Chapter 14: A Different Feeling
Ember Corbin
While getting ready to go to Happy Kindergarten, Lance suddenly called me and asked me where I was. I told him that I was going to work, even though he was supposed to know it was my work hour, yet he told me to wait for him so that he could pick me up.
These past few days, Lance has been acting weirdâa good kinda weird. It wasn't like I was complaining, as it was actually good for me. I was getting free rides from Lance Storm.
I immediately stood up and got out of the house when I saw his car approaching from my window. He rolled down his windshield, and I smiled brightly at him.
"Good morning, Lance! What a lovely morning, isn't it? I hope it stays this way. The clouds are so pretty too. Anyway, how are you feeling this morning? Did you have breakfast?" I chirped.
"Just get in quickly," he said disinterestedly to me. I shrugged since I wasn't even expecting him to reply and rushed into the car.
"Where is Sebastian?" I asked when I saw it was actually Lance sitting in the driver's seat, which is why I sat beside him in the front passenger seat. "Why are you driving by yourself? Is Sebastian okay? I hope he's not too sick, although the weather's change is causing many people to fall sick. The days are getting colder. You should take better care of yourself too. Maybe wrap a muffler around your neckâ" When I Lance him throwing daggers at me with his eyes, I sealed my lips, "Okay, I'll shut up."
I am taking back what I said earlier. Lance is just weird, not a good kinda weird.
___
Lance Storm
Ember was weirdly quiet for almost about two minutes, and I knew two minutes of silence wasn't weird if one was talking to a normal person. But this was Ember Corbin and probably it was the first time she has been this quiet for the longest, except the time she was ignoring meâ
"Is something going to happen to us?" she asked seriously, and I stared at her dumbfounded, waiting for her to continue. "You know, in every mafia-themed drama that I saw, there had to be a scene like this where the male protagonist is led down by the enemy. Oh, my God, no wonder why that car has been following us since we left my house!"
I looked up at my rearview mirror and sighed when I saw a familiar black SUV following us.
"Oh, that's so scary," I responded with my normal bored voice.
"Lance, let's not go to kindergarten. What if they follow us there and massacre the school? The little kids have so much to live for. They all have dreams they want to fulfill. Not to mention, today is one of their birthdays. How cruel is it to die on one's birthday? Or, what if they are just going to kill me in front of my innocent kids' eyes?"
I tightened my grip over the steering wheel, trying to control myself from going insane with her nonstop words, but luck was never on my side.
"Lance, what ifâouch!" I pressed the brakes so hard that she could stop talking for once. It was not that I hated her chatter, but I was driving for God's sake and she was distracting!
"Are you trying to kill me? Why did you stop? Are you with them by any chance? Do you intend to kill this innocent and polite yet beautiful woman here and then kill my babies in the kindergarten?"
I sighed and looked at her intently which made her shift her gaze to the opposite side immediately. I couldn't believe she thought she was really innocent and polite. Beautiful? Umm... I didn't need to answer that.
"Can you use your brains for once? No one's going to massacre your little kindergarten! That's Sebastian and my other men in that black car behind us. So can you just stop worrying about us being dead?" I said calmly this time. Damn, I hated talking a lot, and here I was, explaining stuff to her.
I shook my head when I saw her open her mouth and nodded like she realized something.
"Oh, so you do have guards. That's such a relief. They can protect you when someone attacks us!" she said while smiling annoyingly bright at me.
"I don't need protection. I can guard myself," I said truthfully while starting the car.
"Then, why are they following us?" she asked curiously, but I just ignored her and started driving again. I couldn't just tell her that they were here so that they could protect her if anything happened.
There was a silence of another minute untilâ
"Glorious mother of God!" Ember blurted out when my phone started ringing loudly. "That's a creepy ringtone. That sounds like death itself. I would never put on such a horrifying ringtone on my phone," she said while rubbing both of her arms to get the chill out of her nerves.
I rolled my eyes and received the call, not checking the name which was my biggest mistake.
"Hello?" I asked the person on the other line.
"Heya, it's your favorite person in the world!" Alena greeted me from the other line. I glanced at Ember, who was now staring at my phone, curious to see who I was talking with.
"No, you are not," I replied.
"I definitely amâ"
"Cut to the chase. What do you want?" I asked again while staring at Ember, who I know was so itchy to talk to me because she had something going on in her mind.
"What's wrong with you? Can't you be nice to me? I'm going to be your sister-in-law someday, you know?"
"Well, you are still yet to be. And who can tell the future? Elian might dump you after he realizes his mistake," I retorted.
"Mean Lance," she rebuked. "Anyway, I called because your brother has an early morning meeting, so we can't have our early morning espresso date in his cabinâ"
"Did I ask for this information?"
"No, but I'm telling you either way."
"Just tell me what you want to know," I groaned.
"Oh, right. I wanted to ask how things are going with that sweet girl you mentioned."
As soon as I heard Alena say that, I immediately looked at Ember again who was looking at me innocently.
"Sweet? I remember saying 'crazy.' Anyway, I'll call you later. I'm driving right now," I said and didn't wait for her to reply before ending the call. Ember sealed her lips, so I sighed and mumbled, "What do you want, Ember?"
