DANGER (1)

No one was buying it.

Ares peeked at Viorel sitting in front of him. The man had scoffed lightly at Estella's words. It was more than clear that he knew she was a fan of his sisters despite knowing her for less than thirty minutes.

"Well, let's go for now," said Orion, who then eyed the boy. "Do you want go back to the clinic together?"

The boy nervously licked his lips and scratched his neck. "No. I," He darted his eyes towards Viorel but once realised the other was looking right back at him, he averted his eyes quickly. "I'd like to check on Ms Queen then I'll follow you. You guys can go first."

Orion nodded. With their fingers intertwined naturally, the couple left the room.

Ares stood up from his chair and avoided making any eye contact with the three men in the room. "Then, I'm going." They were intimidating at the moment.

He hastily made his exit and ran to the floor right below, and knocked on a certain door. "It's Ares." The door opened but not fully. As shown, the door chain was stopping him. But there wasn't a shadow of anyone who opened the door.

Before he could take another breath, he felt an intense stare from below, and when he lowered his head, the girl with red sunglasses was glaring at him. "Are you here to make my mother cry again?"

"No-"

"Theia," From behind the girl, Eirene showed up silently and unlocked the door chain. "He never made me cry." Her words were soft, and her eyes were filled with love as she looked at her grumpy daughter, but they shortly retreated when she faced him. "Come in."

----

Jaxon opened the laptop brought by Winter and immediately went to his email to check his emails. As expected, among the unread, there was an email from his hacker friend, Do SeonChun.

There was a pdf file and a couple of pictures attached to the email after [I'm not inviting you to thanksgiving this year].

Seeing the little note, he smirked and proceeded to open the pdf and the pictures. But as soon as he began reading, the smirk was plastered on his face and the trace of humour was gone from those eyes. There was no doubt everyone would react the same way.

The information written about the creepy blue-eyed guy didn't match the description of the guy he remembered crystal clearly in his mind.

Right then, the downloaded pictures popped up on the screen. There were five pictures, but the one on top caught the most attraction. It was a picture of a passport, but the man staring bored into him was nowhere near the face he remembered.

Jaxon searched for his phone frantically with his hands while his eyes were busy reading the information on the passport. When he felt the device in the pocket, he whipped out and unlocked it in a flash. But before he could dial a number, it received a call and rang ear-piercingly in the quiet room. "Hello."

"Hello. This is the XX police station, the one who is detaining the two men that broke into Ms Queen's room."

Jaxon nodded, but his eyes weren't moving a bit from the screen. "Oh. What is it?"

"We've run criminal records and facial recognition but we didn't get a match. They don't have any carbon print. It is as if they are deceased people. Ghosts."

----

Little Theia glared at the invader without attempting to hide her feelings. Displeasure was oozing out of her entire being, and her tightly crossed arms spoke louder than her mouth, " You are not welcome."

"Come on, hon'. Let's take a seat."

Her daughter looked up at her with pleading eyes that said, please don't let this man in.

Eirene couldn't help but lightly smile and stretch her arms towards the girl. Her daughter gladly stopped crossing her arms and let her lift her. Then finally she welcomed Ares inside again.

Even when she sat on the sofa, Theia refused to move. The actress chuckled soundlessly.

It wasn't as if she couldn't understand where her daughter was coming from. the last time they had time for themselves was the day before the party at the Queens' hotel. It had been a long time for both of them.

Eirene brought her hands up and began patting Theia on the back. It was the gesture her mother and grandmother did to her as a child when she felt down. It worked like magic, bringing comfort and a sense of security.

As she tapped rhythmically on the back, her eyes drifted up and met with the most beautiful eyes she had ever laid her eyes on. Although she was never good with drawing or painting, she could picture those vivid silvery clouds with her eyes closed her hands would move to recreate them on plain paper like a picture.

Looking straight into his eyes, she spoke in French. "I heard you asked the hospital staff to clean me up. Thank you." From the way, Ares slightly widened his eyes and nodded faintly, her predictions were right. He understood her.

"It wasn't much..." The boy's answer was also in French.

"And also the birth-control..."

Ares raised his hands and shook his head as if he was scared that she was going to misunderstand him. "My friend, Eric, was the one who suggested that... Are you alright? Do you feel ill?" He was very hesitant.

