small body floating there in the deep ocean, her eyes half-closed. As she sank deeper to the bottomless pit, she glimpsed rays of light flickering beautifully from above. Then she saw a small figure of a boy reaching his hand out for her, the azure eyes large with fear, and his small boyish face pale with dread.
“Sebastian!” she screamed within her mind. “Help me!” she begged, though no sound came out of her mouth.
She reached her hand out to him, but it was to no avail as he too began to struggle in the water. He was drowning. Just like her. He was drowning with her.
Why would he want to save her when he himself was struggling against the angry sea?
She was tired—so tired.
She closed her eyes and felt herself go.
***
Sakura fluttered her eyes open, and without her knowing it, tears flowed down her cheeks. She hadn’t known she was crying.
Sebastian moved then, taking her into his arms. His lips were against her forehead, and before he could stop himself, he kissed her there, his firm lips warm against her skin.
Sakura closed her eyes and felt weak and warm inside. Her whole body was trembling with reaction. She hadn’t thought about that day for so long.
When Sebastian took a step back, she tried to breathe normally but found it rather difficult. It was even more difficult to control her mind. She tried, honest to God, she really tried not to think about that day. She needed to clear her mind. She needed to get away.
So instead of accepting his apology and confirming his peace offering by saying either a thank-you or cool, let’s begin anew, she muttered, “Good night,” under her breath and practically ran from him, her whole body shaking.
Sebastian watched her go, wondering if he’d done the right thing by apologizing to her and, God, of all things, kissing her. But surely—hopefully—she understood that it was a brotherly kiss and meant nothing other than that. He’d made sure he kissed her forehead and not her lips as he wanted to, which was of course very tempting indeed.
He stayed there a few more minutes, taking in the beautiful scenery before him and uttering the name “Sakura” under his breath, cherishing it and loving the sound of it between his lips.
When he got back to his room, four of his brothers—Nicolas, Tristan, Logan, and Conrad—were there waiting for him, ready to pound on him. He didn’t know what the hell they were there for. In fact, he pretty much didn’t care and wanted to shoo them all out.
“What were you doing with Sakura by the pond?” Conrad growled at him.
Sebastian had no idea they’d seen him from the house. Then again, it didn’t surprise him because he himself had seen Sakura from his bedroom window.
“Well?” Conrad probed.
Sebastian realized he had to explain himself to his brothers. He didn’t know that they were really interested in what he was doing, or more importantly he didn’t know that any of them were interested in Sakura. And now here he was, competing with these really big, bad, handsome wolves to get the girl.
Sebastian sighed and went to crash himself on the sofa near the hearth.
“Well?” Logan asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“You hugged her, didn’t you?” Tristan scolded darkly.
“I apologized to her,” Sebastian said.
“What the hell for?” Conrad shouted.
Sebastian didn’t bother to explain to young Conrad that it was because of what had happened back in their childhood days. The other brothers, however, understood perfectly.
“Then I should go and apologize as well,” Tristan said. “I was awful to her.”
Nicolas came to put his arm around his brother’s shoulder. “I am too partly to blame. As the eldest brother, I should have done something, but instead I stood by and ignored the whole thing.”
“That means all of us have hurt her in some way. There’s no denying that,” Logan said. “I was utterly cold toward her.”
Conrad had enough. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Sakura!” the brothers said in unison.
“Well.” Conrad folded his arms across his chest. “If everyone of you hurt her and wants to apologize, why the hell didn’t you do something about it?”
“Like what?” Logan asked.
“Like, I don’t know,” Conrad muttered. “If it were me, I’d take her shopping. Girls like shopping, right? And presents.” Then he cocked his head to one side. “Shoes? Bags? Clothes?”
“I’ll just go and apologize to her right now,” Tristan announced. “And give her a peace offering—a hug and a kiss.”
He was about to walk out the door when Sebastian jumped up from his seat and pulled his brother back by the collar of his shirt. “Now?” he asked. “It’s bloody midnight. She’s probably asleep.”
“Sebastian’s right,” Nicolas said. “We’ll do it tomorrow morning.”
Sebastian saw the look in Nicolas’s eyes and said, “You’re not going to give her kisses, are you?”
“Why not?” Tristan put in. “You kissed her.”
“On the forehead,” Sebastian said through gritted teeth. “It was a brotherly kiss. I am, after all, her adopted brother.”
“Yes.” Tristan teased him. “We shall give Sakura brotherly kisses and hugs tomorrow.”
“Like hell you will!” Sebastian snapped. “Now get out of my room.”
“Night, bro.” Tristan chuckled. And one by one, the brothers left his room, leaving Sebastian alone and wondering how the hell he was going to keep his brothers away from Sakura. How the hell was he going to protect her from them? And then he wondered at just how the hell he was going to protect her from himself.