Surprised covered my face as my phone rang and Alec's name registered on my phone screen. "Excuse me. Give me a second." I told the man presenting and answered the call from him. My first thought is that its about Mara. The second is the fact that the last time we saw each other, he got so wasted that Emil needed to pick him up from the bar we were at. I still didn't know what he meant by his words that night. He's been very cryptic about his life lately and about the investigation he's doing on Amelia.

"Are you busy, Dustyn?" Alec asked as soon as I said hello.

I wanted to roll my eyes at his manners. "A hello would suffice. But yeah. I have about seven people behind me wondering who the fuck I'm talking to."

"Ass. I need you to stay with Mara. I'll be gone for a few days." He said as I heard a car start.

"I can do that. But where are you going? May's death anniversary will be in a few days." I said, reminding him of a very important day for them. Before we left for college, the two of us made it a habit to bring Mara to the cemetery every year on May's death anniversary. We even celebrate her birthday.

"I know. I'll be back for Mom's anniversary. I just need to go to Spain and clear up some issues."

Spain? "That's May's birth country. So this is a family issue?" I asked him. At this point, I've decided to leave the room. Despite talking in a low voice, I can't risk these people eavesdropping on personal matters that they didn't need to know. "Does Mara know?"

"Of course not. She knows I'm going to Spain. But that's it." He said.

"Does this have to do something about what you said the last time we saw each other?" I asked when I notice that he wasn't really giving me a reason as to why he's abruptly decided to visit their relatives in Spain and leave Mara behind. He usually brings her with him when he goes to visit their relatives in Spain.

"Yes. No. Maybe." He said, sighing as he did. "I don't know yet. I gotta go. I'll call you to check on Mara." He said and dropped the call.

"Asshole." I said under my breath and entered the meeting room again. Every one is looking me expectantly. "Sorry about that. Can't ignore my future brother in law." I said with a smile to which everyone nodded their heads with smiles on their faces.

, I found Emil waiting for me at the living room. He looked stressed and restless. A woman comes down from the stairs leading up to the bedrooms with a tray of food in her hands, looking equally worried as Emil. The food in the tray looks untouched and cold.

"Emil." I said, snapping him out of his trance.

Quick to his feet, Emil walks closer to me and gets the coat in my arm. "Sir. Miss Mara is in her room."

"Was that for her?" I asked, nodding my head towards the woman who is now reheating the food from the tray. "How long has she been in her room?"

"Yes, that's for her. We asked their housekeeper to cook her dinner before she left for the night. Nica's been waiting outside of her room for three hours." Emil explained, putting my coat neatly on the couch.

"Did something happened?" I asked him. Wondering what could possibly be the reason behind shirtcake locking herself up in her room.

"Mr. Alec and Miss Tamara had an argument before he left. Prior to that, one of her classmates were bothering her." Emil reports flawlessly. "And by that I mean, Noah Natividad."

I raised my eyebrow at him to which Emil just shakes his head. It seems that this guy did something that Mara didn't like or that bothered her. I know she isn't one to react to simple things. She isn't that petty.

"Can I go up?" I asked Emil.

He looked surprised qt my question at first but nodded his head. "Mr. Alec told us to let you do your thing. Except that you should sleep in his room."

I almost wanted to laugh at that. Despite leaving in a hurry, he found the time to tell Emil in a not so subtle way, to mind my boundaries inside his place. Only Alec.

I didn't waste another second and went up the stairs to Mara's room. Her door is closed but as I try to turn the knob, I found that it wasn't locked as the two people downstairs have thought. I could see the light slipping out from under the door, determining that she is still awake.

"Shortcake?" I called, knocking on the door softly. I could hear shuffling from the other side and footsteps walking near to the door. "Are you okay?" I asked when she didn't make any move to open the door. Maybe she just stood there in front of it, debating on whether to open it or not. Who knows.

"I'm fine, Dy." She said, her voice low and groggy. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't really think Alec would leave you with only Emil and Nica, did you?" I asked her. We both know her brother like the back of our hands. It wouldn't surprise either of us of this arrangement he somehow made despite being in a hurry.

"Yeah, I guess." She said almost sounding gibberish.

"You wanna open your door for me, shortcake?" I asked. I feel like she cried or has been crying since Alec left, but I couldn't be sure if I don't see her. I want to make sure that she's okay and maybe, persuade her into eating something before turning in for the night.

She goes quiet for a while. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dy." She finally says.

My shoulders dropped in disappointment. She must not be feeling well to let me see her. "Okay. I'll ask Emil to bring you a glass of water. I'll be in Alec's room, if you need me." I told her. "I love you, shortcake."

"Okay. I love you too."

After telling Emil to give Mara a glass of water, I retire in Alec's room. As expected, it was in a pristine condition. Neat and screams of Alec. The only pictures in his room is one on his left bedside table. A family picture of them with May when she was still alive. He has Mara on his arms while May and Jack are sitting beside him with huge smiles. The other one is of him and Rory.

Other than that, the room is pretty spacious. No curtains on his huge windows and No personal things lying around the room. It seemed like he cleaned or took most of it with him, judging by the state of the room.

I climbed on the bed after having a shower and making sure that my phone is on loud speaker, and that the door is unlocked in case there was an emergency or Mara needed me.

requesting that we meet her at this bakery place so we can try some of their cakes and possibly pick one for our wedding.

When I got down to the kitchen, Emil, Nica and Mara were already there talking. An older woman is at the stove cooking some pancakes and bacon.I walked behind Mara and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, making her jump from her seat in surprise.

