Alyssa's Pov :

My finals are finally over now.

I was released from hospital after staying for about a month or so. Mom literally hugged me to death after seeing me and cried for days.

" I don't ever wanna lose you my baby. You are all I have left. Why didn’t you tell me anything! " she said things like this while crying.

She was more sad about the fact that I didn’t tell her about the bullying. And, she didn’t want to leave me alone for days.

Making her cry or worry was the last thing I wanted to do, but I ended up doing it anyways.

After being released, I was worried that I missed my exams. But after going back to school, I got to know that the exams had been postponed and I still had about 15 days to prepare.

That was shocking. This school was known for maintaining a strict schedule, so postponing or rescheduling was unheard of. Obviously I was shocked at that.

Also, at first when I entered the school, I felt like things were more different than usual.

I mean, people used to avoid me or gossip about me anyways. But this time they seemed to be more on the edge.

Like, Wherever I went, they went out of my way, cleared my path and kept a good distance. They didn’t even dare to gossip like usual.

Heck, none of them even dared to look at me, as if I would punish them for that. Silence fell wherever I went. I was so confused. But my questions were answered soon.

I met Rae and Connor on the hallway so I asked them.

* Flashback *

" Why do you think this is happening?  What is the most likely scenario for this kind of thing to happen?  Take a guess" Rae had told me looking at her nails.

" I mean, there’s only one possible answer. It’s not that hard to figure out really. Use your brain idiot" Connor had smacked my head to which I glared.

" Do that one more time and I'll rip all your hair out" Connor rolled his eyes and smacked my head again.

" Oops, I did it again. What're you gonna do about it" this guy! He's was annoying!

" Shut up you two. Now, tell me, what do you think Alyssa? Why would everyone avoid you?"

" Um...because of....Arestair?  I... I mean He's the only reason I can think of" I said.

" BINGO" Connor sang.

" But I don't understand. He's been here before too. People know about him already. They didn’t react this much before, so why now?"

" While you were in Hospital, the principal went crazy. Apparently, Damien went missing after your incident and was nowhere to be found. She went crazy and even expelled you from school. Even though the whole school knew Damien was the one to be punished " Rae explained.

" She filed complaints against you and even dared to threaten Arestair . She blamed you for her son's disappearance.  The lunatic woman really wanted her retarded son back " Connor added.

" But Arestair didn’t just nullify the complaints against you. He counter attacked her, filed several more complaints against her.

Of course the authorities followed his wishes immediately. No one would wanna get on his bad side.

He removed her from principal's position and expelled her from the school instead. And then threw her to jail for supporting and hiding crimes like bullying and assaulting. Also,  the new principal was appointed by Arestair.

Thus, all the students who were involved in your bullying or knew you were being bullied but never helped were expelled.

The exams were postponed until your recovery. Everything happened according to His wishes.

Damien was found unconscious in a field , on the verge of death. Even after he woke up he was traumatised and didn’t behave like a sane person.

And Arestair made sure to warn everyone and anyone to stay away from you.

Of course no one in their right mind would dare to come near you. So there you have it. " Rae finally finished.

I was out of words. I never knew Mr. Arestair did so much, and that also only for me? That was.....I never expected it...

" This time I'd have to say Arestair did a great job. Those bastards got what they deserved.  He was so cool, I wish I could do stuff like this too. You better thank him later Lyss" Connor said smiling like an idiot.

" y...yeah.. I'll... I'll thank him" I don't know why, but something about this whole situation made a shiver run through my spine.

" But Lyss, it looks like he's really serious about you. He did everything just for you. You haven’t seen Damien.

He...He looked so bad with his broken arms, cuts, beaten up face... He looked like a bloody mess deprived of food and sleep. I almost felt pity for him. Please be careful of Arestair.  I don't feel too safe about him " Rae said holding my face with both her hands.

She looked worried. That's when it clicked.

An unknown man whom I've barely known went out of his way and did things for me that no one would do, tortured the person who tortured me.

At first it may seem sweet and all, but if thought about it carefully, it’s actually a little frightening.

During my stay at the hospital, he behaved really well with me and took care of me. I liked his company and got comfortable with him.

A little too comfortable.... That I didn’t think about the fact that he almost stayed with me 24/7.  He barely left..

