Chapter 2

“Hey, Ice. Your camera….” Alice stopped immediately when she saw Isis on the ground, crying like a baby.

Alice rushed to her in a frenzy, “Ice! What happened to you? Why are you crying?”

Isis looked at her friend while the tears refused to stop. Can she trust Alice, too?

No. Fatima knew her secret all along, and the first person she would burst it to was Dalton, her boyfriend. She got up from the ground and eyed Alice for a split second. She felt a hot flash of betrayal in her chest... if Fatima knew, then they all probably knew.

“Leave me alone,” she whispered and ran out of the basketball arena. Her sobs were suppressed by the cheering students.

Alice stopped chasing after her after losing her amongst the crowd. She went back to their seat with petrification. “Something is wrong with Isis. I met her crying.”

Fatima took a long sip from her Caprisun juice and stared at a space before standing up, and then smiled. “She must have a lot to get off her mind. Perhaps…”

“We should go find her,” Alice was concerned.

“You can run along. But I have other things to do,” Fatima cut her off and walked away. Alice stood there, her heart sinking as she realized her friendship group was falling apart right in front of her. She ran her hand over her hair, feeling foolish at the attitudes of her friends.

Back at Isis, she finally stopped running when she got to the bank of the deserted swimming arena, which was once overpacked with a crowd. She breathed erratically, her head reeling.

At this moment, her phone beeped and she slowly checked it only to see a message from her mum saying, “Come back soon, princess. Remember I told you about Max, my boyfriend from Vineyard Pack? He’s around and wants to meet you….”

“No!!” Isis yelled in frustration and threw the phone into the water. The lump of tears came bursting in great currents. She hated that her mother’s "work" followed her even on her big day.

“Goddess, why?” she cried bitterly and fell beside the blue water. “I… I just wanted to be happy!” she yelled, her scream rhyming with the shouts coming from the basketball arena.

But surprisingly, a hand suddenly poked out of the water bearing her phone, making Isis stagger back in momentary shock. The head of whoever it was followed, standing before her, dripping wet.

The fellow, who had no swimming cap on, shook his head, releasing droplets of water from his hair onto Isis’s body. Then he reached out and gave her the phone. “You threw that on my head.”

Isis’ jaw dropped!

Just how many surprises for today? she cried in her mind as he was still holding out her phone. He looked annoyed, but his eyes were kind of soft.

Sniffing, she took the phone from him with shaky hands and got to her feet instantly to get going. But he pulled her hand, and due to the water splashed on the side of the pool, her leg slipped. Isis fell back into the pool with a loud thud.

She wailed immediately as her body came in contact with the cold water. She cannot swim, and also, being a stealer, her wolf hates water! It felt like the pool was swallowing her whole.

Isis struggled aimlessly while the boy, whose intention wasn’t to pull her in, struggled to gather her in his arms and pull her out. When they finally got out of the water, Isis lay on the ground, breathing shakily, water coming out of her nose and ears.

The guy ran to the side where his backpack was and fetched a towel to try covering her up.

“Can you speak?” he asked with concern.

His words angered Isis, who sat up and beat his chest angrily. “I fell into the water because of you, bastard!”

The guy was totally astonished. “But I only wanted to give you your phone and….”

“Don’t talk to me!” she snapped back and got to her feet immediately, yanking his towel off. She didn't care if she looked like a mess... she just wanted to get away from everything.

Samuel Armani watched the feisty girl walk away angrily, still drenched.

‘She’s got quite an attitude!’ his wolf commented. He nodded in agreement.

He turned around to pick up his towel so that he could wipe his hair and also leave the poolside when he noticed that his small ring was gone. Samuel Armani looked around with trepidation. That ring was from his love.

When he couldn’t find it, he had no choice but to swim back into the pool. When he found nothing, Samuel got discouraged and came out.

“Damnit!!! That’s the only gift I have from Tiara!” he complained bitterly. He felt like a failure... that ring was his only anchor to her.

Isis felt she couldn’t continue anymore. Fatima was nowhere to be found, and Alice was begging to know what had happened. After she had returned the camera and all equipment to the person in charge, she set out to go back home instead of staying back for the night party organized to celebrate the EPC victory.

“Oh, fuck it!” Isis growled in pain as she remembered the message her mum sent about meeting someone.

