A Game Of Chess With A Vampire
Chapter 292: Are You Really Over It?

Chapter 292: Are You Really Over It?

Draven, the only one he was reaching for his hand, was moving further and further away from him and would probably never turn his back any longer.

He shoved his hands into the pocket of his pants and walked away from the yard to the fish pond nearby. There, he squatted down, focusing his attention on the koi fishes.

"This is your chance to talk to him!" Pierre and the others, who had watched Valentine leave, tapped Olive on the shoulder.

He asked, "You want to apologize to him and atone for what you said to him, right?"

Olive was a bit reluctant, but he nodded his head.

"Then this is your chance." Loui chirped in.

"After you talk with him, bring him out. We will be going to the bar for a drink and to celebrate a little bit," he added.

Prince and Pierre nodded. Sure, they didn’t like Valentine in the beginning, but having been with him for these few hours, they realized they were wrong. He was not at all as bad as they thought he would be. In fact, he hadn’t even done anything that might paint him as a bad person.

It took them a while to realize why Draven never judged Valentine as much as he judged his other siblings.

"We’ll be waiting outside," Loui said. "Go and talk to him." He pushed Olive, urging him.

Olive halted and watched them leave. As soon as they were out of sight, he deeply exhaled and turned around to gaze at Valentine’s silhouette, quite far from where he stood.

He began to advance toward him, and upon his arrival, he stood behind him.

"What are you doing?" he inquired, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Startled, Valentine quickly whipped his head to glance at him. "You..."

"What are you doing here?" He was surprised.

Olive looked away from him. "Nothing... I just wanted to see what you were doing."

"Oh?" Valentine averted his gaze to the pond.

"Nothing much. I just like to watch these fishes swim about."

Olive glanced at the pond. He abruptly squatted down, saying, "Don likes to do this too."

Valentine nodded, agreeing. "Mhm, he does. I learned to like fish from him."

"Is that...so?" Olive slightly smiled. He wanted to say something more, but he was too reluctant to do so.

Valentine could notice, so he stood up. "Eh...I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable these past few hours." He was able to tell that Olive was not at all comfortable with having him around, and he was also able to figure out that it was due to the issue they had. "I’ll be leaving soon anyway. I’m just waiting for my brother."

He turned around to walk away, but Olive grabbed his thin wrist, pulling him back and stopping him.

"I was not uncomfortable, Valentine," he said, mustering up the courage. "I was too embarrassed to face you, knowing what I had done to you."

Valentine stared at him, suddenly in a daze.

Olive ran his fingers through his hair, heavily in guilt. "I am sorry for what I said to you. I didn’t mean any of them, Valentine."

"You are my friend, and I really appreciate it a lot. Everything I said to you back there was not real, I swear. I don’t pity you, and I never pitied you. I do consider you my friend because you are and—"

"Why did you say those awful things to me then?" Valentine interrupted him, his face scrunching in deep annoyance.

"You humiliated me, Olive. You called me pitiful after I opened up to you. I never would have, but I did because you were my only friend! I trusted you, and you doing that was the last thing I ever expected in my life."

"Even if you wanted to save yourself in front of your friend, couldn’t you have done it without being so cruel to me?"

He blinked his eyes. "I couldn’t stop thinking of what you had said to me. Do you know how much it hurts? I lost my appetite for days because, really, having my only friend humiliate me like that hurt more than my father has ever hurt me. It...it..."

Valentine breathed rapidly and quickly looked away, able to feel the bubble of tears that had brimmed up in his eyes about to burst.

He snatched his hand and turned around to have his back face, Olive.

"Well, it’s fine. You did have a point anyway. I was forcing my friendship on you because I was desperate for a friend, which I shouldn’t have, and I believe that was what resulted in that event." He looked over his shoulder at Olive. "You do not have to worry though, I have learned from my mistake, and I will not commit the same mistake twice. We are not friends, Olive, and we can never be friends."

"I am a nuisance to you and a huge bother—that is very understandable, so...you mustn’t worry. I have understood, and I am over it."

"Are you really?" Olive questioned. "Are you really over it?"

Valentine glanced at him with the edge of his eyes. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Your voice is cracking, Valentine. I can tell that you are about to cry, but you are restraining yourself," Olive replied. He took a step forward and stood in front of him.

He began to speak. "I know that no matter how many times I apologize, it will never be enough to fix what I did, but...I really am sorry."

"I am your friend, and you are my friend, so if it is possible, I’d like you to come back to me, Valentine. I will treat you much better and make up for what I did to you. Please..."

Valentine could only stand still and stare into his eyes. He slowly blinked, able to hear the sincerity in his voice. But even still, he had no desire to make friends anymore. He had hurt himself enough, so he believed.