His men guarded the hall. He sent Jordan and Luke as my personal bodyguards.  He paid my hospital bills. And now this.

The way Rae described what happened to Damien may sound like a perfect punishment for him.  But as perfect as it may sound, It's also very cruel...

The amount of infatuation....is not okay.... It’s not supposed to be like this.

Maybe I should visit Damien...

" Earth to Alyssaaa" Connor's dumb face brought me out of my thoughts.

" Oh sorry. I guess I zoned out a little "

" Of course you did. Dumb people tend to zone out anyways.. Ooouuuuuuu.......oouch...oiii, let gooo!" I pulled Connor's hair as hard as I could.

I'm wasn’t gonna let him go easily, he's been talking too much these days.

* End of flashback*

I smile thinking about pulling his hair. That day we both pulled each other's hair and fought like kids.

Rae didn’t even bother to stop us and instead made a video of us fighting.  And now She's blackmailing both of us with it.

After that day, I've been very worried about Arestair's motives. I'm not gonna lie, all this time I really hoped that I was just a random interest to him.

That he's just passing time and once he's bored, he'd leave me alone. But now, I'm not so sure about that and my chances look slimmer every day.

Of course the nice things he does make me happy, but that does not mean I want him to pursue me any further.

The positive emotions I felt towards him in the hospital were totally replaced with the same negative emotions I felt for him when I first met him.

Because I went to visit Damien in the hospital. And he looked.... horrible.. I couldn’t stop crying after seeing him.

He barely looked human anymore . His face unrecognizable. I know he did bad things. But this was too much...

How could a human do this to another Human being...

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

I've been avoiding Arestair as much as I could . Not that it worked, if he wants to meet with me, he'd just do it anyways. But still, I think he took the hint as he didn’t visit me so often as he used to.

Jordan and Luke still guard me and spend time with me which I am grateful for. I've started to like their company quite a lot.

My birthday was a week ago. Rae and Connor threw a party for me. They apologised many times for not being there when I needed them.

But the thing is, they're my friends not my protectors or guardians. It’s not their job to protect me.

They should not feel burdened or guilty for not being able to protect me what so ever. They were already great great friends and doing so much for me.

I wish they knew how much I felt indebted to them for that and appreciated them.

Luke, Jordan and people from the cafe came. Including Catherine. I've never had so many come on birthday. This was probably the best birthday of my life.

Also, this was the best day after my father and brother's death. Ah... Those two... I wish they could be here..

I miss them...

Arestair fortunately didn’t come to see me as often anymore. He didn’t come to my birthday as well which made me relieved.

He sent a few gifts through Jordan and Luke. Most of the gifts were jeweleries which looked too pretty and expensive .  Thus, I didn’t even dare to touch those.

What if I ruin them.. I've carefully kept them away in my drawers. Safe and sound. Others were perfumes and chocolates.

There was also a weird letter along with the gifts.

" My dear, I wish you all the happiness in the world. Happy Birthday.  I didn’t know what you’d like so I picked a few gifts for you.

I've put a lot of thought into picking these. I really hope you like them.

Also, the time has come. Be prepared. I'll give you a few days so that you don’t feel pressured . Take your time.

If you want to say your farewells you might as well do them within this time. Until then, take care.

                                       Arestair Amaris "

This is what the letter said.

What time has come? Prepare for what? Take time for what? And why did he say farewell? Why would I need farewells?

This man was weird. I thought maybe the note didn’t mean much. But.. For some reason though, I couldn’t stop thinking about the note.

It gave me a bad feeling in my belly. Suddenly I hear someone knocking on the main door bringing me out of my thoughts.

It's 1 am. Why would anyone come at this hour. I silently walked out of my room and went downstairs. Mom was also tiptoeing over to the door.

We both signaled each other. I already had 911 typed on my caller pad. Mom had a frying pan in her hand. Who know, it could be some thief or robber.

As she opened the door the color of her face drained.

In front of her stood Arestair, in all his glory...with his men... A lot of his men... This was worse than a thief or a robber..

Mom fell on the floor due to shock. I ran down to her.

" Why'd you com..come here? So late at night?" I asked him.

" Why? To take you of course. " he said raising a brow.

" what? Take me?  Where? Why"

" You don’t remember? " I looked at him confused.. He knelt down to me and pulled my face closer to him.

