15 Stay Away

I FEEL NUMB.

That was the first coherent thought that registered in my brain as soon as I woke up. My whole body felt like I've been hit by a car which is pretty ironic because I really GOT hit by a car.

There's a nagging pain on the side of my body and both of my legs felt like Jell-O. My head, which is pounding, hurt like a bitch.

I slowly opened my eyes.

My eyelids burned as I had slept for ten years straight. Blinking off the haziness, my eyes roamed around the room.

A frown creased my forehead when it registered to me that I am in an unfamiliar place. Lying on an unfamiliar bed, with an unfamiliar face looking at me from the corner of the room.

Where am I?

I tried to sit up, even though my whole body protested and so is my pounding head. It's as if I got pinned down by a very heavy object. I couldn't even speak. My mouth felt like dry sand while my throat burned.

"Miss, please lie down again. My master will be here in a moment." The unfamiliar guy from the corner of the room spoke and went closer.

I looked at him quizzically, Master?

I gazed around the room, taking in every detail. I noticed the dominant colors that make up the whole place, it was black and white. The smell of the pillows and bed cover I'm buried in smelled like a man's perfume and I panicked.

"I-I.."

My mind raced, trying to remember what happened before I woke up here. A memory flashed in my head, starting from the moment I left the penthouse and drove to the office with my Bentley.

Then there was a call from someone...

A truck...

Keith...

And a car speeding from the side...

Panic seized me all at once and I started to hyperventilate. I remembered the excruciating pain I felt when glasses exploded around me. The appearance of the black van that hit my car, and the fear I felt before I blacked out.

As I was remembering it all, I forced myself to get up. The man insisted that I should rest more and was trying to stop me from getting off the bed, but resting is far from my befuddled mind. I clawed at him when he tried to touch me and kicked. Flailing around while screaming, trying to shake him off of me.

Oh my God...

What if I am on some hoodlum's place? What are they going to do with me?!

"Miss, please calm down." The man uttered in a low voice, trying to sound friendly but I didn't care.

I need to escape!

At this rate, I could hear my heart pounding loudly in my ears. I couldn't even breathe properly from fear. I was having a panic attack.

I didn't hear the door in the room opening. I didn't even see the man approaching me at the side of this big bed not until I felt the warm hands holding my face to make me look at him.

"Calm down, you're safe now..." He said, soothing all my fears and worries away with his familiar deep voice.

I looked at the man who's holding my face and that's when I saw him. Keith, leaning down on me with his usual fa��ade, cold and domineering. I felt safe as soon as I saw him then I gradually calmed down.

Gripping his hands, I closed my eyes and released the relieved breath that I've been holding up.

Much to my disappointment, he removed his hands after a while before nodding at the man.

"You can go now."

He ordered the man named Dante who bowed down before he went off.

Keith pulled a chair from the corner of the room and dragged it beside the bed. He sat on it so we would face each other, I just stared at him wide-eyed and confused.

"Where am I?" I muttered, breaking the silence.

"You're in my place." He hissed.

He was looking at me like he was mad, it's as if it's my fault that I am here, sitting on his bed.

I frowned.

His bed...

In different circumstances, I would gladly jump on his bed but for a different reason.

"Why?" I asked.

I don't know why he called me when the incident happened. He's not involved in that right?

I studied him. From his crisp slicked back hair, down his suited form, and back to his hard face. Even in my bruised state, I find him really attractive.

My desire for him is primal, my body says so whenever he's near. If not for his brisling form, I might have closed the distance between us and kiss him, hurting or not.

"I brought you here after the car incident." He frowned at his answer. Afterward, he wore his blank face on again and it irked me.

"Oh..." Was all I said.

Again, I remembered the call I received yesterday and think. Are they connected? Is that the warning? But why? I don't understand any of this...

Lots of questions drifted from here to there, I don't even know the answers. One thing is for sure, the caller is serious. Serious enough to attempt killing me.

What if they come back for more? What's their goal? What if they hurt me? Or my Mom?

Fear engulfed my whole body. Fearing for my mom's safety. Maybe I should have accepted Uncle's help after all.

"What are you thinking?" Keith asked when he saw my silence.

"N-nothing. I need to get home." I mumbled as I struggled to get off the bed without falling to my shaking knees and knocking my teeth off. "Thank you for helping me," I added.

The creased on his head went deeper like I have said something wrong.

"You should be resting." He stated in a firm voice.

"I'll rest. At my penthouse." I answered as curtly as possible.

