"Hey White!" Joseph suddenly called, which made Jacob freeze in his tracks.
"Yeah?" he asked, turning around and avoiding meeting Joseph's eyes. "Are you going to the recovery ward?" Joseph asked, wondering to himself why in hell had he stopped Jacob.
Jacob still didn't look at him as he said, "Maybe, I'm not sure. I doubt I'll find her alone in there."
Joseph knew by her Jacob meant Aria. And by not finding her there alone, he meant that he might bump into Helen there. Joseph could guess the reason White was avoiding her, it was probably the same as to why he wasn't going to talk to Aria anymore.
The boys felt that they didn't deserve the girls that had their hearts. Joseph blamed himself for the condition Aria was in. If only he had listened, only he had been stronger or smarter, maybe she wouldn't have been lying like a broken doll in the recovery ward.
Similarly, Jacob felt that if he hadn't fallen for Helen, if he hadn't asked her to sneak out of the mansion with him, all of them would have been safe and unharmed.
Little did these two boys know how wrong both of them were. Neither of them understood how wrong they were for blaming themselves. That what had happened to Aria and what was to come, was so much bigger than them, or even Aria, for that matter.
Joseph was brought out of his thoughts by Jacob's voice. "Scott, did you need something by the way? I'm getting late." he said. Joseph opened his mouth to tell Jacob all the things he wanted Aria to know. How much he loved her. How sorry he was for all the things he had said that night. How he wished he could take all that back. How he was going to train his ass off so he could be strong enough to protect her, or at least fight by her side. How he was ready to spend his whole life loving her from afar, because he didn't deserve to even talk to her after all he had done. How he was going to cherish the globe she had given him all his life. How he was so bitterly happy that he could carry a piece of her with him in the form of that globe.
But instead he shook his head and said, "Nothing. Take care White." "Umm . . . . yeah. You too, Scott." replied a very confused Jacob before turning around and going down the stairs.
Joseph stood a long time on the stairs wondering what to do. He was in no mood now to attend his classes or train, knowing that Aria was up had taken away what little distractions he used to find in those tasks.
Joseph sighed as he felt a string tug at his heart, he knew where this would lead to. He was too much of a coward to go to the infirmary ward and meet her, so if he gave in, Joseph was bound to find himself back up on that branch of that all too familiar tree, looking into the ward.
Steeling himself against that tug, Joseph pulled his feet away from the castle and walked into the nearby forest. But wherever he went, he couldn't escape his mind. Aria filled the whole of his mind and way too many parts of this forest.