Chapter 43

Adelaide and Kai were having lunch together at a diner near work.

"Judging by that look on your face, last night's dinner must have been terrible!" commented Kai, observing Adelaide's sullen expression.

"I did everything you said! All that talk about giving a chance, and she goes and throws wine in Mr. Callahan's face!" grumbled Adelaide.

"You know she wouldn't have attacked him if she didn't feel offended," Kai said.

"He called her a brat, but the reason for the argument was Tristan. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I know she defended him. She still cares about him. I know it," Adelaide confided.

"She doesn't..." Kai abruptly interrupted his speech, feeling a strange dizziness. His hand gripped the table's edge for support, and he shut his eyes tightly, sensing everything around him spinning.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Adelaide asked, concerned.

"Yes." He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times to regain his composure. "I'm fine! It was just a moment of dizziness..."

***

Aurora spent most of the morning immersed in the preparations for Emotion's spring fashion show and hardly thought about the disastrous dinner from the previous night. She was focused on her tasks and determined to give her best, as this would be her first major event for the company, and she didn't want to mess up.

Luna appeared by her desk. "Still here?" she asked, surprising Aurora.

"Sorry, what did you say?" she replied.

"I just found it odd to see you here. You usually leave for lunch," Luna explained.

"I'm just so focused on the fashion show that I lost track of time!" Aurora smiled, a bit embarrassed.

"It's good to see that you're putting your all into making this fashion show a success." Luna smiled warmly, a gesture she reserved only for Aurora. "See you at the show!"

"Goodbye!" Aurora waved as she watched her boss walk away, then turned back to her computer.

Shortly after, one of the models she had photographed that morning approached. Tall, slim, with slanted eyes and black hair. "Aurora, right?" he asked.

"Yes. What can I do for you?" Aurora replied.

"You're very beautiful, you know?" he said, with a seductive smile.

She chuckled softly. She had noticed the man's glances on her during the photoshoot.

"Thank you for the compliment," Aurora replied.

"Don't you want to go out with me sometime?" he suggested.

"Sorry, I'm not interested," Aurora said, standing up and grabbing her bag, but her arm was pulled back.

"Are you sure? Have you really taken a good look at me?" the model teased.

Aurora assessed him from head to toe. He was certainly attractive, but for now, she wanted to stay away from any romantic involvement.

"Yes, you're handsome. I just don't want to be in a relationship right now," Aurora explained, shrugged, and then walked away from the scene.

***

After class, Aurora and Harry decided to have a competition in a mobile game. They had been playing for a while, sitting on the grass of the campus, exchanging insults with their eyes glued to the small screens. In the end, Harry emerged victorious.

"Did you know that this gaming addiction can harm you?" Aurora cautioned.

"Nope, can't do that, I'm a very balanced person," he said, still gazing at the cellphone in his hands.

"So balanced that you don't even look at me while we're having a conversation!" Aurora retorted.

"My eyes are occupied," he replied.

In a swift move, she snatched the device from his hand and hid it behind her body. "Caught you! What are you going to do now?" she grinned playfully.

The guy reached into his pants pocket and pulled out another cellphone, soon engrossed in yet another game.

"Are you kidding me?!!! You should look more at the real world! It has its positive sides," said Aurora.

"When you find them, let me know," he responded.

After months of interaction with the young man, Aurora had learned that he needed a good reason to bother doing something.

"I challenge you to go a week without any contact with any electronic games!" Aurora proposed.

"These attempts of yours to get me off video games are a waste of time!" he replied.

"Why not treat this challenge as a survival game?" Aurora suggested.

Harry paused the game and looked at her curiously. "That's interesting. Tell me more."

"You have three lives, and you'll lose them if you have any kind of game contact," explained Aurora.

"And what if I lose all three?" he questioned.

"Didn't you tell me once that you never lose a game?" teased Aurora, further igniting the guy's competitive side. "But to make it fun, for every life lost, you'll get a tap on the back of your head from me!"

"I don't see anything fun in that!" he exclaimed.

"But I do! And if you win, you get to choose any prize you want!" Aurora explained.

He looked up, thoughtful for a while, before accepting the challenge, sealed with a handshake. This game would be interesting. She was going to test her friend's resilience and self-control.

