Chapter.17- "He's Mysterious Therefore Totally My Type!"

This chapter is dedicated to SuriyalakshmiSekar for her constant support and kind words! Also if you love mafia/mystery romances then please check out her stories!

Seventeen: He's Mysterious Therefore Totally My Type!

In Eastern cultures, it is believed that wearing black clothing acts as a protection from evil spirits, and it also can absorb bad energies. Whilst I did believe that and donned on black clothing I still couldn't quite shake off the feeling of an evil presence following me into the maze. I wonder who could be that bold to be trespassing into private property. Nobody was allowed to enter, except for me. Harry allowed only me to walk around here freely and let me spend some time alone exploring the maze.

Even whilst exploring the east wing I'd heard a voice, at first I was sure it wasn't Harry because he'd call out to me-- in the most bizarre way. Since he was from the north, he had that Northern English accent, so, he'd always call me Bec-cah, with his tongue out and I hated it.

Then when I'd finished my quest of encountering a ghost I'd heard a loud crash from inside. The house was vast and I couldn't possibly go around looking for the intruder because he could be an axe-wielding psychopath and I wasn't ready to die yet nor be fatally injured.

So, I went around the side and created bit of mischief as I wrote on the windows, the thick layer of dirt clearing up with each alphabet I wrote. I once did this and Harry had thought that it was the ghost but then I'd revealed to him much later that it was I who'd done that.

He, however, was not pleased and asked me to never step foot inside the house ever again!

Yet, here I am sneaking off....

After I'd finished my Banksy act I ran off into the maze because it was the best option and I knew every nook and corner of it.

It was constructed from more than 16,000 English yews, every hedge was a variable shade of green, some were even an ugly shade of brown colour, they'd lost their lush green colour due to years of negligence. They were quite tall, 18 feet to be precise-- a fact that I'd learnt from Harry, it definitely wasn't built to prevent children from getting lost, let alone getting attacked by axe-wielding psychos impersonating Jack Nicholson just like in the film The Shining.

It was cut with a square top, and in the centre was a glorious oak tree. The light in the maze faded fast, like the end of the day in a wintry forest. Without it, the maze felt all the colder and the smell of stagnant water dominated the senses. There were so many dark hours ahead and I already felt quite exhausted. Visiting the maze in daylight was better-- the choice was clear - walk the maze during the day or slip into hypothermia during night.

It wasn't a labyrinth, but a maze and I'd loved it. But it wasn't that easy either. Granted it was no Villa Pisani labyrinth, the one in Stra, Italy -- the most difficult and photogenic maze in the world which even Napoleon tried to complete and gave up, nor the Hampton Court Palace Maze in Surrey which had a reputation for being nightmarishly and devilishly difficult to complete-- but the key was to turn left on entering, and then stay to the left, even though the apparent dead ends. I'd followed that rule and completed the maze in Hampton Court Palace and succeeded.

Ah, I digress!

Anyroad, I only hoped no one dangerous was lurking around and wished that Harry was here today.

It was intriguing every time I went into the maze, I took my sweet time, going through every nook and corner. I heard frenzy shuffling behind me and turned around, a startled squirrel jumped out and scurried past me. Feeling relieved, I continued walking, then froze when I heard footsteps approaching quickly behind me, it was getting nearer and nearer, so I took a deviation and went around two spaces, that way it allowed me the chance to see who it was.

As soon as I'd hid behind a hedge and leant my back against it, I stilled and held my breath-- a shaky breath escaped my lips when I saw a figure appear. First I was shocked and then slowly a smirk formed on my face when I'd recognised the back profile of a familiar boy who'd clutched a wooden plank in his hand, I mentally snorted.

Fucking coward!

It was as if he was backing away, slowly and looked ready to swing it at someone-- perhaps me?

I took three stealth steps forward, then held out my right hand-- the black-stone on my ring glinted when the faint sun rays reflected off of it, his warm, strong back made contact with my palm, the knitted blue cardigan felt soft against my palm.

His entire body froze. I stepped close to his ear, still smiling. "Welcome back!" I whispered, he shuddered.

Then he turned around horrified, letting out a scream he dropped the weapon and fell on his bottom, scampering away. His expression was priceless, he was sprawled on the ground a few feet away from me, ragged breaths escaping his lips as he closed his eyes and opened them still wide-eyed.

