Chapter 5

The loud, irritating sound of the police siren rang in my ears. My body was trembling hard, blood running away from my face as I felt my heavy steps towards the place where men in blue and black are clustering. Big, white vans with green curtains were parked beside the yellow tapes and red cones. I roamed my eyes to the whole place. A bunch of people is around it, murmuring things I couldn't hear and comprehend. Cameras are flashing everywhere as I heard the reporters' loud voices.

"Tayla! Tayla!" Auntie Tanya's voice made me go back to my sanity. My eyes flew from the people down to the center of the place–the cause of the commotion. I hastily drag my foot and lifted the yellow tapes to went inside.

"Tayla! Go back here!" But I refused to follow her orders and pushed the men away.

"Miss! You can't go here! This is not a place for you!" I heard a loud, baritone voice behind me. Someone wrapped his hands around my wrists to stop me but the blood that I saw in my parents' body made me continue.

"No! Let me go to my parents!" I yelled and wagged my hands, tears cascading down my eyes as I tried to pull myself away from the cop.

"Mom! Dad–Let go of me, those were my parents!"

They were now carried with a stretcher, nurses, and probably a doctor pumping her hands on my father's chest.

I opened my eyes when I heard a loud thud. The man slammed the door and rushed towards me. My lips parted. The car was just a foot away from me and it would already hit me!

"Miss, are you alright?" The same, amethyst-eyed man tilted his head as he scanned my body for bruises.

I flinched in pain when he slightly touched my leg, my back moving a bit only for my face to be contorted again when I felt another pang behind me.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't notice that there is a girl in front of–"

His words were halted when I started to wail.

"Hey, does it hurt so much?" He touched my shoulders and went to my side. I covered my face with my palms and tried to suppress my sobs.

"We will go to the hospital, I'm really sorry," I heard him say as he carried me on his arm.

I hate how I am crying in front of a man I don't even know. I hate that this was the fourth time that I saw him and it went like this.

"Shit."

"Why are you crying?" He whispered.

And then I only cried harder. How come that this man is asking me what's happening when he doesn't even know me?

And I don't even know why I am crying.

He heaved a sigh and went towards the driver's seat. I removed my palms from my face and started to wipe my tears away.

"You don't need to bring me there, I will just go home." I held the handle of the car's door when I felt him move sidewards, making me lean at the backrest as he reached for the seat belts at my side.

"Where do you want to go, then?" He asked after he locked my seat belts and glanced at the road in front of us.

"What?" I replied in a mumble, confused about what he is saying.

"I'm asking you where do you want to go because you told me you aren't hurt...physically. But you look like you are hurt for something else."

"But I didn't ask for a companion. Just unlock the doors and I will go home." I averted my gaze. His amethyst eyes were staring darkly at me and I couldn't stand seeing it. It seemed like he was reading what's on my mind right now.

"But I also didn't tell you that I'm going to be a companion. Just asking where you are going. And you seemed like you ran away from home."

His words made me shift my gaze at him. He tilted his head and licked his lower lip before going outside, then jump inside the car, holding my bag pack.

He pushed the zipper down and showed me one of my shirts.

"Where are you going, then? I'm gonna drop you off."

I wrinkled my nose. I shouldn't be talking to him right now. I shouldn't be here either.

"Quit being nosy, Mister. I need to go somewhere." I snatched my shirt and my bag away from him, trying to open the door of his car, but instead of giving me what I have asked him, he started the engine and maneuvered the car.

"What are you doing?" I gritted my teeth and shifted my weight. He stepped on the gas, making me lose the hope of jumping out of his car.

He didn't answer me. His eyes were just focused on the road, his prominent jaw is clenching hard, his lips pursed in a grim line, and brows furrowed. The veins in his arms show as he controlled the stirring wheel, making swift turns and sometimes, pushes the gearstick forward and step on the gas.

I crossed my arms and darted my eyes at the window beside me.

