Chapter 241: Watching Me

"Hear what?" Hayden asked as he turned to look at me.

"Umm…I don’t know…like something moving?" I replied, uncertain of what I had just heard.

"No…" Hayden replied after listening for a few seconds.

After paying attention and listening to the sound around us, Hayden confirmed that he couldn’t hear anything amiss, and honestly, I couldn’t hear anything anymore either. I guess it was just my imagination then.

"I’m probably just imagining it or maybe it was the wind from outside or something," I said dismissively.

Honestly, I was glad that Hayden didn’t hear anything. I didn’t need anymore spooky things in my life to make my life more complicated than it already was.

"Probably, some windows are not closed yet. The maids will probably deal with it later, you don’t have to worry," Hayden said, brushing off my concern.

"Ok. Let’s go then…" I murmured as he took my hand in his and led me after him towards his bedroom.

…

When I returned to my living room the following morning, I was slightly surprised that Little Hayden wasn’t there. It almost became a norm now for him to sneak away somewhere. I had mixed feelings about this but thought that it must be part of the puppy’s growth journey. Little Hayden continued to grow up very fast.

Not having much experience with raising a pet, I was astonished at how fast he grew and developed. It was probably normal for dogs to be like this, but I was surprised nonetheless.

As he grew, he played a lot more and explored a lot more. He also chewed on many more things and ended up ruining the legs of many wooden chairs to Auntie’s utter dismay. Naturally, the area of my art studio and the living room became too small for him and venturing outside to tour the mansion and the garden quickly became part of his daily life.

Right now, he’s probably playing around somewhere or maybe he was hanging around the maids.

It felt slightly lonely that Little Hayden was no longer just playing around at my feet, but it did give me the chance to focus more on my commission work. Things were progressing smoothly and the photos that I took to update my client of the work’s progress was well received. I began experimenting on working on two works in parallel with each other to speed up the progress of the works.

So far, it was going quite well.

Thinking back on the events of yesterday, I didn’t learn that much from what Hayden said. Most of it was probably because I didn’t remember much or didn’t quite understand very well. However, I did understand that things were not normal outside, and that Ethan played a big role regarding that. He did visit me before Hayden brought me here to his mansion.

Since that day, I had not stepped a foot outside of this property and as far as I was aware, Ethan was nowhere nearer to achieving his objective of uniting Torex and Silva.

From Hayden’s reaction and how his mood seemed to turn sour as he talked about Ethan’s plan, I could tell that he was surely opposed to it. As for me, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Peace would be great but what exactly would lead to peace? My eyebrows knitted together in a knot before I separated them using my fingers. Peace just seemed like a concept and nothing more.

An ideology that may never materialize in the mafia world.

I wondered what Hayden truly wanted now that he’s semi-forced to take over as the next boss of Torex. He never told me about his work and since I couldn’t accompany him anywhere, I had no idea what he was up to. However, judging from the fact that he was heading out to work every day, he must be busy and perhaps was already acting as the new head of Torex.

That thought made a shiver run through my body. I realized that my hand had stopped in midair while I was absorbed in my thoughts. I’m not making any progress on this portrait at all…

I wondered what life would be like if Hayden didn’t have to take over Torex. He would probably be working as a doctor somewhere. I recalled the scene of him helping that little girl at the amusement park and how he treated her with care. Would I get to see more of that side of Hayden if he didn’t have to take over the gang?

It wasn’t like what I wanted mattered. Hayden is so deeply involved in the gang now and regardless of what I wanted; Hayden would always have two sides to him. I guess I didn’t dislike the two opposite sides of him.

Pulling myself back from my messy thoughts, I slowly mustered my concentration to continue working on the painting. A short while after, I was applying some paint to highlight the client’s cheekbones when I had a strange feeling like someone was watching me. It was just a feeling…but still…

I felt it. Someone is watching me…

I froze as I debated with myself if I should turn around. This mansion is Hayden’s mansion, and it was heavily guarded. There’s no way that it couldn’t be safe…right?

Slowly, I turned around as I prayed that I had just imagined it all. The door to my art studio was ajar but I couldn’t see anyone standing there. Did I just imagine it?

I got up from my chair and slowly headed for the door. This better not be Hayden and one of his pranks because it surely is giving me the creeps. I inched closer and closer to the door on silent small steps. The silence in the studio and the living room beyond which I usually found peaceful suddenly felt unnerving.

"Hayden…" I called softly as I placed my hand on the door and slowly opened it.

It was completely silent and just as I had half expected, there was no one outside in the living room. I walked quickly and looked out into the hallway. Turning my head from side to side to look up and down the hallway, I found it completely void of life.

--To be continued…