Hi guys! I know the updates have been pretty slow recently. I'm sorry for that. I had a little fever and a bad cold. But I'm doing better now. And thank you soo much to the people that have supported me this far. I really appreciate it! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Alyssa's pov :

It's been a week since Arestair last came. I was surprised to be very honest. I never thought he'd be someone to keep his word. The days were peaceful, but they could have been more peaceful if he didn’t send two of his minions to guard me.

They were literally buff men with black suits, sunglasses and earpieces just like in the movie men in black. They followed me around everywhere I went. Fortunately they didn’t enter into my home or school.

They just followed around only when I  was outside and guarded my home like guard dogs.

It kind of made me feel sad for them. The poor guys stood outside of the house for hours. But I  never got the courage to invite them in.

It was a typical Sunday,  since I was on a 'break' from work, I wanted to spend the time with Rae and Connor. But both of them said they had something to do..... Not suspicious at all.

I flopped down on my bed, I've always been good at studies, so catching up was quite easy for me. With all my homework done, I didn't have anything much to do. I was bored.

Is this how my Sunday's gonna go?

After laying down and rolling around on my bed for about an hour, I decided it was time to be productive. So I took out my sketch book and pencils to start sketching.

Art has always been an hobby of mine, and not to boast, but I'm pretty good at it if I say so myself. But it takes me hours or days even to finish a piece.

So I end up procrastinating. That's the main reason I never took art classes in school. I was thinking about what to draw, but suddenly an idea came which I would most likely regret.

I could draw the guards..

They were actually kind of handsome. I'm too shy to look at them directly, so I've never seen their faces clearly. But even from the small glances I took, I could tell they were fairly handsome. So would make perfect models.

Now the question was, would it be okay to bring them in.....

I shook my head. Maybe I could try to draw them by looking through my window. After trying that for two hours I gave up. The details were too blurry to focus on and I could barely see their faces.

Maybe I could just give up on drawing them, but the thing is... once something's on my mind, I can't  feel satisfied until I've done just that..

Maybe I should invite them in.. They must be tired from all the standing. I mean they've been standing there for more than 5hours now! 

Plus It was already 12 pm. So they could take it as a lunch break.

They're Arestair's men. Although he's a jerk, they wouldn’t do anything to make him mad. So I assume that they won't do anything bad..... Probably...

I took a small knife from the kitchen and tucked it in my pockets, just to be safe. And also kept the windows in my home open, in case I needed to make a run for my life.

After all that, I went to them but started getting nervous. Be brave Alyssa.

" H..hi" wow, stuttering in a second. How brave of me. They both looked at me.

" So..um.. It’s lunch time. So would you like to come inside and rest a bit?" They both looked surprised and confused.

They started to whisper among themselves. The blond one seemed to be not agreeing with something while the one with black hair looked at me and gave me a small smile.

" No, we won't be coming inside. That was not part of our order. We appreciate the offer though" the blond one said.

" B..but... I want you to come inside.."

" And why is that?" the black haired guy asked raising a brow.

" Because,  you guys have been standing here so long. And it’s been days. I feel bad" although not my main motive, but it was true.

" That's our job, no need to think about that. That's what we're paid for." the blond said.

" But I feel kind of bad. And also, I'm bored. At least come and have lunch with me?" I tried again.

" No, we can not. And why are you trying to get us in your home suddenly ? You aren’t planning on doing something funny, are you?" the blond guy asked me sternly.

" n..no! Why would I be planning.. It's not like I have anywhere to run to other than my home  if I were to do something... ." at my statement, the dark haired guy chuckled.

" So, what do you really want?" he asked seriously.

"I...  I just want you guys to have lunch inside with me..."

" Like I said before, we aren’t allowe.. "

" And in return I want you guys to let me draw you!" I cut off the blond guy mid sentence.

" So it’s not just pity, It's give and take" I finished. They both stayed silent for a while.

