Ava's phone kept on ringing, every time she dropped one call, another would start. She was not ready to take Tristan's call, but he was very persistent because he had her schedule, and knew that she had no classes in the afternoon.

Ava set her phone to silent, "Ava why are you not picking the call?" her mom asked.

​​

"Mom, it's just Kelly. I will talk to her later when I go back to the dorm," she lied.

"So how's college been? Do you like your school?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah, I like it there. It was better than I expected. I just finished my exams for this semester, and it went well," Ava said.

"Oh, now that you mentioned it. When are you coming back home?" Mrs. Wesley asked.

"Vacation starts tomorrow. I need to pack my things and will come home as soon as I'm done," she said.

"I can come and help you bring your stuff home," Alaric wanted to see her again tomorrow and it was the perfect opportunity to be alone with her.

��No, thank you, you don't need to. I'm scheduling a car to drop me off," Ava declined politely.

"Ava I am not asking. I'm telling you that I'm free tomorrow and I'm volunteering. You can show me your college, and then we can spend some time together," he said, insistent.

"Uhm… okay," she agreed. After each semester, the students have a few days of vacation to fix their schedules for the next sem, and for them to relax, so the students at the dorms would usually go home to spend time with their families.

The next day, Tristan was waiting for Ava in front of her dorm, he hadn't heard from her in a while and he wanted to know what her response was to his proposal.

He was not impatient, but he was hoping for a positive response right away, but he was giving her time because she said she needed it. Though the last few days did not seem like she was thinking about it, it seemed like she was hiding from him instead.

He had gotten used to being with her, and he was going to make sure that Ava was his no matter what. He texted and called her every day to remind her that he was there for her. But because she was hiding from him, it made him more desperate to talk to her. He was getting scared that he was losing her.

He was thinking that if they were constantly in contact then there would be no chance of anyone slipping through the cracks and taking her away from him. Yesterday he kept calling her because he wanted to hear her voice. It was torture for him to keep on wondering what her answer would be.

He could not wait, so the first thing he did that morning was to come and see her, explain to her that she didn't need to avoid him.

He saw Ava standing outside her dorm with her luggage.

"Perfect," he thought, he just got there in time to take her home. He was happy as he got out of his car. But he did not see the car that was parked right in front of her.

A man got her luggage and placed it in the trunk of his car. But he did not look like the regular car service to take her home. He was tall, good looking and he carried himself like he was somebody and not just a driver.

Alaric had come early, so Ava could show her around the campus, and he waited patiently for her to pack her luggage so he could take her home. He still needed to go back to the studio to practice after.

His plan was to practice and prepare for the competition and to spend every spare time he had with her after.

Tristan thought they looked very friendly with each other, and this guy was younger, somewhere closer to Ava's age. And then he got pissed when he saw Ava smiling at this guy. She should not be smiling at anyone else but him. Then he almost lost it when she started giggling because of something the guy had said.

He was so jealous that he wanted to confront them and tear Ava away from him, but before he could do anything Ava was getting into the other man's car while the guy opened the door for her, acting the perfect gentleman.

He stood alone for a while after they left. The rage he felt inside was eating at him. Doubt started clouding his mind, was she avoiding him because of that man? But he's never seen him before, so maybe this was just something new. He was going to snatch away Ava from anyone who got in his way.

He was starting to care for her a lot, and the more he cared the more he was scared he was to lose her. To occupy his mind, he went to work and did not stop working until everybody had left. He did not take any breaks because every second he had time to think about something else, he thought about Ava and how he felt like he was losing her.

He was exhausted when he got home, but as he laid in bed, sleep did not come to visit him. He kept tossing and turning thinking about Ava.

It was only 9 pm, and he knew that there was only one cure to his heartache.

To see Ava.

He got dressed, and with a renewed purpose in his step, he drove to her house.

Ava had just taken her bath and was doing her skincare routine. Being a former model, her mom had instilled this skincare routine early in life so that she won't worry too much about her skin when she gets older.

There was a message on her phone, "I'm waiting outside your house. I wish to see you," it came from Tristan.

When she did not reply, he sent another message, "I will wait here all night until you come out."

Ava looked out the window and saw Tristan's car parked a little further from her house. It just looked like another car, but she knew it was him. She was shocked that he came to see her at this hour.

She knew how stubborn Tristan could be when he set his mind on anything, so there was no point in hiding from him because she knows that she has to face him one of these days.

Changing into her outdoor slippers, she was glad that there was nobody in the living room, her parents, hopefully, were already asleep, and the servants elsewhere. Hoping that the front door would not make any noise, she snuck out of the house to see him.