4. Ella

She left home hungry. In the past, it used to be because she overslept or sometimes because of the last night hang outs with her friends but now it was because of how little money she had left before the next pay.

Even though her tummy was growling for food, she was doing her best to ignore it. Ella wasn't even paying any attention to it as all of her thoughts were about the last night. The way her stalker tried to make direct contact with her was terrifying. Whoever this person was, he was keeping a close eye on her. Even though he has never tried to hurt her, everything about him is creepy. He was following her everywhere and was aware of everything about her. There was a high possibility that he was going to kill her. Probably because she is the daughter of David Harrison. Maybe all this thing has some sort of connection to Eclipse. It could be anything but she knows no matter how it would unrevail, nothing good will be the end.

Her brain was filled with chaos as she walked to her locker.

The hallway wasn't too busy. Just a small group of people was standing there and there was this one person who got on her nerves. She has no words to describe how much she hates her. It was Julie Clarkson.

She was her enemy but now Ella has nothing to fight with her.

Julie was the type of person who wants to be the main character of everyone's life and with Ella being thrown to the side, she was now the most famous girl in the law school.

Just like a familiarity of the dream she lived, everyone was now crazy for Julie now.

Julie's look was average and even those plastic surgeries have given her nothing. She thinks she looks good with a thin nose and lips but in reality, her face is as pretty as a rat, even when she trimmed those mustaches. Her purple hair was bazaar and that style never suited her. She might have money but not the sense of dressing.

Julie was standing with her friends. They were talking and there was another person. Juli was holding his hand but Ella was unable to see his face until she heard that voice "Yes, it's true" her mind twitched at the sound. It felt familiar. She silently took a step back to see the face and he was already staring at her. Ella abruptly moved back but Alex never stopped staring. She engulfed the air hard. His stare was terrifying and a bad thing to happen at that moment was, her eyes were unknowingly clicking towards him.

He still seems unreal. He was attractive to a dangerous level. Those eyes were from another world. They were dreamy and addictive. She was unable to hold the desire to get lost in them.

"No way, I still can't believe it" it was one of Julie's friends who was yelling. Ella jerked her brain and held herself from looking at him "You have heard it from Alex. What else do you need to believe that he transferred to Veritas Law School because of me" Ella let out a surprised chuckle. It was absurd that she laughed pretty loudly. And then she realized that he never stopped staring at her. She pretended to look at the floor while her ear stayed in their conversation "Aw, you are so lucky, Jul" his friend awed, hitting her shoulder with a fist and Julie was dug in his arms now.

Ella took her things out and closed her locker with a loud slam, she regretted it a second later because everyone in the hallway was looking at her. She made it feel like she didn't care, tugged her books in her hand, and walked to the class.

Julie and Alex being in a relationship has to be the funniest joke of the century. They were a million light years apart in the context of personality. Julie was a spoiled brat while Alex was a gangster. How could they be a couple? Maybe there wasn't much difference and she was thinking too much. But the real question to ask was, why was she even getting affected by it?

Ella did not care about them. Maybe she was just jealous. Jealous of Julie and of everything she has. Julie could have literally anything she wishes for, that life feels like a strange familiarity.

At the end of her half-hour-do-not-care thinking, she stopped when the professor came to the class.

Maths was her favorite and it made Mr. Calculus her favorite professor.

The law student doesn't give much choice of subjects that weigh less but she was grateful that she got maths. This was the only good thing to happen in this entire year

As Mr. Calculus entered the room, everyone went silent. Not many people liked this class and even though this wasn't the case for her, sometimes the lectures were a little boring. It was normal for the people who do maths in their free time as a hobby. She knows all the answers so what was the point of solving them again and again.

As Mr. Calculus wrote the question on the board. Her mind started to work with his marker. The professor was on the second step to solve the question and she calculated the answer in her head within a minute. Yep, she was a maths genius. So, it was usual for her.

At the half of the lecture, she was bored as hell. As bored as she has ever gotten. There was no excitement or suspense in it. And in the end, she stopped looking at the board and her eyes started to wander. She was casually looking at the student sleeping in the class and when she reached the door, her eyes froze. Alex. That not-so-funny miracle happened again and they have another same class.

Alex entered the class and everyone shifted their attention to him. There were whispers and some girls were audibly drooling for his looks. It was natural, his face was unnaturally handsome, she thought to herself and stopped staring at him.

Ella literally has zero friends and this was the reason why her neighboring place was always free. She suddenly wanted a friend so badly. A friend or any person who could sit with her before he saw it- ge was walking exactly towards it; her.

This could not be happening, she yelled to herself, looking at it happening

He took the place. She was sharing a bench with Alex Willards, he was sitting with her, taking his books out of his bag and she was losing her mind at this very moment.

