Chapter Thirty-four

Athena's POV

''Mom, before you say anything—'' I cut her off, stopping her from walking forward. She looks down at Alex's sleeping form before looking back up at me, ''We'll talk outside because he just got back from Singapore yesterday and I don't think it's necessary to make such a fuss.''

She furrow her eyebrows in disagreement before crossing her arms and walking out of the room without uttering a single word. I sigh, looking down at Alex who is still in the same position. Biting lightly onto my lower lip, I softly remove his fingers one by one away from mine. He frowns but he let me. Once I manage to free myself, I stand up straight, taking the IV machine with me.

I walk out from the room to see my mother standing near the wall, scrolling down her phone. She turns to look at me, ''Now, would you care to explain?'' She sighs, deeply, ''What the hell is this? All of these!'' She points at my face. I'm pretty sure she's pointing at my cuts—I can still feel the pain on my upper cheeks.

My eyes focus on the ground, staring at it bluntly, ''And you didn't even tell me. I'm worried, Athena!'' She continues but I grab onto her hand, making her stop. As a nurse pass us, I call out for her and ask her permission so that we could walk down to the park for a few minutes. She hesitates at first but she let us, but as told, only for a few minutes.

We both sit down on the bench, watching children running around in joy. My lips curve up into a smile as I see a couple walking down the path—holding their newborn baby. She has a smile on her face ever so wide that it shows how happy she is. ''Athena,'' My mom call out for me, making me look at her furrowing her eyebrows.

''Who did this?''

I lightly tuck a few strand hair behind my ear, ''Jeremy.'' I mutter under my breath as I wait for her reaction. Her eyes widen, running her fingers through her dark hair. ''I've never expected something like this. Ever. In my life.'' I add.

''No one would have expected this, Athena. Look, I can't see you like this. You're my only daughter and I can't see you hurt. Where was Alex? Why wasn't he there with you?'' She sighs, ''Your father isn't happy when he found out. He couldn't see you yet anytime soon. He needs to calm himself.''

Grabbing onto her hand, entwining our fingers, ''Mom, please, don't put the blame on him. It's not his fault, it's never Alex's fault. He was in Singapore, okay? I'm glad that he's here. That's enough. It happened, we can't change it.''

She pulls me closer by wrapping her arm around my shoulder, pecking on the top of my head, ''I love you.'' She mutters near my ear, ''And I'm your mother. I'm supposed to know everything, especially about something like this. I never want to risk losing you,''

''You won't.''

My eyes look up to see Alex exiting, seeing him looking around at the park. He continues to turn around until his gaze meets mine. I can see him clenching his jaw even though we're quite far from one another. Alex continues to walk toward me without taking his eyes off of me.

I sit up straight, wiping a fallen tear, ''Alright mom, I love you too.'' I wrap my arms around her neck and pull her close into a hug. She soothingly rub behind my back, making me feel the embrace. We both pull away and she run her hand on my hair. I turn around to see Alex standing right beside me.

Pressing my palm on the bench, supporting myself as I try to stand up. Alex sees me struggling—so he grabs me by the waist, making me yelp a little from the previous pain. He furrows his eyebrows but he lifts my shirt in my surprise, looking down. I follow his gaze to see a dark bruise forming. I quickly pull my shirt down and I see him—more like glaring at me.

''What's wrong?'' My mom asks from beside, completely not getting the whole situation.

Before Alex could say anything, I clear my throat loudly, ''Nothing. Mom, I'm hungry. I-I think I want Alex to take me up to eat.'' I look up at him, seeing him clenching his jaw and looking anywhere but me. I see the anger in his eyes but I just shrug it off.

My mother smiles, rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb, ''Alright, hun. Call me soon.'' She says. I nod and smile back at her as I pull Alex with me. We walk side by side until both of us enter the lobby once more. The air-conditioner greets my cold skin—making me shiver.

Alex keeps quiet until we reach my room. I sit back down on the hospital bed, pulling the covers with me. My eyes avoid his gaze—not prepared to hear him get upset. He sits down on the armchair, sighing—not uttering a word. I brace myself to meet his gaze and I see him looking straight into my eyes, making me flinch a little.

The way he's looking—it's like a predator. He stands up, lifting my shirt up to my stomach, making me hold hs hand. ''What are you doing?'' I ask. I can feel the grip of his hand on my shirt tightening as he continues to just look at me, ''Alex, what are you doing?'' I ask once more.

