Yellow T-shirt guy

"Anne that man is right there. What's he doing here? I think we should call the cops" Richie said to Anne feeling very worried.

"Richie, relax. Maybe he is only hanging around and we happen to see again by coincidence"  she said to Richie so he could calm down because she could tell that he was starting to get paranoid.

Although Richie wasn't worried about himself, he was worried about Anne. He knows that the man who was lurking around had nothing to do with him because he was specifically staring at Anne and right now, he was standing opposite her house.

"Just stay here, I wanna go ask him what he wants," Anne said.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want you to go by yourself. I think we should let him be, maybe calling the cops would help," Richie insisted.

"There's no need for that, I just wanna have a conversation with him that's all," She said even though she was a bit nervous about confronting the man. She didn't want to show her nervousness to Richie so he wouldn't get scared.

Anne walked towards the man stalking her and as soon as the man saw her, he turned his back, leaving like he was in a hurry.

"HEY!" Anne voiced out to the man but he kept walking like she was talking to herself.

"Excuse me! Yellow T-shirt guy" she yelled and the man had no choice but to halt his steps and face Anne.

"Yes ma'am, how may I help you," The man said to Anne with a friendly smile on his face.

"Who are you and why do you keep following me?" Anne said with her hands crossed around her chest. She wasn't thrilled with his friendly smile because she has learned not to judge a book by its cover.

Angelo acted like a gentleman towards Anne but in the end, he tried to rape her and plotted the killing of his own father.

At first, Anne was skeptical about confronting the man following her but she became confident since they were in a public place.

It was a busy road and other people were passing by.

Meanwhile, Richie was still standing in front of Anne's house. He could see Anne and the man talking but he couldn't hear what they were saying because of the far distance.

"You've got it all wrong Miss, I'm not following you," the man said politely.

"Then what are you doing, standing directly opposite my house?" Anne said sternly, glaring at the man but he kept quiet.

Anne walked closer to the man with anger and said vehemently. "I don't care who you are or where you came from but let me warn you. The next time I see you following me around, I'm gonna report you to my brother. He's a cop and he's going to lock your ass up if he finds out that you're bugging me,"

The man in front of Anne became very embarrassed as he caught other people peeping at him. He shook his head in disbelief and left the scene without saying a word to Anne.

Anne watched the man's departing back and had a sigh of relief that the man has left. She was sure that she had scared him with her threats and hopefully, she'll never see him again.

..

Anne ordered an Uber for Richie to get home safely instead of him taking a subway to avoid strangers with bad intentions because of what just happened. There might be bad guys out there and she wanted Richie to be safe. Although, it would've been preferable if Richie called his driver to pick him up from school but he didn't want that kind of attention.

At Richie's former school in Canada, Richie had a lot of friends because of the different exotic cars that normally pick him up from school. Everyone treats him differently because he was from a wealthy family but this time around, he decided to feel what is like to be an average kid.

CARL'S MANSION***

Richie was in the living room, texting Anne that he just arrived home safely. He was still in his uniform and he was holding the package containing the cake meant for Carl while the other package that was for him was still in his school bag.

'Stay safe, love you big sis' Richie sent the text to Anne with a big smile and then, he felt a presence in the living room with him. He lifted his head and saw Carl standing a few feet away from him.

Carl was in front of him looking hot as usual. He was shirtless exposing his sexy chiseled body and he was wearing ash color sweatpants.

"What's up, Carl?" Richie said to Carl.

"Who were you texting?" Carl asked.

"Why are you home so early?" Richie questioned him, also changing the topic because he didn't want to talk about Anne.

"I'm not early, you're the one who's home late. And if you had checked the time, you'll see that it's past 5 o'clock," Carl said with a straight face.

"so what?" Richie shrugged his shoulders.

"Your school closes by 3 pm so where have you been?" Carl scolded him.

If it was a normal day, Richie would've snubbed the whole thing but he didn't want to upset this new Carl who wouldn't tolerate any of his nonsense.

"I'm sorry I came home late. I was at a store to get you this," Richie said nicely, handing Carl the paper bag containing the small cake.

Carl looked at his little brother with creased brows as he reluctantly collected the package from Richie. He was shocked that Richie apologized to him because it is something that has never happened before and what made Carl more suspicious was that Richie was giving him a gift.

Carl looked inside the paper bag and he saw something that was wrapped. He carefully unwrapped it and he saw a small triangle-shaped chocolate cake that was very pleasing to the eyes. Carl is obsessed with chocolate cakes and staring at this beautiful piece of cake was making his mouth watery.

