Ivy started driving her car with Joshua trailing behind her closely. Even though it was around ten at night, the night was still young. The road was not as deserted as she had thought it to be. There were many people still driving around on the streets. This gave her some confidence. But what gave her courage was that Joshua was there to look out for her.

She looked at the rearview mirror and noticed Joshua right behind her. She smiled unknowingly, happiness and warmth gushing through her heart. She had never felt this protected after her father's disappearance. It was as though he was her personal protective shield. He did not have to follow her and ensure her safety. They had nothing between them. But the fact that he came just for her made her admire him more.

Joshua saw her peeking at him once a while through the mirror and he grinned. At that moment, he found her to be cute and adorable. She was not the Ivy who had daringly followed the woman to a pub, nor was she the gutsy journalist who had made an entire clinic crumble into ash. Right now, she was just an alluring woman who had unknowingly decided to depend on him and this made him jubilant. He had the sudden urge to protect her for his entire life.

While driving, Joshua also kept an eye to see any potential stalkers. However, he did not find anyone nor anything suspicious. He then remembered something. When he had last visited Ivy's house, he had seen someone following them. He had assumed the person to be tailing him. But now he understood that it was Ivy who the person had in mind. He clenched his fists in anger. His mood changed at once and his hands started to crave for blood. He wanted to kill the person who was making Ivy worry.

Once again, he saw Ivy taking glance at him in the mirror and his anger cooled down the next instant. It was as though she had calmed the bloodthirsty beast inside him and this surprised him. He wondered what was wrong with him. This had never happened before. Whenever he got angry, it would take at least an hour for it to subdue. But this girl had tamed him within minutes. He was confused himself with this sudden change.

It took them some time to reach Ivy's house. The restaurant was quite far from the area. Ivy looked around her to see if that bastard of a Tim was anywhere nearby. However, to her happiness, she found no one. She took a deep breath and drove her car to the basement of the apartment complex.

Joshua too had kept on eye on to see if anybody was suspicious, but he found none. Seeing Ivy go in, he let out a sigh. He stopped his car in front of the building. He wanted to wait a few minutes just to make sure that there was no possible threats. However, he had not expected Ivy to come running back outside.

Dreading the worst possible outcome, he got off the car and rushed to her. "Ivy, is everything alright? What happened? Why did you come back running?" He fired the questions in worry and hugged her, shocking Ivy. Her heart thundered in her chest and her brain short-circuited. It took her some time to analyze what had happened.

Ivy felt his hands on her waist and she froze in her place. This was the first time she had been this close to any man and her heart couldn't control the excitement. It was not listening to her mind and was dancing to its own tune. How much ever she tried, it was still on a sprint. She was blushing furiously. Only she knew how hard it was for her to squeak out the words to calm the man.

She found her lost voice after a lot of time and tried to soothe the over-anxious man who was still hugging her. "Calm down, Mr. Worrywort. I am fine. I came back to send you off."

Joshua was so perturbed seeing her sprint back that he had not noticed he had unknowingly hugged her. Now that he heard Ivy assure him, he realized their awkward position. He could feel her soft chest pressing against his body and his throat become dry in an instant. He gulped trying to soothe the fire that he had inadvertently lit in his body.

Realizing the position they were in, he withdrew from her immediately and coughed in embarrassment. The sudden loss of warmth made Ivy frown a little. His hug had made her lean closer to his body to get more of his scent. She could smell the faint fragrance of his cologne and it calmed her nerves. She wanted to stay in his embrace a little longer. Realizing her thoughts, she was surprised herself. This was a first for her to think this way. An awkward situation engulfed them and nobody said a word. 

Seconds turned to minutes, yet nobody had spoken. Joshua was staring at the sky while Ivy's eyes were fixed on the ground, each not daring to look at the other person. It was not until a car zoomed on the street, did their trance break.

"I guess it's time for me to leave." Joshua started.

"Yes. Thank you so much for today." Ivy replied, her eyes still not meeting his.

"No problem." 

Nobody spoke a word about the hug. The topic was on their mind but it never made till their tongue. Joshua gave Ivy one last glance before he got inside his car and drove away. Ivy waited until she could not see the car anymore before she went inside the apartment. 

Her heart was yet to come down from its excited state when she met her neighbor in the lift. The fifty-year-old woman was grinning at her like a Cheshire cat. From her face, Ivy could make out that the woman had seen everything that had transpired a few seconds back. But what was this woman doing outside at this time of the night? As an answer to her unasked question, she heard a bark and she looked down. Of course, the woman took her labrador for a walk every day after dinner. How could she forget it?

Ivy waited impatiently for the elevator door to open and when it did, she dashed to her house in a blink. The woman watched her run for her life and laughed at her cuteness. Now she had something to gossip about with her friends in the building in their next meet.