He tugs harder, ''Lift. I don't want to argue with you right now.'' He replies. Judging by his anger, I just let him lift my shirt up. I let go of his hand and as soon as I did, he lifts my shirt up—revealing the bruise. I look away, not really wanting to see the ugly light purple colour. A few seconds after, he slowly pull my shirt back down.

''Just leave it.'' I say, breaking the silence.

''Leave it? Damn you for asking me do that!'' He replies, making me facing him. ''What the fuck are you even thinking? I can't just leave it like a piece of trash because this is serious. Look at yourself.'' I feel him grabbing onto my wrists, ''You look at yourself and say that again because I would gladly make you realise how stupid you are for defending him.''

''I'm not defending him!'' I pull my wrists away from his grasps, ''I'm asking you to drop it because I don't want to talk about it. We don't have to talk about it. I'm tired of hearing you saying things like you care when you obviously don't! Don't look at me like you want to protect me when you expect the opposite. Don't talk to me like you need me because that's not it!'' My breathing raging up.

His blue eyes darken a little but I can see him holding back his anger—by clenching his fists. I look away, trying not to notice that he has a great impact on me. I roughly run my fingers through my hair, pulling them for a few seconds.

''Fine.'' His voice low, almost inaudible.

It didn't take me awhile to realise that Alex went to pay the hospital bills as soon as he confirmed with the doctor about my condition. He didn't say a single word afterwards besides asking me to change so that we could leave. I don't even bother to ask him anything—he doesn't seem to be in a good mood—let's not talk about the cause of it.

Once we arrived home, I enter slowly as I take my time to look around. Some of the furniture aren't in place and some just the way they are. I hear Alex closing the door just by the sound so I stay still until he passes beside me. He puts my bag on the sofa, glancing my direction.

I keep on walking up the stairs and just like that, memories come flowing by. More like nightmares. My eyebrows furrow as I see myself being thrown into the wall, defending myself and trying to run away from him. Everything come back in a swift motion—making them look fresh. I focus on the broken door, seeing the game room as messy as it was.

I didn't even realise that I'm holding tightly onto my shirt—holding back the sudden waves of pain. My breathing fasten every second, making me bite hard onto my lower lip. I feel a presence behind me and I turn around, preparing myself to run away but when I see those pair of blue eyes, my heart stops. He's looking back at me with emotions. Emotions that I couldn't define.

Looking down to feel my legs shaking, ''Fuck.'' I mutter under my breath as sweats form on my forehead, slowly dripping down to my shirt. Alex walk toward me, holding me by the waist—being careful not to touch the bruises.

I wrap my arm around his neck, breathing right beneath his jaw. I see a glimpse of him clenching his jaw before embracing me nicely. This is all I ever needed. Someone to hold me like I'm fragile, someone to joke around like I'm strong, someone to kiss me like I'm his, someone to care me like I'm weak. All in one.

My body shakes as I slowly let go of him, ''I'm sorry.'' I breathe out and I see him frowning down at me. My hands slip away from him but his grasps on my waist never loosening. My eyes are creating tears, tears that I know could never ever stop. Not in my situation.

My legs weaken and I slowly fall down onto the ground with Alex supporting me. He drops down to the ground, wrapping his arms around me even tighter—making me snuggle closer. ''I'm not going to let him hurt you again.'' He whispers near my ear, soothingly rub my back, ''I promise, I won't let him.''

With tears on my cheeks, I manage to fall asleep—inhaling his cologne, knowing that he would always be here for me.

I wake up to the sound of someone's heartbeat. My eyes widen as I push the figure away from me but I end up falling down on the ground—leaving the bed. I groan loudly as I use my elbows to support myself. Looking around, I see that I'm in Alex's room. I look up to see Alex looking down at me with red eyes. They are droopy and tired.

He groans before slamming himself down and falling back to sleep. I roll my eyes, standing up slowly—watching his body as he sleeps. I may look like a creepy stalker right now but it doesn't matter. Just for a little while.

''Athena.'' He mutters under his breath.

''What?'' I gulp.

''Come here.'' He grumbles and I furrow my eyebrows but i continue to walk toward his side. My hands are on the side, clenching into fists. Alex opens one eye, looking at me sleepily, ''Closer.'' He adds and I crouch but as soon as I did, he pulls me by the waist.

