7 Intuition

"Hey."

Lyra, who was dangling her legs from the balcony, jumped a little at the sudden greeting and almost lost balance at the ledge, but Kurtis was fast to grab onto her shoulder and keep her in place.

They exchanged eye contact for a brief moment before Lyra pulled away from his mesmerizing emerald eyes and he slowly removed his firm grip.

"Hey," she replied with a smile before looking out at the ocean again. The sun was still out, not yet due to retire just yet.

To her surprise, Kurtis bent down and with some effort, swung his legs over the ledge and sat down beside her. The younger twin tried her best not to look at him, despite having been worried sick every minute that she had yet to see him for herself.

Now that she was looking at him, Lyra could feel her heart pounding against her chest like it was trying to escape its cage. Her mind was already flooded with thoughts, running wild even though the reason for Kurtis being here was still unknown. He didn't give her any hints either. Aside from being notably tired compared to usual, his gorgeous face was unreadable.

"Angela explained everything," he cut straight to the point, affirming Lyra that she wasn't in trouble and absolutely allowed to breathe.

"She did?" Lyra asked, not sure how to feel about it.

'What exactly did she explain to you?' was what she really wanted to ask Kurtis because Angela sure didn't explain much to her.

"Yeah…" he said sighing, throwing his head back and leaning back with his straight arms as support. He didn't seem mad anymore, but there was still something off. Not knowing what position she stood now, Lyra didn't want to be the one to ask.

Kurtis sensed her quiet gaze on him and threw on a playful expression. "Why so serious?"

Lyra let out a little laugh at the extra accent he added. Angela would've never laughed at such a silly attempt, but when Lyra did, Kurtis quite liked it.

"No matter the reason, I'm very sorry I deceived you."

"Partially my fault for not seeing through that act," Kurtis added, indirectly comforting the guilt-ridden girl.

From the beginning, Kurtis sensed something a little off about "Angela." To further confirm his suspicions, his staff were surprised and rather receptive of her sudden humbleness and manners this time around. "Angela" would have seemed a little more like herself had she occasionally forgotten the "pleases" and "thank yous" in her sentences and dropped a few more demands here and there.

That is not to say that Angela was rude, but she just wasn't Lyra. Even Leonard who was customarily neutral, expressed a positive opinion of the younger Cades sister, something he never gave to any of his previous lovers whether on or off the island.

But even without the opinions of others, from the bottom of his heart, Kurtis knew that the way she talked, walked, dressed, played, and swayed his heart, she did it as Lyra.

Their afternoons at the beach and late night strolls felt so new, nothing like how they normally felt with Angela. She was so easy to talk to, always so thoughtful, and so careful with her words.

Around Angela, he felt the constant need to be strong. But around Lyra, he felt comfortable being truthful. Perhaps he played on that fact and secretly hoped that Lyra was actually Angela and that the crazy idea that there could be two of them was only a baseless thought conjured up by himself.

But denying it doesn't turn it into reality. He already found out the hard way.

"At times, I really felt like you did though," Lyra confessed as she turned to look at him with her warm brown eyes that looked so beautiful under the sun. "But I guess I must've improved from when I was in grade school."

Kurtis raised an eyebrow, finding her hidden mischievous side quite adorable.

"Of course it was Angela's idea to switch places. She always did have a perfectly reasonable reason to convince me and only after we get found out, does that reasonable reason sound extremely absurd."

"What reason did she give you for switching this time?" Kurtis suddenly asks in a slightly deeper and calmer voice.

Lyra's eyes grow big and tried to scan for any hints of how she should answer, but she was in a pretty tight spot.

"Angela said that you two fought and she decided it was best to stop seeing each other. She isn't the type to break up over the phone, but she was scared she wouldn't have the courage after looking at you, so she…wanted me to break up with you as her."

From his expectant reaction, Kurtis didn't seem to care what answer Lyra gave. He just wanted to confirm that his intuition was correct. Lyra was simply too kind, not knowing when to say no.

It was then that Kurtis was reminded that he hated girls like that. They were too breakable, completely incompatible with his aggressive and competitive character. That's why he was always cautious not to ever get romantically involved with one.

"But you found out the real reason?" he asked, placing his hand on his right leg as if hiding it in slight embarrassment.

"Right after I found out about the accident, I went to look for you to tell you the truth. But when I finally found you…you were in the water and…"

"You saved me from drowning. Immediately after I fell asleep on the couch, you went to call Angela, but I walked in on your conversation and heard the whole thing. Is that right?" Kurtis already pieced everything together.

Lyra nodded. "I should've said something sooner. I'm extremely sorry."

Kurtis noted this too. Lyra apologized too easily and frequently. He hated girls who apologized for everything when it wasn't entirely their fault. To succeed in life, one had to be confident in their decisions and actions and defend their reasoning whether the outcome is right or wrong.

"You don't have to apologize for not knowing. Just make sure to correct that terrible habit of yours." Kurtis already knew Lyra was oblivious and though he made it his policy to mind his own business when it came to worrisome girls like her, he couldn't help but spare a few words. "You're kind to a fault."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whether you intend it or not, your kindness does more harm than good. In a sense, you're an extremely selfish person to be too kind."

"You're criticizing my character now, huh?" Lyra asked, crossing her arms with some sass. "You, Mr. Wellington, may be a little too generous with your concerns."

Kurtis didn't respond with anything more than a grin. As troublesome as was, she was definitely fun to tease, he'd admit that.

So for awhile longer, they sat side by side, silently enjoying each other's company. It was so peaceful and so natural that Lyra found it hard to believe that she felt her entire world was falling apart just yesterday.

They sat until the sun finally started to set, when the scene in front of them was a gorgeous orange-pink blended with a sentimental purplish blue.

"Lyra."

The way Kurtis called her name was definitely special. It was as if she heard it many times before, though this was strangely one of the very few times he actually called her name in front of her.

"Despite everything, I owe you a thanks," he said, getting up and offering a hand.

Lyra took it. "You don't owe me anything."

"I don't offer my gratitude easily so just accept it," the young Wellington said before waving to Maggie who came out onto the deck waiting for the best time to announce dinner.

He was already heading towards the house and missed Lyra's reply.

[Precisely because you don't, I'm worried about what I could have done to deserve it.]