Chapter 54. Scared

Aurora opened her eyes. Her vision still blurry. She could see his beards and white hair. Her tension rose as her vision cleared and infront of her was a pair of green eyes looking at her. A thin string of black hair fell between his forehead and reached his nose bridge.

She did not need to look twice as she wrapped her small hands on his neck. Then she lay her head on his shoulder. She was not going to let go. She looked at him again and a smile appeared on her features when she felt his hands on her back.

He had an amused smile on his lips. What was happening? Why was he here? It was then that she really felt his hands on her. How could she be so panicked that she could lose all focus. She even mistook him for someone else. She was rash.

She felt like a fool? How could her faith in him waver? But all this thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind. At the moment, she wished that time would stop for them. She then felt his hands on her shoulders as he pushed her away.

His face was so close to her's that she felt her whole body go crimson when she felt his breath on her face.

"I didn't know you are such a cry baby," Alaric teased and she just looked away and slapped his hands from her and looked to the front.

"What do you know? Its none of your business," Aurora said as angrily as she could but her voice came out sweet and amusing. She had not even notice the pink haired ladyy was standing on the other side her face crimson too.

"I really enjoy this version of you," Alaric said as he sat straight and ordered. "If there is beef and rice we are comfortable with that," Alaric said and the pink haired lady left.

"Who said that I want beef served for me?" Aurora asked with a sneer.

"I did. Its the most expensive here though," Alaric said and Aurora understood...

"You are not human," Aurora could not find any ather word to describe him. If he kept ordering the most expensive, the manager was going to drop dead.

Aurora had no doubt that Alaric could finish all the beef and rice in the hotel. After a while, food was served and Alaric dove right into action without warning. Alaric did not once in his life go easy on food. In five minutes,he had already emptied his plate.

He also did not hesitate to ask for the second take. It did not take long before he emptied his second plate. As young as five, he usually ate four bowls. Now he had grown and he could eat directly from the pot and still not have enough .

As he was going for the sixth round, everyone had stopped eating. The table was unusually quiet. Only Aurora was not so shocked. She was not even sure she could finish her first take. They looked at him and he appeared that he still had room for more.

It was one hour later that he stopped. Not that he was full but because beef and rice were finished. The expensive food was not usually cooked in large amounts because few could afford it. It was almost past noon and all the beef and rice were fully finished.

The manager was sweating on his forehead. He removed a white handkerchief and wiped it and rubbed his eyes. He was in deep trouble. How was he going to explain to the higher ups about the less income? He was regretting everything.

He regretted trying to be good and befriending the young master. He had ended up befriending a beast. He vowed that he was never going to act nice by offering free food. The manager then shivered. What if he really finished this mission? He would lose and have to give him the free VIP ticket. Another regret struck him.

Alaric was leaning on the coach with a comfortable smile. He had his eyes closed reminiscing about his experience. The food was sweet! He was woken from his thoughts by the manager.

"Young master," the manager started as he woke up. Since tha manager thought that he was a young master, why not act like one? Proud and arrogant.

He raised his hand stopping the manager from speaking anymore.

"Why not speak after I complete the mission," Alaric started. The manager sighed when he saw the young master's action. They really were hard to please. Even the girl had failed.

"My 'girlfriend' here is still not fine. I need to take her back and give her a good time," Alaric said standing up. He took Aurora's hand and they walked out.

Outside the hotel. Aurora did not know where to begin. She knew that Alaric had failed to ask about what was happening in the room for her own privacy. She appreciated that. She would start sobbing again if those events were recounted.

She knew that she was easy to take advantage of which was her weakness. Remembering that event brought memories she always try to suppress.

"About..." She started but she was instantly cut off.

"Don't talk about things you don't want to," Alaric brushed the topic off immediately. He knew that it could not be that simple.

"Where should we strart looking?" Aurora asked. It was not going to be an easy task, she knew for sure.

"Let's just go looking around," Alaric said as they walked aimlessly. They entered the slums and started looking. There were trash cans everywhere and there were rats. It was dump and slightly dark.

They picked a small alley way and walked close together. Aurora actually had her hands on his elbow. They walked and came to another side of the street. Aurora sighed when they came out and started seeing people. After walking around for a while, they realized that they were not going to find anything if they continued this way.

"What do you think we go around and ask if someone has seen the hedgehog. We meet one hour later at Casper hotel," Alaric suggested. Aurora was silent for while and disagreed.

"No. If you have not noted, someone's been following us. Going our separate ways will encourage them to come after me," she said and Alaric shuddered.

How had he missed them? He would have put her in danger...

"I think we should discard this mission," Alaric said concern written on his face. Aurora smiled and started walking ahead of him.

"Its going to be okay. No one will dare come after us together," Aurora said casually.

Alaric caught up with her and started walking towards the first person they saw. Aurora made him promise to let her do the talking whuch he reluctantly agreed.

"Excuse me, have you seen a hedgehog that has gone astray in this area?" Aurora asked the lady. The lady was silent fo a while and contemplated.

"Rumour has it that it is usually resides in the underground of the city," she said after thinking for a while.

" Thank you for your help,"Aurora said as they watched the lady leave.

" Well, that was helpful,"Aurora gave a smile and her face showed some restlessness.

" Yep. It made our work easier," Alaric replied to her. " Come on let's find our way down there." He did not seem to notice Aurora was behaving funny. It was like she was shivering.

" How do we get to the underground?" She asked. It was like she was facing a nightmare.

" What is it? Are you scared?" He teased.

" Who would be afraid of such?" Aurora retorted.

"Good then. I saw a manhole lid on our way here. Lets go," he said and led the way.

Aurora hesitated and she turned back to run after him. They stared at the manhole lid on the center of the streets. Alaric was eager to open it while Auroa was cracking he knuckles. He hands had turned slightly red due to her nervousness.

She watched helplessly as he lifted the lid and they placed it on the side. It was deep around ten meters underground. The good news was that there was a ladder on the side. She saw him stare at her and she felt her heart shift. He wanted her to go first! She then took a step backwards. Her lips rounded like she was trying to say the word no.

"You are not scared right?" He asked when he saw her reaction.

"Of course," she said still taking steps backwards.

"Come on, you go in first so I can close it after I enter," he said.

"Okay," she said still going backwards.

"Its this way," he laughed and sat down.

She paused and realized she had been going backwards. She slowly took a step forward with a tortoise speed. It took almost a minute before she reached him. His eyes did not leave her for the slightest second. She stood like a clown and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Come on we could have already started searching," Alaric said and she reluctantly bent and sat on the edge of the hole.

"You are not scared are you? I could go in first," he spoke and she put a brave face as she looked at him.

"Of course am not," she said and turned as she let her right leg land on the first step.

She could feel her legs and hands shaking as she took the next steps.

"Careful, do not let go," Alaric warned as she tried to calm herself. She was five meters down when she saw Alaric enter. She sighed relieved but she was suddenly overcome by fear when he closed the hole.

She stopped for long and did not even realize when she lost her grip and she fell victim of gravity. She should have just said she was scared. She wondered how long it would take for her to fall and how many bones she was going to break. Scared screams came from her as she fell on her back.