chapter 17

Nixxia was dragged inside an empty white room, her back slamming against the door.

"You will say nothing to my sister; to her, you're my bodyguard, understand?" Vernon's eyes pinned Nixxia in a place.

Nixxia nodded slowly, "Are you asking me to lie?" She frowned.

Vernon was taken aback by the question; it seemed like the mute Nixxia was better; she would never have questioned him because she couldn't put words together.

"I'm not asking you. I'm ordering you," Vernon stated.

"Now, remember that she is the reason why you're alive; until she leaves this house, you shall not mention Raja in front of her, got it?" Vernon looked as if he was scared to raise his voice and it made Nixxia wonder why he was hiding Raja from Bianca.

She stared at Vernon's face closely, observing him, "I really do not know Raja. Just let me go, I just want to see the world," Nixxia said in a quiet voice.

"Let you go? So you can run back to your boss and tell him about my secret warehouse in my beach house? My spy had identified you as one of Raja's spies, yet you have the nerve to ask me to set you free, not happening." Vernon scoffed, his brows creasing.

He eyed Nixxis from head to toe, taking in her stiff form, "As a matter of fact, you're staying wherever I am. Are we clear, Ms. Amnesia?" He questioned sternly; it was time he followed Dr. Zee's orders of keeping Nixxia close; by doing so, he'd make sure that she had no contact with his sister.

Nixxia wasn't happy, this was her life they were speaking of, "What if I'm innocent in the end? Will you let me go?" She questioned, leaning off the door and looking Vernon right in the eye.

Vernon shrugged one of his shoulders, "I have no business with someone as useless as you. However, do pray that Raja doesn't recognize you; if he does, I'll kill you right away; I don't care if you've recovered your stupid memories or not," He took out a cigarette to light, searching for his lighter in his pocket.

Nixxia sighed, "I understand, can I go now?" She asked, needing to leave the place before the cigarette got lit.

"Get lost," He ordered and lit his cigarette.

Nixxia quickly turned and pushed the door, but it didn't budge. She pushed it again, again, and again, but it didn't budge.

She paused and gulped when she heard Vernon's footsteps approaching her.

'Had the devil locked me here to kill me?'

She froze when she felt Vernon come up behind her; Vernon's arm stretched past her and holding the door knob, "You pull," Vernon's angry voice sounded beside Nixxia's ear.

Nixxia frowned as she felt her locket vibrate; it wasn't the kind of vibration it gave for Hue; it was something that felt strange like an unknown yearning, as if it was trying to tell her to get closer to something or someone.

"You're testing my patience," Vernon snapped.

Nixxia blinked out of her thoughts and spontaneously shifted back to get away from the door so that Vernon could pull the door open; however, she felt her foot stump heavily on Vernon's foot.

She gasped and quickly turned to face Vernon, "By the oceans! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -"

"Be still!" Vernon slammed his hand beside Nixxia's face on the door.

Nixxia shut her mouth the moment she realized that she was once again stepping on Vernon's toes. She bit her lips and slowly raised her face up to look at Vernon's murderous face, "Sorry," She whispered, stepping closer to the door.

Vernon would have strangled Nixxia if not for his sister in the house, due to a traumatic past, he never performed violence in front of her or anywhere near her. He took a deep breath and glared at Nixxia, "Get out of the way! What are you staring at?!" He was exasperated when he saw Nixxia standing robotically by the door, staring at his face as if he were wearing a clown's nose.

Nixxia blinked, chastising herself, "Sorry," She muttered once again and spun around to face the door, quickly pulled it open, and hurried out of the room.

She couldn't believe it, her locket wanted her to get closer to that monster! Not happening! If Vernon was the only thing that could fully activate the locket's powers, then, she'd happily return to the ocean than to let Vernon close to her.

"Ooff!" Nixxia grunted as she collided with Bianca, who was hurrying out of the door opposite the one Vernon had dragged her into.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Bianca apologized with a smile.

Nixxia shook his head, "Um, no, I'm sorry, too, I should have looked better," She apologized, too.

"We're even then," Bianca giggled.

