Hong Kong: Knight Family

"I can make arrangements for your flight home," Beau announced, shifting in his seat. Stellar just alighted the car, and the chauffeur was holding the door open for her. Slightly bowing after hearing Beau speak, Stellar shook her head to decline his offer.

"I already booked a flight. It'll be a waste of money to refund it. Thanks." Stellar pressed her lips together. She wanted to say more, but she didn't want to lengthen their conversation.

She was itching to say 'See you', but really? That was the last thing she wanted to happen.

So she bade him goodbye with a wave of her hand, and turned on her heel, and never looked back.

It was apparent that Beau got her cutting all ties they had. She noticed it when he kept a distance from her after their dinner.

A prick in her heart made Stellar frown. It hurts. His withdrawn treatment hurts. Since she asked for it, she had to suck it up and let the pain go away on its own.

While waiting for the elevator doors to open, Stellar was having an internal monologue on how she would explain herself to Holden.

Earlier, while Beau dragged her away, she just stayed still on his shoulders and didn't fight back. Something told her that if she as much as kicked her feet in the air or rain punches on Beau's back, a fight would break out between Beau and Holden.

So she just let Beau whisk her away and waved a goodbye to Holden as they rounded a corner in the hallway.

How would she explain things to Holden now? After almost three hours of being gone, for sure he had put the puzzle pieces together, especially when he asked her last time if someone broke her heart after she asked him to cut her hair.

The ding of the elevator snapped her from her reverie. She rode the elevator car with her shoulders dropped and a gray cloud of worry hovering above her head.

Reaching the floor of the Airbnb studio, Stellar halted in her tracks. She saw two men dressed in suits standing guard outside the door.

They wore thick black glasses when it was already nine in the evening, and the darkness blanketed the city.

"Uhmmm, excuse me, sirs," Stellar trailed off. "Can I enter my rental?"

It was ridiculous. Why would she ask permission for entry over a place she paid with her own money? But what made her scoff was one of the men raising a single brow at her.

Red, the guard to her right trailed off, "Name?"

"Stellar."

"Twinkle, I'm asking for your legal name. First and last name," Red sneered, and squared his shoulders. He'd been a detail for so long, he knew the smaller ones were the deadliest assassins of them all.

Stellar's lips turned into a thin line. Who on earth are these thugs? And did he just call her Twinkle?

Like a little star?

Jutting her chin up and oozing with bravado, Stellar responded, "My name is Stellar Cross, sir. And I rented that place."

Her hand pointed towards the door, but the men were quick to draw their guns pointing it at her.

It caught Stellar off-guard, she leapt and hit her back on the wall. On reflex, she raised her hands up in surrender, and her knees shook in terror.

"Keep your hands up, Twinkle," Red ordered. Pressing a button on his lapel while his other hand gripped on the gun, Red spoke, "We have a Stellar Cross, purple hair outside."

Immediately, the door flew open and panic washed over Holden's face at the sight of Stellar's shaken form. "Jesus! Take it easy guys! You almost killed the girl with shock."

"Protocols, Young Master." The guards withdrew their guns and hid it under their suit jackets.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. Just a little surprised." Relief flooded Stellar's face at a familiar sight.

"You're safe. Don't worry. By the way, we have visitors," Holden informed her.

A million questions swirled in her head, but she was too terrified to even speak, and his words barely registered on her.

Relaxing her was Holden's hand sitting on top of her head, shuffling Stellar's hair. It comforted her, enough to ease her racing heart.

"Your guards are intense…" Stellar laughed it off. She then stood behind Holden's back to seek shelter, but paused to peek at Red's face.

She noticed Red's jaw ticked when Holden cupped the guard's shoulders and whispered something in his ear.

An odd satisfaction pooled in Stellar's belly at the sight of Red's face almost in tears. But what she found more odd was the thought of why would a burly man such as Red be terrified of a gentle soul like Holden?

It's not like Holden could easily fire a security detail. It takes years of training and trust to find someone whose duty was to protect you. Her curiosity told her to ask Holden later once they got inside.

Shifting her gaze from Red to Holden, she tugged the hem of his shirt. "That guy scared me the most. You should give him a raise," she tattled. Feeling invisible with Holden's protection, she playfully quipped as she passed by Red, "And my name is Stellar, not Twinkle."

Stellar felt Holden's back stiffened. Did she go too far with her banter? Why did it feel as if anger steamed off Holden's skin? Suddenly, she felt the temperature in the hallway drop to below freezing, and the once fluffy sweater provided zero warmth for her.

"How about Chuck? Did Chuck call you names?" Holden asked. His tone was flat, but the heaviness was enough to crush one's spirit.

Shaking her head, Stellar responded, "No. He was nice." She saw Chuck smile, so she replied with a smile of her own.

Peering to the side, she saw Holden flick a lint on Red's suit jacket. He was not saying anything, but why did the gesture feel like a threat?

Or was she overthinking things again? Brushing the thought away, Stellar pushed Holden's back for him to move forward and inside the rental unit. "Aiyaaa. Let's head inside. We need to brainstorm for our next trip."

"Next trip? Wahahaha! Magnificent! Magnificent!"

Stellar froze in her spot. That voice didn't belong to Holden, but it sure sounded familiar.

What the F was going on?

Angling her head, she saw a man in his sixties sitting on a foldable chair beside the small table.

"Chairman," Stellar immediately bowed upon seeing Audi Knight, Chairman and CEO of Knight Steel Corporation and Holden's father. And with her head still bowed, her eyes then traced to the set of Hermes mules right next to the chairman.

"Good evening, Mother. Oh no, Auntie…" She rummaged her brain for a name.

What was her name again? Porsche? Lexus? As though a lightbulb glowed in her head, Stellar looked at Holden's mother and smiled.

"Hello, Aunt Lotus. My name is Stellar," Stellar greeted while slightly bowing, hoping she got the name right.

"Watch your back, sweetheart, and you don't need to bow next time we see each other, okay?" a voice so meek and mild tickled Stellar's bones.

Such refinement could only belong to a lady born as a princess and raised to become a queen, just like her sister Cassy.

Upon realizing where her thoughts were dragging her, Stellar straightened her back and reprimanded herself for comparing her and Cassy at any chance she got. It was a bad habit of hers that she wanted to outgrow soon.

Her eyes then flitted to the makeshift dining area. Studying Holden's parents, confusion painted on Stellar's face. Her head snapped between Holden to her right and to the left where his parents sat.