Chapter 5 : Attention

"Why did you bring me to this place?" I turned my face towards Atlas, and he seemed unconcerned at my rather excited reaction.

Atlas opened his car door. Before getting out, he said in his consistent tone that always sounded cold, "Get off now."

I gave him an annoyed look, my hand twisting my fingers, and chose to stay in the car. I was reluctant to get off in front of the biggest clothing store in Voskon city. There were too many people there; I started to feel uncomfortable and nervous imagining myself walking in their midst.

Especially now that I was with Atlas. The people there would undoubtedly notice us because Atlas' presence wherever he went attracted the attention of the people around him.

I turned my attention to Atlas, standing in front of the car's hood; she was tapping on the hood while looking coldly at me, signaling me to get out.

He didn't understand what I was feeling. The pressure was intense.

My heart pounded, and I began to fidget, the strangers making me reluctant to obey Atlas's order to get out. I could see the annoyed look on Atlas' face as he waited, and then he walked towards me, opening the door on the side of the car I was sitting in. Atlas' jaw seemed to harden as our eyes met, and I reflexively backed my body to avoid him.

"I told you to get down, didn't you hear?" His heavy voice wasn't yelling at me, but still, I shuddered in fear as I heard and saw the look on my face.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me forcefully down. Because of his strength, my poorly-grounded feet almost lost their balance. He looked at me coldly as I managed to regain my footing after staggering, then shut the car door hard.

"You can't even stand properly." He commented sharply, and I stared at him silently, not daring to fight back.

I could feel Atlas staring at me intently even though I didn't see him.

Meanwhile, his hand that had been gripping my wrist was released. For a split second, I felt relieved until the needle touched my palm and linked its fingers to mine.

I stared at him with widened eyelids. 

What is Atlas doing?

I wanted to ask him directly, but I was too afraid of him.

"What is that kid doing with the future alpha successor?" My eyes moved hesitantly, glancing unfocusedly at my surroundings as I heard someone's words.

It wasn't just one or two pairs of eyes passing by that place watching us, but there was a horde of people whose eyes were fixed on me and Atlas with various facial expressions. Some of them were surprised, and some of them stared in confusion.

"How annoying. Why is he holding Atlas' precious hand?" Then, some sounded annoyed.

"Why did Atlas bring her along? It's annoying to see that woman become part of Atlas' family." 

She didn't feel like being me. I didn't want to be in this position at all. 

I want to be alone, relaxing without any of you around me. 

"A-Atlas, I don't want to be in this place." I looked at him and hesitantly spoke up.

Atlas looked at me. The moment his eyes fell on me, my heart skipped a beat, and I almost didn't hear it. The look in his eyes was dark, cold, and frightening. 

"I didn't ask for your opinion," he said calmly and pulled my hand inside to follow him.

"Welcome, sir." A salesgirl opened the shop's glass door as soon as she saw us coming and greeted Atlas warmly.

She didn't seem to care about me, as her gaze was only on Atlas for a while. When her gaze shifted to me, the maid looked surprised. His eyes stared with an unfriendly gesture, and he seemed uncomfortable with my presence.

Looking at me with surprise and talking about me just because I was walking with Atlas annoyed me. My chest rose and fell, controlling my rough breathing as I felt annoyed at their attitude towards me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled my hand away from Atlas, naturally making Atlas turn his face towards me. He looked at me flatly. I was honestly afraid of his reaction, but I was still annoyed. 

"W-why did you bring me to this place?" I asked him rather loudly. "If you want to go shopping, you can take your friends or even your cultists. I don't want to be here."

I turned around to leave, but Atlas' hand held my wrist. I turned back around and looked at his face. "I'm being nice as your brother." He said that nonsensically.

I scrunched up my face, looking at him. What did he mean by him being nice?

He suddenly came to me and took me down the hill while I enjoyed my time there.

He was not a good brother. He was a bully!

"I felt sorry for you. That's why I brought you to this place to buy clothes." Atlas said it casually, his eyes looking coldly at me. When he shook his head, I thought he was mocking me,

What's wrong with him? Who asked him to care about me? Atlas' attitude was utterly incomprehensible.

I fell silent, staring at him, standing still in the middle of the room with all kinds of clothes hanging there.

Seeing me without reaction, Atlas stared with a sigh. Then he moved from there, picking up several pieces of women's clothing that appeared before his eyes. He had no trouble choosing.

