Chapter 5

The pulpy smell of dense woodland gusts across my nostrils, the wet ground making slurpy sounds under my bare feet.

The pillars of the forest dart past me as I scamper through the unknown, needing to run far from the man that's beckoning me to come closer.

From the distance, I can hear the meows of a wildcat and the hooting of owls, the dark echoes a hint of doom.

The wind slaps against my cold cheeks, cackling as if mocking me.

"Mara!"

The darkness echoes impatiently and this time, it sounds closer which makes my stomach twist with despair. 

"Mara!"

I regard the fervid rush of adrenaline coursing through my seams, the ragged beating of my heart trying to block out the strange noises of the dark as I pump my energy and dare to race with the wind.

"Come out and play, Mara!"

A sinister cackle is released and the dark rhythm of it sends uncomfortable chills down my spine.

I stumble upon a fallen tree and don't hesitate to leap over it, tucking away my surprise at that fluid stunt for later. I never thought I could make such a jump before.

"Come out and play, my precious."

And that's the problem. I don't want to play, not with someone that sounds like the epitome of doom or in a dark forest that isn't my type of scene.

After what seems like an endless marathon race, I come to a halt by a cliff, a perfect panorama where the heroine of a movie would either figure a way out or die trying.

Quite out of breath, I lean over, my hands supporting my knees to catch a few before mapping out my next cause of action.

I don't dare to glance behind me. I fear what I'll see. But I can feel a shadow approaching, getting nearer every second that passes. I can almost feel his cold, bony appendages squeezing my miserable life out of me.

But I can't run further. It is a dead-end; a situation where going further or turning back will bring me a similar result.

Death.

It's now that I finally collar the concept of being trapped between a rock and a hard place. Destruction is staring at me in the face and on the skull.

With ungainly steps, I try to peek over the high cliff to see how far the bottom is but retreat quickly with a gasp when I almost lose my footing.

"You are at a dead-end, Mara."

No shit Sherlock.

I squirm when I feel a spine-chilling breathing down my neck followed by a sinister chuckle that mocks my helplessness.

"Jump or come with me, either way, your soul is mine."

I find myself shifting backward as if I am being controlled by a remote.

"Addie!" 

Then I hear a faint call, so little it's obvious it's coming from a long distance.

"Wake up, Addie," It echoes again, louder, and now I am stuck in a tug of war. One force is pulling me backward and the other is tugging me forward.

"Addie!" this time, it's so loud and piercing and the next thing, I snap awake on a couch in a bright and pristine room, a pronounced contrast to the woodland.

The musky scent of lavender with a hint of sandalwood welcomes me, wrapping me in a heavenly embrace.

"Are you okay?" Romeo's handsome face hovers over mine, his tone laced with the trouble which makes its phantom clear on the worried crease donning his forehead.

"What can I say?" I sigh, slowly sitting up, a tired yawn escaping my parted lips. I swing my feet off the couch and plant them on the cold tiles, "I'm never allowed to nap in peace."

"Another bad dream?" He rises to his full height. 

"Mhmm." I hum out a reply with barely a nod and gently rub my knuckles on my eyes to clear whatever is left of the sleep.

I have come a long way with nightmares. I can't close my eyes and have a peaceful nap without running from someone or hiding from something.

It clings to me like a second skin, following me faithfully like a shadow. And when I close my eyes to sleep, it comes to remind me that I can never truly run away from my past.

"Don't you-" he starts and pauses as if contemplating whether to say what is on his mind or keep shut.

"What?" I urge when he doesn't seem to understand the impatient brow I have raised. 

"Don't you think it's high time you see a therapist?" He gauges my facial expression which isn't the least accommodating. This is the stupidest thing I have heard today. And I have heard quite an earful of stupid things in the last few hours.

"Seriously?" I give him a blatant stare, finding it hard to believe, "You want me to go to a crazy bitch who'll sneak into my head and start spewing nonsense?"

"Just forget I said that." He dismisses, obviously regretting raising such a topic in front of me.

"Better." 

I rise to my feet, stretching my limbs to get the blood flowing as it seems the stunts I did in the dream are taking a toll on my muscles.

"How long was I asleep for?" I ask, walking away from him toward the water dispenser. There is an irritating dryness in my throat.

