16 LET ME TEACH YOU…

"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool."– Stephen King

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ILIYA NARA POV

"AZALEL!!" I glared and spat at him.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??!!"

"Checking up on you…"

"Saving you also…"

He replied to me casually with the same facial expression as always.

"I don't remember why I need to be saved.."

I sneered cynically at him. Hoping that he would get my hint and leave me alone for good.

Gosh… Just when everything got better, he showed up and ruined everything. O lord….what did I do in the past so I was hit with the strokes of bad luck like this?

But, he didn't budge and stay still at my response. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand tight in his grip and pulled me away from the restaurant as far as possible. I struggled but his next lines stopped me instead.

"Iliya, I'm dead serious…"

"Follow me…."

"Please?"

His gaze soften when he said those words while I can see a tint of sadness lingered in his golden brownish eyes.

........................…..

"STOP!!"

His steps stop moving so suddenly, either am I. We are on another side of the street now.

"Didn't I make myself clear to you?"

"I said…"

"Stay away from me, Azalel…"

His shady eyes turned at me. " I wish I could, Iliya…"

"But, this time, I can't follow your command….unfortunately…"

"What the hell is your problem, Mr Oh-So-Called-Angel?"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I can't understand him at all. Why he always gets in my way?

While I keep pushing him away?

Okay, he did some help for me before. But, that's it. Whoever he is, we're heading on a different path in life.

"Why?"

I glared once again and spontaneously, fold my arms in front of my chest with a pout. Waiting for his answers.

"Because he's not trustworthy, young lady…"

"And who you are so you can make an assumption and interfere my life as you wish, Mr Angel?"

He walked a step and closing our gap, tend his face at me. Which made me move a step backward unconsciously. Hiding my nervousness that crawled inside my heart.

"I know that I'm no one for you. Yet…"

"But I don't know why I can't let you hanging around him…"

"There's something about him, Iliya. Something amiss. Something off that you should be aware…"

"I've lived long enough to get to know someone. Reading them like an open book…"

"Telling you if he can be trusted or not…"

I closed my eyes and rubbed my face. This is it! Enough!!

I can't hold it anymore!!

I no longer give a fuck to all his saying whoever or whatever he is!

Nothing or no one would stay in my way when my glory days are about to come.

"Listen, Mr Angel or whatever you are. Listen to me very well…"

"I'm thankful for what you have done to me back then. Ok? I do. But…"

"Remember this…one thing that you should know is…"

"We are different. Way too different from one another. I'm human and you're not. I live in this world and you're not. I have my life and you have your calls. I do mine and you do yours. Is that clear?"

"As long as we stay alone like this, we're good…"

There, I pushed him away once again. And I hope he understands our boundaries now.

Azalel sighed heavily. His face puzzled. Troubled, after he heard my words. Yeah, who wouldn't?

"You don't understand, Iliya.."

"Did you remember when I told you that you're special? With all the supernatural abilities that you had?"

"I have had been living a long life, young lady. Several millennia in your time continuum or you said so.."

"And never in my longest period, I saw anyone like you who holds this enormous power in one pack, Iliya. In a single life. In this term…"

"It's you…"

"Call me nosy or lousy or whatever you call it. I know you have been struggling and facing troubles for years. Trying to get by day by day with every penny you earn and saved, altogether with your aunt. Then, this day, finally come…"

"A time when someone finally realized your talent and you think, he's your way out…"

"Offering his hand. Helping you with being your first-hand buyer. Treat you tenderly and nice like the real gentleman. Like a piece of the puzzle that falls on its place…"

He holds my hand once again and stared intensely at me.

"Don't you think…it was too good to be true?"

"Sometimes, when everything runs too smoothly, it never seems like the way it is. Something fishy always lies behind it.."

A wolf among the sheep. A foe among friends. A classical story of betrayal. Liars tend to deceive people around them with their sweet words and gentle behavior before then, crushed their trust under their feet.

Iliya, in fact, still so green of all these tricksters. On the contrary, with Azalel, who had seen too much of their dirty game and he was sick of it.

"So, do you mean that he would bring any harm to me?"

"And, why would he do that?"

"Can you explain it to me, Mr Angel?"

"The most important was… do you have any proof of your conviction?"

I didn't hide a sinister tone in my voice of his ridiculous accuses to Mr Monav Mokshit. The one that I already adored within.

He snorted and scoffed harshly while I still crossing my arms and standstill on my spot.

"Well… I don't know. Yet.."

"I have some hunches. Instincts…."

"Please, give me some time and I'll prove it…"

"Prove what? Your mistake or his innocence?"

"Both, young lady.."

"How would you do that?"

"Let me teach you…"

"How to use them. How to control them. Your abilities. So you may know how to detect lies and tell yourself the real truth…"

"How does it sound?"

I chuckled lightly at him.

"Fair enough, Mr Angel…'

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