I let out a shocking scream as I fall right beside him. He hovers on top of me, looking straight into my eyes. My eyes widen—feeling his breathing on the bridge of my nose. My hands are beside me, just laying lifelessly. He continues to look at me, not saying anything or doing anything.

He leans in, brushing against my lips. I shiver at the coldness but they soon became warm. As soon as our lips meet, I close my eyes and respond back to the kiss. Both of his hands are cupping my face as he support himself using his elbows. His lips move slowly and softly—not rushing a single second.

My lips parted apart as he kisses my cheek and down to my jawline, letting me give him a better access to my neck. He holds onto my shoulders, gripping onto my shirt and revealing my skin. Does he even know that he's giving me endless pleasures? Because this is killing me inside and out.

I thought he was going to lift my shirt up by travelling his hands up to my stomach but he just tease me without making the next move. When I lightly pull onto his hair, he groans lightly near my ear. How can one man give me such effect? How can he make me forget? How can he make me feel free?

Just by his touch.

His kisses.

His warmth.

Alex pulls away, our lips still brushing. My eyes open slowly—looking at his. They are looking back at me but I couldn't read them. They show nothing, just plain nothing. When I realise, I try to sit up and move away but he holds me back down, not letting me.

''Morning breath.'' I mutter and he furrow his eyebrows but soon let out a laughter. He grins widely, pecking me on the cheeks before breathing right in front of my face. I cringe my nose—faking disgust. To be honest, they don't smell bad. He smells good almost all the time. Don't ask me how.

He continues to laugh, just looking right at me. I chuckle. Unbelievable, my first laugh ever since the whole messed up moments. I cup onto his face—not even realising what I'm doing. He just runs his nose right on mine before pecking on my lips once more.

What are we doing?

''Let's do something fun.'' I grumble.

Both of his hands pull me up and smile right in front of my face, ''Okay.'' Then we both stand up, walking down the stairs. Hand in hand. We both walk into the kitchen and I see him taking out a few ingredients to make pancakes.

He takes the remote before turning on the music. As I hear the beat, I see him swaying his hips as he walk toward me. My lips curve up into a smile before turning into chuckles. Alex grabs me by the waist, turning me around and I hold onto his shoulder, getting ready to dance with him.

He makes a funny face and I just roll my eyes when he spins me around to the beat. I can see him smiling as we both dance around the kitchen. When we are about to hit the kitchen counter, he pulls me to the side—making me yelp and laugh at the same time.

Alex moves his hands down to my hips, following my moves. We both to the side and just like that, he lifts my hand up, spinning me around. He wraps me again as we sway. I rest my head on his chest and letting him looking down at me.

I smile unknowingly, feeling him caressing the side of my cheek. I shiver at his touch but he soonly lift my face up by touching my chin—meeting his eyes. We stare for a few seconds before he slowly kiss me on the lips. I kiss him back, enjoying the softness of his lips.

My hands move up to the nape of his neck, locking my fingers. I feel him smiling against our kiss, making me chuckle. Then he continues to pull me closer toward his body, not letting any space between us. I love how my body feels close to his.

My eyes widen once I realise that he had crack an egg right on top of my egg, making the whites fall. I look up to see him still holding it up. His hold on my hips loosen as he continues to laugh—taking a few steps away from me. I smirk, taking a packet of flour and a box of milk. His eyes widen as he laughs loudly but I run after him, throwing the flour toward his direction.

The flour falls all over the place as he runs toward the back—making me run after him. Our laughter are the only noise filling the house. I keep on throwing the flour as it hits his hair and most of his body. He runs toward the living room and I see him slip right near the stairs but he manage to regain his balance by grabbing onto the wall.

I take the time to throw the milk toward him. The milk hits the side of his body—making him trip once more near the sofa in surprise.

I laugh harder as he turns around, glaring at me. He opens the sliding door to the swimming pool and I continue to run after him. Just as I step out, I throw the whole flour right at him—but he catches me by the flour as soon as the flour flies on the thin air—blocking our vision. I scream loudly as we both fall right into the water, him receiving the impact first.

We both quickly swim up and I see him running his fingers through his hair as flour sticks in different directions of his hair. I clutch my stomach, laughing as I let go of the packet of flour. ''God, this is hilarious.'' I mutter as I grab onto the side, trying to exit the swimming pool.

I turn around, facing him.

I don't even know where we're both heading—and I just realise how bipolar he is and how crazy I am for acting this way when I just got out of the hospital yesterday.