4. THE STALKER

~YULIA

I was still shocked as I stared at the empty space he left behind. 

How was he so fast? 

He had done it so smoothly that I almost began to question my sanity. Had he truly been here or was it just something I made up in my mind?

He left without even breathing a word and once again, I didn't even know who he was or his name. 

"There you are! Yulia!" Lana exclaimed as she appeared in my line of sight. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" 

I swallowed hard as I stared at her wide eyed. Part of me was still lost in the existence of that man and his forbidden touch that evoked dangerous feelings within me while the other part of me was trying to force me to stabilise my thoughts. 

"Are you okay?" She asked when she saw how pale I had become. "You look like you just saw a ghost." 

I shook my head at her and tried to force a smile. "I'm fine. I— I'm just exhausted." 

And it was no lie because I suddenly felt exhausted. 

She pouted her lips at me. "My poor friend. I really wish I could take away all the pain from your life. I am sorry all of this is happening to you." 

"C— can we go back to my house now?" I suddenly asked instead. 

It felt wrong that I was still standing here. I just wanted to go bury myself within my pillows and wake up to see that this was all a bad nightmare. 

"Sure girl, let's go. I'm here for you and I am sure as hell not leaving you alone anymore," Lana stated. 

And I was glad that I still had her. She had always been there. She was like the sister I never had and I never wanted to lose her. 

The mere thought of it made me shiver involuntarily. 

"So, I'm just going to try to get your mind off all of this by telling you about the super hot man I saw at the funeral yesterday! Dang! That man was sexy!" She exclaimed as she led the way. 

I widened my eyes at her, surprised that she was bringing it up now but at some point, I figured listening to her ramble about a hot man was way better than drowning in my own thoughts so I didn't protest. 

"A hot man? At the funeral? There aren't many hot men here in this town," I answered. 

"Exactly my thoughts. I've never seen him before but one look at him and I was melting inside. He was hot! He showed up just after you disappeared." 

My house appeared in sight as we broke through the trees finally and I was more than glad to see my own home. 

"Well, I think I have had my fill of hot men. I'm just going to leave that hot man to you alone," I told her. 

But I felt Yara shift with doubt within me. She was not buying a word I was saying. 

I turned to look at Lana and saw that she was also glaring at me. 

"Yeah, I don't believe you. You're a sucker for hot men! And by the looks of things, you seem to have run into a hot man at the club last night!" She exclaimed. 

I widened my eyes at her, allowing my mask to slip and she grinned at me, knowingly. 

"I knew it! Spill every detail, Yulia!" She exclaimed. 

I tried to wave her away. "There's no detail to spill. I met a goodlooking older man yesterday and that's it." 

She gasped. "Hot older man? Don't you dare keep the juicy details away from me! Give me the full tea!" 

I blinked widely at her. "There's nothing to say." 

"Oh my gosh! Your face just turned red! You're blushing!" She exclaimed. 

Then she suddenly gasped as if she had figured out my darkest deepest secret. 

"Did you guys fuck?" 

My heart skipped at the question as I was caught off guard but I swiftly recovered.

"God! No! We didn't! He is a fucking stranger. I don't go around having one night stands with strangers!" 

She narrowed her eyes at me. She watched me for a long time before she finally sighed. 

"Okay, whatever you say. You can keep the details to yourself and not share. I will also keep the details of that man," she went on. "I won't even tell you about his sexy dark hair, or his forest green eyes—" 

I froze and turned a wide glare at her. "What did you just say?" 

She chuckled. "Oh so now you're interested in my juicy details yet you acting like you don't like hot men—"

"Lana, how did you just describe him?" 

She looked me over as if I was losing my mind. Maybe I was because could it just be a coincidence that her descriptions were matching my stranger or had it really been him at the funeral yesterday?

"Okay okay, fine. He had dark hair and forest green eyes. He was tall and like you guessed, I don't think he was from around here."

My blood instantly went cold. Why was he at the funeral? Had he started stalking me since the funeral, down to the club and now— the woods?

Could he be one of the people after my life? 

My heart instantly started hammering hard and I felt as if I was having a panic attack. 

"Oh my gosh, Yulia, are you okay? You're scaring me," Lana cried as she patted my back. 

He had to be following me. It was no coincidence that he had been where I had been three times!

We finally reached the front door and Lana was about to push it open to let me in when a car suddenly came to a stop, parked by the road. 

I froze as a familiar feeling, as well as a familiar scent wafted into my nose. 

And when I saw the person step out of the car, all of my suspicions were confirmed. 

It was him. 

The mysterious forest green eyed man. 

My hot nemesis.