Chapter 7 - His Touch

"HOW many times do I have to tell you, don't go to Morsons?"

Her cousin angrily pulled her and forced her to ride his "big bike."

She stopped in front of his vehicle. "I am just checking things out, especially about Dana's death," she reasoned.

"Is that so? Did you really go there for Dana, or you just wanted to see that Hero again?"

"Cedric...?"

"Do you think I didn't know that you have a special feeling with that mortal enemy of mine?"

"Look, I don't have time for that filthy mind of yours, okay? And not because you're rivals, you just let him go to jail even if he's innocent. We both know that Liam initiated that fight, and he caused Dana's death."

"When did you ever involve yourself in our gang fights?"

"Cedric, we're talking about an innocent man suspected of a crime he did not commit."

"If that's all you're worried about, then you can stop now. He won't go to jail. Dana's parents withdrew the case and dropped all charges against him. Happy?"

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "Is that true?" Her face lit up.

"You said so yourself. Hero was innocent and would never kill his girlfriend. Dana's diary has proved it. And they can't lock us up, either, because we both just arrived at the crime scene."

"And Liam?"

"Liam is gone. He disappeared, and no one knows where he is now. Besides, no one can prove that Liam killed Dana. Dana's head hit something hard that caused her death. That means no one wanted to kill her in the first place. Everything was just an unfortunate turn of events."

She did not say a word.

"Now, let's go home and pack!"

She looked at him. "Where are we going?"

"You will come with me to America. Forget about Princeton Academy. We'll go to Princeton University in the US."

"What? No!" she protested.

"Why stay in your school? Don't you notice how they look at you? They look at you like a criminal. In America, you can start again-- both of us. Let's just do what your dad tells us..."

**

"HEY!"

Her peaceful night walk was suddenly disturbed by the loud horns and the irritating noise of passing motorcycles. She just came from Cas-U and got bored that she decided to walk home since it was not that far, to feel the fresh rural night air.

She just ignored them until one bike stopped beside her. She stopped. That moment she recognized them. They were the guys who stopped by the eatery that morning.

"Need a ride home?" asked the driver.

She recognized him. His name was Vince. He's quite famous in Uptown. Everyone looked up to him like he was their hero or something. She heard he was the one who prevented the eviction of the subdivision tenants.

She looked at him with cold eyes. "No, thanks."

"I know who you are," he said, looking straight into her eyes. "Why did you leave Uptown?"

She raised an eyebrow. She had stayed there for only one month. "It's none of your business, and I don't care if you know me."

She tried to get past him, but one of his minions grabbed her by her left wrist. "Don't be rude when our leader is talking to you."

She looked at her hand before piercing the guy with her deadly look. "Will you release me, or I will break your hand?" she warned in a low authoritative voice. The guy holding her wrist was several inches taller than her, and his body was quite big, but that didn't scare her.

The Bikers whistled mockingly.

"Careful, Clint. She's gonna break your hand," teased one rider in Kawasaki.

Clint lifted one side of his lips. "Really?"

She didn't say a word. She held Clint's hand with her right hand and twisted it against his back, freeing her left wrist from his grasp. Clint groaned in pain.

The leader, impressed by what she did, clapped his hands three times. "It's okay now. Let him go," he commanded her in a calm voice. "No need to be violent. We mean no harm."

"Then get lost!" she said firmly, as he pushed Clint and walked past them.

Few meters away, she saw Hero walking towards her. He stopped in front of her. "Why are you walking alone? Do you know how dangerous it is to go home alone..."

He did not finish what he was about to say when she just ignored him. He followed her and walked with her. "Did they hurt you?" he asked again, concern registered in his voice.

She did not look back, but she assumed he saw the gangsters behind them. "I'm fine," she replied, and they continued walking.

They were approaching the house when she noticed that it was quieter than usual.

"Auntie went out of town," Hero said before she could ask. "Her cousin got sick in Cebu, so she visited him. She already asked permission from your parents and your Uncle Rico. You were not here the whole day, so she wasn't able to tell you. She asked me to look after you while she's gone so..."

"Will you shut up? You're so noisy!" she said irritably.

He pulled her to face him. "I won't keep quiet until you fix that bad habit of yours!"

Her face was twisted with pain when Hero held that very wrist that Clint gripped awhile back. Hero was shocked and instantly released it. "I'm sorry," he said. "Please, sit down." His eyes pleaded as they met hers.

She calmed down and silently sat on the chair in the kitchen as she watched him get a basin and a clean face towel. He laid them on the table before he opened the refrigerator and took out an ice pack. He sat across from her.

"Give me your hand," he gently commanded.

She stretched her left hand out to him. He held it gently and carefully placed the cold compress wrapped in a face towel on her bruised wrist. He wiped her wet hand with the dry part of the towel.

Soon, the pain slowly faded, but the heat coming from his hand was melting every inch of her skin that it touched. The sensations made her heartbeat raced and caused her an agonizing pain deep within. She looked at him. His attention was on her wrist, with a seriously-worried face that's slowly breaking every defense she had built around her heart.

Hero, the man she secretly fell in love with a long time ago. The man she had defended even from her own family. The man who caused her downfall. The man who had never looked at her before the way he looked at her awhile ago. The man who had forgotten that girl he once saved. And the man who would surely hate her forever if he knew who she really was.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Her face reddened when she realized she had stared at him for too long that he noticed it already.

"I'm okay now," she declared, immediately withdrawing her hand from him when she could no longer bear it anymore. "Thank you." She got up and turned around to go up to her room.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, replaying the scene in the kitchen on her mind and rekindling the sensations she felt with his warm hands when her cellphone rang. She frowned when she saw Cedric's name on the screen. "Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in an angry voice.

The furrows on her forehead deepened. "What?"

"That your Hero was there, and now you're living together with him!"

"Living under the same roof and living together might be technically the same, but you know it has a thick line between them," she corrected him. "And why should I tell you about him? So that you can ruin his life again?"

"You're making it sound like I'm the reason he's suffering."

"Look, Cedric! Nanny Belen's nephew is a good person ..."

"What?" he interrupted.

"You heard me right. He is Nanny Belen's nephew. Should I kick him? Besides, he's changed."

"What do you mean 'he's changed'?"

"He's not the person he used to be. He's living a peaceful life now. No gang fights. Nothing at all. Besides, he doesn't recognize me nor remembers anything about me at all."

"We can't be sure. Look, Kath, I promised your parents that I would protect you, and I will not allow that man to do anything to you to get his revenge on me."

"Hero is a good man," she defended. "He won't do to me what Liam did to his girlfriend. Just leave him alone."

"That's not for you to decide, Kathrina," Cedric said firmly.

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist. "Don't provoke me, Cedric. I'm not Kathrina anymore. I'm telling you, don't touch him."

"And if I do?"

"You mess with him, you mess with me," she threatened before cutting her line off. She threw her phone on her bed in anger.

"Don't you dare, Cedric! Don't you dare!"