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Alette's POV

The sounds of birds woke me up the next morning. I rubbed my eyes with my fists and opened them slowly, blinking as the bright light hit my face.

I looked around my room slowly, knowing fully well he wouldn't have stayed the night, and yet I felt the need to check.

His presence still lingered in the room; his faint smell had settled in the room somehow, leading me to wonder how long he had stayed last night. I don't remember him leaving because despite my headache, and the horrible event that took place in the car, I felt so peaceful with him around. I had fallen asleep quicker than ever before last night and I wasn't plagued with any nightmares; this was completely foreign to me. I was so used to having nightmares each night, especially on more stressful days.

I laughed humourlessly at myself; it felt cliché that I now thought that I owed my restful sleep and feelings of safety and peace to a man that I barely knew. It wouldn't be a smart idea for me to romanticize every action of his, but I couldn't help myself. My heart hadn't felt this light in ages, no matter how much I acted like it did.

Stopping my thoughts before they could spiral again, I got up out of bed and stretched my body out. Rubbing my eyes again, I softly sighed. That first stretch in the morning was just the greatest thing.

I started making my bed quickly so that my room felt clean and I could get ready for the day. After fixing my blanket, I moved over to fluff my pillow and a piece of paper flew up into the air. It went up, and slowly fell down.

My brows furrowed, why was there a paper under my pillow? The tooth fairy probably ran out of cash. I laughed under my breath at my own joke, and bent down to pick up the paper.

It was a small, pink, heart shaped sticky note. I recognized it from my desk; I probably was taking notes for a class and it got shoved under my sheets, I guessed.

I flipped the paper over in my fingertips and my heart almost jumped out of my chest.

His number.

There was no name, and no note, just a number, scrawled artfully on the sheet of paper, but I knew he had a left it.

I squealed and hugged it close to my chest; did this mean that he wanted me to message or call him?

Duh, the rude voice in my head chimed in.

I bit my lip contemplating whether or not I should send him a text. I knew that I had to thank him at some point for not only picking me up, but getting me ice cream, driving me home, keeping me safe, letting me cry, tucking me in and staying till I fell asleep. Not to mention, he had helped me that day I was stuck in a fence. The list of things he had done for me felt extensive, and I had only known the man for a few days at the most. I shook my head, trying to force the thoughts of me being a burden out of my head.

"Better thinking will lead to a better day Faye," I mumble to myself. Making up my mind, I quickly search the room for my phone.

My eyes drifted to my desk where I finally saw my phone, attached to the charger. I walked over in confusion, and then gasped as realization set in. My body warmed at the idea that he had put my phone on the charging at some point before leaving.

Taking my phone off charging, I quickly unlocked it and typed his number in.

Trying not to overthink it, I typed out about twenty-seven different messages before finally I decided to say:

I quickly sent the message and put my phone down. Then my eyes widened and I face palmed, grabbing my phone again.

I squealed and threw my phone onto my bed trying not to panic too much over the fact that I had sent him a text.

The sound of my room door opening made me jump, and Grams walked in, her eyebrow raised.

"Good morning precious girl, how are you feeling today?" she walked over to me and patted my cheek.

"Hi Grams, I'm okay, I was just going to take a shower," I replied to her, reaching over to give her a squish.

"I thought I heard some noises in your room, I just had to come and see if that little boy had snuck back in," she said teasingly.

I blushed and shook my head.

It was hilarious to me that Grams described Aresius as a little boy. That was probably the farthest thing to what he actually was.

"Did you hear him leave last night Grams?" I asked in hopes of subsiding her teasing.

She nodded. "He came downstairs a while later, and told me briefly what happened, and that you were asleep now. He's a good boy. Not much of a talker though."

She was right; he really wasn't much of a talker.

"Well, get ready for the day Faye, I'll be downstairs making some breakfast before I have to leave."

Her words cut off my train of thought that was headed in his direction again. I hadn't stopped thinking of him since I met him. I wondered if he maybe felt the same.

Highly improbable.

I nodded at Grams, giving her a small smile. I sat down on my bed once she shut the door, and thought about my plans for the day. Nothing.

It was then that I thought of the greatest idea. I should bake Aresius cookies to say thank you!

Suddenly giddy at the idea, I sprung up and off my bed, and ran to my closet. Quickly I chose my outfit, a sage green blouse with puffy sleeves, and light wash denim, straight cut jeans.

I rushed into the bathroom and quickly stripped down, avoiding looking into the mirror and at my body. Ignorance is bliss.

I showered and then brushed my teeth and washed my face. Moisturizing my body, I changed into my outfit and put my hair up in a little towel hat.

I walked out of the bathroom and into my room. My eyes flitted over to my phone that was still resting on the bed. I was too afraid to check if he had replied.

Wringing my hands together, I paced back and forth, not knowing what to do.

"Just do it, what's the worst that can happen," I whispered to myself determinedly.

Without thinking twice, I reached forward and grabbed my phone, and my stomach did somersaults.

He had replied.

"Yes!" I whispered, overjoyed. I quickly unlocked my phone and pressed my messages.

"Soon? Oh my goodness," my eyes widened, he wanted to see me. Soon.

I did a little happy dance, now even more excited to bake him some fresh cookies.

I hit send and then yelped, was that too many exclamation marks? Who cares, I'm just that excited to see him again and he deserved to know.

I quickly put my phone down and pulled off my head towel, letting my hair air-dry. I grabbed my towel and made my way downstairs, just in time to catch Grams leaving out the front door.

