"This is going to be a long day." Apollo grunts from the driver's seat of their Jeep. Artemis has somehow managed to grill Apollo for answer as they wait for me in their car. She is now caught with what is happening in Apollo's so-called love life much to the latter's disappointment.

Artemis' hand suddenly strikes Apollo at the back of his head with a loud slapping sound. "Drive, you moron. I cannot believe you're trying to get in her pants."

Grunting, Apollo does as he is told. "Fucking brute. No one's going to date you." Apollo said bitterly as he continues to rub the spot where Artemis hit him.

"Stop it!" I told the both of them when I saw Artemis raising her hand to retaliate to what Apollo said. Sometimes I feel like a mother of these two when they fight. "You guys act like kids." I mumbled under my breathe as the two of them continued to give glares to each other.

I was surprised that we made to the mall without crashing with the two of them bickering. My ears were ringing by the time we got out of the car. At this point, it even made it worse as they could now hiss and hit each other as we make our way to the nearest Starbucks.

"I can't believe you! Her? Of all people?" Artemis asked for the nth time as we sat down at a corner table of the shop. It's buzzing with people buying coffee and hanging out in the place. The smell of freshly baked pastries and freshly brewed coffee wafts the air.

"Can you stop? Scarlett is a good person." Apollo said, pulling out a few bills from his wallet. "Are we ordering or what? I'm hungry."

"We are not done talking, Apollo." Artemis said, her voice hard and threatening. She's glaring up at Apollo. For some unknown reason, Artemis seemed to be in a turmoil than I have expected her to be. Her reaction, even if it was expected, was coming out of her in waves harder than we thought. It was as if there was something about Scarlet than makes her react this way.

Apollo waves her sisters word off like it was nothing and proceeds to the counter.

"What was that?" I asked Art. She overreacts at times but even this is out of the ordinary for her. She gives me a brief glance before looking worriedly back at Apollo. "Artemis." I called her, snapping her attention back to me.

She shakes her head. "It's nothing." She says, but I could tell just by looking at her eyes that she is lying. "I'm worried about him. He has never been smitten with a girl before. If this goes south, he might not take it lightly."

I raised my eyebrow at her. "He's nineteen, Art. He can handle it. If he can't, you'll be there to help him, won't you.?" I asked her, watching as she drops her eyes to her lap.

"I'm scared for him. He's an asshole but he's not good with these kinds of things."

"That's why we're here." I said with a confident smile.

Artemis is not being difficult because she wants to. It seemed something deeper than I could have ever thought. Because Artemis being sweet and concerned about Apollo is a once in a lifetime event to see.

Apollo came back with our order. He opted to wait for his name to be called rather than go back and sit through another round of questioning by Art. When he did came back, the awkward silence in the table almost made him stop. He knew, just by looking at us that something happened in the fifteen minutes that he was gone. He placed the our respective drinks in front of us along with the pastry we ordered.

"So?" Art asked him as soon as he sat down. I could the look of exhaustion in Apollo's eyes as he looks at his sister.

"I told you already. I'm not just trying to get in her pants, okay? I like her." Apollo said, sighing in annoyance as disbelief crossed Artemis' face.

"I just saw a girl leave the house not even a week ago. How long have you known this Scarlet?" Artemis reasoned, once again forcing answers from Apollo.

Apollo glared at his sister at the way she pronounce Scarlet's name. "I have known her since the beginning of the year, okay? I just.. I never talked to her." Apollo said as he looks away from his sister.

Art might not know, but Apollo was scared to talk to Scarlet. Or so he told me. He thinks that with his reputation circulating around campus, a girl like her would never look or even talk to him. In all honesty, I've never seen him this insecure. EVER.

I don't think Art has realized that this is someone Apollo actually likes. Even if she doubts him, I doubt Apollo would distance himself from the girl he had always wanted to talk to.

"You can't be serious." Artemis said, glaring at him.

"He is." I said, deciding to finally side with Apollo in this argument. I think her worry is just making Artemis not see this argument in Apollo's perspective. "Just let him do what he wants, Art. He likes her."

"You know how he is. He's not just going to change in a week, Mara. He's a player and I don't think that will ever change." Artemis said, her voice hard and final.

I watch as Apollo rolls his eyes at his sister. "Right. Cause you know everything, right?" He said, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Just leave him alone. He's a grown up man, he can make his own decisions." I told Artemis.

"Not the point." She said, looking defeated as the tables are now her versus the two of us. "Apollo is a player. They'll end up hurting each other. And I don't want that."

Apollo looks surprised by Artemis' words. She's not the sweetest person in the world when it comes to Apollo. She has always been a bit physical and insensitive towards him. Even I am shocked that she's this worried about Apollo, and not just him Scarlet too.

"Art." Apollo said still out of words for what Art just said.

"What?" Artemis hissed. She's not very affectionate. "You always think I'm bitching around because I hate to see you with someone. Well news flash, genius. I just don't want you to hurt a person you love and regret it, asshole."

"Aw. She's looking out for it." Apollo said teasingly. "Do you see this? This is a once in a lifetime event, T." He said, looking at me with a smile on his face.

I nodded my head. "I know. Well, at least none of you are launching punches at each other." I said, reminding them of what they were just doing in the car on our way here.

They're little argument reminded me of mine and Alec's argument.

