Her own conclusion aligned with the latter, though she would not admit it openly.
“I suppose yes,” she said. She could hear Matilda shouting in the distance, looking for them. “Do you… Would you say that these sort of extraordinary circumstances occur often for you?”
He laughed at her question, and she herself realized how silly it sounded once it had left her mouth.
I just want to know if this feels special for you.
“Well, extraordinary circumstances by their nature are just that… extraordinary,” he said, sounding amused. “Dissecting them runs the risk of rendering of ordinary.”
“Oh, I don’t agree,” she said quickly. “If anything, it makes things clearer.”
Duncan laughed again.
“What is so funny to you about this?” she said, a bit sourly. She didn’t understand why he seemed to be amused by absolutely everything that was coming out of her mouth right now.
“It’s just I can tell that you’ve done your fair share of overthinking about the circumstances through which we met,” he said, as though it was a fact.
It annoyed her a lot that he was right.
“And you haven’t?” she questioned.
“What’s the use?” he replied.
“Well, did you ever think that you would end up deciding to marry someone like this?” she said, getting genuinely curious now.
It was like both of them were opposites in some ways. When she sometimes pondered over things again and again, he seemed to just accept it as it came to him.
“I didn’t,” he shrugged.
She let out a sound that was something of a sigh.
“We truly are different then.”
“And I’m hoping you pick up this habit from me,” he said, “and try not to overthink things more.”
“I’m afraid that might not be possible,” she said, shaking her head. “But maybe it’s the right balance of thinking things as they are and overthinking between you and me.”
She didn’t even realize how it sounded before the words had already left her mouth. It occurred to her then that her words were rather… romantic, even.
She just blushed deeper, but Duncan only chuckled in response.
“Foundyoufoundyoufoundyou,” Matilda’s voice called out. She had spotted Duncan first and then saw Charity as well. Augusta, who had already been found a while ago, lingered behind them.
“Both of you were hiding away together?” Augusta teased, though Matilda just seemed overjoyed at having caught both in one sitting.
“It’s not…” Charity blushed, trying to get up. Duncan offered her a hand, and suddenly she felt too shy to take it in front of her sisters. She ended up taking it anyway, but her blush only deepened. “We both seemed to end up in the same hiding spot.”
“I see,” Augusta said, grinning now. “Already thinking alike? Your Grace, you seem to have had more of an impact on my sister than I originally thought.”
“Or her on me,” he shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh, stop both of you,” Charity said, “let’s continue the game, please?”
The game continued. It was Augusta’s turn to seek next, and then Duncan, then Matilda again.
By the time they had finished, Matilda was buzzing, and Augusta looked exhausted.
“I'm going in,” she announced, brushing grass from her skirt. “My feet hurt.”
