Chapter 10 - Chapter 9

Alexa

Why is he suddenly being nice? she thought, not that I am complaining. Though she said no, he gave her money for the car parts. She felt guilty taking money since they already pay her more than she wanted and treats her like a family member of their own.

She felt herself being attracted to him more and more, especially when he said that he loved women who can cook. She knew that he was just kidding but she couldn't stop herself wondering, what if he would really love me? No, she brushed away the thought as soon as it appeared, I would never let a guy close enough to hurt me. But deep down she knew that the promise was going to be broken.

That day she couldn't go to the garage as Mrs. Greymund and she prepared his favourite dinner. As they suspected, he was surprised. It took a lot of time for it to bake. And to do all the dishes in five hours, by the end of the day she was exhausted but seeing him beaming like a small kid in Christmas surrounded by presents, it was worth it.

That night she planned to do the shopping next weekend so that she could find out some information about Carole and ask her questions.

She was drifting off to sleep when she was awakened by a shuffling directly under her window. She held her breath and kept on listening. A few seconds passed and when she was again drifting off, it came again.

Her mouth went dry, was it a burglar? She took hold of the nearest object, which was her bedside lamp, and neared towards the window. Thank god I locked the door to the balcony.

But as she peeped through the window, there was nothing. She sighed in relief. Now, she was day - dreaming or should she say night - dreaming.

She sat down on her bed and waited till her heart beat lowered.

A few minutes passed, but she couldn't sleep, she was tossing and turning until she couldn't take it no more.

She got out of bed and tip toed across and held her breath when she neared Michael's bedroom but no sound from inside. She didn't want to wake anybody.

She walked down the staircase towards the kitchen. She thought of switching on the light but she refrained. She opened the fridge and took out a water bottle when she heard someone breathing near her.

She turned around and saw a black silhouette. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. She backed up when that person started nearing her.

The thing that surprised her the most wasn't that there was a burglar inside the mansion, it was that she could see as if there was light in the room. She saw the bare torso, the broad shoulders, even the little scar.

"Having a walk around the house all by yourself, beautiful?" asked Michael.

She gulped. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but why did she feel guilty? Maybe because of the intensity of his gaze.

Maybe it was the moonlight playing tricks on her but she thought she saw his eyes glowing a little but they were half closed to mere slits, so she wasn't sure.

She was now pressed against the wall. Every nerve ending in her body wanted her to run but she stood frozen on the place, the tiles cold against her bare feet.

Michael was so near that his breath was fanning her face. She took a sharp intake of breath as his chest came close against hers.

He bent his face towards her. " I won't suggest it would be a good move on your part," he whispered.

Oh god, he's going to kiss me, thought Alexa.

He brought his face closer to her but at the last moment he changed his actions and kissed her cheek.

Then as of nothing happened, he took the water bottle from her, which she was clutching so hard, it was half crumbled and drank from it.

"Good night," he said huskily and then in the blink of an eye he was gone.

My poor heart, thought Alexa as she stood holding the wall to gain her balance. What a night! She skipped back towards her room, she felt as if she was on cloud nine.

At least her relationship status wasn't zero still.

She was about to fall asleep when a deep howl cut through the air. What in the name of god was that? It sounded like animal, yet human, she thought.

She ran towards the window for the second time that night and saw in the mere darkness a dark creature disappearing into the trees.