" Listen, we appreciate it but we really can't - " the black haired guy was cut off by his phone's  ringing. After talking to someone over the phone he looked at me.

Then he looked at the blond guy and said " he told us to do as she says. And also we're not to disobey her" at that the blond guy groaned loudly.

" I guess we're getting inside after all" the black haired dude said to me and gave me a smile while the blond guy looked like he was not happy with it at all.

" Really!  Yay! Thank you! Come inside!" I got really excited and I almost ran inside signalling them to come faster.

" How did the boss know.. " " who cares! Now we have to listen to this twerp.  The day couldn't have gotten any worse!" the blond guy kept on grunting.

He was clearly the grumpy one, but I paid no mind to him. I was too excited and was busy thinking  what to make for them. I ended up making them curry with rice, that's my speciality after all.

They both looked surprised after eating that.

" Wow , It's really good" the black haired guy, who's name now I knew was Luke said to me.

" Yeah, I was expecting it to be disgusting. But it works  I guess. Nice work kid" the blond guy said. His name was Jordan.

His comment made my smile drop immediately. Grumpy man.

" Hey, don't mind him. He's not a bad person. He just has a hard time sharing his feelings. He's actually complimenting you. He hardly ever compliments anyone, so you did great" Luke said.

Which did make me smile again. He was the sweet one, clearly. After lunch I made them both sit on the sofa, at first I wanted to draw them together, but then I decided to draw one portrait of each of them.

It'd be a waste of their pretty looks and the beauty would clash with each other if I just drew them together.

----------********-----------

It’s now 7pm. It's been 6hours since I've been drawing. I had decided to draw Jordan first. The grumpy guy was complaining  the whole time.

It was so funny that it made me want to mess with him more. I Internationally made mistakes in my drawing and crumpled those pages away. Which in return made him even more pissed.

The longer he sat, the more he complained. I barely kept myself from laughing. The sheer look of disappointment every time I threw away a paper was hilarious..

Luke didn’t even try to hide his laughs, which made it harder for me to holdback.

" Do you even know how to draw?" he said while he picked up one of the crumpled pages off the floor.

" Hey! Who gave you permission to move!" I said.

" yeah, why u movin'  bro" Luke joined which earned him a glare from Jordan.

" I bet She's garbage at drawing. That's why she keeps throwing the pages away-" he looked at the paper he just unfolded, he was surprised to say the least. But then he got angry.

" Oi ,  this drawing is pretty damn good. Why'd you throw it away!" he exasperated.

" Um, because I thought that wasn’t good enough?" he started picking up all the crumpled pages.

All of which were thrown away after drawing halfway. Shit.

" what about this one?"

" oh, the eyes look out of proportion in that"

" And this one?"

" I messed up with the face shape"

" and this, then this and this?" he showed me three papers at the same time.

" the shading was bad on the first one, and the other two also had some problems with the ears and nose " problems that were Internationally made and could be easily fixed.

But I wasn’t gonna tell him that.

" Are you kidding me! I've been sitting here for hours! You're such a bad artist!" his voice was getting louder

" Hey! It’s not my fault! You keep moving even though I clearly told you not to move. You're a bad model"

" She's right, Don't blame the artist. Blame the model " Luke was enjoying it.

" You shut up, Luke. And you, I'm not sitting anymore. I'm done being the model. Guarding the house is so much better than this shit. At least I get to move around" he grumbled as he started to walk out.

" But I want to draw you.."

" Then draw Luke"

" Noo, I wanna draw you first" I've never been the mischievous type. I don't know why I was being like that today. It was just so fun annoying Jordan.

" I don't care. I'm not taking this shit anymore. I'm leaving"

" But we were ordered to do as she says. And she wants to draw you. Are you really gonna disobey her and boss's order by doing so ? " Luke taunted him which made Jordan stop right before the front door.

