Walking back into her room, Claire's entrance immediately caught Gina's attention.
"What happened? Is everything okay?" Gina inquired.
Claire let a small, sheepish smile evolve on her lips as she replied with a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, everything is fine," she voiced straight after.
But by the look on Claire's face, Gina knew that this wasn't the case. There was something that Claire wasn't telling her, but she wasn't in a place to pressure any more information out of her. So she let her be.
Gina gave her a small, friendly smile before she diverted her eyes back to the book she held in her hands.
While in thought, Claire walked over towards Gina's and her bunk-bed. She reached her bed by climbing onto the top bunk.
With that, she plopped her head down onto the pillow.
Claire's gaze was on the ceiling as her mind went over the conversation she had with Gabriel. It made her confused. 'Did he really mean all those things he said?'.
---
"What was it that you wanted to tell me?".
Within seconds, the silence amongst them both became all too deafening.
"It..." he voiced to her. Claire saw the way Gabriel clenched his jaw. "It... it was nothing. Nothing you should be worried about, Claire...".
"Do you really expect me to believe that Gabriel? Something doesn't feel right. Whatever it is, whatever you wanted to tell me that night, it's bothering you.".
Gabriel bit his lip before a sigh was heard from him. She was right, even he, himself, knew this.
"Can I be dead honest with you, Claire?".
"Yeah, of course, you can..." Claire replied as she felt a rush of fear spread through the pit of her stomach. "Did something happen?... Did something go wrong?".
"No, it's not that..." he responded.
"Did... did I do something wrong?" she voiced again, forgetting the fact she already asked him the exact same question not all that long ago.
And it was at this question that he rose his eyes back to hers, that he looked into her eyes. "No... Not in the slightest," he voiced a reply, seeming as if he, too, forgot that she already asked him such a thing. "If anything... it's me who did something wrong.".
"W-what do you mean by that?" Claire questioned, her voice becoming less rigid, less controlled. She felt a slight pain in her throat.
Gabriel pursed his lips, regretting such a poor choice of wording. "I-I didn't mean to put it that way... it's not wrong, but... I shouldn't have allowed myself to do what I did. Or in this case, feel what I'm feeling now...".
For a brief second, the pain in her throat, the worry in her stomach, it all went away. But it didn't last for long when they began to slowly creep back into her.
"Feel?" she spoke under her breath, her gaze dropping down to the ground before returning onto Gabriel.
"That's what I wanted to tell you... Not only back then when we went to the memorial, but quite a bit before that too.".
Upon hearing his words, she felt the sensation that swirled in her stomach only grow stronger. But also, his words brought her confusion. "I-... I am not too sure I'm understanding what you're trying to tell me...". She let her eyes gaze at anything but Gabriel as she tried to search for an answer.
She bit her lip as her brows furrowed at all the different thoughts that entered her mind.
"Perhaps... maybe this was a bad idea, I-I'm sorry..." Gabriel worded and just as he was about to turn around and dismiss Claire, her voice caught his attention once again.
"Please, no..." she began. When she saw him facing her once again, only then did she continue. "Tell me, Gabriel. If it's something that has got to do with me, I want to know what it is.".
From there, the silence took over the conversation as they both looked, gazed into the eyes of one another.
Gabriel swallowed anything that was in his mouth, and with a deep breath, he said...
"I have developed feelings for you, Claire.".
To his words, Claire's eyes widened.
She couldn't believe what she just heard him say. 'H-he developed feeling for me?' she thought to herself.
Seconds later, after she managed to settle by as much as she could, she let a slight burst of joy and excitement flow through her body. And then she remembered what he said prior to his confession.
"But I shouldn't have allowed for that to happen...".
He repeated something similar to the words that boomed in her mind. And just like that - within the click of a finger, all the joy and excitement disappeared.
It just so happened that when he said these words of his, he looked back up at Claire, his gaze landing on her face. He noticed the frown that appeared on her face and he knew that his words were the exact reason behind it. His chest tightened with pain as he averted his gaze to the ground. But he knew, and dreaded, of there being more to come.
"We are in a war, Claire," he began. "I can't have you thinking, worrying about me... and nor can I allow myself to worry about you while I am out on the battlefield...". The sour aftertaste his words left in his mouth caused him to pause. His words help more pain than he anticipated. "Because a second's worth of a distraction could have us both killed like that...". He clicked his fingers.
Such words caused a slight strike of pain to emerge from Claire's chest. From the floor, she looked up at him.
In his eyes, she saw sadness too. "I-I understand..." she muttered under her breath. Her words were loud enough for Gabriel to hear them as well.
With that, just as fast as she looked up, she let her gaze fall back down. But this time, she let her gaze fall down on her. Her eyes found the necklace that Gabriel brought for her.
Picking it up into her hand, she closed her palm over the necklace, embracing it.
"Should I stay away from you then, Captain?" She asked through the lump in her throat.
"No... that wasn't what I wanted to say...". A brief pause intercepted his words. "What I meant was... I want you to stay close to me. Come closer if you wish... but don't get too close... because I-...". He was about to say what was on his mind but then began kicking himself for even speaking up again. Now, he knew all too well that he has to finish what he had started. "I can't guarantee you my survival. And the last thing that I want is for you to get too close to a man whose chances of surviving something like this are pretty damn slim.". Another pause followed. "You are an amazing, strong, independent woman, Claire. But I'm scared, I'm worried because of the way everything is so far. And I feel that the war will only get worse...".
Once more, silence descended upon them both. Gabriel looked at Claire and saw the way she gazed at her closed palm. Where, inside her closed hand, was the necklace he had bought for her.
"Do you regret it?" She asked, before finally looking back up at him.
He furrowed his brows at Claire. "D-do I regret what?".
"Do you regret what you feel?".
He kept his gaze on her, but suddenly, something in the way he looked at her changed. The way he looked at her became that bit more intense as if the question she posed hurt him in some way.
Claire gulped at how sharp his gaze felt, at how his gaze pierced right through her.
At first, she shook his head. "No... I don't regret feeling anything I felt before and, furthermore, what I am feeling thus far.".
Right after his words, she noticed the way his look upon her eased in intensity ever so slightly. Only seconds later, a very small smile appeared on his lips. It looked as if he felt some sort of relief that he finally got something off his chest.
Then the ship's loud horn sounded through the whole boat, signalling that it was nearly time to go.
"You should probably start to head back into your room and rest. We're about to set sail...".
Hearing his words, Claire nodded before she turned around and began her way towards the door.
---
Just like when both Claire and Gabriel were talking, the boat's horn once again sounded, kicking Claire out of her trance.
She hitched a breath before remembering where she was.
She was no longer in Gabriel's office. She was in her room with Gina on the bed right below hers.
The thought of that soothed her, but also caused sadness to arise within her. 'Is... is that how he really feels about me?' she thought to herself. 'But... more importantly... how do I feel about him?'. She smiled at her throughs, mocking them.
She knew all too well how she felt about Gabriel. 'I-I like him too... and I am doing the thing he told me not to do. I'm worrying for him...'.
With that thought, she felt her eyes fill with tears as her gaze descended back down to her necklace.
Unlike the other times... this time, this time when she touched it, held it in her hands, she felt a flutter in her chest. It was because of those words he told her...
She replayed them over and over in her head. "No... I don't regret feeling anything I felt before and, furthermore, what I am feeling thus far.".
With the closing of her eyes, she felt a tear roll down her face.
A sudden tug caused her to open her eyes back up and look behind her, out the window.
There she saw that they finally began to move...