Alexandra

While walking in the silent hallway, I pulled my hand out from Giovanni’s tight grip. He spun and looked at me. His eyebrows knitted, maintaining the cold expression on his face. I stood, panted from getting dragged powerless against this strong man in front of me. “What the hell did you do, Giovanni?” I said in a high tone, annoyed and embarrassed.

I flushed when he walked few more steps closer to me, leaning his torso forward almost reaching his lips to mine. His hands in his denim pockets, his hazel brown eyes looked at me straight through my soul. He titled his head, smirking. “Why do you sound irritated, Alexandra?”

“Of course, I will feel irritated. What do you expect? Feeling happy after you declared I’m your girlfriend and future wife to everyone? To Mr. Villarin?” I scoffed, crossed my arms, and stood to put my weight on my left leg. He clucked, crossing his arms as he took a few steps closer to me.

“Why? Did it excite you in a romantic way? Did it make you tingle?” he said, giving me a conceited smile. I scoffed.

“It’s otherwise.” I glared at him and fixed my sight straight to his intense stares, melting me down.

“For real?” He took a few steps forward closer to me, still smirking. I felt perplexed moving steps behind until I felt leaning against the wall. He didn’t halt until his body too close to mine and pressed his palm behind my ear as his face reaching mine. He looked at me and said, “I didn’t know you’re this beautiful.”

I flushed, avoiding his eye contact. But his hand gripped my chin forcing me to look at him. “Look at me,” he commanded. And as stupid as I was, I followed. His next plan? I didn’t have a single idea of what’s he up to. The fact he announced my fake relationship in front of everyone in the office annoyed me so much.

I knew he's using this situation to ask me favors in return. The longer I thought of his motive, the more frustrated I felt. I knew he wanted to mislead everyone either to protect me or his image as the son of the school owner. “You’re mine, Alexandra,” he whispered close to my ear. I blushed, instinctively. “You’re. Mine.”

Those words. I cringed. I scoffed, rolling my eyes while avoiding eye contact. “Why did you put up a show, Giovanni? What’s that about?” I said in a cold, monotonous tone. He scoffed.

“Do you believe every word I said? Romantic, isn’t it? What I did back there was fun!” He sounded excited, almost jumping off because of his foolishness.

“What do you mean?” Confused, I asked him. He looked too overjoyed as if he wasn’t serious of his words, fooling everyone in the office. His boisterous laugh I never heard all this time didn’t seem joyful at all. But insulting.

“I enjoyed it. That old man, in fear. Everyone is. They seemed to believe what I said was true. I didn’t expect it that way. They’re too naive to believe my lies.” He continued laughing. I stepped closer to him and slapped his face. He stopped in shock as he pressed his face with his hand.

“What the hell, Alexandra?” I glared at him.

“If that sounds like a joke to you, don’t. I didn’t care if I get expelled in this damn school at all. My friends back there were in agony because of me. Those scumbags you treated friends were responsible for the deaths of defenseless people in the school your family owned. Now, you think this is fun? How dare you?”

I tried halting my tears fell from my eyes as I fixed my gaze at him, who remained angry listening to every word I said. He scoffed and looked at me in sarcasm.

“Look. You should thank me for saving your ass back there. Aren’t you taught how to thank people for their favors?”

“Why would I thank you?” I pause. “Should I thank you for making us look foolish back there?”

“If I didn’t, you’d be in trouble. You’d be out from school, you’ll go nowhere. Look, you don’t have to take this by heart. Just take it as your debt needed to be repaid. I saved your ass back there, now you have to pay me back. Does that sound logical to you?”

I raised my eyebrows, in doubt. “Look. You didn’t have to help me to get out of it, okay? I don’t need you to help me. I don’t need you, Giovanni. I can manage myself on my own and I don’t need anybody to survive. Stay out of my life, will you?”

“Are you pretty sure of what you’re saying Ms. Montenegro?” His inquiry left me wide-eyed. I gulped. “Do you think you can survive the harsh, the painful life without someone to lean on?” He paused and scoffed, looking away. He turned his head to me and glared. “You don’t have to look strong in front of me,” he sputtered, panting because of his non-stop fast-talk in raised tone.

He paused and panting because of speaking in a raised tone. He looked away before he stared at me again and continued, “I saw you when you visited your father’s tomb in the cemetery. You were sobbing. You cried because you missed him. So much. Now, you’re telling me you don’t need someone in those times when you longed to be free from that pain?”

“Y-you saw me? You’re there?” I asked. He nodded. “But why? Why are you following me? What do you want from me?”

Why are you trying so hard to get close to me?

What have I done to you to make me feel this way?

“Don’t get me wrong. Don’t assume I follow you because I am not. Seeing you there was a coincidence. I didn’t mean to see you in that state. You keep telling me I’m too conceited and so full of myself, then how about you?”

He walked away taking a few steps without looking at me. “By the way, none of the words I said at the office were true. So better forget them. They’re all romantic bullshit.” He continued strolling in nonchalance as if nothing happened.

I pressed my lips for whatever reason. I couldn’t even understand why I did.

Was I expecting something else from this brat?

He took a few steps away from me, placing his hands inside his denim pockets without glancing at me. I looked at him, almost jaw-dropped of what he told me. “So, how can I repay you?” I said in a loud voice, enough to be audible in his distance.

He stopped and turned to me, raising his eyebrow. “Did you say something?”

“I said, how can I repay you?” I repeated. He smiled and hummed, pressing his lips. He squinted his eyes.

“My, my, my, Alexandra. I never thought you’d have a conscience. I didn’t expect that,” he said, chuckling. “You looked different when you fought those guys by yourself. And you looked too carefree whenever you walked around the school as if you have nothing to bother about.”

He strolled back closer to me. “With the way you acted before, I felt the killing instincts back there. And from how you behaved, you seemed to have quite an experience of torturing people.” He took a deep breath and released an exasperated sigh. He leaned his torso forward, looking straight through my eyes, teasing me.

I felt tensed. Flabbergasted, to be more exact. Did he know something about it? His stares became more intense, showing dominance. I gulped. “Why do you say so?”

“Out of observation. Nothing special, Alexandra." He pulled himself away and leaned his back against the bricked wall. His intense stares remained at me. “Why? Are you hiding something you don’t want me to know? Or something you’re afraid people would know about you?”

I glared out of the blue, instinctively, facing down while clenching my fists. I couldn’t bare looking straight through his eyes any longer. “Anyway, thinking of how you could repay me with the favors I did for you, I will think about it. Take your time and relax while waiting for my response. You have a beeper?”

“Why?” He gestured forcing me to give him my phone without saying a word. I gave it to him incautious manner.

“Here,” I said after I took the device from my pocket. He immediately grabbed it and typed something. And he called and hang up.

“Now, I got your number and you got mine. I’ll call you when I got the best idea to repay your debt, Alexandra,” he said with a hint of sarcasm in the last word.

“Wait for my call, got it?”

I scoffed when he turned his back with my mouth slightly opened, as if I neighed like a horse. My eyes remained at him until he disappeared from my sight.