I tied my hands behind my back and approached him slowly, then squatted down to his level and brought my face very close to his, I could feel the dampness of the cool grass against the sheer material of the socks then lifted my hand and pushed a strand of his dark hair back, his eyes following my every moment.

"I can't believe you were foolish enough to follow me into the maze," I whispered.

I looked at him, like really looked at him, there I saw traces of the little boy from the past; those same wide blue magnetic eyes, a little startled, pure and meek.

"I--" He cleared his throat and then croaked out, "I wasn't following you I was looking for something and trying to face my trauma."

"Mhmm, as you should, but following me won't do you any good." I stared at him, taking in every detail, then my hands slid to the back of his neck, pulling him even closer to my face, "because trauma is best dealt with face-to-face." His eyes widened and lips parted, my stomach flipped. I held back a cheeky grin.

"I couldn't have agreed more since you're one of my worst nightmare and traumas." He shot back. "Because something about you instils primal fear in me."

I inhaled sharply through my teeth not expecting his response but I didn't let it bother me. After a few more seconds of looking at him, I pushed his head back with my forefinger just as he'd done to me. He blinked as I stood up, then I held my hand out to him, his eyes travelled to my legs and then met my eyes.

Then he shook his head. "I'm good, I've got a nice view anyway."

I kicked his thigh as soon as the words had escaped his mouth, then took a step back, whilst he got up hissing and dusted his blue denim trousers, straightened his baby blue cardigan that was over a plain white tee-shirt. He was the epitome of boyishness with his white daps.

We were both stark contrasts with our clothes, he looked like a saint whilst I looked like a hell butterfly in front of him.

"What're you doing here, Harper? Did you follow me here all the way? I thought you said that we should both go our separate ways and never see each other again!" He huffed like he genuinely didn't want to see me.

"Bugger! You caught me!" I lifted both my hands up and put on a po-face. "Why do you think?" I teased. "I came because I missed you although I'm impressed that you're not running away or avoiding me."

He exhaled. "Why're you dressed like a schoolgirl?"

"Because it's every man's fantasy." I shrugged and walked away. "So why're you here?" I asked.

"I wanted-- needed to see something." He fell in step with me.

I stopped and turned around. "By something do you mean the inhabitants of the place who haven't left for the afterlife?"

He avoided eye contact. My question was answered by his silence. "Good grief! So you've seen the ghost?" I laughed a tad excited. "How was it? Did they communicate with you? Ask you for help?"

He stilled but righted himself promptly. "You're getting strangely excited to hear and talk about it." He remarked crossly. "And why did you write on those windows?"

"I assumed it was an axe-wielding psycho who was trespassing the private property and to scare him away I did that to lure him into the maze and beat him up. I wanted him to assume it was the ghost. It was fun but it was hilarious when you decided to follow me into the maze."

"You have a twisted sense of humour, Harper!" He twisted his lips.

"Why, thank you!" I beamed.

"That's morbid. Do you know what happened here?" He queried.

Like a little kid with a puzzle, I answered, "Indeed, it's fascinating and thrilling!" I marvelled at both the murderer's brilliance and careful execution of the crime.

"A person being murdered shouldn't be that thrilling nor fascinating," Caleb pointed out.

Shaking my head I argued, "Well, I beg to differ. I mean I don't condone his actions but he's quite a crafty fellow! Must've read and watched every crime book and TV shows. He's so smart that even the servants had no bloody clue about two dead bodies decomposing in their master's bedroom! It's overwhelming how he didn't kill one person but two! In two separate methods!"

Caleb shuddered. "He had homicidal tendencies and I wondered how he kept it a secret."

"The mystery of it is still interesting, especially the question of why he'd go to such extents to kill the women he loved, but kept their decomposed bodies beside him and slept in between them."

"Why would he do that? If he loved them why kill them like that?" He questioned fiercely.

I had a faraway look. "You have to look at it from the criminal's perspective!"

He was quiet for some time, as he mulled over what I'd just said. "He wanted to show his superiority! Like perhaps he was controlling them?"

"Mhmm, not quite, although you're not entirely wrong," I assured, and continued, "This isn't that! But to show he could be both cruel and kind? Like he could make this a reality. He didn't dispose of the bodies. Why? Because he had no intention of doing so."

