08 : A Stolen First Kiss

Zren wore the off-shoulder satin dress she bought earlier and paired it with a black pointed strap heels sandals that she brought with her. Her wavy galaxy blue hair was tied into a clean half-bun making her even more gorgeous than before. 

Zren was holding the "gift" in one of her hands. 

As for what was her gift? It was the rice wine she got from the Nio's shop.  

A few hours earlier after she went back from buying clothes, she called the hotel's management to request some things such as black cardboard, scented papers, glue, scissors, paint, and other art materials. 

Using her creativity and with a little bit of help from do-it-yourself or DIY video tutorials posted on the internet, Zren started to create an elegant and expensive-looking packaging for the cheap unbranded wine she bought. 

She maximized her creativity even though she was not that good at making crafts. 

After making a paper bag out of the black cardboard, she next created a box for the two bottles of wine. 

After a few hours of hard work, Zren was finally finished and the final outcome didn't disappoint her. 

The bottles of wine she bought for less than a thousand keals were now looking high class and expensive just after putting them in an exquisite box and paper bag. 

Back to reality, Zren went to Mr. and Mrs. Belmont who were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. 

"Happy anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Belmont. I'm glad to meet you."

"You are?" 

"Zren, my name is Zren Mindale," Zren introduced herself with a warm smile. 

"It's you!" Mr. Belmont exclaimed, "You are the one that Louzvent send, right?" 

"Yes, Sir. Mr. Louzvent is currently super busy at the moment because he has so much work that he needs to do so he asked me to attend in his stead," Zren explained in a patient manner. 

"I understood." 

Zren greeted them for the second time and gave them the "expensive" looking gift she bought for them. She then went to find a table and enjoyed the food and drinks that the being served by the waiters. 

Zren sat on one of the tables placed on the corner to distance herself away from the people at the event. 

She slightly raised her hand to get the attention of the waiter who was distributing glasses of wine. 

Zren took a glass and thanked the waiter with a warm smile. She calmly took a sip of the wine as if she was enjoying herself. However, the truth was, the moment she entered the venue she could feel that someone was staring at her, studying every inch of movement making her extremely uncomfortable. 

The feeling of being watched by someone yet didn't know where the person was, made Zren alert. She didn't let her guard down and started to observe the entire event. 

While scanning the whole venue, Zren only came up with a single word, danger. 

The presence of danger was everywhere. 

It was her first time at Casa de Verhillo, she didn't know anyone or even a familiar face and worst she could still feel that someone was watching every movement she do. 

Zren's eyes slowly darkened, there was not even a single emotion that could be seen. 

After a few minutes she couldn't take it anymore, Zren slowly took out her phone from her bag and hide it under the table. She made her movements look natural and smooth so no one would be able to notice them, even the person who was watching her. 

Zren texted Yashi. 

Zren : [Yashi, call me.] 

She made the text short and clear. 

Yashi who was currently sitting in the living room together with Zhen and Xhyne received the text message from Zren. 

She was confused, however, didn't ask anything. She just did what Zren said. 

The moment Zren's phone rang, she immediately answered it. 

"Zren, are you okay?" Yashi's worried voice resounded in her ears. 

Hearing that Yashi was worried about her, Zren couldn't help but smile. 

"Don't worry I'm o—" 

Zren suddenly froze, she felt a cold shiver travel down to her spine, and even the words she was going to say were cut off.

Zren felt like the temperature around her decreased by several degrees. 

Danger! 

Her keen senses sensed an extreme danger and it was no longer a simple situation. 

For that moment Zren had only one thing in her mind. 

Run! 

Zren calmly stood up from her seat as though that nothing was wrong. As she walked towards the exit, she bravely scanned the whole venue however, she still failed to find the person. 

When Zren arrived at the exit, her calm demeanor finally collapsed. She noticed that the phone call was still connected. 

"Hello, Yashi?" 

"Zren! What happened?" 

"I'll explain later, but can you please pass the phone to the twin? I want to talk to them." 

Right now Zren's heart was beating so fast, that she couldn't calm down. 

But there was the only way to calm herself it was to hear her sons. 

"Mama Zee!" The two exclaimed in unison. 

"Yes?" 

"I miss you, when are you going to come back?" Just based on the voice, the one who asked was Xhyne. 

Zren could easily distinguish the two, it was a piece of cake to her. 

"Tomorrow, I'll go home." 

"Really?" 

"Yes, so sleep early okay?" 

"Buy us cake," a lazy cute voice came from the phone, ut was Zhen. 

"What flavor?" 

"Strawber—no! Mama, don't listen to Zhen! Buy chocolate cake instead," Xhyne pleaded. 

"Strawberry!" Zhen argued. "I want a strawberry cake!" 

"No, chocolate is way better than your strawberry!" 

Zren only took a deep breath when the two started arguing again. It was always like this, every single time, their day wouldn't be complete if they didn't fight even a single time. That was their daily routine. 

"You two, stop, okay? I'll buy you guys chocolate and strawberry cake." 

"Thanks, Mama! We love you!" 

Zren ended the call, just as she was about to put back her phone in the sling bag, she again felt extremely uncomfortable. 

The feeling she felt earlier at the party came back. Only then did Zren realize what was happening. 

Someone was following her! 

Zren didn't waste any second, she clenched her fist and fasten her pace. The more she overthink, the faster her pace would be. 

She didn't even notice that she already arrived near the ladies' comfort room. 

When Zren saw the door, she didn't care about her image anymore and immediately ran towards the comfort room even though she was still wearing high heels. 

Zren locked the door and leaned on it, catching her breath like there was no tomorrow. 

D*mn! She now only knew that running while wearing high heels was freaking exhausting. 

Zren stared at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't help but gripped her hair as she bite her lips while thinking about what she would do next. 

"I should haven't come here!" Zren complained as she stomped her heels against the floor, like a child throwing tantrums. 

"D*mn! I should've listened to my instinct yesterday." 

After Zren finished blaming herself, she composed her mind and body. 

Then she took out something from her sling bag, it was a pen knife. 

On the surface, it seemed that it was just an ordinary pen, however, if you removed the cap of the pen the small but sharp blade would reveal itself. 

Originally Zren just bought this knife in an online shop because it was on sale. She never ever expected that this knife would be handy one day. 

Zren gripped the pen knife with her left hand. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. 

Only to find out that there was no one outside. She carefully walked out and closed the door. 

Zren was alone in the silent empty hallway. Every step she took would create a light sound because of the heels she was wearing. 

When Zren was observing the surroundings, she again felt that someone was staring at her. This time she was not sure if the person was behind her in infront of her. 

She was in the middle of the hallway and had only two choices. It was either she would go back and had a fifty percent chance to meet the person following her or the other possibility was, that the person was at the other end of the hallway, waiting for her to arrive. 

Zren didn't know, both choices were dangerous. What if she went back and met the person or what if the person was waiting for her at the other end. 

Zren didn't know what to do anymore! She didn't even know why the heck someone was following her. If she remembered it correctly, it had been a long time since she offended someone, probably a week ago or so? 

Zren let out a deep sigh and finally came up with her decision. She would continue to walk further. 

If you were in a battle, never look back, or else you would be the one who would be going to be left behind. 

Zren's grip on the pen knife became even tighter. 

When Zren was about to turn at the end of the hallway, suddenly someone pulled her wrist and pushed her against the cold hard wall. 

The moment before she could react, Zren felt a hot moist lips against hers.