"Maybe an hour and a half?" I watch him, a glass of water pressed to my lips as he scrolls through his phone with brows pulled together, lower lip tucked between his teeth.

This mindless action of his undoubtedly begins to cook dirty scenarios in my head and I have to press my thighs together to nurse the sudden burn down there.

"Leonard," He says into the phone pressed against his ear, "Yes, bring the car around, I'm coming down now."

I raise a questioning brow, my eyes gliding toward the wall clock. It's just barely 6:00 PM and I know very well that we won't close from work until 9:00 PM is crawling in.

"Where are you going?" I ask and he lifts his gaze from the phone, not replying to me.

There is a certain air of hesitance coming from him and the indecision in his gaze confirms it.

"I asked where you are going, Romeo." This time, my tone is rather unfriendly, and I watch in masked anger as he sighs heavily, sinking into the couch, still not replying to me.

Then without a word, his dark gaze beckons me to come closer, and like the puppet that I always become when it comes to him, I find myself sitting on his lap the next second.

"Why are you hesitating to answer a simple question?" My lips are dangerously close to his face as the tip of my finger runs along his jawline, heat wiggling through me as those enchanting eyes drink me in.

"Because if I tell you, you'll flip instead of giving me a listening ear."

"You just made me want to know at all cost," a part of me is scared to know where exactly he is going which will likely make me angry but still, I need to know, "Where the fuck are you going?"

One arm snakes around my waist, pulling me closer while the other lifts in favor of resting on my cheek gently.

The pad of his thumb gently caresses my skin for a while as he wordlessly runs his eyes over my face, before going over to trace the seam of my bottom lip, slightly parting it.

"Remember Juliet?" he says and I stiffen, my arms tightening around his neck.

"The Thai bitch?" Recalling her stirs irritation and bitterness in my gut. Of course, I remember Juliet Zhang, the transfer rich girl from Thailand who was his coursemate back in college. 

She was always all over Romeo, masking her desires for him behind a plain interest in friendship. Romeo never saw it, but I am a woman. I know when a woman is attracted to a man. And I know when that attraction is being masked. 

What I don't know is why her name is suddenly popping up after so many years.

"Well, she's kind of in town and she wants us to meet." my eyes harden and he notices, "It's just a lunch date. Can barely even be called a date." 

"And you are going." I try my best to hide the anger and insecurity behind nonchalance but I am not sure it works as he sighs heavily, worry evident in his eyes.

I have always been Romeo's crazy bodyguard, or 'guard dog' as his air-headed college friends used to generously put it.

I mean, every girl wanted him, but I didn't like it whenever I perceived the hint of female perfume on him.

College days were bad for me. While I was still stuck trying to finally finish senior class, he was already in college.

The girls were all over him because, like a typical college romance in novels, Romeo was the It boy. The most real, the most handsome, the smartest, and the boy most girls would leave their boyfriends for if he even throws them a half-hearted smile.

It was torture for me, you see. His school was an hour away from my town. But damn me if I minded. 

It wasn't a hassle for me to close from school, and instead of heading home, I would either show up at his school's gate when I felt he was still having lectures, or ring the bell of the penthouse he lived in just a few walks from his school.

It didn't and never wore me out; following him around like a shadow. And although he never showed it even if he was tired of me lurking around him, he always welcomed me with that charming smile.

Years later, the relationship hadn't changed, even though my wild and scandalous ways always caused a rift between us sometimes.

But we never grew apart.

Mother once said we were a match made in a universe of unbendable magic. 

Another woman coming into the picture like this is a red flag for me because women have this gifted way of swaying a man's focus. 

What if she has come to take him away from me?

I have worked tirelessly hard to make him stay by my side. But what if my hard work isn't enough? What if a random woman like the one he's supposedly going to meet right now, whisks him away, and all of a sudden I become a distant memory to him?

I don't want to become a faded picture he can't seem to put a face to, a grey image he can't seem to color.

"Addie," there is a gentleness in his tone and sincerity in his pretty eyes when he calls me, making me melt against him. 

"Yes." I ache for more of him when all he does is graze his lips against my anticipating ones.

"I belong to you." There is a promise adorning that word, "Only you."

And I nod, believing him.

Well, I thought I did. But maybe my darkness has shielded my eyes from seeing the truth because a few hours later, I am at a club, drinking until I can't tell what my name is, then walking away in the arms of a random man with blue eyes.