He looked horrified. "What? How is that being kind?"

I sighed and explained, "If he wanted to he could've killed them more cruelly or be gruesome, for example, the Black Dahlia case--"

"Or like Dennis Nilsen." He snorted.

I glared at him for interrupting me, he shut his mouth immediately.

Caleb was drawn in as I did an alarmingly accurate analysis of the criminal. I deduced that:

"The Marquess was a madman, his (very twisted) motivations seem clear: in killing both his lovers, he takes control over them transforming them into an obedient object that will remain pure forever. By killing them, the Marquess establishes control over them and turns them from an active subject into a passive object. And in his twisted mind, he's done the right thing—granted his lover's one wish to be with him forever."

"That's just disturbing and ghastly! Why would he assume that was both his lovers one wish?" He looked perplexed.

"The Marquess had wanted to hold onto the victims alive and freeze their time together because he loved them both, and only killed them when the women resisted, and refused his offers or propositions and thought that both of them wanted his money or were simply tarrying him along. Because it was rumoured that his mistress was an infidel and not the marrying type, the wife was going to leave him and also that he was denied love when growing up-- because his father was very strict and abusive so he had no one but to turn to the dead for company. Otherwise, he'd have killed them in more brutal ways, to begin with. He must've been very desperate if he went to such trouble. Also, he must've been very skilled, because the wounds and bruises were of a skilled professional!" I finished.

"How do you know so much? It's like you're the mastermind behind the crime." Caleb looked at me with unbridled suspicion.

I looked away from him, staring at the tall dark maze hedges. "When I was a child my dream was to become a villain or.... a criminal!

"So, it's true that every eight-year-old girl dreams of being a criminal...." He looked shocked.

"Bingo!" I winked at him.

"Bloody hell you're morbid and twisted! You're absolutely mad!" He remarked. "You seem to precisely understand both a sociopath and psychopath's mind. Are you aware that you have a dark side that you're hiding?"

"Are you?" I asked with a creepy smile as I inched closer to him. He slowly backed away. "You should be sure Caleb since you followed me all the way here where nobody can find you," I said seriously.

He gulped as he backed away into the wall. "Let's get out of here please."

We made it out of the maze in silence, he didn't utter a word and were stood in front of the stone steps that'd lead to the kitchen and out of the house. I tromped up the steps and reached the kitchen door, but stopped when I felt him catch hold of my dress with his index finger and thumb, I turned around to see Caleb stood still staring at the window above. He faltered, then he looked at me with those soft blue eyes of his and I sighed.

"Don't worry nothing's going to jump out!"

He blinked, and caught up with me, but gave me a soft look as we made it inside and rounded the counter. We were out of the kitchen and walking down a long corridor that would lead us out of the stately house then we heard the rattling of a doorknob. I heard the sharp quick intake of breath as he sidled closer to me than necessary.

"Stay close to me. I'll protect you, and you will protect me again, yeah?" He proposed as he reached for my hand and gazed at me.

My stomach churned and heart hiccupped at the contact, I looked at him stunned and stupefied. Blimey! It was such a nice moment.

Until he decided to ruin it by telling me the most ridiculous thing.

"Don't get too excited or expect much. Please lower your expectations, since you seem to be getting sort of excited." He shook his head and my jaw went slack.

That posh little wanker!

This devolved into a bickering fight, with me getting narked off. "What sort of expectations?"

"The sort of expectations that happens when a man and woman are alone together in a haunted estate." He wiggled his eyebrows.

I scoffed. "Good Lord! I bet you my jammie dodgers that you're the one getting excited! I have those sort of expectations only with one my true love." I exhaled. "Look, there's no reason for you to protect me or even hold my hand." I insisted.

Caleb grouchily pointed out, "You should try using this situation to your advantage, get fruity and flirty with me more and think that spending time with me is an amazing opportunity!"

The absolute cheek of this lad!

"So then, I should get excited?" I asked incredulously and whacked his arm. "Now who's expecting things to happen?"

Grasping at straws, he cited, "You're supposed to do whatever's necessary to protect me no matter what! Just as I am." He even added a meek, "I'm scared." And sidled really close to me clutching my arm tightly as he fluttered his ridiculously long lashes.

