CHERRY BLOSSOMS

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: BLINDNESS ~ SOLE]

Lily walked faster, dragging Victoria with her so they could talk before they entered the strange man's car.

"Tori! We shouldn't get inside that man's car," Lily whispered when she was sure they were far from others' earshot.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "I worry for you, lil baby; you'll die in poverty. Why do you always reject rich men?" She tugged her friend's hands, worried that Lily would never hit the jackpot of wealth with the way she's too picky with men.

Lily inhaled deeply, "I'm not rejecting them...the thing is that man, he—" The young girl stopped talking when she saw the man coming closer to them.

"Any problem, ladies?" Raven asked, his eyes zeroed at the fondling fingers of the green-eyed girl who refused to meet his gaze.

Victoria jumped to stand in front, waving her hands, "No problem at all...my friend here is just concerned that we are getting a ride from a stranger."

Shadow nodded, "As every wise girl should act." He harrumphed, throwing his face to the side.

Victoria scowled at the man, ignoring his response she continued to suck up to the handsome man that had the perfect height of a model. "She's a little shy, and you know? Plain."

Raven dropped his gaze on the girl for a moment; she was just like any ordinary girl. It wasn't until he got to the clubhouse that he recognized the girl as the same person he tried to save a few weeks back in front of the flower shop. She looked different without her glasses, but it was her.

"As long as plain doesn't cause trouble and listens to instructions, this stranger won't harm." Saying this, Raven pressed the small car remote he was holding, and a black car outside beeped. He started walking to his car followed by Victoria said Shadow, who continued to glare daggers at themselves.

Lily gulped; others might not have noticed, but the man had subtly warned her to keep her lips shut. How was she supposed to enter his car knowing fully well what he was capable of doing? Out of fear, her legs refused to move from her position as they numbed up.

"Not now, please..." Lily cried, placing her index finger on her tongue tip; she placed it on her nose continuously until she was able to move. It was an act she was used to, whenever her leg felt numb. After doing this for a couple of minutes she ran towards the car.

As Lily got to where the car was, she found Victoria screaming excitedly.

"Woah!!! This is a BMW M5 competition....." Victoria's voice trailed as she gave precise details of the car.

Even Lily was stunned at how her friend knew the details of a car down to the year of production.

Shadow sneered, "You know your cars so well but you don't know how flat you are down there." He opened the front door and entered, ignoring the stunned girl.

Victoria opened the back seat door and joined arguing with the red-haired man who had openly called her buttocks flat. It was a big insult no girl would ever accept.

Before Lily entered the car, she saw the man she acknowledged to be the prince of hell staring at her while he stood in front of the driver's door.

"I'll assume that everything that happened today has been forgotten, yes?" Raven asked, locking the girl's eyes with his coppery brown ones.

Lily gulped, her hands holding her dress tightly she finally nodded her head. "Yes, I don't remember anything." She replied cautiously.

Raven nodded; she was plain but not so dumb. "Good now get in, let's end this night already."

Inside the car, Victoria and Shadow continued to throw spiteful words at each other. Lily nudged her friend to stop talking.

"Sir? How did you even become friends with this man? Was it during his treatment?" Victoria's question was directed to Raven who just let out a small shrug but didn't reply as he continued to focus on the road.

Lily wished her friend could just shut up and stop talking; Victoria didn't know these people and what they do, and she was already bickering with the man's friend.

For all Lily could think of, if they were dangerous people, she just wanted to get down from the car. Wait..Lily said in her mind, if this man should drive her home, he would know her house and maybe come to harm her!

Lily shuddered at the thought of the man creeping into her house now that her brother was not around to silence her for what she had seen; she clutched her bag tightly.

"I will get down here!" Lily shouted.

Raven looked at the girl from the rearview mirror; he noticed that she was scared of something. It was better that way, as long as she didn't go blabbering to her police friend.

Not that Raven was worried because he could get himself out with just a snap of the finger, but he tried as much as possible not to have such cases as some policemen wouldn't rest until they get something to ruin his image. And that type of policeman was this girl's friend.

"Lily, what are you doing? This is far from your house. Let him take you home Lily." Victoria advised, nudging her friend.

Lily looked up to catch the man staring back at her; then she heard his voice again.

"Let me take you home, Lily."

Lily couldn't retort; she just sat there afraid. Maybe it was time she moved from her house, but that wouldn't be possible until she gets her brother out of jail.

Victoria was the first to get down from the car; before she left, she said, "I'm Victoria, my friends call me Tori, what is your name Sir?" She asked flashing a seductive smile at the man who was driving.

"Have a goodnight Miss Victoria." Raven replied before he zoomed off from the place.

Victoria blushed, "So elegant and gentlemanly. Chivalry still exists in this age." She ran inside her apartment.

Lily sat inside the car like a scared rabbit; now that Victoria was not in the car, it felt as if she was being taken to the slaughterhouse. She couldn't raise her eyes because something in her told her that the man was still looking at her. She finally saw her house; Lily heaved a sigh of relief.

"That's my building, the yellow one." She pointed, holding her bag tightly ready to bolt once the car stops. But it didn't stop; they continued to move.

Lily didn't know when she started crying, "Please, please don't hurt me. ...I won't tell anyone anything; let me go." She begged the man to stop the car.

The car finally stopped, "I was trying to park well so I won't get a ticket. What has got you scared Lily?"

He called Victoria Miss but called her Lily. This man was really threatening her; he was going to kill her. Lily cried in her head; even the way he called her name caused her stomach to knot. She quickly dried up her tears.

"Nothing, sir; thank you for the ride." Lily opened the door and disappeared from the place without looking back.

Shadow watched the girl from the side mirror, "Someone that scared won't be a pusher. I guess we judged her too fast."

"We?" Raven asked.

Shadow laughed playfully, "It's all in the past. Why did you scare the girl so much? I wonder what she saw. By the way, thank you so much for saving me, I pledge my life to you—"

"Get out," Raven said curtly.

Shadow removed his seatbelt, "Here? Now?" He opened the door when he saw the cold hard stare from Raven.

The moment Shadow's two legs touched the ground, the car zoomed off.

"He didn't even give me some cash! How am I supposed to go home, that devil!" Shadow cursed, "where is this place?" He muttered.