HETAR

I just shook my head before continuing my work.

It"s impossible. Maybe, it"s only my imagination.

~*~

"See you tomorrow, Ma"am!"

I was about to leave when the librarian called my name.

"What is it, Ma"am?" I asked. I was a bit surprise when I saw her smiled.

"A student asked me to give this to you," she said as she gave me a regular size cheeseburger.

My forehead wrinkled. "Who?"

"The student that borrowed a hardbound book here earlier. If I"m not mistaken, his name is Asher Lucero."

~*~

Asher Lucero . . .

Asher Lucero . . .

Asher Lucero . . .

So, he"s Asher Lucero . . .

I gently slapped my face to what I realized.

Am I interested on him? Nah. Nah! NAH! IMPOSSIBLE!

I was still holding the burger that the librarian handed me. It looked delicious but I couldn"t eat it.

So many creepy questions flashed in my mind when I tried to take a bite so I wouldn"t dare anymore.

"It"s only 50-step stairs but it took you one hour before you got down."

That voice . . .

I stopped on walking when someone talked. I frowned automatically when I knew that it was Mister Asher Lucero – the guy earlier. He"s walking to my direction that"s why I waited for him.

"What?" I asked.

"Did the four-eyed bookworm gave you the burger?" he asked, emotionless.

I gave him a confused look.

Who"s four-eyed bookwormーwait, what?! Did he just call the librarian "four-eyed bookworm"?!

I immediately glared at him. "How could you callー"

"It"s not an insult, okay? She allowed me to call her using that."

"Seriously?"

He nodded and smiled. "Yes. Did she give you the burger?"

I raised my right hand that held the burger. "Here it is."

His lips formed a thin line. "You don"t like it?"

"I like how it looks but I don"t want to take risk."

He laughed a bit. "It"s not poisonous!"

I scrunched my nose in disapproval.

"Hey. I a.s.sure you. It"s not poisonous."

"I don"t want to die yet."

His eyes narrowed into slits. "Everyone does, Scarlette."

My eyes widened upon hearing my name. "How did youー"

"Simple. I asked the librarian." He winked at me before turning his back and walked away. "Eat that!  I a.s.sure you. You will not die!"

"Hey! I know your name, too!" I shouted. "Asher Lucero!"

"Better then!"

I looked at the burger again. "You"re edible, right?" I took a glance of the security cameras in the area. "It"s better if I"ll eat you here."

But before I could bite it, somebody held my right arm and pulled me into a run.

"H-hey!"

Now, the cheeseburger fell on the floor because of that.

"That"s wasting!" I shouted but still, Asher continuously ran.

I tried to stop but he spoke that made me ran faster. "We need to hurry! It"s already 6:00 PM!"

"W-what?!"

6:00 PM?! Oh yeah, maybe, you"re confused. By 6:00 PM, the school gate automatically closes.

I should be at home by this time but due to walking down stairs for one hour and talking to a guy about the mysterious burger, I was still at school.

"Where are we going?! We"re taking the opposite way!" I told him but he didn"t stop.

"My car is in the parking lot. I need to get it!"

We ran towards his black car and entered quickly. Of course, he"s the driver.

"Hold on!"

"21 seconds left," I whispered between my breaths.

"We"ll make it. Just hold tightly!"

"What theー"

All of sudden, he drove so fast. I could feel my heart beat so loud and my breathing suddenly stopped. I just closed my eyes as we pa.s.sed through the narrowed s.p.a.ce of the gate.

~*~

"Hey! Wake up!"

I felt someone slightly tapped my left shoulder.

"What . . . " I blinked three times when I realized where I was. "Where the h.e.l.l am I?!" I exclaimed.

Asher frowned as he said, "For your information, Miss Scarlette Sevilla, my car is not h.e.l.l but it is air-conditioned. By the way, you pa.s.sed out."

My eyes widened. "Me? Pa.s.sed out? Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Maybe, because of nervousness." And he laughed.

Tsk. There"s nothing funny about it.

His ash gray eyes look so beautiful. Does he wear contact lenses?

"Hey." He stopped and faced me. "Are those contact lenses?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Nah."

"Oh . . . "

Suddenly, what happened in that night flashed in my mind. Could it be possible that he"s that man?

"Yeah, I was the masked man that you"ve met outside the bar and also the one who helped you to escape from thatーah! What did you call him? Ah . . . jerk! Yeah, jerk." he proudly told me.

So, I was right. He"s that masked man.

"Did you read my mind?" I asked, a bit amused.

"I didn"t. It was written all over your face."

"Am I that obvious?"

"Yeah."

When I looked outside the window, I gasped when my house came into view.

I glared at him immediately. "How did you know where I live?"

Wait . . .

He warned me in the bar . . .

He helped me also . . .

He was in the library, too . . .

He waited me until I got down from the stairs . . .

He knew about my address . . .

"W-wait, are you a stalker?!" I shouted.

Instead of being afraid, he smiled sweetly. "Correction: good stalker, not just a stalker. Good stalker," he corrected me.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Still, you"re a stalker!"

"I know. I know. It"s because your aunt asked me to."

My forehead wrinkled. "Huh?"

He looked at me, smiling. "Let"s say . . . I"m one of her close friends."

Uh, Aunt Cecilia is somewhat . . . surprising.

I sighed. "But still, you"re a stalker."