" Remember?  I told you, I'll take you with me? After the time has come? Well, guess what.. The time has come" he said looking dead serious into my eyes.

Realization hit me. I totally forgot that he said that at the beginning, when I first met him.... I just thought he wasn’t serious and I  forgot about it..

" Why do you look shocked dear. I even gave you time didn’t I? I gave you time to say your farewells. Looks like you didn’t do it"

That's what the letter was for! What do I do now! I don't wanna go!

" Now You're out of time. Get up. We're leaving now " he said pulling me up with him.

" No! I Don't want to go!" I started to fight him, trying to pull my hands away from him.

" You will come with me. Even if you don’t want to. I told you I'll be taking you. I gave you time. I've been very generous with you, Don't expect more" he said not even budging from his spot.

" I never.. NEVER AGREED TO THIS! " I scratched him.

" You Belong to Me. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not. You WILL come with me"  he said gritting his teeth while pulling me even closer to him.

" Go pack her bags and get her stuff. Don't leave out anything " he ordered his men and they obeyed like loyal dogs, heading to my room.

" I DON'T BELONG TO YOU! I BELONG TO ME! AND MY MOM! YOU DON’T GET TO DECIDE FOR ME!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. My tears falling down without my consent.

" YOU BELONG TO ME!  AND I SURE AS HELL GET TO DECIDE FOR YOU. YOU ARE MINE.! MINE YOU HEAR ME!  MINE! I OWN YOU! AND I AM TAKING WHAT'S MINE WITH ME "

He yelled back. This time he didn’t even hold back on the grip.

I could feel his nails digging on my skin.

My mom finally came out of her daze. She snatched me away from him and pulled me behind her.

" Don’t Touch my daughter you monster! Why are you taking my daughter "she seethed.

" Because I want her . She's mine. I'm only here to claim her" Arestair tried to come closer.

" Don't you dare come near us! I Won't let you lay a finger on her! " mom said while pointing the frying pan towards him.

" You really think you can protect her? With that? Do you even know who I am?" he looked amused.

How could he find this situation amusing!

" Oh I know who you are. A Monster. You first took my husband and son away from me. And now You're here to take my daughter! You're a monster!" mom cried out..

" Oh, well then. I guess this monster's gonna keep acting like a monster" he pulled out his gun...

And pointed the gun directly to my mother’s forehead.. No no no! I started crying even harder. This can't be happening. Why was this happening...  What did I ever do to deserve this...

" You can either protest and see your beloved mom die. Or you can come with me silently and nothing bad happens. What's it gonna be? " he looked at me.

His ash eyes burning into my soul.

" Stop stopp! I'll.. I'll goo...don't hurt her! " I stammered as I stood in front of mom.. He slowly put his gun down.

" That's my good girl. " he said coming near me and caressing my cheek.

" Noo! You Won't go anywhere!  Don’t take my daughter! " mom kept saying those as she held on to me.

" Can I at least talk to mom for a while before leaving?" I asked him silently.. He stared at me for a while

"   Go ahead" that was all I needed.

I hugged mom as tightly as I could.

" Baby don’t go! We can fight him. We can do this! Don’t give up. I....I..can stop him from taki.."

" Mom..mom..stop! I don't want you to fight. Please stop. You know we can't win this. Just...please.." I sobbed

" But.. He'll take awayy the only child and family I have got. How can I live if you are gone too! I'll be alone!! " she screamed as she hugged me tighter.

" I promise I'll be fine. I promise I'll come to see you.. I... Promise you wont be alone..I.. I..Promise I'll be safe" I've become such a good liar..

" So, can you promise me to be healthy and safe? Can you? " she looked at me, stared at me for a long time as if this was the last time she'll be seeing me..

She probably knew I was lying but still she nodded.

" You done? It's time to leave" Arestair stood behind me.

" Mom.. Please take care of yourself. I'll be back.. Until then..please.. Please just...please take care of yourself .. don’t work too hard, eat properly and rest properly.. Okay.. I love you " I swiped her tears with my thumb.

I hugged her one last time before Arestair held my arm and pulled me with him. I looked at my home, the home I spent my whole life in for one last time.

Who knows if I'll ever be able to return here. This guy might just do bad stuff to me and then kill me...

I only wish I could have spent more time with her.