She wasn't looking at him, she could not look at him. She was suddenly interested in the lecture and her eyes were not moving away from the board and the notepad. She was noting the solution to questions, she had solved a dozen times. The professor was asking questions, she knew the answer to every single of them but she kept her mouth shut. Students were now looking at her because she was silent in the question answer session. They must be hating her for it but she could not help them today.

And then a minute in her mind later, the lecture was over. There was nothing left to be noted now and the professor was explaining some boring things about the upcoming finals.

Ella was not a single percent interested in it because she knew she could ace the exam anyway.

She took the time to calm her blasting mind down. She failed because she could not ignore him now. He was doing something and she was feeling curious about it.

And then her gaze could no longer defeat the urge to shift at the side. With a corner of her eyes, she looked at him. He was drawing something. It felt highly odd that someone like Alex liked to draw. But the sketch looked interesting. It looked like some sort of symbol. Her eyes went glued to the sketch. It was because of the excitement and the anticipation of every moment about how he was making it. The way his fingers were moving and every line was disappearing into others, adding the perfect shade and the perfect details was nothing but astonishing. He put the pencil to the side and held a Q-tip in his hand. He started to blend the shade with it. It looked realistic. The lines were no longer visible as individuals, they were merging into each other and just then he stopped. She wanted to tell him to continue because she needed to see the end.

But "Isn't it amazing?" she heard him saying and when she looked up into his eyes, they were staring at her. Alex raised a brow at her and Ella panicked. Her eyes flickered, detached from him, and fell on her desk. It felt embarrassing. The way she was cherishing the sketch and caught l was awkward. "You hate to talk, don't you?" Alex was talking to her. He was just mocking her and she could swear that she didn't remember how to speak.

Luck had nothing to do with her but something unusual happened and the professor went out of the class just at the moment she needed him to go.

Ella packed her bag, stood up, made Alex look invisible, and went out of the class.

•••

"Darn you, Mr. Whitaker" Ella cursed the professor as he left ten minutes after his lecture. The moment the professor was out, she ran as fast as she could.

She had to take the bus or Hunk would certainly kill her. She was late and so was the bus.

It was five minutes late and by the grace of that frustrating traffic, the ten more minutes were gone. So, in total, Ella was twenty-five minutes late. The bruise on her cheek hurt a little more at the moment. A punch and cut in pay was the least she was expecting from Hunk.

When Ella entered the store, her face was already down, she could not bear to see him right now. She might run back from the fear and lose her job for sure. She took a breath, smashed that sick ego, and forced her lips to open "I am sorry Boss. You can cut my pay as much as you want but please do not fire me. I really need this job and I can't afford to lose it right now" there was no shout or slap but silence. Something was wrong. Maybe Hunk was not in the store but when she lifted her face up, he was there, right in front of her eyes and he was not looking angry at all. Was he going to kill her all at once, she asked herself and imagined an abrupt yes as the answer.

"It's okay" she was hearing things. Maybe he had said, it's your end or something like that "I swear it will never happen again, Boss" Hunk was looking at her confused when she was the one who should be confused to death "It's okay" Hunk said again and there was something extremely wrong with him. She looked at him, trying to locate an injury on his head but there was none, only an injury- a removed finger. "I can understand that you have a busy schedule," Hunk said, moving his hand to his back.

"What do you mean?" She asked scared, Hunk gave her another puzzled look and instead of replying, he did another shocking thing

"The store did well in the last month. So, here is your employment bonus" Ella spared a glance to Chad, and he replied with an anxious one "What happened, Boss?" Hunk was looking at her as if she should already know what was happening "Take it and go to work" she held the envelope while still being scared of whatever the hell it was about. The store does well every month and no matter how much they earn, Employees won't receive a penny.

Hunk left and went to the storage room. "What the hell was this?" She asked Chad "I have no f'ing clue, Ells. He has been behaving like this since morning. See, I got one too" he waved an envelope in his hand

"No, way" she stayed in disbelief "Maybe he hit his head on a wall or a shelf," said Chad as he moved out of the counter "That's the only explanation possible," she said, entering it "Take care, he might come back to haunt you" Chad said as a joke; she really wished it was one "Hah, take care" the two of them waved hands at each other and Chad left the store.

Ella didn't know what was happening but she was happy, really really happy because she had a thick envelope of money. The amount was equivalent to her one month's salary. Whatever was happening, she decided to not care and just smiled. She was smiling at that money as if it was an envelope of diamonds. She was actually that happy and then her phone buzzed with a message. She took it out of her pocket and when she checked it, the smile was gone

Unknown: Don't let those lips to lose that smile ever again

Her face went pale in a second. Her eyes widened, breaths went so low. She looked up, but there was no one in the store. She looked through the window and then she saw him.

He was leaning against a tree. His face was covered with a mask, his head with a hood and he was staring in her direction. She wanted to make herself believe that it wasn't the same person but then.

The guy did a slight nod by his phone in her direction and her phone buzzed again

Unknown: See you soon Princess.

And then he disappeared.