"I want you to visit the kindergarten and meet the kids today."
###
I really didn't know if I made the right choice when I was being dragged in here. There were kids everywhere, and they were all annoyingly loud; though I could see why they love Ember. The whole time, my eyes were fixed on Ember who was laughing together with the kids, celebrating the kid's birthday she mentioned earlier in the car.
"Paolo, I told you not to eat your toys!" she shouted at the bald kid who had his toy car inside his mouth.
Ember's hands were over her hips, glaring at Paolo. I couldn't help but feel impressed with how Ember was handling these thingsâErr, I mean, kids. She was like a mother who was taking care of her children.
I snapped out of my trance when a boy tugged at the hem of my suit. I looked down at him with a blank expression. The kid's eyes got watery in fear. No wonder why I didn't get along with kids. My face was scarier than the ghosts according to them. I even used to scare Eltan when he was a kid. He used to say I have mean-looking eyes which could pierce through the souls, which was where the name 'scary bro' derived from.
I arched an eyebrow at the kid.
"M-Mr. I-I just want to say t-thank you f-for the flowers you gave us last week." With that, he sprinted away while I was shocked as to what just happened.
When I looked at Ember, she was now patting the boy's back.
"See, I told you he's good," she said softly while staring directly into my eyes.
I averted my gaze, having mixed feelings about being complimented.
"Thank you, Mister. We love the roses you gave to us!" A girl suddenly shouted, and the other kids started shouting 'Me too!' one after one. My mixed feelings were gone as I felt extremely happy, but I suppressed my smile.
My time went smoothly, getting busy while playing with the kids, and sometimes, looking at Ember.
"Mister, thank you for playing with us!" Peter shouted while I was helping Ember clean their mess. I nodded at him curtly as he waved his hand at me.
"They love you," Ember said while picking up the last toy. I didn't know how I started playing with them, but I felt happy seeing their smiles. I didn't feel happy because of how Ember smiled at me every time our gazes met with each other though. Not at all.
"Hey, let's go to the nearest restaurant. I will give you a treat for doing such a good job," she suggested as we were getting out of the kindergarten.
It was annoying how she kept treating me like a child, but her words were really heart-warming. Maybe it was due to her constant smile or maybe I was going crazy like her.
We started walking toward the restaurant since I didn't decline her offer. Once we sat on the chairs and placed our orders, she started speaking again, "I can't believe you made Peter cry with just your gaze." Ember laughed while reminiscing about the events this morning. "You know, Peter only cried when no one was around. But this morning he cried while we were in class because he was too scared of you."
I rolled my eyes at her and took a sip of my drink. Our orders arrived soon enough, so we started eating too.
"The food is delicious here," I couldn't help but mumble.
"Yes, it is indeed," Ember uttered. "You know, you should smile more. That way, no one's going to cry in front of you again. But maybe if Peter was much older like me, he'll see that beyond those scary gazes, you're just a softie. By the way, how's Faith? I want to see and talk to her again. She is so polite, just like me," she muttered so fast that I could barely process it.
"She's fine," I said with a stern voice, ending the conversation so that she could just focus on eating. After all, she was waiting for a reply. But no way in hell was she as polite as Faith. And how the hell could she just call me a softie so simply?
I wanted to say so many things, but I refrained. If I dragged those matters, she would do everything to prove she was polite and I was a softie. So it was better if I stayed silent.
When she started rambling again, I shook my head in defeat and just continued eating. Suddenly, I saw a red laser pass by Ember's face. I stared at her quietly and observed the situation. My heart rate immediately spiked when the red laser settled on her forehead.
"Lance, are you okay? It looks like you have seen a ghost, but then again you are looking at me, and I am not a ghost because I am so beautiful. I am not saying ghosts are ugly, it's just that I am not dead yeâoh, my God, is there a ghost here? I hope it's not right behind me. Please, please, kill the ghostâ"
I got up and pulled Ember to one corner within a brief moment without giving a second thought.
"Lance, whatâ" her words died in her mouth when the glass wall broke from the bullet.
People started panicking as they started rushing outside one after another while shrieking and screaming. However, my eyes were on Ember, who stayed quiet and just stared at the broken window pieces with a blank look.
"Ember?" I called out softly, but she didn't respond. "Ember?" I rubbed my thumb over her chin. "Are you okay?"
She turned her head up and saw the bullet that was stuck in the concrete wall before glancing back at me.
"Did I just nearly die? Was that bullet for me?" she asked, trying to hide that she was scared. My heart clenched seeing her like that.
"Boss, are you okay?" I glanced at Sebastian who was now standing at the door while holding his gun.
"What the hell happened? I told you to search the entire area!" I shouted while my hands were over Ember's waist, pulling her closer.
"I'm sorry, Boss. Anthony tried to catch the sniper, but he was shot instead."
I sighed and glanced over at Ember who was still staring at the bullet. I patted her shoulder, and she jumped a little. When she realized it was just me, she sighed and forcefully smiled at me.
"You are definitely my mafia rescuer."
I didn't know about that 'mafia rescuer' title, but all I knew was, that I would protect her with everything I had. I felt something different when I was with this talkative girl, and I wanted to give it all a chance. Just one try. I would let myself fall.