I'd had enough of his antiques and just wanted to get out of here. "Let's just get out before Harry finds out I've been trespassing!" I let him hold my hand.

"Who's Harry?"

"The man who murdered the women!" I growled. He clutched my hand tighter and didn't let go of it.

We exited the house, the first thing I did was to pull my hand away from his and brisk walked back to the servants quarters, the exposed greyish stone building came into view. I called out to Harry once again but there was no response--or any sign of him being there, I'd only hoped that he was all right. I'd missed his: "ugh, not her again!" remark whenever he saw me, nonetheless, smiled warmly at me.

Leaving a note for Harry, whilst explaining who exactly he was to Caleb, I cast one last glance at the house as we walked away and through the flower field, I side-eyed Caleb but he was deep in thought.

The full glory of the flower field was revealed as we stood atop the meadow, butterflies pirouetted in the air. Idling past the suede soft flowers, I caressed them softly, they tingled my fingers as I touched them. Jewel-green leggy grasshoppers bounced off the flowers like trampolines.

"This looks familiar!" Caleb remarked with a bright smile.

I nodded and closed my eyes when I heard the breeze swishing through the flower field, a memory of him and I played in my mind's eye. Us going through these flower field every day, him following me around, then the one time I gave him flowers to cheer him up when he played football and when I'd showed him my ballet moves. I felt stirred when those memories came rushing back.

The tall stalks of flowers tickled and brushed against my legs, a vibrant display of flowers covered the ground. Bold purple, soft pink and light lavender flowers sat right in front of me. There was a faint sound of busy bees rushing around to collect their pollen. The sweet smell of blossomed flowers filled the air. The purple petals felt like soft velvet against my skin. My ears perked up at the metallic, tinkling sound of a stream. It flashed with a tinsel tint through the lace of leaves.

"Do you want to roll down this meadow?" He asked.

"I'd love to but not whilst I'm in this skirt." I shook my head.

"That's when the fun happens. You're no fun!" He huffed. I narrowed my eyes and shot him a dirty look.

Just then a strong breeze blew in my direction and my skirt began to flutter, I held it down with both my hands-- whilst doing a cheap imitation of Marilyn Monroe, my hair flew everywhere.

"Bloody hell not the Marilyn Monroe!" Caleb shook his head.

Just when I was about to retort a smart reply, my hair flew all over my face and into my mouth. Gosh, I'm such a loser!

After the wind had died down, I carefully patted my hair down and straightened my skirt and continued walking. I jumped when a warm hand clasped mine, I looked down at Caleb's fingers wrapped around my wrist, then my gaze flitted to his.

"What the hell are you playing at?" I questioned.

"There could a potential possibility of you hiding and scaring me once again like you did when we were kids," he used that excuse. "I'm just being cautious!"

Twisting my lips, I tugged my hand away. "Don't be ridiculous!" He pouted and walked ahead.

Maybe I should hide and leave him behind?

But I decided against it and followed him.

The flower field was a lovely place and if I ever made a successful career out of singing then I'd shoot my first music video here amongst the dancing flowers. The aroma of geosmin percolated through the air. If you inhaled deep enough, the potpourri of scents registered as a sweet mix of jasmine, grass vapour and blossoms.

We walked into the clearing and neared a low wooden bridge that was above a shallow clear stream. The murmur of the stream, the butterflies hovering above and birds chirping were so pleasant to both the eye and ears. It was so reminiscent of our childhood. Here we'd often engage in my favourite past time; river gazing.

"Do you come here often?" Caleb inquired.

I looked at him briefly and then stared ahead. "Indeed! I come here every weekend to meet Harry, walk inside the maze then sit here for a moment and leave. What about you?"

He shook his head as he looked at me. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, his eyes stayed there for a moment then met my eyes. "Why'd you decide to come back here, then?"

I sat down on the wooden bridge and swung my legs back and forth, the sun's glare reflected off the clear water, I could see a flock of ducks swimming around in the distance, not giving a flying quack about anyone.

Caleb sat down next to me, his thigh touching mine. "I wanted to see something." He looked down at his hands, a lock of hair fell across his face, then he curled his hands and looked up to see me. "When we were kids I saw a pale young woman upstairs who'd asked me for help whilst exploring the house, I don't know if it was my young mind that conjured it up because of the tales the other kids told me to scare me or if she was real, but I was scared at that time." He admitted softly.

