Chapter 29

Already half asleep, the lights rays wakes me as I temporarily get blinded by the sun's light. Fragments of the other day's date comes flowing through my mind. The thought of it makes me smile in my sleep. But as I turn around, I still don't see Anette sleeping beside me.

She hasn't gone home for two nights. Where could she be?

I look at the clock and it's already past eight o'clock. I shoot her a text and ask where she is. Because I'm alone, I cook something for myself. I grab some eggs from the fridge and heat up the pan. I threw the eggs in the pan and let itself cook for a while. Suddenly my phone rang. It's Ivan's number. I excitedly pick up the call.

"Hey Ivan." I say, smiling hysterically.

"Hey" He says.

"What's up?" I ask him.

"So I planned on going to the cafe but it's closed today, and I couldn't think of anywhere to go. I don't wanna stay home either.." He says, I felt a sense of nervousness from his voice. "So umm..."

"Can I stay with you..?" The thought of him coming over makes my cheeks more flustered than ever. I couldn't speak. The nervousness I feel bothered him and the next thing I know there's a knock on my door. It must be Anette. I turn the stove off, still on the phone and I walk to the door.

"Just a second" I tell Ivan. As I opened the door, my eyes widened as the sudden visitation suprises me.

"Ivan?!" I shout in surprise. Ivan appears in front of my door, phone on one hand and packed lunch in the other.

"So is that a yes..?" He asks, with a smile on his face. His sudden visitation suprised me since we were on talking on the phone. And without a second passed, I nodded.

"H-how did you get here? How'd you know where I live?" I stutter, my heart beating at the sight of him.

"Shouldn't I know where my girlfriend's living..?" He pouts. I blush as I heard the word girlfriend from him. I lower my head and gestures for him come in. He goes to the living room and sit on the sofa after putting down the lunch pack. I stand in front of him and he looks up to me.

"What made you come here?" I ask him, curious of what happened. He sighs and stands to face me, a smirk in his face.

"Shouldn't I come because I missed my girlfriend?" He grins, as he touches my cheeks. As his fingers brush on my cheeks, I feel heat rise to every part of my body. This is highly unusual to happen.. but it makes me happy. I hide my flushed cheeks and turn around.

"Since when did you even start saying those things! It doesn't suit you!" I complain. Then I felt arms wrapping around my waist, making my heart race even more.

"And you're embarrassed about it?" He asks mischievously. His words makes me more flustered and I just brush off the conversation with the lunch he brought.

"W-why don't we just eat lunch instead?" I ask breaking free from his embrace to the packed lunch he prepared. As I reach the lunch pack, he immediately took my wrist.

"Not yet. Let's eat later! I want to spend time with you." He said, making my heart race even more. I nodded in response.

Thinking of what to do, I suggest some things we can do at home. And we decided to just watch a movie. With both of us, snuggled up on the couch, I couldn't ask for more to make me happy. And in the middle of the movie, we decided to eat them. As I was going to start with the dessert, his spoon stopped mine. I looked at him and his eyes tells me to start with the other's instead.

"What?" I ask him, totally bummed with him. I pout as I take my spoon back.

"Come on. You'll have it after you eat the main course." He says as he reaches for my cheeks to pinch it. "Please?"

"Tsk. Fine." I say as we eat happily and chat all the way. The dining room full of laughs and stories as we continue eating. I finish my food and excitedly take the slightly melted sundae in my hand. At last I get to eat my sundae! I sit down the sofa and turn to face Ivan looking at me. I raise my brow with question and he just shakes his head and laughs. I savor my first scoop of the sundae and sweetness covers my mouth. Every taste just keeps getting better and sweetness. Sweetness that couldn't compare with Ivan.

Or so that's what I thought..

As I finish the sundae, I threw the cup away and went to my bedroom to fix our bed since I forgot to fix it this morning. I take the blankets and fold them. Then a sudden headache came banging in my head. The pain doesn't feel like a normal headache. It's more painful and unbearable. I hold my head with one hand and take hold of the cabinet to balance myself. What's happening..

Then I hear footsteps coming from the hall. Ivan. I can ask Ivan for help. I turn to the door and see Ivan already there. No feelings or expressions. His face frowning like it's never before. My head eases a little but I still could barely balance myself. His hands on his pockets, he takes a step. But instead of feeling at ease, I grow frightened. I take a step back. His aura changed.

"Ivan.. I have a terrible headache.. can you get me some water..?" I ask him. Then he stopped in front of me, chuckling wryly, as if he's mocking me.

"You don't need water. You'll be fine." He says, as he took something out of his pocket. A rope. Bewildered, I continue to back away from him until I felt the bed from the back of my knees. Then the headache came back, but now it's even worst than before. I groan from the pain and I could just hear Ivan laughing. "I can't believe you're this weak, Ruby."

I froze from his words. Did he just say Ruby..? Surprised, I look up to him. His facial expression didn't change. I think back to myself how or when I mentioned my job to him but I don't recall anything. I brush of his words which only makes things worst.

"There's no need to hide Ruby." He says, wrapping the rope around his hand and walking towards me. I avoid reaching a corner every time so I'm basically turning every now and then. "So just stay still because I need to bring you alive. If that's you want that is."

He suddenly tries to wrap me with the rope but I dodge it. His reflexes are far more swifter and smoother than mine which will probably give me a disadvantage. With the rope in both hands, he doesn't stand a chance against me. Punches, kicks, he has too many openings. His speed is no match for my attacks. His face is now full of irritation as he drops the rope and takes another thing from his pocket again.

A pocket knife.

The danger I'm in can't be avoided since he's blocking the way out. I try to think of a solution but nothing comes to mind. As he attacks, I just dodge every single of it. But at a certain point of escaping, he broke a picture frame on the cabinet. Misbalancing myself, I fall into the glass. My hands and sides already bleeding and I couldn't stop it. The excessive bleeding gave me lesser power, making me pass out.