She looked up as I climbed down the stairs and beamed.

"I'm off to work Faye, I'll see you later, I love you," she waved.

"I love you too Grams, have fun at work!"

She closed the door behind her. She picked up shifts at the library in town from time to time. Not that she needed to work; Uncle Syl was against the idea completely, but Grams insisted, saying it kept her young. Whatever that meant.

I rushed into the kitchen and saw a little pink plate of breakfast that Grams had made for me. She had made me some scrambled eggs, French toast and blueberries on the side. Grams was the greatest.

I ate my food quickly and placed my dishes in the sink to wash. Putting on a cute ruffled apron, I took out all of the ingredients I needed for my favourite chocolate chip cookies. Plain and simple.

Who didn't like chocolate chip cookies?

Before I could even begin to think about the fact that he may not like chocolate chip cookies, I put the butter in a mixing bowl and began to make the batter.

When the dough was done, I put it in the fridge to chill for a little, while I cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes. After a quick clean, I took the dough out of the fridge and began shaping the cookies.

At the very last minute, I decided to just spread out the dough in the whole pan so that it could make a cookie sheet; that way, I could cut out some shapes using cookie cutters once they had baked.

I put the cookies in the oven and set a timer, running back to my room. I sat down in front of my vanity and quickly brushed my now dried hair out.

My mid-back length brown hair tended to get frizzy in the heat, so making it lay flat was a chore. I decided to put my hair into two Dutch braids to keep it out of my face, and so that it would be curly when I took the braids out at night.

Making sure everything looked okay, I grabbed my phone and walked back downstairs.

When the cookies were finally done, I took them out of the oven and of course burned my hand in the process. Putting the tray onto the counter, I ran my hand under cold water, and put on some ointment on the already forming blister. Wrapping up my hand in a band-aid, I put on a glove so that I could cut out the cookies.

Oddly enough, the first cookie cutter that my eyes fell upon was heart-shaped. Must be fate. I cut out some heart cookies and lined a white tin box with pink tissue paper, and then placed the cookies inside the box.

Cleaning up once more, I grabbed the box, put on some plain white shoes and grabbed my bike.

Then, I was on my way.

I made my way to the tattoo parlour, which is where I assumed he would be. The closer I got to my destination, the more anxious I became.

Should I have thought this through more?

Amidst my swirling anxiety however, the feeling of wanting to see him was growing stronger by the second. Taking a few deep breaths, I knew that I was getting close so I pushed back the feeling of fear that was gnawing at me. I made my way to the bakery where I worked first, and locked my bike in the area behind the bakery. I picked up the box of cookies out of the basket of my bike, and walked in the direction of 'STAMP.'

I crossed my fingers that there wouldn't be too many people there at this time. When I got to the door of the shop, it looked dark on the inside. Was it closed?

I raised my fist to knock on the glass door, but before I could, the door swung open. A man stood by the opened the door, his brow raised. I stepped inside the shop and looked at the man.

He had shoulder length ginger blonde hair, and a few piercings on his ears.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice wasn't unkind, but my heart still pounded in fear.

I clenched my fist, feeling my nails dig into my skin. I gulped and looked around; all of my vigour had flown out of the window.

I could feel the eyes of about a dozen other people that were in the room on me, and there was a prickling silence in the room. Funnily enough, none of the other people in the room seemed to be customers, and were all dressed similarly.

"Hello? Did you need something?" the man asked again, some concern audible in his tone.

I looked up at him and then my eyes darted around to the other people that were staring at me.

My hands shook.

"Hey, it's oka-"

His voice was cut off by the sound of footsteps coming from the loft upstairs. I looked up to see a figure appear on the overlooking second floor, their hands on the guardrail.

I squinted my eyes up, and that's when I saw the grey of his eyes, most of his face still covered in shadows from the lack of light. He looked at me, some surprise on his face. Not that I could see clearly in the darkness.

I swallowed again, my throat feeling dry.

"Get back to work."

His voice was strong, his command clear. Everyone around me instantly busied themselves with something to do.

Then with a nod of his head, he beckoned me upstairs. I quickly rushed towards the stairs, the same way that Tai had taken me last time. Ignoring the eyes that stared at me, seemingly in shock, I climbed up the stairs and walked quickly to where he was standing.

He didn't keep me waiting for long, and in two long strides, he was close enough to grab my hand. Which he did. Goodness me, his hand felt so nice against my plump fingers. He looked down at my other hand that was holding the box of cookies, and his eyes zeroed in on the gauze that I had used to cover the burn and I saw his jaw clench.

He tugged me forwards slowly and I followed him, grabbing his hand tighter. Hope he couldn't feel how clammy they were. He walked with me behind him and led me to a room; it was different than the one that Tai took me to before.

He let go of my hand, opened the door and stood in the doorway, giving me just enough space to walk into the room. I walked in slowly, clutching the box of cookies tightly in both hands. The room was big and there was a black desk placed in front of large window. There was a seat behind the desk and two more in front of it. There were a couple cabinets in the room and some shelves with books and files lined the walls. We were in his office.

He walked to where his desk was and leaned against it. He folded his arms in front of his chest, causing his arm and chest muscles to bulge against his dark coloured, full-sleeved top.

Holy cow. I gulped.

He raised a brow, looking at me expectantly.

I slowly opened the box of cookies with shaky hands, and walked closer to him. I held out the box towards him and looked up at him through my lashes.

"I made this for you, Aresius."

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unedited