I felt really sad for him. "Ahhh, so that's why you ran away screaming and--" He shot me a dirty look which made me clamp my mouth shut.

I reached for my bag pulling out a packet of jelly babies and as soon as I'd done that he chuckled beside me. I passed the packet to him, it was a sign of truce and an apology for what I'd said and done last week, when he stared at me with an unfamiliar emotion, I promptly averted my eyes, not wanting to reveal or admit anything. He greedily gobbled up the boofuls and bubbles.

"So.... you're still scared about that incident? And I can't believe you were stupid enough to think that it was the ghost who wrote on the window and followed me into the maze, you should've seen--"

I was unable to finish the rest of my sentence because I was busy recreating Harry Style's Falling.

The posh little wanker hand pushed me off the bridge and I'd landed in the shallow cool water, the right side and the back of my skirt wet.

It was supposed to be water under the bridge and not Rebecca under the bridge!

I looked up, shocked, to see him snickering. The old Caleb would never do this!

"You dimwitted creature! These are expensive shoes and you got them wet!" I seethed.

My poor, poor dress and Oxfords!

"Shit! I'm so sorry, Miss, here let me help you up!" He held out his hand.

But the new one definitely would!

The urge to take his hand and pull him down into the water with me was very strong, but I let him get away with it since I'd done much worse to him. I took a deep shuddering breath and stood up, water trickled down into the sheer socks and seeped into the material, stepping out of the water, I took three steps ahead and climbed back up the bridge and sat down next to him and plucked the packet of jelly babies and stuffed some into my mouth.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked.

"You're marring its beauty with your presence, whilst normally it's adequate," I said pettily.

Ignoring my jab, he rolled his eyes. "How'd you even find this place?"

I sighed and licked my lips, the aftertaste of black currant still lingering on my tongue. "I was chasing a kitten one day, it leapt off the iron fence and ran off into the forest, I followed it and then found this place and Harry, who let me come here often. Then I brought you here the next day because it was so enchanting."

He was quiet as he looked at me. "How did the others find this place?"

I cocked my head to the side and looked at him, "I didn't want anyone finding out about this place except for you and I, but they followed me one day and discovered this place."

But Harry chased them all away after a week, only letting me visit him as I spent time with his then teenage daughter.

I was feeling quite stirred up at the way Caleb was staring at me, my stomach began acting funny, so, I promptly averted my eyes.

Thankfully, distraction came in the form of my phone ringing, I began a search and rescue mission in my bag and finally found my phone at the bottom, I caught hold of it and quickly pulled it out.

A full-blown blinding smile appeared on my face, it was Kayden. I'd missed the call, but then he rang me again, without wasting another second I answered it.

"Excuse me whilst I answer this!" I looked the other way when he peeked to see who it was, and took a deep breath as my heart raced.

"Kayden!" I exclaimed breathlessly, then whacked my head for sounding like that. Caleb snorted beside me as he snatched the jelly babies and carefully picked out the lime ones.

"Hey, gorgeous!" Came his mesmerising voice from the other side. "Are you busy?"

"Oh, heavens! Hahaha, no! I'm currently at my leisure," I brought a fist to my mouth and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

There was some sort of disturbance from the other side, but then it became quiet. "Excellent! I was wondering if we could meet this week? It's going to be private, no press following us. I assure you that, my manager's taking care of things," he spoke.

It'd been ten days since my date with Kayden and we've been constantly texting each other. He was in Rome for a photoshoot and then he would be travelling to Venice for a fashion show, although, his schedule is full he still managed to text me.

Only 24 hours later, after our date at the Oval Restaurant, pictures of Kayden and I were floating everywhere, rumours were rife about the lucky girl-- I was lucky indeed, having dinner with one of the hottest supermodels. I don't know how the press even followed us there. Even Adam Remington knew about it and asked me about it for half an hour instead of talking about academics.

"Oh, I'd love to!" I exclaimed a bit enthusiastically. "I don't mind, it's bound to be out in public someday." I twirled a strand of my hair.

He chuckled richly. "I don't want you to feel pressurised, but as long as you're fine with it! So, I'll see you this weekend."

