Alyssa's pov :

I played with the locket as I laid in my bed. Today was Sunday, so no school  and no work. I needed this free time so badly. The mental exhaustion I've faced the last few days  are wayy over my limits.

Mr. Arestair has been dropping me home every single day. Now a days he has been picking me up from home as well. The people around my neighbourhood are already gossiping about it.

How do I know they gossip? Because they fricking look at me and whisper whenever I go out to do shopping or buy groceries. Some of them are so rude that they point fingers at me. What are they, high schoolers?

They reminded me so much of the students at my school. Even the cashiers sometimes give me the looks. It's uncomfortable....

It's all his fault. Can't he just use a normal, simple, ordinary car. Does he always have to use Mercedes, or Rolls-Royce  or Lamborghini. Those are hella fancy cars! Who's he trying to show off to!

One day an elderly woman came up to me and told me,

" Oh You're that girl from our neighbourhood. I've heard you got a fancy and rich young man up yo sleeves. Hear he got great cars. Good catch ."

Ugh... What was she saying... Do they really think he's my boyfriend or something?

But then again, Ares only drops me off in front of my house. And in the morning, he only honks his car to let me know that he has arrived to pick me up.

He never really gets out of his car and the glasses of the car are black and bulletproof.  So of course it’s impossible for people to see his face. I don't blame them for thinking like that.

If only they knew...

I was in my thoughts when mom suddenly barged in my room. These past few days I've been avoiding her. I'm sure she'd heard the rumors.  I just knew she'd ask me about that and I did not want to confront her.

I hurriedly tried to hide the locket but it was too late, she was already smiling from ear to ear. If I didn’t know better, I would've found her to be creepy.

" Sooo? You wanna tell me something? "

" T..tell you something?  Like what?" ah.. my stupid stutter.

"  like maybee, who gave you that pretty little  locket?"

"Oh t..this? I bought it for myself"

" You bought it? From where may I ask?" she said raising an eyebrow.

" From...online?"

" Online huh? Then why were you hiding it?".. she singed

" huh.. What're you saying? No one's hiding anything " man this was going bad.

"Really? So,  Who's the guy? "

" huh? What guy? Oh, Connor? You know him mom. He's my-"

" No. Not Connor. The one that has been picking you up and dropping you off" she was smirking.

" I don't know what You're talking about. I don't  have anyone like that. Who told you you that mom?" I avoided meeting her eyes.

" Humm.  Who told me?" she pretended to think.

" I don't know dear. Like.. the whole colony. And also random people I met at street" she gave me a tight smile. A smile that said ' you have no more room to lie'

" Now, stop lying. That locket of yours, that looks expensive. I don't think you could afford it. And if you really bought it from online, you wouldn’t want to hide it. "

"Also, so many people have come up to me the last  few days to ask me about supposedly my daughters rich 'boyfriend ' whom even I don't know about. So you better tell me" mom gave me her stern look.

Could people just mind their own business and not meddle with others. I Can't tell her about Arestair ! She'd freak out. I Don't want her to get scared or stressed out. She's already suffered enough.

" Um.. He's..... " I was thinking hard what to say..

" yeah.. He's?" she sounds so eager.

She never sounds this eager when I tell about my hobbies or wishes.

" He's actually just a friend. We're not dating" the smile instantly dropped from her face.

" Stop lying"

" I'm not lying" it was true. We're not dating.

" Then why does he give you rides"

" Because he's a friend. " i said as a matter of fact.

"And also bcz our houses are in the same direction. He crosses my house every day. So he offered to give me rides" nice one.

" Really? " she looked like she didn’t believe me.

" Really. In return I help him with math and Biology " this convinced her.

" Then why were you denying it?"

" Because, he's kind of rich. And I didn’t want to look like I was showing off about my friend."

" I wouldn’t think like that!"

" No not you. But others will"

" So you study together? "

" Yup. You got the point"

" Okay. So there’s still hope. My daughter might still get a good man " she encouraged herself.

" There's no hope " I said looking trying to look uninterested.

" yes there is. Who knows, maybe you both will start to like each other. Plus, he's rich" she looked excited.

" Mom. I don't like him. And I don't want any relationships, not now at least " this bummed her down again.

" Okay fine. Do whatever you like. But at least tell me his name." shit, I didn’t think about that.

" Um...his name's... Allen"

" Allen?"

" Yeah. Allen Walter " Ares, Allen, kinda matches. Good thinking, I patted myself mentally. Thanks to Alen Walker.

