440: THIRTEEN YEARS OLD (4)

THIRTEEN YEARS OLD (4)

As though he just got electrocuted, Aidan pulled his arm off Hope's shoulder and raised both of his hands in surrender. "Calm down. I only wanted to comfort you."0

Seeing the shock on Aidan's face, Hope's hard gaze softened a little bit, but her lips still pulled into a frown. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, but I am just not used to people touching my hair." She shook her head.

Yet, in contradiction, Hope liked it when Kace did that, because of the tingling feeling that erupted on her skin, giving rise to goosebumps all over her body when they made any skin to skin contact. 

"It's okay. My mistake actually." A friendly grin appeared on his lips again as he followed Hope to enter the mini market, where they just bought drinks. 

"Why don't they allow you to go out by yourself? I meant your family, you are old enough to take care of yourself." Aidan shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I had travelled to the neighboring cities when I was just eleven."

Hope raised her eyebrows, but didn't reply to his statement as she picked a bag of chips from the rack and two bars of chocolate. 

"I will not talk about that if you aren't comfortable to share your story." Aidan ran his fingers through his hair nervously. 

"They worry too much, I think." Hope finally answered after a few moments of silence. It was impossible to say that she saw those creatures that no one could see and that was one of the reasons, which Serefina and Kace gave to her when she asked why she couldn't go out by herself.

Some of those creatures were scary, but as scary as they were, Hope already gotten used to see them and she was fine with that. 

No real danger had fallen upon her caused by those creatures, as long as Hope pretended that she couldn't see them, they would leave her alone. 

Just like what was happening now. 

From the corner of her eyes, Hope could see a dark grey wolf, just as big as Lana's, walking past the street before turning into a human when no one paid attention to it. 

Sometimes, Hope felt like she was living in a fantasy world, but the truth was, she was living with those creatures and a witch. A snarky witch on top of that. 

"Hm…" Aidan rubbed his chin. "I heard they were not your real family."

Hope gave Aiden a side glance before she muttered her answer. "Real or not, they are taking care of me since I was a baby."

Hope felt her answers were getting sharp and sharp. She was not in the right mood and would snap every time she could, or at least that was how she felt right now. 

"Oh, okay." Aidan grimaced, but he didn't give up as he tried to strike another conversation. "You have a very unique name."

He tried and Hope just answered with a short reply. "I know."

She knew where this name came from, Lana told her. It was Kace, who gave her this name from the only poem that he knew. 

It was quite romantic actually…

However…

What is Kace for her? Or, more specifically, what is she for Kace? A few things that Hope knew about him was; he was a lycan, an older creature than a werewolf and had great senses among the shifter, and one thing for sure was he didn't seem to get older.

Kace was exactly the same person in her early memory of him. Not growing old at all. 

And another thing that puzzled Hope was the way he treated her. He was so caring and affectionate. Oh, and the tingling feeling.

Sigh…

Hope had a lot of unanswered questions swirling in her head and every time she voiced them out, Kace would only say she would know when the time was right. 

"Hey." A tap on Hope's shoulder pulled her out of her reverie. "You are spacing out." Aidan grinned as he helped her to carry the snacks from her arms, walking toward the cashier.

"I will pay." Hope pushed away Aidan's hand, which was about to hand out the money. 

Something on Hope's face made Aidan nod, not wanting to make the girl more upset than this, even though her lips curled into a pout, she looked more cute than ever, or so Aidan thought.

==============     

The car stopped in front of a huge blue house, which Hope assumed as Sebastian's, as they had told her that they would spend time here for a few hours before Sebastian drove them back to their city. 

Alyssa had apologized to Hope because of her ridiculous idea, but since they were already here, they could do nothing now. 

Hope was furious, but she kept it for herself. She couldn't blame Alyssa and Rena for everything that happened, it was her choice to join them in this rebellious act in the first place. 

Feeling stupid was an understatement to describe what Hope felt right now. She felt horrible. 

The second message that she sent to Kace had details of where she was right now and how sorry she was. 

Apparently Sebastian came from a well off family, the furniture inside the house screamed the amount of money that his parents had spent. 

"My parents will not be home until tomorrow. Just go to the backyard, I will have someone prepare a barbecue for us." Sebastian grinned at Alyssa, both of them wouldn't stop flirting with each other for even a moment.

"Try to enjoy this moment! You don't know when you can experience this again." Rena circled her arm around Hope's shoulders. Her hazel eyes beamed in excitement when she noticed there was a swimming pool in the back yard.

Yet, the thing that drew Hope's attention was a woman who was smiling at her from across the swimming pool, her golden eyes shone brightly under the moonlight.

She was so fascinating, but also creepy. 

Their eyes locked together and for some reason Hope didn't like the way she stared at her. 

"What are you looking at?" Rena asked beside her.

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