Darryl took a moment to look at Xhemin's ink eyes that seemed to have lost some brightness in them, the one he always sees whenever he showed up unannounced in front of her. Most of the time, his woman was adept on hiding what's inside of her but today, she failed to wear a mask to hid the misery she was in. Her face was lonely, so lonely that Darryl's presence did make it change its color, like it used to be.

"Hey," he went to greet her. He pulled his other hand that was hiding in pocket to tap her head.

​​

With the loneliest voice Xhemin answered "Hey,"

"How is he?" He asked but Xhemin only give him a sigh in response that made Darryl regret his question. He took Xhemin's hand and say "come with me"

"Darryl, I can't—"

"We won't be long" Darryl said and dragged the girl away from the hospital. Xhemin was not in the mood for anything, but she was also too tired to argue with Darryl so she just allowed her to do whatever he wanted since she had nothing to do anyways. Besides, it was too lonely to be alone, having Darryl right here somewhat brings her some warmth.

"Where are we going?" She frowned when Darryl opened up the door of his car for her.

"Let's go and eat somewhere. You looked like someone who has not eaten for days" He answered, pushing her gently to his car before he settled himself. When he was inside with the girl, he took the initiative to fix the seatbelt for her.

"You said it we won't belong," She told him, a little annoyed that he lied to make her come.

"Two or three hours is not long" He snapped back, ignoring Xhemin's unhostile protest and went to maneuver the steering wheel.

Darryl took the girl to a simple seafood restaurant which was rampant in Hampshire. It wasn't the type where elites would not prefer to go but it was where he thought the food was the most delicious. Darryl asked to be dined in the restaurant's terrace, which overlooked the sea.

"Is there anything specific that you wanted to eat?" Darryl asked her, breaking the silence between them.

Although Xhemin's mind was preoccupied with Huzey, she somehow was aware that Darryl was taking her to a date, their first date to be exact —and that alone could make her unable to hold a proper conversation with him because she was either too guilty to be on a first date while her best friend was in misery or too nervous as it was her real first date with the Lagdameo's heir.

"Xhemin…" Darryl called on her, holding her hand to get her attention which seemed to have been lost somewhere.

Feeling the tingling spark that rose to her body when he touch her, she answered timidly "I can eat anything,"

"I'll get us some crabs and—"

"Huzey likes crabs" She cut him off and her sadness flowed to her veins again. Tears were threatening to fall for the nth time that day which didn't go unnoticed from Darryl's perusing eyes.

"Shrimp then. We'll have some shrimp and fish" He said in an apologetic tone and dragged his eyes to the menu before he called the waiter to give their orders.

Not long, their table was filled with delicious seafood delicacies that can awaken someone's appetite just by one glance.

"Eat," Darryl said to her which Xhemin instantly obeyed. Suddenly, she felt very hungry brought by too many days of eating only a little. She was so sad by then and no one was there to eat with her, unlike tonight, Darryl was here to accompany her to dinner.

When Darryl saw that Xhemin had not trouble eating on her own, he too started digging with the food. Halfway through their meal, Darryl paused and pointed somewhere.

"Look" Darryl called on her. He was pointing to the sun that was setting off that was glowing orange surrounded by clouds that looked like a cotton candy. Silhouettes of birds flew across it, adding to the already beautiful scenery.

"It's beautiful" Xhemin said as she put down her fork. "We used to look at the sunset on summer days, me, Ziggy and Huzey" She narrated, her voice was sentimental. "When we were kids we climbed up to the farthest branch of tree in the loch cottage just to have a clear view… but now… I'm afraid it won't happen again"

"You had a strong friendship. I believe it can withstand whatever storm that comes in" Darryl tried to assured her. She knew how Xhemin treasured her best friends more than anything else in this world and he knew there was no words enough to comfort the girl, but he was hoping that somehow his company can make something different. If only he can take her pain away, he would have done so.

"Huzey hates me," Xhemin said making her bottom lip quivered and soon droplets of tears started falling one by one.

"He doesn't hate you" Darryl disagreed, "He's just not okay and he don't want you to see that"

"But I wanna be there for him," She answered trying to wipe her tears away but they kept on falling, in the end, she cupped her face with her two hands to hide her miserable cry "I miss him… so much and I don't know what to do anymore"

Darryl did nothing but just let Xhemin cry. He held her and wrapped her in his arms. He wanted to be her comfort and so he offered to be her crying shoulders. However, he didn't know how long he could withstand seeing her like this because honestly, seeing her cry terribly was not a beautiful sight, it was a taunting one.

***

It was already dark when the couple left the restaurant. Xhemin cried so much that their stay took longer than anticipated. Darryl was now back at the steering wheel while Xhemin was quietly sitting at the front seat, watching the road back to Richmond Ranch. Darryl of course drove the girl home.

While their car was traversing the familiar greenery, Xhemin thought of the thing that bothered her the most. When she cannot withhold it anymore, she turned to Darryl whose eyes were on the road. She took a minute to think twice whether to ask it or not, but in the end, she went for it.

"Do you think we had something to do with the explosion?" She asked even though she dreaded the possible answers that Darryl had in mind.