The Female Bodyguard

06 ‖ The Dress

"Now you look like an angel!" Reece exclaims and claps in excitement. This catches everyone else's attention. Silas lets out a nearly unnoticeable smile at Reece's reaction and Dominic looks up from his phone and starts to gawk at me.

"You look amazing duckling. As expected from Silas' girl." Dominic praises Reece.

"If only I can look like a masterpiece too." Reece jokes and chuckles at herself only to be instantly pulled into a side hug by Silas.

"You're perfect the way you are Ree." Silas reassures shyly and Reece beams at Silas' comment before pulling him into a tight embrace. Silas turns red and is clearly flustered by her unanticipated reaction but simply brushes Reece's hair gently while looking away.

"The Halloween costume suits you better." Casimir remarks solemnly and I raise an eyebrow at him.

Before anyone could even ask for an explanation, he stands up and leaves the apartment. I look at everyone else and realisation seems to have dawned on them but no one says a word.

I suppose tomorrow has to be better. Right?

Suddenly recalling his words from last night, I decide to keep silent. Something definitely bothered him but perhaps it was something confidential. I should not pry. Frankly, I almost forgot about it. Everything seemed normal throughout the day and nothing about Casimir seemed off. Well, except until now.

"She's wearing the dress right?" Dominic asks quietly and nudges Reece with his elbow.

"It didn't occur to me when I chose it." She replies remorsefully and upon noticing how upset she had gotten, Silas tries to comfort her.

I stare at all of them in confusion. "Is there something wrong with the dress?" 

Dominic and Reece exchange glances and conflict is smothered on their faces.

"No there's absolutely nothing wrong. You look fabulous that's all. Caz is just jealous of your beauty. He has always wanted to be a girl because he loves dresses. Anyways, it's time for us to go. Sore loser is probably waiting in the car for us." Dominic tries to clear up the tension. Reece and Silas agrees and we start to leave the apartment.

Dominic is clearly lying. I know that but I choose to not question it. He probably has a good reason for doing so.

Nonetheless, a part of me really wants to know.

♚♚♚

The second Dominic hits the brakes, I let out my breath that I had been holding in for what seemed like forever.

Unfortunately, because I am Casimir's bodyguard, it meant that I had to be in the same car ride as him. Dominic insisted on driving and because of that, I had to sit with Casimir at the back of the car and trust me when I say that not a single word was uttered throughout the entire ride. On the other hand, Reece and Silas had their own ride to the party so they escaped the awkward silence.

I leave the car with Casimir and I am left alone with him while Dominic tries to look for a parking spot.

"Why don't you just enjoy yourself at the party for tonight instead of following me around?" Casimir suggests and I frown.

Sometimes I truly wonder if he is all brawn and no brain. What makes him think that I am allowed to just leave him simply because I want to. If I could, he would not be anywhere in sight.

"You know perfectly well why I cannot do that your highness." I respond nonchalantly, not thinking too much into it and he snaps.

"God, can you just pretend that you're not my bodyguard for one night? I absolutely can't stand your presence!"

I stand rooted to the ground.

His eyebrows are furrowed. He is glaring daggers at me. He is irritated. Rather, he is fuming with rage.

But why?

Without letting me respond, he simply storms off into Ezra's apartment and gets engulfed by the crowd. The building is packed with people and the only thing I can hear besides the deafening music being blasted in every corner of the house is the pounding of my heart.

Though I knew fully well that Casimir did not want me to be his bodyguard, never once throughout the week did he lose his temper at me because of it. I cannot deny that I am taken aback by his sudden outburst.

I snap out of my thoughts when Dominic drapes his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm back duckling. Where's Caz?" He asks while looking around us.

"He already went in." I try my best to sound unfazed.

Thankfully, Dominic does not seem to notice and merely nods before grabbing ahold of my hand as he pulls me into the house.

Once we are among the crowd, a bunch of girls start to swam around Dominic and it does not take long for me to lose sight of him. Realising that it would be a futile attempt to look for Dominic, I grab a glass of water and sit by the kitchen counter where it is slightly less flooded with people.

Time passes by at a painfully slow rate and every minute felt like an hour.

I swirl my glass of water in boredom and stare at the vortex that the water makes, in hopes to distract myself from my thoughts.

"It's you again. You're really everywhere, aren't you?" I hear a familiar voice from behind and I turn to look.

Of course it's him. The one and only — Casimir Hughes.

He proceeds to take a seat beside me and takes a sip from his drink.

"I did what you asked me to. You're the one stumbling into me here." I look forward and set the glass of water down onto the tabletop.

He abruptly leans towards me and whispers. "I was lying earlier on."

I look at him quizzically.

He gives a lopsided grin and continues. "You look beautiful in the dress."

I am beyond confused. Is this one of his other tricks to get me to leave? To make me feel uncomfortable by acting all weird?

"I'll go to another room." I get up from my seat, ready to leave.

However, before I could even take a step, I am stopped by his sudden grasp on my hand. I try to pull my hand away, only for him to tighten his grip.

I look at him and he is clearly drowned in sorrow. He starts to rub the back of my palm in circles with his thumb and looks me in the eyes.

"Please stay."