AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Clary had never shield away from a debate about Christianity. Every conversation Seth had with her about it always left him with something to think about.
But now wasn’t the right time. Not with an aggressive crowd staring, seemingly awaiting the moment to pounce on them.
“Clary.” Seth moved closer. “Forget it.” He didn’t drag her off, though. He waited, because she always seemed to surprise him with her reactions.
“You’re here to spread the Word right?” Clary asked.
“Yes.”
“And how many people have stopped to listen to you? How many souls have you saved by yelling at people passing by?”
Seth pushed her behind him when the man went off again.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” Clary said softly.
For a moment, Seth thought that Clary was merely speaking to him.
Yet miraculously, her soft words were enough to mute everyone else, even the aggressive man whose face was red from yelling.
“This is the first and greatest commandment,” Clary continued. “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” She paused and scanned the faces of the crowd. “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” She cracked a smile. “All the law and prophets hang on love. God is perfect love, and He loves you, all of you.”
“You’re twisting the words of the Bible.”
“Have a blessed day.” She glanced over at the young boy, flashed a small smile just for him, then moved toward the security guards.
“Are you okay?”
Clary blew out a breath. “I don’t care if they want to be angry.” She poked her tongue into her cheek. “But children shouldn’t be exposed to anger like that.” She pressed her fingertips to her cheek, and Seth tightened his grip on her hip so he wouldn’t turn around and kill that man.
“Does it hurt?”
“A little.” She cursed under her breath, and Seth’s brows rose. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It makes me so angry. Ugh.” She tipped her head back as they entered the building. “I want to cut his tongue out.”
Seth couldn’t stop himself. He laughed aloud, then shook his head. “Then why the hell did you apologize?”
“Because this isn’t about me.” She closed her eyes, and she nodded once. “This isn’t about me,” she repeated, as if she was trying to convince herself of something.
“I got it from here,” Seth said to the guards. “Keep a better lookout on what’s going on.”
Clary peered over her shoulder as the guards apologized, then looked back at Seth. “I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you.”
“I told you to give me a call.”
“I forgot. I was so excited.” Her lips curled back into a wide grin.
“How can you be so fickle? You were cursing and talking about cutting out someone’s tongue.” He would gladly have helped her do it.
“Oh, right.” Her smile faded, and Seth almost kicked himself.
He weaved through the small crowd of employees that had gathered. All of them gave Seth and Clary a wide berth, all pretending to be chatting among themselves and sipping their coffee from thermos flasks while subtly casting glances at the two of them.
The guard by the security gantry opened the gate for Seth and Clary, and they walked quietly to the elevators.
Once inside, Clary leaned back against the wall. “I apologized because if I didn’t, I was afraid the boy would end up bearing the brunt of his father’s anger. I couldn’t have that.”
“So it’s nothing to do with love. Because that’s kind of contradictory to the whole tongue-cutting-out idea.”
“I’m not Jesus. I’m not all-loving. That’s why I still need Him.” She licked her lips. “I’m sure it seems hypocritical to you, to say one thing and really mean another.”