What I am confused about is whenever I am in trouble or I will remember something that I despised and buried, he will show up.

"It was our fourth meeting for two weeks. Do you still not believe destiny?"

My eyes are still watching the trees at the sides of the road, watching the small ones turn bigger as we get close but with my brows furrowed.

"Meeting four times is just a coincidence. Are you some kind of hopeless romantic kiddo?" I shook my head and licked my lips.

"I don't even know you. And if I would be given a chance, I'd rather not." I scrunched up my face.

But I am also asking myself. Why is he the one who always shows up when something happens? This time, I remembered the memory of my parents' death. I saw it again because of the accident we are in earlier.

"I thought you are a silent girl, turns out, you are foul-mouthed," he said sourly and stopped the car in front of an I think an ice cream parlor.

He opened the door and waited for me before pushing the glass door. The interior of the parlor is a mixture of mint green and white. The walls are white, the furniture in mint and the workers wearing the same color. The top and bottom corners of the white walls were painted with mint and a succulent is placed in the middle of every table.

"Hello, Sir! What's your order?" The girl from the counter spoke.

I am standing behind the man, his back hiding my face. I stood on my heels and tried to take a peek of the menu, but what I have seen is the girl's eyes. She was so amused, her cheeks turning pink and she looked like she was about to drool.

I furrowed my brows.

"I want an avocado ice cream. Do you have it here?" I interrupted the girl's daydream. The man turned his gaze on me, his lips moving a bit.

The girl glanced at me as I took a step sideward. Her smile faded.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. But we just ran out of that flavor. Maybe you can try our bestsellers." I saw her forced a smile and then darted her eyes back to the person beside me.

"Eat it already. You'll not enjoy it if it melts." He leaned his back at the back part of his car, his right leg bent and placed at the lower part of the car's door behind, his left leg on the ground.

I licked a portion of the mango ice cream. It was what I ordered, his was a chocolate one. The melted parts of it went down my fingers, making me feel a bit uncomfortable as it began to stick with the sugar cone.

"This is weird," I uttered in a low voice and kicked the small grasses in front of me.

"Why did you brought me here and gave me an ice cream?" I asked.

"My sister told me that whenever I am sad, I can eat this. You are crying so hard so I thought you need this. My mood gets better when I eat this." He glanced at me and lifted his cone before glancing back at the sky in front of us.

"Eating ice cream as a comfort food is just for the kids." I shook my head, but eventually licked the other side to prevent it from falling down my fingers.

"No philosopher told that it was just for the kids, Miss. And aren't you good at mathematics? I thought you are smart." He mocked.

My brows creased, confused as to why he brought about a subject I once hated.

"What? You don't know about the rule where a negative paired with another negative will turn out positive?" he chuckled.

This man is weird. I thought to myself. He stopped laughing when he saw that my face remained stern.

"You still don't get it?" He shook his head and lifted the ice cream again.

"This is cold." He pointed at it and then pointed at his chest. "When you are sad, you feel the coldness. Cold multiplied by another cold thing would turn as positive." He barked into laughter, making his ice cream to drop on the ground.

I stifled a laugh as I watch his humorous face turn to a scrunched one, but when I saw how he stomp his feet and whispered some curses about losing money, I laughed again.

"I told you, negative multiplied by a negative would turn out positive." I stopped laughing gaped at him.

He reached for something behind him, removed the ice cream to throw it on the trashcan near us, and wiped the melted creams away from my fingers.

My heart raced. His calloused hand was brushing against my skin, his scent invaded my nose as he moved his face close to my hands.

"You are a messy eater, Tayla," he whispered.

What surprised me the most is when he lifted his eyes and smiled at me.

"You are a great singer but you don't look good when you cry." He flipped my hand and put the handkerchief on my hand, then made me lock it with my fingers.

"You should wash it before you give it back to me. I lend you some money and made you use my favorite wiper. You need to bring it back to me so remember my name, Auton Smith." He smiled and let go of my hands as he turned towards the driver's seat.