Louisa reached the beach and walked a little along the sand. She didn't understand why Benjamin had so easily believed Jackeline Russell's lies. Was he blind with love for her, to the point of ignoring everything he knew about Louisa?
"That idiot!" Louisa screamed at the top of her lungs.
"I hope you're not talking about me." Paul said next to Louisa, who was startled and let out a little scream.
"Oh, my! You scared me to death!" Louisa put her hand to her chest and held back the urge to punch Paul. 'All I need is to be accused of beating him!' she thought.
Paul laughed openly, letting out a loud laugh.
"I'm sorry, young lady. It was not my intention." He said and removed the imaginary top hat from his head, making a few flourishes before bowing. Louisa found that amusing and smiled.
"I forgive you. Only this time!" She said, putting her indicated finger in front of her face, doing the number 1.
"I appreciate such benevolence towards my poor person." The two laughed.
"You are silly." She said.
"Only with the right person." Paul said and looked more seriously at Louisa. She felt a little uncomfortable and looked down. Paul understood that he had gone too far. "And who is the idiot?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Ah..." Louisa was afraid to say out loud that it was Benjamin.
"Ben?" When Louisa didn't respond, Paul confirmed it was Benjamin. "He was pretty stupid, really."
"I do not want to talk about that." Louisa declared, looking around.
"Don't worry, Louisa." Paul took her hand between his. "I'm not going to do what Jackeline did. I have no intention of harming you."
"You seem to be a good person. Now I understand why Benjamin is your friend. But honestly? I didn't have a good impression of you when you arrived here and when you first talked to me."
"Since we're being honest," Paul kissed Louisa's hand, "I didn't mean well with you when I saw you. But you're not what I thought you were. In fact, you really surprised me and you have a special place in my heart right now." He said, looking at her seriously. Louisa narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side, looking at Paul.
"I don't know if I should trust what you say."
"And what can I do to change that?" he asked, smiling. "Just ask me, and I'll do it." He said, puffing out his chest and closing his eyes. Paul hadn't felt free with someone in a long time. Ben was his best friend and he could talk a lot with him, however, he didn't feel open to being as 'silly' as Louisa herself had said. When he opened his eyes, he was met with the sight of Louisa smiling and the sunlight behind her, giving her a divine aura. His heart beat differently.
"You don't have to do anything. I can't think of anything, anyway. Time will tell." Louisa said, but then remembered that if Paul came back to Iontach the next year, or any other year, she wouldn't be there, as she'd been kicked out. Paul noticed the change in her face.
"What happened?" he asked worriedly.
"Nothing. Nonsense. Let's go back?" she asked, a faint smile on her face. Paul held her hand, preventing her from walking. She stopped and he approached her.
"If something took the smile off your face, it's not nonsense." Paul put his hand on Louisa's face, which startled her. And he came closer, looking at her lips and Louisa didn't know what to do.
"Hey!" Someone screamed.
Benjamin had gone down to dinner when Paul's father commented that the boy had gone for a quick walk, but had not returned so far. Something in Benjamin screamed 'Louisa!' He went to the kitchen and the girl wasn't there. He asked about her and since no one knew, he thought the place she liked to go most when she was sad was the beach. He mounted the horse and rode as fast as he could. He first saw a horse he could tell was from their stable. When he saw in the distance two figures walking next to each other, he recognized them immediately. As he got closer, he noticed that they were talking very openly, until Louisa frowned and tried to leave, with Paul holding her hand and then approaching as if he was going to kiss her. To Benjamin, Paul had said something inappropriate and it upset Louisa. Afterwards, Paul tried to take advantage of her.
Paul and Louisa looked at the person who screamed, but before they could say anything, Benjamin punched Paul, who fell to the gravel on the beach floor.
"Paul!" Louisa exclaimed, going to stand next to him. Benjamin held her by the arm.
"What do you think you are doing?" He yells at her, grabbing the girl's arms and giving her a jolt. Paul didn't like the way Benjamin acted and threw himself on top of his friend. The two began to roll on the floor. Louisa put her hands on her head and asked them both to stop. She put herself in the middle and ended up getting punched by one of them, which nearly knocked her out.
"Louisa!" Paul screamed and gave Benjamin one last shove who, until then, hadn't realized that Louisa had been hit. When he saw her holding one eye and Paul helping her up, he understood what happened.
"Louisa, let me help you." He tried, but Paul pushed Benjamin's hand away.
"You've done enough for today, don't you think?" Paul asked through his teeth and held Louisa by the waist, helping her to walk and up the slope so they could return to the big house. Benjamin stood there, not knowing what to do, for a few minutes. He climbed the slope slowly and mounted the horse.
Paul accompanied Louisa to her house, as she didn't want to go to the kitchen so that no one would see her condition.
"Your mother will be able to take care of you." He said.
"No, it's time to serve the food and I don't want to cause her any more trouble. You, on the other hand, should take care of those cuts." Louisa said, standing at the entrance to the house.
"All right. And don't worry about me. I will wash my face and make myself more presentable." He took Louisa's hand. "I'll come see how you are later." He gave her hand a long kiss before walking towards the mansion.
When Paul entered the kitchen, he gave the three women in the kitchen a 'shh' sign. He sneaked upstairs and went to his room to clean up. He looked at himself in the mirror on top of the dresser and realized that his condition was deplorable. 'But Benjamin was worse,' he remembered and smiled.
"That bastard got in the way!" He said, looking at his reflection. He was sure he would have kissed Louisa if Benjamin hadn't shown up. Paul washed his face, changed his clothes and went downstairs to eat.