"Good morning sir." Nica said with a nod of her head. Nica is a small woman with pixie cut black hair. Her face has those resting bitch face. But she looks like someone who could easily take down Emil if she wanted to.

I give her a smile and a nod of my own. I turn my attention to my shortcake. "Sleep well?" I asked.

She smiles. "You're asking as if this is your house." She jokes as she turns around to face me. Her eyes are a little swollen, a telltale sign that she was crying last night. However, the smile on her face was not fake. She is genuinely happy at the moment, as if whatever happened last night, never happened. "I should be asking you that."

I shrugged my shoulders and kiss the tip of her nose. "We would be at my house if Alec didn't take you away."

She laughs at my childish way of saying that. "Did he? Come on. Mrs. Aldour cooks the best food in this place."

"Okay." I said, taking a seat next to her. "Clarisse is asking if we could got to this bakery so we can, maybe, pick a cake for the wedding. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I just have to wait for Artemis, she's dropping off some books I borrowed from her mom." She said, biting on the bacon she picked up from the freshly cooked batch that Mrs. Aldour made. "Hmm.."

"Did you plan on spending time together? We can move the schedule with Clarisse." I said, as I place a pancake on my plate and drizzle it with some chocolate syrup.

I know they're both busy with their requirements and stuff. And it's been a while since I last saw the two of them or even the three of them hanging out outside of school. It'll be good for Mara to relieve some of her stress and spend time with her friends.

"Well...." She drags on, getting my attention to hers. "We were going to go shopping. Then I asked her to give some opinions on Rory's designs. Thought maybe we could slim down my choices so Rory can start making it." She admits.

"Then I'll cancel with Clarisse." I said, pulling the phone from my pocket and quickly sending a message to Clarisse. I look back at Mara and she's staring wide eyed at me. "What?"

"You didn't have to do that!" She said, to shocked at what I just did to lower her voice down.

"Inside voices, please, Miss Tamara." Mrs. Aldour says to her.

"Sorry." She said to the woman before turning her attention back to me. "We might not get another schedule in that same place."

"It's okay, shortcake. There's a lot of other bakers in the city. We won't run out of them." I told her with a smile. At this point, the other three people in the room have made themselves scarce, giving us privacy.

"That's not the point." She said under her breath. "I mean, we're already rushing the wedding. Now we have to re-schedule."

I faced her and got hold of her right hand in mine. "We're not rushing anything. We just have a shorter amount of time to plan. It's okay to reschedule. You have plans and Clarisse didn't give us a heads up prior to her text." I told her. "It's not your fault, shortcake."

I can tell she's still thinking whether or not she should just go pick a wedding cake or hang out with Artemis. "Are you sure?" She asked, her eyes are almost pleading me to say no.

"Yes." I said letting out a small laugh when disappointment crossed her face. "It's okay."

"Miss Mara, Artemis is here." Emil says, coming from the living room behind him is Artemis.

"Oh. Breakfast with the fiance." Artemis said, teasing Mara with a huge smile on her face.

"You're early." Mara said, standing up to give her friend a brief hug. "Did you bring it?"

Artemis nodded. "Of course. And I brought a stray cat with me." She says pointing her finger to Apollo who looked like he just rolled out of bed as he yawns his way in the room.

"You look like you just got out of someone's bed." I said, smirking as I take note of the wrinkled shirt and the inside out jacket he wore over it.

"You would know, right?" Apollo asked, not affected about the fact that he just up and left a woman's house and somehow, Artemis found him on her way here.

"Okaaaay. Respect the man Apollo." Artemis said, elbowing her brother to shut him up. She gives a glare to which Apollo ignores. Instead he focuses his attention to Mara who is looking apprehensively at him.

"Where did you find him?" Tamara asked Artemis.

"Five blocks from school. He was heading to the direction of our house when I found him."

"You did not." Tamara said looking horrified.

"What? What did he do?" Artemis asked looking between the two who seems to be having a silent conversation.

"He's very interested with that girl he was partnered in one of his major subjects. Scarlett Lamb, I think." Mara said, still glaring at Apollo. "What did you do?"

"First of all, I'm not just interested. I kinda of like her okay? Second, I did not have sex with her. We were working on our final project when her grandma told me I should stay over cause it was really late. Like twelve midnight or something." Apollo said, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Why do I not know about this?" Artemis said, looking out of place as she tries to figure out what is happening. Well, she's not alone. It seems that Mara and Apollo are closer than I thought for them to have secrets between the two of them. After all, they are best friends but I just assumed Artemis is closer to her than Apollo.

"Can we not talk about this here? He's listening." Apollo said, giving me the stink eye.

So maybe I should've left when they started talking about his love life, but I didn't. Mara and Artemis didn't seem to care that I was there. It seemed that Apollo is just uncomfortable that these two girls are grilling him for answers in front of someone he didn't really know.

"We will talk about this. Starbucks now." Artemis said pulling Apollo along with her. "We'll wait for you at our car, Mara!"

"That was interesting." I said, smiling at Mara as she shakes her head at her friends.

"It was. I have to go before Art decided to interrogate Apollo." She said looking sorry for leaving abruptly.

"She an FBI or something?" I joked as I hand her her phone she left on the counter beside her plate.

"Worse." She said. She kissed me on the lips before running out of the room. I shouted after her to wait for Nica to which she just responded with an okay.

"Emil." I called. I know he's somewhere lurking. He has that habit.

"Sir."

"What do you know about Noah Natividad? Don't even try to deny it." I said, giving him the warning before he even tries to deny the fact that he knows something.