After bidding farewell to the guy, Aurora went on her way, walking back home. It was a quiet night, the chilly wind brushing against her exposed arms, prompting her to hug herself.

She reached a point where she found herself on a deserted street, with no one else around. The houses had closed doors, not even a car passing by. It felt like the setting of a small and peaceful horror movie town. With this thought, she felt a bit scared and wished to reach home as quickly as possible.

Turning the corner, she caught the reflection of movement and turned around, seeing someone dressed in black from head to toe. They were quite a distance apart, about eight meters. What terrified her wasn't just the impossibility of seeing the person's face, which was covered by a mask, but the fact that they had stopped walking the very moment she spotted them.

Trying to keep calm and control her breathing, she resumed walking, trying to convince herself that the person was just following the same route at the same time, that it was just a coincidence. Reason told her not to look back and to keep walking without showing panic, but she and her stubbornness did the opposite. She quickened her pace and glanced behind her, terrified to see that the person had also picked up speed.

Before she knew it, she was running. Fear filled her eyes as she looked around, searching for a way to escape. She ran as fast as her legs would allow, looking back a few times in hopes of shaking off her pursuer.

Exhaustion hit her, forcing her to stop running. She bent over with her hands on her knees and took deep breaths, regaining her breath. And when she looked back, there was no one there. She looked to the sides and found nothing, not even a shadow.

***

The next day, the chatty girl was unusually quiet; she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone about the pursuit, as she was still very frightened. She looked around constantly when she wasn't at home, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.

She didn't believe that the person from yesterday was a mugger who had chosen her as a target, otherwise he wouldn't have let her escape. Who could it be? Someone she knew? Someone trying to scare her? Someone wanting to harm her?

These questions troubled her mind so much that she didn't even notice when Professor Frederick's class came to an end. She stared out the classroom window, lost in thought, only snapping back to reality when her friend dumped six large bags onto her desk.

"I'm losing it! Get this stuff far away from me!" Harry exclaimed.

She looked at the contents inside the bags. They were various brands of electronic games.

"I can't take all of this home, Nicholas, and you can't avoid your addiction, you have to live with it to learn self-control!" Aurora argued.

"Argh. This is the hardest game I've ever played in my entire life!" Nicholas pouted as he sat down at the desk next to hers.

"Then make it easier! Try to learn how to socialize!" suggested Aurora.

"I already socialize with you," Nicholas replied.

"Meet other people! I'm not the only person in the world!" Aurora said.

"But you're the only one I consider my friend," Nicholas stated.

"The only one?" Aurora felt a bit sorry and even more compelled to help him. "What are you doing tonight? We could... I don't know, go to a club?"

"Too noisy," Nicholas declined.

"Movie?"

"Too many people."

"This is getting difficult!" Aurora grew irritated. "If you want to socialize, you have to interact with human beings. How about going to a fashion show?"

"Fashion show?" Nicholas found the idea strange; he had never imagined himself at such an event.

"It's a runway show by the agency I work for. My friends will be there; they can keep you company when I'm not around."

It didn't seem like a bad idea to him, so he accepted the invitation.

***

In the ballroom, the guests for the fashion show were enjoying themselves as they waited for the event to begin. Waitstaff moved around, serving people. There was a dance floor in one corner, and rows of chairs with a grand runway in another.

Aurora was wearing a red dress and chatting with Klaus, Thomas, and Nicholas in a corner. She had invited Adelaide and Kai for the evening, but the young man was sick, experiencing dizziness, nausea, and weakness. According to him, it was just a virus, and he didn't want to go to the hospital, but Adelaide insisted on taking care of his health for the time being.

"I'm going to get a drink, do you want one?" Aurora asked.

"No, thanks," replied Nicholas, looking a bit awkward to be in that place.

"I'll have a tequila!" said Klaus.

"I'll have the same," added Thomas.

"Okay, I'll be right back." She walked over to the bar and placed the orders with the bartender, tapping her nails on the counter as she waited. She felt someone tap her shoulder and turned around. "Oh, it's you."

"Hello, cutie!" said the black-haired model, smiling slyly.

"Cutie? Seriously, we're in the 21st century," Aurora retorted.

"Well then, how would you prefer me to address you?"

"By nothing."

"Fine, Miss Nothing." He shook his head in disapproval, not finding it funny at all.

"Besides being an amateur at pick-up lines, you're also a terrible comedian!"

