Chapter 165: Independence

Despite my belief that Hayden would be gone the following day, Hayden spent the next couple of days living together at my place. I liked having him around and I was getting used to spending my days with him; however, after a couple of days I realized that this wasn’t normal. He stuck to me like glue and followed me wherever I went.

I didn’t want to tell him this, but he was getting in the way of my daily life.

"Hayden…when are you heading back to your place?" I asked one evening while we were having dinner together in my small apartment.

"You don’t like having me around?" He asked as he placed down the fork that he had been holding.

I sighed, knowing that he would say something like that.

"It’s not like that. It’s just…you’ve been around me all the time and…I guess it affects my work…" I told him hesitantly.

Hayden was silent for a while as he took my words in. I used that time to silently pray that he would not completely flip out. The issue was that I got a call from work earlier about this issue.

"Hi Malissa, sorry for calling you but there’s something that I want to discuss," the lady’s voice through the phone was quite stern.

I wondered what she wanted. Usually, she’s always in a good mood and I hardly hear her sounding so serious like this.

"Hi. No worries. What is it?" I asked.

There was a pause followed by a sigh from the other end of the line and that was enough to let me know that it wasn’t good news.

"I’m sorry that I have to say this but we think it would be best if you stopped bringing your friend along with you to the classes," she said hesitantly.

"Oh…ok…" I replied.

"The thing is some parents are concern with having an observer all the time and they think it’s distracting for the students," she explained.

"Right. I completely understand…" I said apologetically.

"Great. Sorry about this but I thought letting you know would be better. See you!" the lady said and quickly hung up.

Basically, it wasn’t a good idea for Hayden to be stuck to my side like glue. I knew that that would be the case. He did bother me a little so it wasn’t a huge surprise that his presence would be a bother to the others. His sparkly prince-like aura also attracted a lot of attention, but it was better than his dark mafia aura when he was in a bad mood. Regardless, he attracted too much attention.

"I guess I’ll take my leave for now," Hayden said defeatedly.

"We can always meet up when I’m off work," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Malissa, watch yourself," Hayden warned.

"Huh?" I said in surprise.

"Be careful. If anything happens just give me a call," Hayden insisted.

"Umm…sure," I agreed with a nod.

I could tell that Hayden was worried, but I didn’t think that anything could happen. The frown that formed in between Hayden’s eyebrow told me that he was very concerned. That was when I finally understood why Hayden had been sticking to be like glue for the past few days.

"Are you worried?" I asked.

"Of course, I am," he replied immediately.

"Don’t worry. I’ll be ok. Nothing is going to happen. I have to try to live life normally too…" I said, trying to reassure him.

I wanted Hayden to know that I had a life of my own that I was determined to live regardless of the various obstacles that the mafia and my past keeps throwing my way. To do that, I knew that I had to become stronger and better at dealing with the unexpected.

"I know that Ethan met up with you at your exhibition," Hayden stated darkly.

It was like a dark aura had enveloped Hayden’s body and it gave me the chills. I hated where this conversation was going.

"Yeah…nothing happened though. We just talked," I said with a nervous smile.

"What did he want from you?" Hayden asked straightforwardly.

"What he wants?" I said innocently.

I wasn’t sure if this was the right time to tell Hayden about Ethan’s plans of reuniting the gang. Hayden seems to be in a terrible mood. If I mention the plan now, it will be smashed into a million pieces. There’s no way that it will go through.

"Ethan won’t meet up with you unless he wants something…" Hayden said knowingly.

"Umm…the thing is…" I said as I hesitated.

What do I do now?

"I’m listening," Hayden said but his tone wasn’t very encouraging.

I sighed loudly as his light blue gaze settled on me. It doesn’t matter how close we’ve gotten; Hayden can be very intimidating.

"Ethan told me that he wants to reunite the two gangs together. What do you think about that, Hayden?" I asked, daring to hope just slightly that he might agree.

"What do you think about that?" Hayden asked for my opinion.

I thought it would be a good thing but…I wasn’t sure if that was the right choice. With the many facts that Hayden had revealed, I felt like that would make my father’s wish finally come true after so long. However, I wasn’t sure if that was something for me to decide. Hayden would head Torex after his father, so it was for him to decide and then he’s got to convince his father too.

"I think that potentially it could be a good idea. Peace is better than violence, I think…but I also think that it’s best for you to decide. Perhaps, after you understand more about what Ethan has in mind…" I answered as honestly as I could.

"I see…" Hayden said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After that he didn’t say anything else on that topic. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what was his thoughts to my opinion. Hayden just didn’t seem interested in the topic at all. He refused to comment or talk about it. As for me, I didn’t have the courage to ask. It was a big deal so I could understand if he needed time to think it through.

--To be continued…