Stella's face immediately turned red. It was like a light switch getting turned off. One minute she was
fighting with all her might like a wild animal and then in the next second she was turning red in shyness.
Max would have called it funny if she had not driven him up the wall in frustration.
"mwhha ha mu...," Stella mumbled, but since Max's hand was still covering her mouth, the voice came
out all muffled and incoherent.
Max turned his face upwards to the sky, released a long, heavy, controlled sigh, and then removed his
hand from Stella's mouth, while still keeping a firm hold of her arms.
Once Stella had managed to take deep breaths in, she blasted, "Who the hell are you then?" and then
like she just realized she was still clutched in his hold, she twisted her arm to see if could get free. She
could not, so the only smart move that appeared to be was to stay still instead of turning up dead in the
same alley tonight.
*****
Two hours later Max put down the napkin on the table after finishing his last piece of sandwich and
wiping his mouth. Stella sat across him, her hands folded under her chest, her eyes glaring down at
him like he had flipped her skirt up high in the middle of the street.
"Tell me where she is staying," she repeated the question for the hundredth time. And for the hundredth
time, like each previous time, Max replied with a curt, "No."
"Stop trying to pretend like the god damn protector of my best friend!" Stella leaned forward and
slammed her hands on the table, "I am not the one you need to worry about to go out spilling Hope's
whereabouts to that idiot!"
Max leaned forward as well, to the point that his nose was almost touching hers, and gritted out, "I will
not compromise the safety of my target, woman! And what you just said is literally a new turn in all this
mess."
Now that Max had come to know that Ethan was looking for Hope as well, the bug found in his phone
could have been from him. But there was no way of confirming it for sure.
Stella scoffed out loud and whisper shouted, "IT IS NOT LIKE I AM ASKING YOU TO TELL ME HER
EXACT ADDRESS! I just need to know in which city she is in to have a bit peace of mind." she then
tightened her hands that were resting on the table in tight fists, trying to gather a bit of patience and
then said in a strained tone, "I told you everything that Hope went through, each fucking thing that
Ethan did to her. I am so worried about her that I think I will go mad. So..." she took a deep breath
again and whispered, "please, tell me."
Max looked at the young, twenty plus years old girl in front of his eyes. She looked genuinely worried
for her friend, her eyes begging him.
He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. then lifting his head back up to look into her eyes he
said, "Give me some time to settle things, and then I will take you to Hope. Deal?"
Stella looked unsatisfied with the words but she did not really have any other option, she knew when
she saw the determination on his face.
"Deal." she murmured.
******
Hope had not meant to hurt varys and slap him. This was not what she could imagine herself doing to
anyone. But then in the moment, her feelings had gotten the best of her and she raised his hand on
him when she could not find any other way to get out of his hold.
Hope was not aware of what consequences she had brought for herself. She had been foolish, acted
rashly in the territory of a man who did not resemble the boy she had met almost a decade ago.
And she had seen what the people of his world did to people like her for insulting them, or for getting in
their way, and for... raising their hand. None of those things were good. Most of the things were scary,
the rest of the things downright disgusting with leaving no wish in the person to live anymore. She did
not know which category she fell into when it came to Varys, but she was desperately wishing it was
none of both.
After she had slapped Varys she became scared the hell out of her mind. And that scared expression
turned to terror when she saw the look on his face when he lifted up his head with the red imprint of her
hand on his cheek.
"Go to your room, right fucking now."
Hope flinched at the words that came out of his lips in a low, fierce growl.
The words shot through her skin and pierced deeply. Her eyes were red and swollen and as she tried
to understand what he wanted.
Shivering, her face covered in tears and heart pounding hard, she did not waste any time in following
his command. And then as soon as she had reached inside, she locked the door from inside, pulling
out the key and throwing it at the dressing table. She did not want to be a victim of the things that were
bad and disgusting. But in all honesty, even though she was in turmoil, she knew Varys was not that
kind of man who would do such things. But then the things Ethan had done for years kept coming back
to her mind, leaving her restless and in fright.
