Temporary Alliance

Chapter 9 : Conflict(ed)

I took a warm shower and the water must have helped clear my mind because by now, I could remember bits and pieces of what happened last night.

The blurry parts I do remember were biting him, being made to drink a lot of water and him making me put my shirt on. Interesting enough, I don't remember taking it off. Hopefully I didn't just randomly decide it was too hot and stripped right in front of him.

What I remember clearly was his long explanation of why he became so distant and him wordlessly holding me close to him when I asked for a hug.

The rest was hazy.

In a way, I kind of don't want to remember because the things that I do remember, they were embarrassing enough. The rest of my actions were probably not much better.

I made sure Alexander wasn't downstairs when I sneaked into the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. To my rotten luck, before I could even take a bite of my toast, Alexander stepped in. I held back my pride and offered him the piece of bread with a smile on my face.

He glanced at the food with a questioning look.

"Let us forget what happened last night."

There was a hint of amusement in his eyes and his lips curved up slightly. Alexander pushed my hand aside.

"Already ate."

Hearing his curt answer, I stared at the food in my hand then took a big bite, annoyed.

Alexander reached above my head and opened a cupboard from behind me. He dangled what he got out using his right hand and I saw that it was medicine for headaches. I was about to yank the medicine from his grasp but he straightened his arm fully towards the ceiling. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes that made me wary.

"Seriously?" I growled out as my head continued to pound painfully. Him, being many inches taller than me, there was no way I could reach that even if I jumped.

Alexander used his left index finger to tap his lips twice.

Unable to believe what he was implying, I reached out and pinched his cheeks roughly. When I let go, I saw a slight tinge of red.

"Aw, you blushing?" I cooed, poking at his usual calm temper.

I must have pissed him off because he held the little bottle tightly in his hands and walked away.

"Bastard," I uttered under my breath.

Chomping down on my food, I tried to think a little harder at what I might have said to him. No matter what I did, I couldn't remember much more and it bugged me. Something I said to him changed the way he looked and acted towards me this morning.

*

When we got to work, I noticed the playful glint in his eyes immediately disappear. The soft look from early this morning was replaced by an iron wall and a vacant mask.

Alexander and I first went to pick up my new ID card first. When we got into our room, both Victor and Emmaline were sitting silently as they worked on their respective tasks. The program I had built to narrow down the locations had already searched through half.

Alexander and Victor left wordlessly an hour after we got to work.

"Where did they go?" I turned to Emmaline and asked, absolutely curious.

Emmaline's bright blue eyes glanced at me and she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

I found this odd but I didn't question her further. Instead, I quickly focused my attention back on finding my parents.