Me being inside a room alone with him is already a bad omen. Any more minute around him and I would go insane. I could smell his unique scent, and if I am not currently worrying about my mother's whereabouts, I'll freaking jump his bones right here.

He became silent after that but I ignored him, even though it was practically hard to do so.

I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my red silk blouse and my cream pencil cut skirt. I don't have any serious wounds either, just a few scratches here and there. The only thing that is prominent in my sore neck. My legs hurt as well and I know for sure that it'll leave a bruise.

I looked for my heels which were on the foot of the bed. After slipping it on, I fixed my hair, aware of Keith's boring stares. I turned my head to look at him who's still sitting at the chair looking at me. I couldn't read his face at all.

What is he thinking?

"Uhm... Where's my bag?" I asked him.

He sighed before pointing his head in the direction of the door and answered.

"In the living room."

I nodded and walked in the direction of the door. Before I could grab the handle, a hand reached out and grabbed me. He then made me turn around and pushed my back on the closed door.

I gasped when he lowered his face closer to mine.

"Stay away from me..." He murmured. Eyes dark and hard as he glared down.

My eyes immediately narrowed.

What is his problem again?

"No," I stated firmly. "Why do you always keep on pushing me away? We have a deal, Keith. I tend to stay as long as I want..." I hissed at him.

I grew up believing what my dad told me. If you want something, fight for it. It was his motto. That's why he didn't give up on my mom, even though she had pushed him away, several times. Their love story was something to be admired. It was not perfect, but because of their will, they end up happy, and together. It was a shame that they had died early...

"Just stay away from me Wynter. For your own sake..." He insisted.

I looked him in the eye, matching his intensity, and tried to push him away with my right hand.

"What I want is what I get. I am choosing to stay so stop this already because it's getting old." I remarked. "And if you really want me gone, then try harder."

I looked at him one last time and opened the door, grabbed my bag on the way, and left.

I heard him cursing in his room but I chose to ignore him. I saw the man from earlier with the other men in suit, standing outside the unit. They all stared ahead blankly, giving nothing away and pretending not to see me.

As I went inside the elevator, I fished out my phone inside my bag. Good thing it didn't totally break when it slipped off my hand, there was a slight crack on the screen but that's all. I think it's still working fine.

I pushed the power button and breathed out of relief when it opened, dialed Uncle Martin's number, and waited. It rang a couple of times, signaling that he must be busy. I was going to end the call when on the last ring, he finally answered. Exactly as the elevator opened to the ground floor.

"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice called out which made me frown.

"Is this Senior Martin Gonzalo's number? Head of Sven Security Agency?" I asked cautiously.

I even checked the screen to confirm I dialed the correct name and I did.

I heard some shuffling on the line like he's talking to someone.

"No, this is his son. Jake Gonzalo, who's this?" My eyes widened at his answer.

"Jake? Jekoy? Is that you?!"

If this isn't the Jake Gonzalo I know since childhood, I'll be damned...

There was a palpable silence as if he's figuring out who was it that always calls him by his nickname that only a few people know.

"Wynter baby?!" I grinned when I heard his pet name for me. He always calls me that ever since he found out I was born in Japan during a snowfall.

That's why my parents named me Wynter, derived from the season I was born.

"When did you get here?" I asked. I stood at the side of the building to talk to him.

God, I missed this man...

Jake Gonzalo was my childhood friend, he was also my first crush. It didn't bloom any further when we grew up, it remained a mere infatuation. He was three years older than me and acted like my very own big brother. Like me, he was an only child so he treated me like his little sister.

The last time I saw him was when he migrated to America to finish his degree in college. I heard he got married and had finally settled down. Now he's back here...

"I have only been here for a week. Do you need something with dad? Should we meet up so we could catch up as well?"

"Sure. Where should we meet?" I asked, already hailing a cab.

He said the name of a classic restaurant I know and I told the driver that. We were still talking on the phone as the cab drove off and 30 minutes later, the driver pulled at a curb. I paid him before I got out of the car.

I walked inside and looked around, looking for him. Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to look. There I saw him, smiling at me with a welcoming look in his eyes...

"Baby!!" He greeted right before he hugged me tightly.

I laughed when he kissed my forehead and my cheek before he released me from his tight embrace.

"Look at you! You've grown from a little devil to a stunning lady." He teased and I rolled my eyes, making a face.

"You're still a player," I stated while grinning from ear to ear.

He led me to a nearby table and ushered me into a chair, not knowing that a pair of angry onyx eyes were looking at me.