He's been keeping his distance. I know our relationship hasn't been the best since he dropped this arranged marriage on me but I've never really hated him for it. Not totally. Lately though, it seems like Alec has been keeping something from me which is making him out this huge distance between us. I know he knows I can feel it.

Even him leaving just a couple of days before Mom's death anniversary is unheard of. Even if it was to visit our relatives in Spain. Actually, he's never gone to Spain without me. He always brought me with him.

His actions are just worrying me over and over again. And I don't think it'll stop anytime soon.

"Enough about me." I heard Apollo said which snapped me back to the conversation I am having at the moment. "What's happening with the wedding?"

It was then that I started telling them about what we've accomplished so far with the planning. Admittedly, it was not much. The guest list still has to be trimmed down if I want to keep it intimate. The caterer and the food to be served is still not picked out. Even our cakes were not. We haven't even had the chance to go to Aurora's shop and get our sizes taken for the clothes on the wedding day. The venue is still a debate.

"You should start picking out your dress." Artemis said, reminding me of the most important thing. "Like everyone can suck it, but you're not wearing anything less than pristine on your own wedding day."

"Speaking of which." I said and pulled out my phone from my pocket. I have gone through the designs and picked ten which I liked the most. I placed the phone in front of them. "I need help narrowing it down. I was thinking we should get scheduled for the fitting this Sunday."

Artemis stops from scrolling through the scanned pictures of the designs and looks at me with big eyes. "We?" She asked, looking and sounding surprise.

"Yeah. Isn't this kind of like a big celebration for the elite." Apollo said, looking as confused as his twin sister.

"Of course you guys are invited. Artemis is going to be my maid of honor." I said. Now, it was my turn to look confused.

"Wait, really? Me?"

"Well, who else is it going to be?" I asked her.

She shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. Aurora, maybe."

"She was engaged to my brother. I don't think he'll want to watch her walk down the aisle other than when they get married." I told her with all honesty. I am close to Aurora but I don't think I'll ever think of her as my maid of honor. "Art, you're my first choice for this. Please?"

"I just.. I just said something horrible earlier. Are you sure?"

"I will get pay back for that." I said, giving her a teasing smile. "Please, Art?" I asked. She immediately nodded her head, her eyes twinkling with joy. "You too, Apollo."

"We'll see. We have to ask Dad first if we have money for the clothes and stuff." Apollo said, looking highly uncomfortable with the conversation.

Between the three of us, we never really talked about money before. It's not a topic we have ever had. Not because it's uncomfortable for us, but because we never really did care. When we all met, we were just high school students.

"I got it. Nothing to worry about. You tell your parents they are coming too." I told them.

Apollo raises his brows at me. "You know, Dad wouldn't like that. not one bit."

I waived my hand at him, dismissing his words. "I got it. Dustyn knows your dad too."

"Thank you, T." He said, a gentle smile covering his face.

"Miss Tamara." Nica's soft voice said from my left. I forgot she was here with us. "We got trouble coming our way." She said, her eyes going to the door.

I followed her trail of sight. There entering the place is Noah dressed in a black hoodie and a pair of black joggers. Behind him is an old man, probably around fifty and about the same age as my Dad. Oddly enough, he looks quite familiar.

A smirk forms on Noah's face as he spots as at our corner table. Without hesitation, he comes straight to our table. "Well. Good seeing you here."

Nica straightens up behind me, going into protective move. Ready to protect me and my friends if needed. "Noah." I said, greeting him politely as the older man comes up to stand behind him. A creepy smile on his face as he looks down at me.

"No. No. Stay." Noah said, pulling the chair beside me and sitting down without asking. "Where's the big guy?" He said, looking around for Emil.

"These your friends, boy?" His voice is monotonous and rough. His eyes are much like Noah's but darker with a glint of malicious intent.

Noah grins up at the man. "They are Uncle. Remember this one?" he said, pointing his finger at me.

"of course." The man said. "The one you bid at that Charity ball."

"Yup." Noah said, placing his arm on my chair which made Nica move the arm to drop from the chair. "Watch it."

"Please keep your distance from Miss Mara." Nica said, glaring down at him in a threatening voice.

My skin, on the other hand, is crawling with disgust as Noah's Uncle's eyes travel up and down on my body. I sit uncomfortably in my chair, trying to find a proper position to hide myself from his eyes.

"We're about to leave. Let's go girls." Apollo said, standing up from his seat and pulling Art to her feet. "T, let's go." Apollo said snapping me out of my trance. He puts his used blue hoodie on me and puts the hood up to hide me. "I got you." He whispered softly.

"Hey. Leaving so soon?" Noah said, standing in front of us to block our way out of the place. "You can leave Tamara here. We have some project to discuss." He added, taking a hold of my arm which made me jerk away from him.

"Noah." Apollo said with a warning. His voice low and dangerous as he does.

"Back up, sir." Nica said. slightly pushing on Noah's chest.

"Always got someone guarding you, eh?" Noah said sarcastically, eyeing both Apollo and Nica. "I'll get you some time. Alone."

The promise in his words made me shiver with fear. There was something about the way he said it that made me know that he was darn serious about his words.

His uncle is standing behind him. Looking at me like a dark cloud looming over me. He smiles salaciously before saying words that made me realize just how 'familiar' he is to me. "See you soon, beautiful."