"But I'm a great dancer, and I can prove that to you if you accept to dance with me." He extended a hand towards her.

"Accepting to dance with you would be the same as giving you hope for a relationship with me," Aurora replied.

"I promise not to get my hopes up." She looked at his still-extended hand, contemplating whether it was the right thing to do. "Come on. It's just a dance."

She sighed and took his hand. One dance wouldn't hurt anyone. They headed to the dance floor, where electronic music was playing, and they quickly caught onto the rhythm.

"Where's Aurora with our drinks?" Klaus asked, looking around, until Thomas tapped his shoulder with an astonished expression, staring in one direction.

"I just found her!" Thomas pointed to the dance floor, where she was dancing with the model.

"Is she always like this? I mean, is she always in one-night stands?" Nicholas asked, curious, as he didn't know much about her.

"No. She's into serious relationships," Klaus explained.

"I prefer her with Tristan," commented Thomas, letting out a sad sigh.

"Tristan? You mean Callahan?" Nicholas inquired, having a family background in the business world and learning a bit about it, including the names of influential millionaires, and Tristan was one of them.

"Yes. She had a fling with him in the past, but I'm still rooting for them!"

"You should give up. If Tristan truly wanted her, he wouldn't let her go and would come after her," Klaus opined.

"Wait and see! Every Beast needs a Beauty," Thomas replied.

The young woman was having a lot of fun with the man; they danced for a long time. Everything was going well and would continue that way if it weren't for the black hair that suddenly pulled her waist and took her lips without warning. It was so... strange. Her body was there, but her heart wasn't.

***

Tristan climbed the mansion's stairs with paperwork in hand; that evening, he preferred to work at home. He entered a sort of office set up in a room, a place he didn't enter very often, and it was only not dusty due to the employees' efforts.

He noticed something different; on the table, there was a box, the same one that Griffin had handed to him a few nights ago. He hadn't even remembered it until that moment. He sat in the armchair, setting the paperwork aside, and opened the cardboard box. He felt a warmth in his chest, in his heart, which had been so cold before. The shirts he had lent to a certain feisty girl to wear were inside, the fabric infused with her scent, and it made him reminisce.

Just when he thought he had taken her out of his mind, she appeared again and effortlessly tore down all his defenses. Who was the idiot who came up with the notion that time heals everything?! It hadn't healed him; he wanted her more than ever. He wanted to claim that mouth, that body...

He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of the doorbell. He considered ignoring it, but the person was being persistent. He left the office and went to the first floor. He opened the door somewhat brusquely and saw no one. He looked down and saw an envelope. He picked it up with suspicion, took another look at the street trying to spot someone who might have left it, realizing there was no one, he went inside and closed the door.

He opened the envelope and pulled out a photo.

"What the hell is this?!"

***

After the incident with the model, the young woman stayed far away from that creep. She refrained from making a scene after he kissed her without permission because she didn't want to ruin the fashion show.

"Where's Nicholas?" Aurora began to miss her friend.

"He said he was going to the bathroom and hasn't come back yet," Klaus replied.

"Maybe he had an upset stomach. He couldn't stop eating those sweets," Thomas pointed to the dessert table.

She was worried about the whereabouts of the virgin; she looked around for him, but her gaze stopped at another person entering the hall. She couldn't believe what she was seeing and, for a few seconds, stood still, in shock.

What is he doing here? - Aurora thought.

He was looking for someone, his features radiating anger, his gaze intimidating, and that frightened her a bit because she had never seen him like that before. Tristan walked up to the black-haired model who was energetically talking in a group of friends, grabbed his shoulder, and delivered a punch to his face. The music stopped playing, and all attention was on the scene of the two men now exchanging blows mercilessly.

"Why are they fighting?" Klaus asked.

"And who cares? This is live entertainment!" Thomas replied, applauding and encouraging the fight.

She wanted to do something to end it. Getting in the middle of the fight would be suicide, so she quickly called all the security personnel in the area.

"If you lay a finger on her," Tristan whispered in the model's ear, gripping the collar of his shirt with a low and menacing voice, "you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

The security guards approached the two and held their arms, restraining them behind their bodies. Before stepping away, Tristan looked at the man who had kissed Aurora minutes ago for the last time. He seemed to want to intimidate him. He wanted to mark his territory. His territory.