Nixxia quickly glanced behind her to check if Vernon was out yet; she needed to leave before he came out and met her speaking to his sister; he had warned her to stay away from her.

"I will be leaving now, Ms. Bianca," She nodded and quickly walked off.

Bianca was about to hurry after her when Vernon grabbed her arm, "Let her go, it's time for her to take her medication," He lied.

He was going to restrict all forms of interaction with Bianca and Nixxia.

"Oh, but she forgot this book in the living room, maybe it could be important for her healing?" She asked, bringing out a book from behind her.

Vernon frowned, he had seen the book in Nixxia's hand when she was entering the living room with Armani.

"Give it, I'll take it to her," Vernon said, taking the book from Bianca.

"Wait," Bianca held Vernon's hand as he was about to flip the book open.

"What?" Vernon asked.

"Don't you think it's inappropriate to open someone's book, what if this is where she writes down her personal stuff?" She reasoned.

Vernon raised a brow, "You know the rules, Bianca; once they're under my roof, there's no such thing as privacy. You know it," He smirked and gently slapped her hand away.

Bianca frowned, "Hmm, but I'm curious too, let's see what the mysterious female guard has written inside her book. The guy seems kind of off to me, maybe because she lost her memories? Just open it already - Damn!" Bianca gasped the moment Vernon flipped open the first page of Nixxia's book.

Vernon wasn't left behind in the shock, but he forced himself not to react.

As he stared at a well-illustrated image of his face on the first page, he didn't know how to react. He blankly stared at it, trying to figure out why the background looked so familiar.

"This girl is spectacular, look what she did with a simple pencil! I can't even write my name with it and not have my hands shaking all over," Bianca chuckled, admiring Nixxia's work.

"Hmm, this looks familiar, aha! I know, it's the hospital, your hospital, brother, but why do you look so murderous. For him to express it like this, she must have been so scared or so close when you were angry, poor girl," Bianca thought out loud.

Vernon frowned, he now remembered where Nixxia got the image from. It was the time he went to see her in the hospital; the very first time Nixxia had set her eyes on him.

'She dared to draw my image without my knowledge.' He pondered as he kept staring at the drawing.

He never knew Nixxia could draw, but why did it have to be him?

He needed to go see her.

"Hey, where are you going?" Bianca held the book and smirked at him.

"Returning the book, Bianca," Vernon clarified.

Bianca rolled her eyes, "You will, but after I'm done looking," She grabbed the book and quickly flipped through the pages.

Curiously, he looked.

The next images were of him standing in front of his house with his cigarette between his lips, his eyes staring straight; he recalled standing there the day he had brought Nixxia home and watched her crawl into the house.

"Oh, this is sexy," Bianca giggled as she pointed at the third drawing, Vernon looked and immediately recognized the scene; it was him in the underground cell; his shirt unbuttoned, leaning against a metal table with his cigarette between his fingers as he raised them halfway to his lips, Nixxia had even emphasized on the smoke tendrils.

Vernon was simply speechless at how creative Nixxia was. The rest of the images were of him either glaring, frowning, or smoking.

'She has no pleasant memory of me,' he thought with a frown.

Bianca thought it was finished but a marking behind the next page caught her attention, "Oh! Look at this, Vernon, oh my God, this is the bomb, damn! Look how sexy you are, no, no, I've got to get her to draw me one of these days," She giggled.

Vernon thought that he could no longer be surprised by Nixxia's drawing, but he was proved wrong once again.

Even without adding colors to the drawing, Nixxia expertly portrayed him as a handsome, strong Mermen. He could imagine those scales and rune tattoos coming to life and shimmering under the water, for the first time in his existence, he wondered if Mermen did exist and what life under there must be like.

"You will make one sexy mothefucking Mermen, Vernon," Bianca smirked, tapping the image, and nodding at her brother.

Vernon cleared his throat as he forced himself out of his stupid, absurd thoughts.

"Enough, give it to me," He grabbed the book from her and walked away.

He would have ignored Nixxia for the other drawings, but the last one? No.

No one used his image for mockery purposes, and she went scot-free.