Hailey's P. O. V
I always found it tranquil whenever I was home alone at Ari's place.
Kaesha was out at work, while Ari was taking her summer Special Abilities classes, so I had her mansion to myself. I would've cooked something, but we were low on some ingredients, and Ari said she'd take care of it on her way back, so I essentially had nothing to do.
By now, my mom had stopped pestering me to come home, and even Keily had decided to steer clear of me since finding out we were related to Ari. She still latched onto Greg possessively whenever we were in a group setting, but, to my knowledge, she hadn't cornered Ari again.
The tranquillity slowly soured into boredom as the hours ticked on.
Having gotten to the end of yet another manhua while sprawled out on my bed, I groaned, 'I really need a summer project.'
'What about Kaelin? Can't he be your project?' Opelene teased.
My face went warm, 'He's just a friend.'
She made a sound that definitely said she didn't believe me.
Kaelin was a friend. A good friend.
I hadn't been able to see anyone in a romantic light since meeting he-who-shall-not-be-named. The lingering attraction I felt to him, even while despising him with my everything, got in the way of every other male interaction I even attempted to nurture.
But Kaelin was different.
We'd met at the end of one of our shared lectures, after I'd dropped something and he'd picked it up for me. We were both heading for the library that day and had decided to walk and study together. Over time, he'd really helped me out with a lot with some of my courses, and we'd started hanging out outside of the college setting too. We'd actually become genuinely good friends, and I was sure we might grow into something more if we kept spending time together.
"Do you think I should call him?" I wondered out loud.
Even though we'd seen each other in a few places off campus, it still felt weird asking to see him outside the pretext of studying.
'Oh no. Stew in your boredom and waste away to oblivion.' She drawled
I rolled my eyes and opened up my phone app, but before I could call him, my phone rang with a call from him.
My heart jumped and I fumbled with my phone, my normally superior grip slipping and nearly failing me.. I could hear Opelene snickering in my head as I took a deep breath then answered.
"Hey."
"Hi." I said, then cringed at how high pitched I sounded.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing much, you?"
"Just finished helping my dad out at his shop."
"Oh, that's nice. What do you do?"
From there, we spent nearly an hour on the phone. In that time, I'd somehow rolled all over my bed, perched on the windowsill, descendingly sat on each step of the staircase and found myself lying upside down on a couch in the living room.
"So..." He said after we'd settled down from laughing, "I really enjoy your company and I'd like to take you out, when do you think you'll be free?"
My heart broke into a sprint and I couldn't contain the grin that spread out on my face, "I like spending time with you too. I'll be free to go out tomorrow."
"Great! How does seven sound?"
"Sounds good."
"Are you staying in the dorms or with your sister? So I can know where to pick you up from."
"I'm at my sister's place," I caught myself twirling a lock of my hair then stopped, "but you don't have to come pick me up, that'll be a long taxi ride. You can just tell me where to meet you."
I could hear the smile in his voice, "That won't do, it's a surprise and I am a gentleman after all."
I wasn't sure of how Ari would feel about giving her address to someone she didn't really know, so I gave him the address of the mansion four houses over. I could always find a way to run over if I was late.
It was obvious that I was enjoying the conversation way too much, because I didn't sense anyone approach till I heard the doorbell ring.
'Did Ari say she was expecting anyone?' I asked Opelene.
Before she could respond, Tim's scent filled the air around me and my body froze.
What was he doing here?
The bell rang again and my feet carried me to the door. My limbs felt unlike my own as I stood there, with nothing but the white painted wood between us.
"Hailey? Are you there?" Kaelin called over the phone.
I brought my phone back up to my ear, "Sorry, I have to go. My sister just got a visitor."
"Oh, okay. Talk to you later, bye."
"Bye."
I hung up and put my phone in my pocket.
"Hailey?"
The sound of my name carried by his voice seemed to pass through my body and into my bones, nearly making me shiver.
My voice sounded barely there, shaking under my words, "What are you doing here?"
"I finished overseeing the repairs on our territory." He paused, "Ari knew I was coming, didn't she tell you?"
"She knew?"
Why didn't she say anything?
"Yeah, told her over a month ago. She even booked my flight."
Of course she hadn't told me. Finals just ended and she'd been one of my main study buddies. Knowing her, she'd probably wanted to keep my focus on school and doing well in the exams, as I'd expressed I wanted multiple times over the past few months.
But still, I wished she'd said something. Anything.
Then I wouldn't be standing here, petrified of facing him.
I watched my hands move in slow motion as they unlocked the door.
As the door swung open, I knew it in my spirit that I could not handle seeing him, so as soon as the door was open, I spun on my heel and raced upstairs and to my room.
I paced. And read. And listened to music. And stretched. And paced some more.
Anything to distract me from the scent of him, from the knowledge of his presence in this house.
I finally wore myself out enough to fall into a restless sleep, but was woken up to the sound of him knocking on my door.
"Sunshine?"
I groaned.