She was in a panic now because she was halfway home and couldn’t go back to school. She decided to settle at a guest house. Just for tonight, she thought, and booked a room as well as some bottles of tequila to gulp down her heartbreak and anger. She just wanted to forget she was a "slut's daughter" for a few hours.

She hadn't drunk even two cups when the ethanol began to affect her brain. Since she had chosen to drink outside the room, it was difficult for her to get back. Isis kept bumping into the wrong doors. But when she got to Room 96, she mistook it for her Room 69 and opened the door since it was unlocked. She rushed to the bed immediately, sprawling drunkenly.

Meanwhile, Samuel Armani had just finished his bath after being grumpy since he left the pool. He dried his hair and walked into the bedroom naked to put on his pants when he saw the crazy girl from earlier lying on his bed!

Samuel gasped in horror. How did she know he was staying at this guest house, and why was she in his room? He felt a weird mix of fear and confusion. He gulped hard and tapped her. “Hey!”

Isis rolled drunkenly and raised her head. “Oh, it’s the fish boy.”

Samuel frowned. What sort of name is that? He noticed her gaze was fixed on a particular part of his body. His frown deepened. “What….?”

“That is the fish boy’s fish!” Then she laughed hysterically. “The fish boy’s fish is very big.”

Samuel’s eyes widened immediately when he realized she was looking at his exposed cock. He immediately turned around to grab a towel, but he wasn’t so lucky….

A hand tapped him from behind, unmistakably hers. Samuel turned around slowly, meeting her dull eyes that stared at him blankly and strangely.

“You can take my bed and drop the ring on the table. I’ll just step outside,” he whispered and attempted to break free from Isis’s stronghold, but she grabbed his shoulders with both hands.

Pouting, Isis asked, “Did you think being a stealer makes me a slut like my mum, too?”

Samuel was in a tight spot. He didn't even know who her mother was! His brow furrowed... he was still naked, and goosebumps had begun to kiss his skin.

His wolf growled inside of him, “She reeks of lust. Her wolf is also horny. She's a stealer indeed and could...…”

“I can’t fuck a stranger!!” he cried in his mind. “I can’t betray Tiara!"

Isis pulled him again. “Fish boy, did you really think I’m a slut?”

“Hey...” he wanted to tell her to stop calling him that, but her lips were right before his own. “Huh?”

“I...” he attempted to talk again, but her lips were so close to his already. Thinking of his lover and the ring she made him lose, Samuel pushed her back.

“Hey, do you realize you’re with a guy? And did you bring my ring?”

Isis’ brain snapped. “What ring? Are you saying I’m just like my mum?” She withdrew dejectedly. She felt like everyone was accusing her of the same thing.

Samuel was frustrated. ‘Guess she doesn’t have it’ his wolf cooed.

“Okay,” he pacified. “I’m sorry. But why are you here?”

Isis turned to the bed. “I would have gone back home if Mom hadn’t texted me to meet her boyfriend. It’s killing me so much that I...” She paused, alcohol tampering with her brain again.

Samuel sighed and put on his shorts before sitting beside her. “Yours is still better. I ran away from meeting my new stepmom. We’re in the same shoes. But you can’t just walk into my room, and...”

Her face and pink lips were close to him again. His breath almost caught in his throat. Samuel blinked hard. “C... Can you step back, please?”

She giggled like a happy kid and edged nearer instead of backing off. “We’re in the same situation, right?”

“Yes, but I don’t mean you should edge too close to me. You can’t move too close to a guy,” he scolded her, barely keeping his sexual urge in check. His body was betraying his heart, and he hated it.

“But you smell good,” the drunk Isis pressed, her lips directly at Samuel’s.

“If you want this so much, then I think I have no choice but to just...” He almost gave in when his phone rang... the special ringtone he set for Tiara.

Samuel jumped up immediately. He was about to answer the call when Isis, who was sleepwalking or stumbling, fell to the floor with a loud thud. He dropped the phone to help her up, and before he got the chance to pick up the call, it had ended.

“Good lawd!” he growled at Isis. “Just how much more did you have to do?”

He tried to call his girlfriend back, but she wasn’t picking up. Samuel dropped the phone with sorrow. He’d promised to always answer Tiara’s calls, but this drunk girl….

“Rrrrrr,” he growled, wishing he could just push her off the bed, but then he heard soft snores beside him. He had no choice but to fall asleep beside her, and before he knew it, he was also snoring.