" Okay then. Don't hide anything from me okay? You hear me? " she said narrowing her eyes at me.

" Of course not. Why would I hide from you. " I gave her the sweetest smile I could muster.. She finally left.

I felt bad about lying, but at least she wouldn’t bother about this for a while. I sighed it relief. I started playing with the locket again. I've started love this locket a lot. It's too cute.

******************

I was soo wrong when I thought she'd stop bothering about the topic. Mom Intentionally didn’t go to work today and rushed to open the door when she heard the horning sound. She probably wanted to see this "Allan Walter's" face.

Fortunately he didn’t come out of his car as usual. I shoved past her and told her to go inside. But she kept on  trying to look.

I just ran and got inside the car and shut the door as soon as I could.

" Please drive" He looked at me a little bewildered but then drove off. Mom was shouting ' have  safe journey. Take care of my daughter'.

God she was embarrassing.

After a while he spoke " your mom's kind of an interesting person" he was smiling.

For some odd reason, he looked really beautiful to me. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen him smile or laugh before. His smile was...pretty.

I shook my head. What was I thinking. I shouldn’t think like that. Stupid brain.

He's a really scary person and scares me a lot. Although, I admit, I've been able to be a little less shaky and scared around him recently . But that's only because he doesn’t really ever harm me.

He does harass me once or twice, it make me feel bad and dirty, and awful and makes me wanna cry .

But I realised he makes sure to stop after a few minutes and doesn’t touch me in bad places.

And I've also realised that he actually tries not to scare me..Not that it works much.. But it does help with my fear.His touches only consist of touching my arms, hands, neck, back and waist.

So now whenever he kisses me, I know he'd stop after a while. Thus, I don't panic as much as I used to.

But I'm still super scared of him. His aura itself is scary. Plus, You never know, he might just change his mind and actually do awful things to me. That thought scares me even more.

But  for now, he wasn't really doing anything like that. That was something I was grateful for to god.

I can't deny though. He's a beautiful person. His facial features look like they've been perfectly sculpted by someone. He could easily be mistaken as a model. I wonder if he ever got offers to be a model.

Nah, most likely not. Unless those people wanted to get killed.

" I know I'm gorgeous, but you need to stop staring at me" he said looking at me.

Oh my! I've been soo immersed in my stupid ranting thoughts that I didn’t realise I was staring at him.

And it’s been a while since I've been thinking. So i must've been staring for a while too! Nooo!

" What were you thinking about? Me?" he said. Giving me knowing smile.

Another realisation hit. I really have been thinking about him! Why!

I couldn’t stop the blush from adorning my cheeks. I am sooo embarrassed.

Why did I have to think about him! The thoughts weren’t even on any specific topic. They were just random blabbering thoughts. I was even thinking about how he was handsome and all. Just whyy!

I heard a low rumbling sound. I looked at Ares, and he was slightly laughing, his deep voice came out as a rumble. I've never seen him laugh.

Wow.. His laugh is..nice.. The rumbling sound felt like it was shaking me to my core. It was kind of...sexy.

Shit, what did I just think!! Why did I just think that.
Shit! I was staring at him again! What was happening today!

I quickly looked down while another batch of heat rushed to my neck and cheeks. Today was not going good. Arestair asked me if I was okay. He looked confused.

No I'm not okay! I'm embarrassed bruh, get the hint. I must be looking like a tomato right now. I looked up to check if he's laughing at me.

But to my surprise he only looked concerned, a frown now set on his face.He was the last person I hoped to see that emotion on. He put his hand on my forehead,

" I think you have a fever. You don’t need to go to school. I'll take you to the doctor" I swear my heart skipped a beat.

" no, I'm fine. Just take me to school" I pushed his arm away.

" No, we're going to the doctor"

" But I'm fine! I swear" he gave me a stern look.

" I decide that, not you. You aren’t going to school today. And That's final" I stayed silent.  Something about his tone told me he wouldn’t listen.

Great, who knew I'd get to skip school for blushing. I think I should blush more often, it'd be easier to skip school. Note the sarcasm.

Now we are already heading to the hospital, great. Just what I needed. Who goes to the hospital for a simple fever! Were you raised in royalty?!!

Oh, of course, he was raised in royalty.

But to be honest, his behaviour made me feel a little happy. Happy to be cared for in such a manner.

I really wish he wasn’t a killer , a mafia, a well known brutal and heartless person. Because for a moment, he really did look like a nice,  caring, and a normal person to me.

And I found myself thinking, what would it be like, if he really was a normal person.