"Here, try this on." He thrust out a pile of clothes and dropped them into my hands.

Legs staggered again under the weight he placed. My mouth opened silently as I realized the importance and that it would be troublesome for me.

"Is this all?" I stared at him in astonishment while struggling to keep the entire outfit from falling out of my hands.

Atlas looked at me with his flat face fixedly. "Yeah, why don't you want to do it? Feel like it's a hassle?"

I was stunned, my eyes looking at him in disbelief. Of course, it's troublesome, not one or two pieces of clothing but probably more than ten. I've never tried on clothes more than two times when buying clothes.

"So you want me to help you put them on?" He summed up my silence casually. "No problem, I'll do it then. I'm not busy right now anyway." Atlas' gaze, staring at my face, now moved down to my body.

My whole body felt so hot because of how he looked that it made me unable to breathe.

I quickly hugged the clothes in my hands, pulling them together to cover my chest. My blood pressure seemed to rise to the point that my face turned red at his humiliating words.

"Alright, come on then." Atlas pushed my body.

Suddenly, I panicked. I kicked my legs to stay there, but I couldn't resist his strength. "No. .... Stop, I can do it myself," I said frantically, looking back at Atlas.

Atlas stopped his efforts to push me. He looked at me expressionlessly and with interest. "Then hurry up and change your clothes, or you know what I'll do."

Atlas is crazy! 

I cursed inwardly, looking at him with a shudder. I quickly moved from before him to the changing room and tried on my clothes.

"Why do I have to wear the clothes he picked out? It's not even my taste." I grumbled when I found a bohemian-style one-piece, slightly above the knee with no sleeves.

But rather than watch him barge in and replace my clothes like he was dressing a doll, I quickly stripped off my clothes, put them on, and got out of there.

I stood in front of Atlas. Atlas' eyes only glanced at me, and then he returned to staring at his phone screen. "Change." That's what he said.

I went back inside, confused. "I knew this kind of style doesn't suit me." This time, I found another dress in the pile of clothes, but the style was more chic with pastel colors.

I returned and showed it to Atlas; Atlas' reaction was not much different from before. He again stares indifferently and doesn't seem to care. "Change into something else."

I looked at him rather annoyed; he made me do all that, but he didn't seem interested.

Did he want to prank me on purpose?

He lifted her face from the cell phone screen he had been looking at, staring at me with a slightly twitching forehead. "What are you waiting for?"

"Yes," I replied quietly and returned to the changing room.

I kept doing the same thing repeatedly until I came to the last pair of clothes I needed.

This time, it wasn't a midi dress or a miniskirt, though still, the tan-colored pants were a bit short. I put them on with a T-shirt that fit me well, then put it on according to how the pants were displayed together with the top.

After tucking the t-shirt into my pants, I walked out, standing in front of 'His Highness' Atlas, who was still waiting for me.

He looked at me for a long moment. "Anything else?" he asked me.

"This is the last one." I showed him the pile of clothes I had placed on a table.

Atlas got up from his seat. "Alright, just wear them. Don't change again." Atlas walked to the counter. "Count all the clothes over there." He directed the waiter to the pile of clothes I was trying on.

I stared at him in shock. I moved closer to him.

"What's the point of buying that much?" I had no intention of wearing clothes that I didn't think fit me.

Atlas ignored my question. He shifted his gaze toward the back of my neck, then pulled out what I later found out to be a price tag. "Count this one too." He handed the tag to the waiter.

A few minutes later, the purchase was processed, and the clothes were packed. Of course, Atlas didn't carry all the paper bags because I was now painstakingly following Atlas' steps to the car.

I arrange them in the back seat, Atlas watching from the mirror's reflection in front. Because of the look in his eyes, I quickly finish it and sit down beside him.

"I don't know what you're up to, but today, you managed to make me bothered and tired from caring for this kind of thing." I stared straight ahead while letting out a heavy breath and leaned my shoulders on the chair.

Atlas cast a glance at me. He replied with his characteristic tone of voice. "I just feel sorry for you, as my step-sister and the child of the powerful alpha. Your appearance looks pathetic, and it will embarrass us."

I felt bitter, falling silent without turning to him. Of course, what was I thinking? How could Atlas care? He only thought about the image of himself and his father.