My heart dropped to my stomach because I couldn't meet him this week. "I...erm... " I cleared my throat demurely, "I'm afraid I can't because the ICCA Finals are this weekend and I'm leaving for New York." I bit my lip. "I'm so sorry." I bunched my damp skirt in discomfort.

He was quiet for a moment. "Bloody hell! I forgot about that. My apologies, we can go out once you're back."

"It's alright, you're busy and are bound to forget. And I'd love to meet you once I'm back from New York." I laughed nervously.

"Splendid! I'll talk to you later, bye!" He said in a hurry.

"Bye, take good care of yourself," I said, then disconnected the call. I smiled to myself as I thought about him wanting to go out with me again, as if, he was sort of serious about our relationship. That thought alone made me feel giddy.

"Let me guess, Adams called?" Came a voice beside me.

"How'd you know?" I whipped my head to the side.

"Kayden!" He mimicked my voice and then pretended to be breathless.

"I do not sound like that!" I disputed. "Why're you looking at me like that? Don't tell me--"

"Don't you remember? When we met at the hotel, you sounded exactly like that. Breathless and giddy. Your personality changes completely, when you converse with him, a stark contrast when you converse with me." He pointed out.

"That's because I'm dating him and you're a soulless fiend!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Does he know about your dark and twisted side?"

"He doesn't have to, it just never resurfaces when he's around. But it just gushes out only whenever you're around. You trigger it." I shot back.

"You love him don't you?" He inquired. There was something about the way he said it.

"How can you tell?" I faltered a bit.

"You," he pointed his index finger at me, "you're very transparent, I can see right through you." He mused. I tucked my lips in, feeling my cheeks warm. "But he is quite tidy and you have good taste." He winked.

"Of course I do, since he's total--"

"Totally my type!" He finished for me.

Cue record scratch and crickets chirping!

My jaw unhinged itself. "What?"

"He's really pretty, has that bad boy vibe, don't we love toxic bad boys? I'm sure you do! And there's just something about him, it borders on being dodgy. But I'll settle on mysterious. He's mysterious, therefore totally my type!"

I mentally screamed and brought both my hands to my face. "I knew it! You-- you! You're barmy! Stay away from Kayden!"

"Make me sweetheart!" He stuck his tongue out and snatched the packet of jelly babies from me and finished the entire packet, but he'd only saved my favourite: two black currant jelly babies.

"You're too obvious, don't be. I can't believe he forgot about your competition, but I'll let it slide since he's gorgeous!" He bumped his shoulder with mine, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.

I pouted but pondered on what he said. Was I too obvious? Gosh, I hope not!

"Thank you for introducing me to this place, Harper!" He spoke softly after quite some time.

I turned slightly to look at him, he was already looking at me, a soft look on his face, I could only nod and turned away from him.

"If you're thankful then why don't you buy me food?" I proposed.

"Well, at least your asking me politely, not beating me to a pulp and looting me of my money!" He stood up. "Come on, I'm in the mood for some nosh and I'll treat you."

"If you insist," I heaved myself up and cringed when the half-dried-but-still-slightly-wet skirt stuck to my skin. "But first let's take a detour." Picking my bag, I walked off the bridge and headed in the direction of the cottage.

"Where're you off to?" He called out.

"I need to change, I can't walk around in soaked and creased clothes now, can I?"

"What?! Don't tell me you're going to get out of this sexy high school girl uniform?"

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't get me wet you moon-faced troll!" I growled when I remembered how my precious Oxfords were ruined. "Are you going to swap clothes with me then?"

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not going to lend you my cardigan!" He sniffed as he pulled his precious blue cardigan closer to his body. "Cheeky Harper." He wagged his finger.

"I'd rather parade around in wet clothes then ask for your stupid cardigan!" I huffed and turned around.

*****************

If you thought that Caleb treating you with some free nosh was like winning free coupons to unlimited buffet then you're in for quite a shocking surprise.

He first made me indulge in some serious retail therapy-- correction-- he indulged in some serious retail therapy and I was only his mule, making me walk around stores piling all of his bags atop sweet little tiny me! He wanted to buy the perfect trainers, sunglasses, bespoke suits, colognes and swiss watches-- all of in incognito.

He was worse than Charlotte and I'd wanted to rip my hair out when I saw the ridiculous amount of money he'd paid on his purchases. Even I don't shop like that!