She forced a small smile. "No."

"That's a relief." He was about to smile back but somehow changed his mind midway. "...I'm sorry." He looked down with guilt. "I shouldn't be happy and smiling about this. This shouldn't have happened."

Eirene's smile also faded.

Ares hurriedly added after seeing her smile fade, "It's not your fault. Nobody blames you."

The panicked actions brought back a different type of smile on her face.

There was a small part of her that felt relieved from being told that. There was no way she could be happy that she had to take contraception for that deed, but in front of him, she wanted to be brave. She wanted him to believe she was fine, that the incident didn't mean anything to her. That was the sole reason behind that smile.

But hearing that, she was glad that she didn't have to put on a facade at least in front of him.

Her voice trembled as tears gathered in her eyes. "Thank you for saying that. It really, really helps." She felt Theia trying to separate from her to check the situation but she placed a hand over the head and didn't allow her daughter to see what kind of face she had now. Theia didn't struggle further.

The boy in front of her looked as if he had committed a crime. "How can I help you? Do you want something to drink? Juice?" Although he was delirious, he still spoke in French to keep Theia from understanding the conversation.

"Juice..." A tear spilt from the corner of her eyes as she giggled.

"Ah!" The expression Ares made seeing her like that was priceless, making her giggle turn into laughs. "Are you alright? Please don't cry!"

----

When Eirene felt a strong tugging at her trousers, she looked down at her daughter with confusion.

"Mum, you can't get on this plane." Her daughter's face wasn't the one when she joking or being naughty to get attention.

Theia shook her head fearfully and tightly held onto her as if she was scared of losing her. "Mum don't. Please."

Not only Jaxon and others were confused and stopped in their tracks but also many people in the terminal ready to board on the very same plane.

Eirene kneeled on one knee and removed Theia's hands to hold them in hers. "Are you scared of planes? We can arrange and take the ferry but it can take a long time."

Her daughter shook her head. "It's dangerous."

The actress sighed in understanding. "Don't worry. It won't happen again. I promise. Fear not. Mum is with you. I'll protect you."

As if somebody lit up a firework outside, Theia's head shot up. "I'll protect you!" She exclaimed with a serious expression.

Eirene chuckled after being startled. "I'll be looking forward to your protection. Now let's go. We are blocking the way for many people." She wanted to straighten up, but her daughter had her arms wrapped around her neck like a koala.

The actress's words weren't enough. "Don't go. I don't want to get in." Her daughter said beside her ear in a small voice. It was apparent there was something wrong.

Carrying Theia in her arms, she walked away from the crowd of people boarding and took a seat. There were many times she had acted spoilt or cried to stop Eirene from going to work but never to this level. At the end of the day, she gave up or accepted the fact.

The group followed them and surrounded the two.

"Okay. Tell me why honey." She gently asked her daughter, wrapped around her neck like a baby holding an adult finger.

"It's dangerous." She repeated. "Something bad is going to happen."

"It can happen but not all the time."

"Mum." Theia pulled her head from the shoulder and spoke in a low tone. "There is a bad person in there. Even outside. It's not safe. Mum, please don't get in." Her usual lightheartedness was nowhere to be seen on the small face filled with uneasiness and pleadings.

"Maybe we should board it," suggested Ares. "She is feeling uncomfortable and I'm sure we don't want to force a little child into flying for nineteen hours."

Eric, next to him, nodded, "She is certainly feeling distressed."

Orion quietly continued, "I believe it's best to reschedule this flight. We still got time." He was right. They were forty minutes away from departing, and they could still cancel.

Karson chimed, "We don't mind staying here for another few days."

Winter looking at his phone, commented, "There is another flight at eight at tonight. We can take that."

Theia, who had been listening to the conversation, placed her neck back onto Eirene's shoulder. "Let's stay, mum..."

The actress sighed and stood up. "I'm really sorry, everyone. I'll pay the cancellations and travel fees for this."

Every one of them rejected that offer and wanted to pay, but she wasn't the type to bend her opinion and paid after going through papers for a long time. So when she was done, the plane they were supposed to be on was taking off.

"Let's eat something." Just as she finished talking, there was a series of popping sounds that alarmed the hundreds of people swarmed in the terminal.

"Gunshots!" Jaxon shouted.