Four

"No," he thought to himself. "I don't want to be a monster who preys on even my own family."

Marc let go of the door knob. He ignored Cassandra's call and turned toward the bathroom. He filled the bathtub with cold water and without thinking, soaked in it.

***

That morning Cassandra was ready to leave for college. She opened her bedroom door. She froze for a moment as she recalled what happened last night.

She thought about Marc's hug and how hot his body temperature was. She sighed and shook her head.

"He's not the old uncle Marc. Never mind, he doesn't have the time to serve a kid like me," she mused. Slightly annoyed, Cassandra kicked off her shoes and ran downstairs from the first floor of her house.

"Good Morning Miss Sandra," Kara greeted. "Breakfast first, Miss. I specially made an omelette with your favorite teriyaki beef."

Without a reply, Sandra pulled out a chair and sat down in front of the dining table. The place was as silent as it was every day. There was no one who would join her for breakfast as usual.

"Morning, Mr. Marc."

Karra's greeting suddenly made Cassandra feel like being electrocuted. She was surprised to hear the name mentioned by the housemaid. She quickly turned her head, looking for the person Karra had greeted.

"Morning mam," Marc greeted. He pulled out a chair and joined her at the dining table, right in front of Cassandra.

Like two people who don't know each other, both of them were silent. Only occasionally they glanced at each other while guessing what he was thinking.

"Hurry up and finish your breakfast if you don't want to be late," Marc started the conversation between them.

Cassandra raised her face. She who had been looking down, staring at her spoon and fork with various questions in her mind, finally ventured to look directly at Marc's face.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"I'm in a hurry to go to your father's office. If you're going to take a long time, you might as well go by angkot," Marc said coldly.

Cassandra almost choked on the words. She could not even remember the last time her father had taken her to school. So far, it was only Mr. Rizal, the family driver, who always took her wherever she wanted.

"If you're in a hurry, you can just take my dad's car."

"Miss .... Mr. Rizal is back home in the village. His wife is seriously ill," Karra said. "So ...."

"Alright, we're leaving now," Sandra said. She placed her spoon and fork on the table.

"But Miss... you haven't eaten the breakfast yet."

"I have no appetite, mam." Cassandra grabbed her backpack and quickly walked out of the family's dining room.

Marc raised one hand, giving an order for Karra, who was intent on chasing Sandra, to stop insisting Cassandra finish her breakfast. He knew for sure that the girl was expressing her anger towards him.

"That's it, let it go. She's an adult, she'll eat when she's hungry, mam," he said soothing Karra's heart.

"I just feel sorry for Miss Sandra. She's always been lonely. I hope that with Mr. Marc's presence, she won't be lonely like she used to be."

Marc smiled wryly. If only Karra knew how much he wanted to avoid his niece. If only Karra knew how he felt about Cassandra, she wouldn't have wished for his presence.

All the way to school, Cassandra was quiet. She just stared at the road without caring about Marc who was by her side. Occasionally she sighed heavily.

"You really don't want to talk to me?" asked Marc, opening the conversation between them.

Cassandra was quiet, she didn't want to answer at all. Instead, her hand pressed the audio music button on her car. Then she looked out the window again.

Marc turned down the volume of the music coming out of the car audio. "Sandra, if you keep quiet, I won't know what your problem is," Marc admonished.

Sandra turned her head, with her lips pursed, the girl again reached for the button to turn up the music. But Marc's hand was much more agile. The man managed to grab and hold Sandra's hand.

Sandra pulled her hand away immediately.

Marc felt that this would become a time bomb for him if this misunderstanding was not resolved soon. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard of the car, there was still time. Marc immediately pulled the vehicle over.

"You should apologize! Yesterday you left without saying goodbye, I already forgave you without you asking. Then you came back angry. Even then I forgave you. But why are you so mean," Sandra said, her eyes starting to glaze over. "I just don't want you to get sick! You'll never know how worried I was all night! I couldn't sleep just because I didn't know how to save you!"

Marc roughly swallowed his saliva. He didn't expect Sandra to be so anxious. But there was no way he could tell her that he was afraid that he would hurt her under the influence of the drug.

He also couldn't tell her that he had to soak overnight in a tub of cold water. And what he had done last night was the only appropriate way to avoid unwanted things.

"Sorry! I promise you, it won't happen again," Marc said. He had to put an end to this quarrel before his current home turned into a living hell.

"But ... what if something like this happens again? Ah... maybe I should look for a woman out there, instead of going home like yesterday," Marc mused.

"Really?" Cassandra looked at him expectantly. "You have to promise, you will let Cassandra take care of you while you are sick! And as a patient, you must obey."

"Yes. Yes, Madam Doctor," Marc said later.

Cassandra rubbed her eyes. This time a smile appeared at the corner of her lips. She had already given an answer to the apology.

"Well... that's much prettier," praised Marc. "Your smile is much sweeter than sugar or artificial sweeteners."

Hearing that compliment, Cassandra's heart flew up to the seventh heaven. She often got beautiful compliments from friends her own age, but it didn't matter to her. It was totally different from how she felt right now. Uncle Marc looked mature and more adventurous than his peers.

"I haven't told you yet that I can forgive you." Cassandra's words made Marc's forehead wrinkle. Coupled with the movement of Cassandra's index finger that seemed to be asking him to move closer to her. What other game is this girl trying to make?

"Here, I'll tell you what you have to do to get my forgiveness," she said.

As if hypnotized, Marc brought his face closer, as if waiting for a sentence containing a number of requests to come out of her wet and flushed lips.

But Cassandra didn't say a single word. The girl stared into Marc's pair of black beads and brought her face closer until there was only a few centimeters of distance left.

"I hereby forgive you, Uncle Marc," she said.

The girl pressed her face closer, erasing the distance between them with a kiss.

A deep kiss landed on Marc's lips. Even though it was only for a few seconds, the sudden attack made Marc's heart beat faster. His blood vessels seemed to be pumping rapidly against the valves of his heart.

A feeling that he had never felt in his entire life, with any other woman he had ever touched. Cassandra had really managed to play with his heart.

Marc was stunned. His eyes stared at Cassandra unblinkingly. Time seemed to have stopped for him. The blushing face of the girl in front of him looked so tempting.