After loading me up with all his purchases like I was some kind of a carriage, he then had an altruistic moment where he recalled about buying me some nosh.

"Ah, Harper, let me buy you something for all the services you've provided me today, I really couldn't have done it without you!" He beamed at me. His eyes obscured by a pair of dark sunglasses and his hood was up.

That conniving son of a bitch!

I only smiled sarcastically at him but was happy nonetheless. He took me to a nearby ice cream parlour--whilst asking me to wait outside with his rather heavy shopping bags which he specifically asked-- ordered not to put them down because he was germaphobe whilst he only carried a tiny bag that contained his most expensive watch.

I waited outside with high hopes of consuming the biggest and most expensive ice cream sundae bowl, my whole being waited with bated breath, passerby's eyed the multitude of shopping bags and I just waited for Caleb to come out with my treat as I longingly looked at the glass doors of the shop.

The door opened, and I twitched like a maniac, waiting to pounce on him like a madwoman, I could hear the angels sing and a beam of the light shine of Caleb as he stepped out my eyes dropped to his hands and suddenly the singing stopped and lights turned off. It was not a sundae bowl, he'd come out with a bloody soft serve vanilla cone.

Whilst the posh little wanker got himself a chocolate-dipped vanilla one!

"Here you go, love!" He held out the ice cream in front of me.

Oh, if looks could kill or rather if my hands were free then he'd be buried six feet under.

"What? You don't want it?" He asked, licking his chocolate-dipped soft serve.

It was a herculean task to take the cone from him with all the bags I was carrying-- which he insisted I do because he didn't want me to drop them on the ground nor want me to set them on the table.

"Bloody well done, Harper, you are ace with multitasking!" He praised.

Let's see if you still appreciate my multitasking skills when I murder you whilst holding onto the bags and eating ice cream.

"I hope you drop your cone!" I muttered.

"Don't say that! Do you know how much I paid for these? I wouldn't have purchased these in the first place, but since you're here I had to." He sniffed as if he was doing me a favour by buying me this trivial soft serve.

I scoffed. "Ah, so you can spend millions on a retail therapy, expect me to carry them around like I'm some sort of your personal mule but you're going to think twice to buy this trivial soft serve?"

He stopped licking his ice cream. "I'm glad you understand." Placing a hand on my shoulder, he gave me a soft smile.

I gaped, at his reply. Half of me wanted to crush the ice cream on his face, but then the traitorous other half wanted to eat the ice cream. So, I decided to go with the traitorous side of me: eat the ice cream and get out of here as soon as possible.

I couldn't even get one lick because my phone began to ring incessantly. I jumped, struggling to balance my cone, the bloody shopping bags and retrieve my phone from my bag and the posh little wanker was simultaneously licking his cone and staring at me like the eyes and lips emoji.

"Do you need a hand?" He asked after seven minutes of digging through my bag.

"Well... do I bloody look like I need a hand? What do you think?" I snapped. "Hold my cone!" I shoved it into his hand and began a second search and rescue mission and with great difficulty, I found my phone.

It was Charlotte and immediately I recalled that I was late to practice and even forgot to go there.

"Where are you?" She asked immediately.

"On my way! I'll be there--"

I lifted my head but my heart shattered into millions of pieces and my face hardened. I was fucking livid!

Balancing my phone between my ear and shoulder, I threw the bags on the pavement. "Screw you!" I spat at Caleb.

"I beg your pardon!" Charlotte gasped on the other line. I pressed the end button and stomped off.

"Crickey Moses!" He hissed as he rushed to his precious bags. "How was I supposed to know? I thought you didn't want it!" He disputed.

I didn't give a flying quack about him or his stupid bags and stormed off for practice. Just when I'd thought we could be civil and stop bickering and wipe the slate clean, he had to screw it up by eating my ice cream as well!

And I was such a fool to share my jelly babies!

_______________________

So it was a double update today! Hope you all liked it!

What do you think about this chapter? Will Caleb and Rebecca's relationship improve or stay the same?

Drama suggestions: SkyCastle, this drama is so amazing! You definitely should watch it, it's worth the watch. Also, watch Hotel Del Luna and A-teen 2.

Please vote and comment, it makes my day.

Have a lovely day/night my Oompa Loompas! xx