just came back from school, thankfully Ash is not yet back and Madam Emily's car is not in the compound. That means no one is at home.

I walk straight to the kitchen and start preparing lunch for Ashley and her mother.

A few minutes later, I feel the hair at the back of my neck stand and I have this feeling that someone is watching me. I turn around and I gasp in shock when I see Jace standing so close to me, he startled me so the plate I am holding almost dropped but he gently collects it from me and places it on the counter next to me.

He moves closer to me till his chest is almost touching mine and... OMG! Is he sniffing my hair? While trying to control my racing heartbeat I try to process the fact that Jace is here, I mean, with me in the kitchen.

I feel his arm slide around my waist and he drags me closer till there is no space left between us.

"S-Sir...w-what are you..." I stammer but he places his finger on my lips to shut me up.

He tightens his hand around my waist and places his lips on mine. "Not sir, call me Jace." He breathes against my lips.

I feel my heart hammering in my chest and my breathing gets shallow. Suddenly, we both hear the front door open and close, then the sound of footsteps going up the stairs. Ashley is back! I push Jace away in panic and go back to what I was doing before as if nothing happened. I can feel my heart beating fast in my chest.

He clears his throat loudly. "Bring my food to my room in the next ten minutes." He says and walks out of the kitchen.

I place my hand on my lips as the image of Jace placing his lips on mine keeps on replaying in my mind.

It's closing time, I should be on my way home now but it is raining cats and dogs outside. I'm in an almost empty classroom with Claire and we are both waiting for the rain to stop so that we can walk home together like we always do since we don't have a car or someone to pick us up like most of the other students.

"So you are planning to get a scholarship into a college around here so that you can stop working for Ashley's family?" Claire asks.

"Yes, I will go back to the house my mother left me and look for a part-time job. I am nineteen and I'm still in high school, I don't want to waste any more time."

"That's a great plan."

"What about you?" I ask her.

"I'm also planning to get a scholarship. I don't think my parents can afford to send me to college even though they don't want to admit it."

My phone starts to ring, it's a small phone Madam Emily gave me last year in case she has something to tell me. Claire and I look at the screen at the same time and I groan in frustration when I see that it's Ash while Claire hits her head on the table.

"Hello," I say the moment I pick up the call.

"What took you so long to pick up my call?"

Is she kidding me right now? I picked up the moment her name flashed on the screen.

"I'm sorry."

"Where are you?"

"I'm still in school."

"I need you to get your silly butt here in the house in the next 10 minutes or you won't like what I will do to you." She says and hangs up.

I'm sure she is aware that it is raining heavily but as usual, she doesn't care. She has a driver that always drives her to school in the morning and also picks her up in the afternoon but she will never give me a ride not even when I'm dying.

"What did she say?"

"That I should come back home in the next ten minutes."

"Do you have a bus fare?"

"No."

"So you have to walk in the rain?"

"Yes."

"I know this is not who you are, you don't normally tolerate nonsense. Why do you let her and her friends bully you? You have let them make you weak."

"You know why." I sigh.

"You have to endure till you graduate from High School because her parents Bla Bla Bla," Claire says sadly.

"Yes. Bye, see ya tomorrow." I grab my bag and give her a peck.

I don't have an umbrella so I have to walk in the rain, it's a heavy downpour. A few minutes later, I lose it and burst into tears. My tears mix with the rain and I cry bitterly, even the universe is against me.

I hear a car horn beside me but I ignore it and keep on walking, I don't need pity or sympathy from anyone.

The car parks beside me, I don't stop but keep on walking. A guy jogs to where I am, I can't see him very well because of the rain.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He asks softly.

I do not reply to him.

"Come let me give you a ride."

"No thanks."

"You're shivering."

"It's none of your business," I say a bit too harsh.

He walks back to his car, I sigh in relief and glance at my wristwatch. I can never make it back home in ten minutes.

Suddenly it stops raining...on me? I look beside me and see the guy I talked to harshly earlier standing beside me, he is holding an umbrella over our head.

"Since you refused to get into the car, I will just walk beside you. You can even pretend that I'm not here." He says in a deep voice.

Wow. I'm speechless.

I slap myself mentally when I remember how I spoke to him earlier, he is such a nice guy.

"I'm sorry for how I behaved earlier." I apologize while biting my lips.

"It's nothing." He chuckles. "I'm Bryan."

"Sasha."

"Hmm... Sasha. What a sweet name! It's nice meeting you, Sasha."

"Same here." Now that he is close to me, I can have a good look at who my savior is. Holy moly, he's handsome.

But not like Jace. My inner mind says and I agree with her on that.

I see a car racing to where we are and the car looks oddly familiar, it took me a while to realize that it is Jace's car.

What is he doing here?