Three thousand Six Hundred And Fifty two

"Ouch big bro be gentle. You'll break my head"

Back at Tristan's place, Mercy pushed his hand away from her head. Tristan glared at Mercy who quietly let him attend to her wound. After putting a plaster, he gave her a lollipop and she happily took it and went to her room to give them some space.

Tristan sat down opposite Gamal and Amber, lightly tapping the armset.

Gamal knew he was waiting to know what really happened but also wanted them to see what they did wrong. Which he was very sure they did nothing wrong.

"I and Mercy just followed Amber back to her place. We don't know why she went there"

Gamal said and looked at Amber who just kept staring at Tristan.

"My dad called me back. I gave out confidential information. No need to worry, I'll fix it."

Amber said so confidently that Gamal assured himself that she's really sick. How can they trust someone who doesn't care about her very own family even a little bit?

"Hmm. You can leave."

Gamal stared at Tristan with the words

*That's it?*

Written allover his face.

"Unbelievable"

He muttered under his breath and left. Amber stood up to leave but hesitated a little before finally going.

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5:57 WAT, Africa, Country Z

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"Any leads yet?"

"We spotted her in LA a month ago. She hasn't left America yet. If nothing goes wrong we might find her next week boss"

The Boss stared out the window with an expressionless face. Ten years of searching, three thousand six hundred and fifty two days apart, and now finally having a chance of being together.

"Hold on Kira"

He whispered to no one exactly with a hint of longing in his voice.

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Amber jolted from the bed as thunder rumbled outside and a heavy rainfall started. She took in deep breaths to calm herself down and went downstairs. She walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water and met Tristan there, making coffee.

He wore a black bathrobe with the chest exposed giving a glimpse of his well defined abs. Amber's eyes trailed down to the almost loosened belt and quickly adverted her gaze and cleared her throat. She took a glass of water and was about to leave when Tristan called her back.

"Amber wait. A moment please."

Amber turned to face him with great difficulty. Trying not to look at his chest again.

"Must you torture me? Why do you always allow it open. You tryin' to show the world you're handsome? Everybody knows for heaven's sake. Even though I had never noticed it"

"Amber are you listening to me?"

Tristan broke her line of thoughts. Amber blinked and scratched her eyebrow.

"Sorry you were saying?"

"If you're acting all nice so that I can call off the engagement then_"

"Don't call off!"

Tristan stared at Amber surprised by how quickly she rejected. Amber realized she had overreacted and chuckled.

"What I mean is, don't bother. With time we'll get to love each other. I don't need to act to get you to change your mind I can just run away. I realized how foolishly I always act and now I want to change."

Amber shivered as Tristan's cold and questionable gaze swept over her. She knew he didn't believe her but she really didn't know how to convince him.

"I swear I'm not pretending. I'll do anything to prove it. You can even test me or order me or..or... please don't heat me."

Amber's voice kept reducing as she spoke and moved backwards ending on the wall as Tristan kept moving towards her. He looked at her scared expression and his face darkened even more.

"You better not be lying Amber."

He warned her and walked away leaving his coffee . Amber took in deep breaths to calm her racing heart down. She stares at the coffee and pursed her lips then left with a glass of water.

Next day

Amber, Gamal and Mercy all made their way to school again. The moment they got off the car they received strange looks due to their previous fight. But they didn't care as they made their way to class.

The sorting exams were approaching.

Amber thought as the teacher explained the importance of the exam.

"This exam as you all know shall determine your classes. Our school is divided into three class categories. Class A, made up of the extremely intelligent students, Class B made up of the average and Class C made up of the worst who are likely to repeat. Being in Class A gives you broader chance of getting into a great university with lots of job opportunities. Class B gets you to a normal university and C, you either repeat or get expelled. You being sorted into Class A continuously till you graduate highschool is an even bigger chance. So I advise you take the exams seriously"

The teacher finished talking and walked out to make a call. The class immediately became noisy

"We all know a certain someone destined to be in C no matter how many times her family bribes"

"Yeah and another who blames to be family but never help her. She only survives on her adopted family's wealth "

Amber ignored the talks and insults and turned her gaze to Mercy to see her reaction. She didn't seem to care either.

Amber turned her gaze back to her books. She was determined to go back to her good grades. In order to make Tristan and his family loose interest in her, she even went as far as portraying herself as a dull bully in school. Failing, missing classes, even getting in fights with teachers.

Her stepmom would always do donations to the school in order to let her stay, portraying the perfect stepmom image.

Amber mentally slapped herself at her stupidity. She looked at Mercy and Gamal again. Especially Mercy. Casually playing with her phone, as usual, but still gets straight As

"Where exactly do I start with you?"

Amber thought