After grunting a little he stomped back to the sofa and sat down, crossing his hands over his chest like a child. Me and Luke laughed at that. Cute.

" You better be over with this soon. No more playing around"

" Roger that" I was planning on being serious anyways.. I was getting kind of tired.

Luke enjoyed his time annoying Jordan as he sat still. At some point Jordan started to get seriously impatient.

Can't blame the guy. He's been sitting still for too long, and Luke being a brat was not helping it at all.

I finally finished my drawing at about 7.15ish. Satisfied with all the details I was able to put.

' It’s done! You're free to move now!" I said happily as Jordan gave a sigh of relief.

He slugged his shoulders down, and made himself comfortable on the sofa.  His back must feel stiff as he had to sit straight for so long. We did take breaks in between but still it was too long for him.

I looked at the portrait, this was the first time I saw them this close and without their sunglasses.

Jordan’s eyes were a pretty shade of brown, his eyebrows were nicely shaped. And he had nicely spread beard on his face which he clean shaved giving him a clean look. It suited him a lot.

His hair had a deep blond, almost brown color near the roots and very light blond at the ends.

While Luke had jet black hair with dark brown eyes. His eyelashes could make any girl jealous. Both of them were tall, about 5'11.  They were both very pretty .

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Jordan came beside me to see the portrait. He kept analysing it. In a moment Luke was beside me as well, looking at the picture.

" So.....? what do we think?" I was nervous because Jordan was still not saying anything. Did he not like it?

" It's..good" he finally said. I was worried, he might not have liked the picture and just forced himself to say it.

But the moment I saw a small smile on his face, I knew he meant it. This was the first time the guy smiled throughout the whole day.

This was also the first time someone sounded so gloomy while complimenting me. But still, it made me happy.

" Wow! You know this is good.  This grandpa never praises anyone . And he said that it’s good! Good job! " Luke smiled warmly at me which made me smile too.

" Okaayyy! Now it my turn!!" he said clapping his hand and then hopping on the sofa like a child.

" I'd love to draw you. But,  it's already late Luke. My mom's gonna come home soon. She'll freak out if she saw you guys inside" I said sadly.

Mom's been bugging me about them being outside my house most of the time. I just convinced her that they were sent by Aren because he thought I needed protection.

This obviously made mom swoon over him even more saying how caring and protective he was, and that I should give him a chance. I obviously ignored her.

But I don't think she'll be too happy if she saw that I brought the bodyguards inside. 

Luke's smile dropped immediately as he started pouting.

" No fair! You drew Jordan! And now when it’s my turn you're trying to skip! "

" I'm not skipping. Just, today's not possible.  I'll draw you tomorrow. " I said assuring him.

" But you drew Jordan today! I want you to draw me today too!" such a child!

" Oh, c'mon Luke. Stop being such a baby. I'm sure she must be tired. She said she'll draw you tomorrow, so suck it up." Jordan said finally. Has he been staring at the portrait this whole time?

He's still standing in front of the portrait.

" Fine. But Tomorrow, You'll do it. Promise?" he said pointing a finger at me.

" yeah yeah, promise. Now leave before mom comes" I ushered them to the door while Luke kept telling me that I better keep my promise.

Jordan had to drag him out while he still pouted. Jordan gave me a nod and then left as I closed the door.

Today was fun. It was then I realised just how easy it was to get along with those two, and how much comfortable I was in their presence.

Comfortable enough to annoy the grumpy one.

The first time when I saw them, I thought they were really scary and they must be very hostile. But they were actually like normal people.

Not once did I feel scared or threatened by them. In fact, I felt at ease with them. You really  never know someone until you get to know them, I guess.

I don't know where did the courage to talk and invite them inside came from, but I'm glad I did it.

Maybe meeting Arestair so many times has affected me so much, that nothing else feels scary anymore.

I wonder if Arestair is also different than what people make out of him...in a positive way.

Nah, that's stretching it too far.  Not possible.