"Can we talk?"
"No." I huffed.
"Come on, Sunshine. Just hear me out and I'll leave you alone."
I rolled my eyes and got to my feet. When I opened the door, I ignored the almost overwhelming desire to touch him and leaned on the doorframe, crossing my arms in a feeble attempt to put a barrier between us.
Words seemed to fail him for a while, and he just gazed at me with a look I didn't have the self control to deal with.
"Well?"
He inhaled, "I want to fix this shit between us."
My eyes narrowed, "Oh, do you now?"
"I'm tryna build bridges here, Sunshine. I know we can't be together yet, but my meetings with Ari and the progress we've made got me thinking. We might actually have a shot at taking those Lightwood bastards down, and I don't want us to still be at each other's throats after this is all over."
I placed a hand on my hip, "So we can be together now?"
"Not right now, but-"
"Oh! Okay, I get it now. You want me to be on the hook for you till you're convinced it's safe for us to actually start acting like mates, right?"
His hand moved, as if to run it through his hair in frustration, but he thought again and lowered it and settled on sighing, "It's not like that, Sunshine."
"Then what is it like?"
He sighed again, running his hand down his face, "I'm not trying to keep you on the hook. I just want us to... I don't know, not hate each other."
I crossed my arms, "And what will we do with this non-hatred for each other?"
"Maybe not ruin everything just by being in the same room...? We haven't even been able to enjoy a holiday with Ari and Kaesha without fucking everything up."
Annoyance prickled at me. After all these months, now he was realising the need to be civil with each other. But in the meantime, he'd rejected me in almost every way possible and refused to claim me.
My mind screeched to a halt. That phrase... "claim me..." coming from my own thoughts, stemming from my own feelings.
The realisation doused me like cold water, I was mad because he hadn't done just that, and that I wanted him to.
And the notion that I had any desire to be his pissed me off all the more.
I knew, he was just someone predetermined for me. We hadn't grown to know and care for each other over time, I'd literally just been tossed into his path and we were somehow meant for each other. But some part of me, and not just one of Opelene's desires, wanted to be his.
Reeling at the thought, I turned away from him, "I can't deal with this, Tim."
"Oh, but you can deal with Kaelin?" He near spat.
Regret at the statement filled his face the moment the words passed his lips, but I didn't care.
My gaze was on him again, eyes narrowed, "What do you mean by that?"
He huffed, "Nothing, Sunshine. Just seems like you're been bonding real well since I was gone."
"Who do you think you are?"
"Your mate." He snapped.
"You were gone!" I could feel my blood begin to boil, "You ran away! From me! What was I supposed to do?"
"Maybe not start giggling on the phone with some guy that's probably a fuck boy trying to get you."
"Kaelin is not a fuck boy."
He rolled his eyes, "Yes, and I'm not a Werewolf. Just admit that you're fawning over the first pretty guy that looks your way, cause you can't do without the love of someone, and that's fine. I'm here now, trying my fucking best to reach out to you. You don't need his ass."
His words just stoked the anger that was boiling my blood, and I could physically feel myself getting irritated with his very presence. I turned on my heel, sidestepping him and making my way to the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from you." I spat.
He followed me down the stairs, "C'mon, let's talk about this."
With every second he was around, I wanted to scream.
Reaching the base of the stairs, I put my shoes on and unlocked the door, "Leave me alone." I said through clenched teeth.
He put his shoes on as well, following me outside, "Not till we've sorted this shit out."
"Get away from me!" I almost screamed.
"Sunshine, please." His hand was stretched out to me, his fingers nearly brushing my wrist.
My skin prickled and I whipped around taking wide steps backwards, "Don't 'sunshine' me. Don't ever talk to me about this," I pointed my finger at the two of us, "again."
"Fuck, Hailey!" He ran his hands over his face, "It's been almost a year, and I can't get you out of my fucking head. I just wanted to try and clear all this up."
The scream that had been rising in my throat finally burst out, wrapped in the most fed up groan I'd ever heard myself, "I can't do this with you!"
Glaring at him with all the venom in the world, I barely noticed the tears flowing down my face, "You ran off! You told me that we could never be anything! You decided that it'd be better to get yourself on some far-off assignment than be here around me! You did this! You do not get to waltz back in when I'm finally learning how to not think of you. I finally let myself like someone else, and you just had to come and ruin it! And it's not like you're even gonna be with me, so I don't know what the hell you want to clear all this up for."
With every sentence, I marched closer to him. I didn't even notice how close we were till I was done and we were standing chest to chest. My chest heaved with rage and a longing I wanted to squash as I stared him down. He only stared back at me, with a look that only made things all the more confusing.
A throat cleared and our heads swiveled to see Ari standing there, holding groceries and looking immensely apologetic.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you he was coming." She said softly.
I just wanted to be away from him, "It's fine. I left something at Killdrain. Bye." I said curtly and turned on my heel. I ran as fast as I could, away from him and all his drama.