Chapter-6

Augustus. It must be him.

Scarlette thought as she approached the room from where she heard the yelling.

When she reached the door, it was slightly ajar. She could see Augustus pacing like a caged animal through the gap of the door. She carefully inched closer to the door so as not to alert him of her presence. The last thing she would want now was to get caught by her fiancé. She couldn't hear everything he was saying properly but could catch snippets of what he was talking about.

Just a few phrases like "get it done" "want him" and "suspects me". Then there was complete silence. She didn't know what to make out from those phrases but suddenly a cold dread settled in her stomach at that moment.

Before she could think about it, she made a run for it. She ran until she reached the balcony on the second floor. She leaned heavily on the railing and the sound of her own ragged breathing and pounding heart were the only thing she could hear. She desperately tried to calm herself down before someone found her in this state. Sweating and panicking like she had seen a ghost.

What if Augustus saw me? What if he knew I was there? What he finds me and...

Scarlette didn't know what would happen if he did know or found out that she was eavesdropping on him.

But most importantly what the hell was he even talking about? He seemed like he was threatening someone. Does that mean he is connected with something illegal?

Scarlette looked down at her hands clutching the railing like it was her lifeline. Slowly her gaze settled on the ring sitting innocently on her finger and she felt like some wire was wrapped around her chest trying to squeeze the life out of her. She tried to swallow down the food she ate that tried to come out of her mouth.

Is he really what I think he is? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm overthinking and twisting the facts in the wrong direction. Maybe he isn't a bad person and I just misinterpreted the situation. Maybe he was talking about a case suspect. Yeah. That sounds plausible.

Scarlette felt a little better after this talk with herself. All of a sudden, she got a weird feeling of someone watching her. And if she was given to have a fair guess of who it was, she could. She kept her eyes closed and opened her mouth to speak without facing the person.

"You know, it's rude to stare at someone like that. I didn't expect such manners from you. Not from a professor, at least."

She tried acting nonchalant even though his very prensence was giving her creeps. He gave a low chuckle coming to stand beside her. It was so unexpected that Scarlette opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she frowned. Somehow, she didn't understand how, but his laugh seemed fake to her. She could see that he was really unhappy to see her here. Augustus looked at her and stopped laughing. Scarlette could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew. She should have felt scared. Afraid of what he would do. But surprisingly, she didn't feel afraid. Scarlette didn't know where this sudden courage came from but was glad that she could squarely meet his eyes. The look in her eyes was daring Augustus to bring up that topic. However, an odd glint entered his eyes and he smirked.

"Like what you see?" He said mockingly raising an eyebrow.

Scarlette's eyes widened like saucers and she quickly looked down at the floor forcing down the blush that threatened to rise due to his implication. She couldn't help but feel like there was a double meaning to his question.

She quickly composed herself and looked up at him answering in a steady voice trying to play along, "You are not that bad. It's okay."

"Okay?" He repeated, trying but couldn't keep the disbelief to show in his voice.

Scarlette smirked inwardly.

"You think I'm just okay?" He asked almost like pouting and whining child who wanted his cookie back.

Scarlette couldn't hide her amusement and quickly looked away and answered trying to keep a straight face.

"Yeah. It's not like you're droll-worthy." She lied a little.

Well maybe not a little. He actually looked kind of adorable now. But whatever. Scarlette thought.

She wasn't going to tell him that. It was fun to watch his ego about his looks get trampled. He didn't say anything for a moment.

Then his expression changed and he was suddenly serious but his eyes were glinting wickedly. He said in a low voice, "You should know that I can make you think otherwise and make you say that I'm droll-worthy."

The dark look in his eyes made her gulp down the lump that formed in her throat.

She clenched her hands into fists and said, "We'll see about that."

She smirked at him and turned to the front looking at the horizon. He didn't say anything after that and they were standing in a comfortable silence. Well, at least she was. But too soon she felt like this playful atmosphere between them vanished. And as the saying goes 'Curiosity killed the cat', she asked what was on her mind for as long as he had been standing here with her.

"What are you doing here?"

He looked surprised by her question and took a moment to answer.

"I live here, so I can go wherever I want to go in this house."

"Yes. You can. But for some reason I feel like you're not here for this reason only. Care to share?" She kept her voice light even though she was wrecking in nerves and anxiety inside.

He was quiet for a few second before he leaned towards her so his lips were next to her ear. His warm breath hitting her cheeks and her heart started to beat so fast that she could hear it loudly in her own ear.

Maybe I heard wrong. It was a possibility. But I knew that I heard perfectly clear what those words were. Was he involved with criminals?

She couldn't get the words out of her head. The question was circling in her head like a broken recorder.

Oh God, what I'm getting myself into? Scarlette thought before her body froze.

He spoke in a his deep voice. "Just stay out of my way, Scarlette, and it'll do you good."

Her back stiffened and her breaths shallowed. She tried to swallow the lump that formed her throat.

He knew. He knew. Damn it. He knew that you've heard him and he wasn't supposed to. Her mind was screaming inside her head.

The air around them become thick with tension. Scarlette closed her eyes and took a quiet deep breath letting it out slowly.

Then she said, "What does that mean?"

Instead of answering, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

He changed the topic. She was grateful even though she was curious. But she decided to humour him and answered, "I was just bored out of my mind and decided to take a tour around the house."

"By yourself?" He raised an eyebrow at her and chuckled.

"Y..yeah." The air eased around them a little.

But Scarlette knew she was stalling the inevitable as her mind was replaying the words he spoke a little while ago and her question which was left unanswered.

"Lucy and Jamie didn't volunteer to give you a tour?" He said with a scoff.

She shrugged and said, "I needed some alone time."

He nodded his head in understatement before looking at the front. His cousins did a very good job trying to convince her to take a tour around the house with them. Scarlette knew they were very happy about the marriage but she, for one couldn't share their enthusiasm, to save her own life. She was feeling suffocated with everything going on. So, as soon as possible, she made an excuse about needing to go to bathroom and left the room before anyone could object. They were silent again. She searched her head for a topic to carry on the conversation before she decided to speak her mind.

"What did you mean earlier?"

The air around them tensed again as soon as she opened her mouth and asked that question.

Stupid mouth. Scarlette thought but there was no going back now because he was staring at her with an expressionless look on his face.

She opened her mouth to say something else. To divert the question to mean something else. But before she could get a word out he said, "I'm sure you'll be able to figure this out yourself."

He spoke lowly and for a second his tone seemed threatening but she wasn't sure.

"See you at the party."

He then smirked and left leaving her alone with her troubling thoughts of him.