Caught by James

[Song Suggestion - Talking to the Moon(Bruno Mars)]

Ace squinted his eyes, unable to match her feelings then and a few minutes ago. "You....love me! Joke!! Should I laugh????? Hahhhaaaaaaa!! Happy? You are the one changing colours like a chameleon. Weren't you happy about going far away from me? Oh!!! You thought that I would plead so that you could laugh at me, and now since your plan didn't work out, you shifted back. Good!! Well done!! You proved that you are a city girl. Hands off!" Ace mocked, satirically laughing and grinning all the way.

Nina's shoulders dropped after hearing every word from him. She understood that Ace wouldn't believe any of her explanations. 'Ah!! Nina...what have you done? You spoilt the wonderful mood into an awkward situation. Wait!! If I am a chameleon, what is he? Wasn't he too speaking with double standards?' Her whole mind was in chaos, not knowing whether he loved her or not.

"Sorry!! You asked for suggestions, right? Let's go!" he rushed towards his uncles' room, holding her hand and taking longer steps. Poor Nina was almost being dragged as if she was an abandoned animal, but truly deep inside her heart, she felt the same. The joke and fun that she wanted to have by teasing Ace returned to her like a sharp knife to pierce her heart.

Upon reaching the office, he let go of her hand. "Uncle, I will leave after recommending some places to her."

"Ooooo....k" James lagged the word, noticing the bruises on Nina's cheek and her wet eyes. To ask about her, he glanced at Ace, who seemed like a boiling bear. "What happened to both of you?" James asked, but both of them didn't bother to answer what he was asking.

"Fine!! What are those marks on your cheek, Nina?" James huffed and inquired, examing those red imprints.

Sniffing the snot, she mewled faintly, "Nothing!", keeping her head down.

"Uff!! You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But those fingerprints on your right cheek are so vivid that I can't stop myself from asking you out of care."

Ace started recalling her face, stroking and smoothening his beard, but couldn't remember even a bit as he didn't bother looking at her in rage. He wanted to check if she was alright yet couldn't as he was standing left to her, making her right side invisible.

"Ahh!!! My neck is aching." James groaned, rotating his head. "Sit down, both of you!" Immediately as they sat down, he asked Nina regarding her preferences on how she wanted to spend the remaining twenty-five days before the full moon.

"I just want to stay in my home."

"What?" James screeched. Ace also turned his neck towards her, puzzled.

"The person I wished to go with didn't want to accompany me," she muttered, still keeping her head down. She analyzed everything but couldn't comprehend whether Ace behaved to her that way because of the joke or not. Though she truly wished that her joke must be the reason, she wasn't in a position to make him realize that she was neither a selfish nor an unstable person. In addition to the havoc she created, the numerous emotions and variations Ace had shown him left her in a dilemma on whether he loved her.

James spoke, disturbing her flow of thoughts, "Who was that idiot?"

"A person who believed in the joke that I would leave them for a trip."

James wriggled his head like a puppy drenched with water. He didn't get a clue on what she was speaking or who that person was. As he stopped moving his head restlessly, his eyes fell on the red spots on the napkin tied to Ace's hand. He moved his gaze onto his face to question but realized that Ace was staring at Nina with tender eyes.

"Is that a pity look or does it have any other meaning?" he asked himself, worried again and the tension he had before returned.

However, James assured himself that if it was only from Ace's side, he could plan something in order to separate them, but prayed to forbid Nina to have attachment with him.

Bracing himself, he looked at the blood on the cloth wrapped around Ace's hand to use as an instrument to check her feelings.

"Ace, what happened?" he sobbed, displaying all the sad emotions which he could.

"Ah!! It's nothing!" Ace brushed off the question

Not pleased with the response, James stressed the question and demanded again, "It's Bleeding!! What did you hit?"

Upon hearing that, Nina turned to James and tracked his gaze to a white cloth with many red patches. "Ace! How did it happen? Are you fine? Do you want to go to the hospital or at least first aid? Why are you so careless?" she thought to herself, wishing she could ask all of those questions that were buried inside. But fate played a game with her love life, she wasn't able to interpret anything, the way he dragged her mercilessly was enough to tell that he didn't have a tiny bit of affection for her.

"I hit the mirror in the bathroom!" still watching her.

"What the.....?" Nina thought to herself, but James said it out, "What the ....? My mirror!!" he cried. "Why?" he yelled, with anger that formed lines on the forehead.

"Because I was angry!"

"Why?" James moaned furiously. His concentration was then on his broken mirror as he confirmed that Nina didn't have any such feelings for Ace.

"Because I didn't like someone's joke."

"Joke?? I would have said a better joke. You don't have to punch on my precious mirror."

While James was weeping, Nina understood the mess that happened in that hour and saw Ace diagonally, making their eyes meet. Nina immediately turned away as a glimpse at him about up the memory of her being dragged and doubted.

The little LED bulb in James' brain suddenly lit up, "Is the joke that both of you spoke up, same? And the persons you both were speaking, are they you both?"

Even though both listened to James' question, they ignored it as they were more concerned about each other than that old man in front of them. Ace's heart was trembling and crying with guilt, recalling how he imposed all his anger on Nina.

On the other side, Nina's question regarding being loved by Ace was resolved, yet the behaviour he had shown to her was unforgettable and terrified her a lot.

Noticing the silence, "So, it's true!" James lamented under his breath with disbelief.