Chapter Forty- Seven

This takes place after Xiao and Henriette’s first meeting in chapter 37

The smoke is lazily curling in a spiral around his long, gentle fingers. Then it’s wrapping them in its blue cloud only to dissolve into the air a few seconds later when he exhales and his breath destroys the dancing shapes.

It vanishes.

The way he always does, always coming and going.

He looks troubled and fails to conceal it this time. I can’t tell why.

And normally I’m very good at telling what’s going on in someone’s head. He looks at me and it’s like he wants to ask me something, but doesn’t know how to turn his thoughts into words and voice them.

One of Ella’s girls sits next to Xiao and runs her hand over his back.

He ignores her and looks back at the table.

Albert and him have been playing for the past half an hour in silence and it’s one of the rare cases they seem to be completely lost to just everyth