Emily inhaled sharply as a pair of soft and warm lips landed on her forehead.

"You are amazing, sweetheart," Kaiden whispered softly as he pulled away slightly to look at her flushed cheeks and dropped eyelashes.

He could feel, more like almost hear, her racing heart and quick breathing. A smile bloomed on his lips as he looked at his mate with eyes full of warmth and affection. He moved his hand from the back of her head but did not forget to graze her cheeks slightly with the back of his fingers which made her shudder slightly at the sensations.

"Looks like you are cold. Your cheeks are resembling a tomato at the moment. Here, wear it or you will catch a cold," he commented as he took off his overcoat and draped it over her shoulders.

While Emily wanted to reject his kindness because she was not feeling cold at all, however, rejection meant there were high chances that she would then need to explain the reason for her red cheeks.

That's why to save herself from the embarrassment, she decided to stay quiet as her hands immediately grabbed the collar of the coat and pulled it closer.

"It's getting late. I should leave. Will see you around, Mr. Sullivan." She said as she stood up and started assembling her sketchbook and other stuff.

But she soon stopped as Kaiden followed her and also stood up from his seat, grabbing her hand lightly to stop her movements.

She turned to look at the man with slightly confused eyes, waiting for him to explain exactly what was wrong.

"It's Kaiden for you. Why do you keep forgetting that? Stop making me feel like an outsider, alright?"

He looked at her with such a serious expression that she felt like she was going to melt that very moment.

Somehow, she succeeded in nodding her head as she started chanting in her head to stop calling him so formally.

"Alright. I will try my best to improve."

She responded with a smile as she looked at him. Her eyes sparkled with life and warmth that she carried inside her, trying their very best to lure the man in front of them into their depth.

Kaiden shook his head as he tried to not give in. He took in a deep breath before he once again looked at the girl in front of him as he spoke.

"You always keep testing my control without even trying....."

A sigh left his lips as he once again shook his head as if he was trying to shake off his thoughts.

"Your friend is coming to take you home. Make sure to not forget anything here. I'll see you next week. Have a beautiful weekend."

And with a soft pat on her head, he disappeared from her sight.

Emily stood there in silence as she kept chewing her lower lip, something that she had started doing recently whenever her emotions were overrunning.

One of her hands moved to touch the crown of her head as she recalled the soft pat that she just received. At first, she used to get angry whenever anyone patted her on her head because it made her feel like a child. But that was when she used to live in the orphanage and usually, the warden or one of the teachers did that when she got kicked or punched by one of the bullies.

However, things had changed. Now the people who usually pat her on the head were her closed ones.

Rather than feeling offended, she had now started liking it because it had become an act of their love and affection.

"Are you daydreaming?" Shadow's sudden teasing voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Instead of replying to his question, she started grabbing her stuff and stuffing them inside the backpack.

"Let's go." She said as she marched towards the man who was standing against one of the bookshelves as he observed her.

She grabbed one of his hands and started dragging her towards the exit. It was time to go home.

***

The next four months went by quickly. Emily succeeded in finishing her webcomic by the end of April and immediately received a phone call from Erica.

The CEO of E-Entertainment was in hurry to sign a contract with her to start filming the anime as soon as possible. The reason behind her anxiety was actually understandable since there were now many other companies who wanted to sign Emily under their labels.

Emily decided to keep her identity as the author of the 'Dark Happiness' hidden from the world as she was not ready for it.

The fact that the fans of her comic had started requesting her company to establish a certified fanbase for her as they wanted to support her and all her upcoming works, kinda scared her.

She was not used to such kind of popularity and recognition, and she surely was not ready for it.

Erica somehow succeeded in buying the copyrights of her story from the online site where she was uploading the book.

After that, not only Emily signed a contract for an anime on her comic with Erica, but she also signed another contract which made her an author under E-Entertainment labels.

Her new company successfully established a certified fanbase for her completed comic and upcoming project during the first week of May, making her fans go crazy with happiness.

But her comic was not the only thing that was bringing so much warmth into her life. After eight months of continuous practice, she was finally doing great in her self-defense classes. There were actually times when she received compliments from Mark and the senior who was mostly in charge of their training sessions.

However, the one thing that surprised her the most was the friendship that finally succeeded in blooming between her and Kaiden.

The two of them were finally on first name bases and that too without any awkwardness between them.

She would be lying if she said that she no longer found herself speechless and dumbfounded whenever he was around her but it was also true that he was definitely one of the most kind-hearted, selfless, warm, and funny people that she had encountered in her life.

She actually started enjoying his company. There were times when he invited her for lunch, or played board games with her when they stumbled across each other in the cafe beside the Academy.

Sometimes he used to help her in finding books about various topics from the library at the SA, or he would clear her doubts about certain topics.

There were even instances where she ended up falling asleep in his company without any care about her safety.

In short, her relation with Kaiden surely improved during these four months. But while on ne hand, she had started to enjoy and look forward to his company, there was another part of her that was well aware of the connection that she was feeling towards him.

It had always been there from the very beginning but as time kept passing and the more time she was spending with him, she could feel that it was growing stronger.

And no matter how hard she tried to understand it, she was failing miserably.

-

"Wohoooooooo! I can't believe that our exams are finally over. We are finally done with our high school life."

Shane shouted with pure happiness filling his voice as he high-fived Rylan.

The two boys looked as happy as if they had just won some kind of lottery.

"Why are looking so weird?" Shane asked as he pulled on her ponytail, making Emily glare at him.

"You are right, dude. She's not looking happy at all about the fact that we just submitted our last exam and our school life is finally over. This actually makes her look weird." Rylan added as he looked at his best friend and the two of them immediately cracked into a fit of laughter.

"Shut up, you two. I'm heading towards Academy, are you coming?" Emily asked as she looked around the crowd of students near the parking area to see if she could find Shadow.

"Come on, Emm! You can't be serious, right? Let's go have some fun. Don't always rot yourself between those hundred of years old books." Shane complained as he tried to pull the girl towards his car.

"I have something important to do there today and unfortunately, it can't wait. Sorry guys, I won't be joining you today. Let's meet tomorrow and it will be my treat. Bye!"

Before either Rylan or Shane could stop her, she already disappeared into the crowd.

"This girl..." Rylan sighed as he shook his head and watched Shadow opening the passenger side doir to let Emily in. Only after he was sure that his best friend was in safe hands, did he jumped inside Shane's car, and the two of them left the school grounds.

At that time, none of them were aware that the coming few hours were about to change everything.......and not in a good way!