"since when did you become this nice to me," Carl finally spoke up.

Richie nearly rolled his eyes. He enjoys bullying Carl a lot and acting nice just to make Carl eat the cake was beginning to make him sick.

"C'mon, bro aren't we siblings? Is it weird if I buy you something out of the goodness of my heart?" he said sweetly, faking a smile.

"Yes, it's weird!" Carl said firmly.

"And where did you buy this cake?" He asked suspiciously.

Richie gulped. He is not so good at lying and he was beginning to run out of words. "I... I bought it from a nearby store," he said exactly what Anne told him to say.

Carl scoffed like he knew Richie was lying. He couldn't believe that Richie would actually go to a store and buy something for him.

Even Richie's evil twin would be nicer than him, he thought.

"Something tells me this cake is from Anastasia," Carl said.

"wh.. what makes you say that?" Richie chuckled nervously.

"Cause this cake smells exactly like Anne's cake," Carl said. From the moment he unwrapped the cake, he perceived the cake to be Anne's cake. He knows exactly what her cake smells like and that was the best kind of smell for any cake.

"That's silly, all cake smells and tastes the same" Richie argued even though he knew Carl was right.

However, Carl couldn't resist the urge in tasting the cake so he had a bite of it. The cake tasted heavenly as usual and something in his heart told him that it was Anne who must've baked this cake.

'it tastes exactly like Anne's cake too' Carl said in his head as he was eating the cake. Right now, he didn't care if Richie was lying, he was just enjoying the sweetness of the cake. He also couldn't help but think about Anne, probably because of the unique taste of the cake.

Meanwhile, Richie had a fulfilled smile on his face when Carl ate the cake. He was happy that he would eventually have a good night's sleep.

 …..

A few moments later, Carl was lying on his king-sized bed taking a rest. Little did he know that the supplement on the cake was beginning to have an effect on him. His tired eyes were shut but he was still conscious of the things around him.

Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the door and it made Carl snap out of his deep thoughts.

"Don't come in," Carl said out loud.

However, his grandmother opened the door and walked in with a smile on her face. She saw her handsome grandson lying down on the bed and she sat down close to him.

"I know you heard me clearly when I said don't come in so please leave, I am trying to think," Carl said in a serious tone.

"How long are you going act coldly towards us," his grandmother said to him with a sad expression on her face.

"I'm not acting coldly... I just feel that since the world is unfair to me, I should stop acting all goody" he said.

"But Carl, that is not who you are. You're a nice person no matter what and don't let other people's negativity get the best of you" she said to Carl.

Unfortunately, after Anne rejected Carl, he felt that there was something wrong with him. He thought he was the problem and he started doubting himself if he was good enough for anyone.

"Grandma," Carl muttered in a deep voice.

"yes, my darling,"

Carl sighed before he spoke to his grandma "I hired a private investigator to watch over Anastasia. I did it to know her every move so I could protect her in case she gets into trouble cause the few times I've known Anne, it's either she's kidnapped or bad guys wanna take advantage of her. I was worried that she might get involved in a dangerous situation and I'm not there to protect her… that was why I hired a PI"

A smile blossomed on Carl's grandma's face as she was listening to her grandson. She wasn't just proud of Carl for being a kindhearted man just like his father, she also felt sorry for Anne for pushing away a rare gem like Carl.

The private investigator Carl hired to watch over Anne was the guy in a yellow T-shirt who kept following Anne. He has been following Anne for a while now and his job was to protect Anne in case she falls into any kind of trouble. He was like her guardian angel sent by Carl but unfortunately, Anne thought he was bad news.

Carl added "Please tell me why I'm still trying to protect her instead of letting her go just like she asked? Why am I so weak?" he lamented with his eyes shut. He was already feeling sleepy.

"my grandson, you're not weak. As a matter of fact, you're the strongest man I know. Being kind doesn't make us weak, it only shows us how powerful we are and one day, I believe that that girl would finally come to her senses and realize how much you're worth," Carl's grandma said positively and then she noticed that Carl had fallen asleep because he wasn't responding to her.

'it's only past 6 o clock in the evening why did he fall asleep so fast?' she thought to herself with a confused look. She felt extremely surprised because she knows that Carl finds it difficult to fall asleep.

Carl's grandma got up from the bed and used the duvet to cover his body. She planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

'sweet dreams my darling' she whispered to him and left the room quietly.

*******