7

Chapter 7

Ella Whitmore

“Yes! That's great! Keep it up! Go! Yes!” My gym instructor, Marcus, cheered me on as I did squats.

He suddenly paused and whispered, “holy shit!”

I straightened up. He was staring in one direction, colours draining from his face.

“Is everything alri…” my voice faded into a soft gasp the moment my eyes found Kael.

He stood across the gym, arms crossed in front of him, and eyes piercing dangerously at Marcus, who was obviously scared.

My stomach twisted nervously and with anger.

I've tried to return to my normal life after the incidents . I tried to push everything behind me, pretending to be fine even though I could barely get good sleep these days, thinking about the incident, but Kael hasn't been helping matters.

He's always everywhere. At my workplace… when I go to the grocery store, across the street in my apartment, in the coffee shop I visit every morning before work.

He's always watching me.

This is it! This is enough. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.

“Give me a minute, Marcus. I'll be back,” I said, my eyes not leaving where Kael stood.

I went to him.

He didn't move… his hands were tucked in his pants, eyes still locked on Marcus.

“What do you want, Mr Kael? Why do you keep stalking me?”

He finally shifted his gaze to me, but he remained silent.

“Your silence is driving me nuts, alright?” I snapped.

He didn't react.

I dragged in a deep frustrating breath, dragging my fingers through my hair.

“You need to leave, alright? I need you to leave and stop stalking…” I paused and sighed.

“Look, I don't want to call the cops on you, so leave while I'm still being nice,”

His eyes dropped to my neck instead, then a smirk curled his lips. But it lasted for just a split second before disappearing.

My hand flew instinctively to my neck as a strange cold settled there.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

And without a word, he turned and walked away, not before glancing back at Marcus.

Sighs. Finally! I just hope he doesn't come back.

He's creepy and weird.

“Do you know that dude?” Marcus asked as soon as I walked back into the gym house.

“Yeah… He's just some psychopath stalking me,” I wanted to say, but I didn't. Instead, I just smiled and nodded quietly.

I don't know why I worried when it's what I was supposed to do, but a part of me was concerned Marcus would want me to report to the cops if I told him that Kael is my stalker.

Yeah, I might be crazy for this, but for some reason, I didn't want him to be arrested.

“Oh…” Marcus muttered, “he looked creepy and weird. You should be careful around him,”

I didn't say anything. Just a faint smile.

*****

At night as I returned home from the office, I saw a bouquet of black roses lying neatly at my doorstep.

My legs froze on the floor. Heat creeping up my chest.

I didn't have a family or friends, no boyfriend, and it wasn't a special event today, so who could've dropped them here?

Even if anyone wanted to gift me flowers, why black?

My eyes lingered on the flower. They were fresh despite the winter cold.

I should have ignored the flowers, but I didn't… I picked it up, my hand almost shaking.

It didn't have a card… not even a tag to show who it was from. Just these roses that shouldn't exist in this season.

I swallowed hard, my fingers subconsciously tightening on it.

What do I do with this? I asked myself, but my mind had already decided it long before I asked. I shouldn't even think of taking it inside, but I did.

It was too beautiful to be thrown out just like that… or maybe I was just stupid.

I got into my apartment. Nothing unusual happened. Everything was still intact.

With a soft smile that wasn't supposed to even exist at that moment, I set the flower aside and got into the shower.

By morning, the doorbell echoed as I got ready for office, and I paused.

“Is that mine?” I muttered, fixing the last button of my shirt.

The doorbell rang again. I confirmed it was in my apartment this time, so I went to get the door.

My neighbour next door, Ms Regina, a woman in her forties, welcomed me as I opened the door.

My brows knitted together, confused. She rarely comes here.

“Good morning, Ms Regina,” I drawled, my eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

“Good morning… Did you buy a pet when it's clearly against the building’s rules?” she asked, her voice sharp, almost full of anger.

I blinked, “a pet?”

“Yes. A huge black dog was at your doorstep last night…”

I blinked again.

“I was wondering why you would go against the building’s policy to keep pets off here, and even if you wanted to adopt a pet, why that huge wolf?”

My breath caught in my throat.

“A wolf?”

“What could I call it when it was unusually bigger than the normal size of a dog?”

My body went cold, knees buckling beneath me.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

“What if it hurts the residents? Can you take responsibility for it? We have children here, remember?” Ms Regina rambled on, but I barely paid attention to her.

WOLF… That was the only thing I could think of.

My hand subconsciously went to my pocket for no reason, touching the stone Kael gave me last time, my chest pounding hard.

I've been carrying the stone with me everywhere I go for some reason I couldn't comprehend.

Memories of that day clouded my mind. The wolf… its eyes… Kael’s golden eyes… my reality… everything was slowly shifting.

I didn't want to think about it, but what if… just what if it’s really what I was thinking?