The night turned darker and the world went silent. There was nothing but darkness outside and she did
not hear any sound of footsteps coming her way. And then even though she did not want to put her
guard down, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep without knowing when it slipped behind her
swollen eyes.
*****
Hope climbed out of not the car, actually, stomped out of it, and started walking away. The freshness of
the early morning felt like a new wave of life.
She had taken one step ahead when her hand was pulled and clasped in someone else's.
"For fucks sake..." she muttered under her breath, "where the hell am I gonna run off to with all these
people behind me?"
"I will not give you a chance to find out." Varys said and clutched her hand tighter.
"OH COME ON!" Hope growled and turned her head to glare at the men in casual clothing but killer
personalities and expressions spreading out in different directions behind them, disappearing like
shadows even when there was literally no one in the area, "do you really think that I am that stupid that
I will try to run with your people guarding my every step?"
Her gaze returned to Varys who looked up at the sky through the dark blue shades resting atop his
nose, his chiseled features, a few days old stubble and pink lips shining against the sun like a mirror
made of beauty and gorgeousness and everything that God gave to male species for doing the good
deeds in the past lives and grumbled in his throat, "Mmmhmm. For sure."
Hope's mouth opened and then closed like a fish. There were a lot of words coming atop her tongue,
none of them good, by the way, most of them considered extremely vulgar and impolite to scream out
in public at certain someone.
Hope gritted her teeth in frustration and tried to wrench her hand out of his hold. She twisted her hand
and despite of her trying her hardest, his hold did not losen even a bit.
Giving up she continued to walk while at the same time keep her flower printed, knee length,
sleeveless pink cotton dress from flying with the gentle wind but since Varys was larger than her and
striding forward, she was practically running to match up with his steps. She was already flushed when
at five in the morning she was practically dragged and lifted up from the bed in Varys' arms and thrown
inside the washroom because he had decided they needed to go on a 'date'. Like an idiot, she had
assumed that the key that she had thrown on the dressing table was the only key available and will put
her guard down against all the evil. The instant heart attack and terrifying feeling she had felt in the
moment as she soon as she had realized that the lock had not stopped Varys from coming inside the
room was enough lesson to protect herself better for her next seven afterlives.
"HEY!" she cried out as her hand slipped from her dress while running, making the flowy length of the
bottom fly up to her upper thighs, "slow down!"
Varys turned his head and found her half heaving for breaths and tried to hide the smile that broke out
at the corner of his lips. But then he slowed down so she could match his pace.
"Do not laugh at me." Hope glared up at Varys. Her eyes squinting to give him the fierce expression but
then immediately started blinking fast when the sun behind him shined right into her eyes.
"You are still as cute as you were in college, you know." Varys looked down at her and grinned.
Hope rolled her eyes at him and looked away, her hair slipping over her shoulder and helping her cover
her flushed face.
The 'date' as he had called it was in a private park. As they entered inside Hope found herself
surrounded by fresh grass and flowers with a couple of trees here and there in distance. In the middle
of the pond, there was a large pond where the ducks were swimming. The sun shined beautifully above
them.
Her eyes widened in surprise because when Varys had said 'date' she had expected for him to do
something super fancy that all the rich people to do attract the other person. But as they entered the
park and a smile tugged at her lips, she realized that Varys perhaps knew about what she likes more
than she even knows about herself. And as the thought crossed her mind, the memories of their
teenage days made her heart hurt. After all, the memories she had lived with him had not faded. They
had been buried down forcefully in one day when it had become too overwhelming to hold them in her
heart anymore.
"You are finally smiling."
The smile wiped off her lips in the very next second. Varys's strides came to a stop and he crossed the
distance between both of them, coming to stand right in front of her. There was a slight chill in the
morning air. His hand left her palm and both of his arms wrapped around her waist immediately,
"Do you like this place?"
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