Hey everyone!!
PLEASE READ THIS!
I'm so sorry for the late update! It was my first week back to school AND I had a crazy thing happen to me but I thought I'd use my experience to send out an important message to you all.
Somehow, someone managed to get a hold of my credit card information and charged about $2000 to my account. Thankfully I noticed this immediately and was able to contact my bank and sort it out right away, but it was still a super scary thing, especially since I'm a broke university student (just like May [and all the other university students, I'm sure], haha!)
Prior to this happening, I, like most people, assumed this kind of thing would never happen to me. But it did! And I just want to make sure all of you are extra safe with your money, whether it's in a credit card or not.
So here are some tips that I read online which are simple, but will help you stay safe:
1) Make sure you keep your pin safe and hidden every time you use your card (even if people aren't there, I read on my bank website that people use tiny cameras to steal pin codes)
2) Don't use your card at any suspicious ATMs, ever! If you're even slightly suspicious, it's better to be safe than sorry!
3) If you lose your card or it's stolen, report it right away, and make sure you keep your money or cards in a place you won't forget about, so you know right away if it's missing or not.
4) Also, check your transactions etc, as often as possible! And if you notice something strange, report it. Thankfully, I always triple check my transactions online whenever I purchase stuff which is why I noticed the missing $2000.
After this happened, I found out how smart and conniving (lol) these scammers are. It's hard to believe but it's true! If you have a tapping function on your card they can literally hold a machine at near your bag and get access to all your credit card info! And money is important and must be kept safe, especially if you're broke like me and every cent counts (so I can buy myself coffee and keep myself up while I write essays for my classes and stuff LOLL)!
Anyhoo, just wanted to make sure I could use my experience to help others XD!
Again, I'm so sorry for the late upload! I hope you enjoy it. There's finally some awesome action going on between the two so I hope you like it!!
Love,
Luckycharms! <3
P.S. As you may have noticed, I have changed the cover of this story! I wanted the cover to have a little bit more of a modern air to it, which is why I picked a picture of that Las Vegas pyramid thing (LOL) Hope you guys like it and see where I was going with it! HAHA =)
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Within the next couple days I was back at school. I was kind of disappointed with the fact that I had to go back, but not for the expected reason.
As much as I hated to admit it... going back to school meant spending less time with Atem. And I was starting to really enjoy my time with him.
But anyways, it couldn't be helped.
As a strong, independent and intelligent woman, I knew that my education came before boys.
Oh, and remember that boy that I bumped into on Christmas Eve? The one that looked so familiar but I couldn't put my finger on who he really was? Well, I figured it out.
He was a student at my school. And he was actually in one of my classes this semester.
I must have seen him walking around here and there which was why I recognized him.
Surprisingly enough, during the first tutorial for the class, he sat right next to me it was kinda weird.
I ended up having to be partners with him for this project we had to do for the class.
But there wasn't exactly a problem with that. His name was Julian and he seemed like a cool guy. He even has an accent... though I will admit I had no idea what accent it was.
Now, aside from school, that Winter Formal was coming up. It was on the first Friday of the school semester so it came quickly.
Since Ro bought tickets for Atem too, I needed to make sure he had something to wear. Unfortunately we were expected to wear pretty formal clothes. So my options were either to buy him something or borrow from a friend.
So I asked Blake.
Blake and Atem were practically the same size and Blake was cool, so he had no problem lending me a pair of dress pants and a fancy red shirt.
I wore an orange knee length dress that I bought years ago but also wore dark pantyhose underneath cause it was freezing outside. I did my hair and my makeup and we were ready by five-thirty.
Alec was going to drive us, though it wasn't very far at all, so he picked us up and we were off.
The formal itself didn't seem as exciting as I hoped it would be. It was pretty much like prom with pretty decorations, a small show and then food and dancing.
And as soon as the music started blasting, I saw a distressed look on Atem's face. He hated really loud places. And this was loud, the music boomed so loudly that we'd feel it in our bones.
But Ro didn't waste a second. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into the dance floor without a single hesitation.
Thankfully, Alec wasn't too fond of clubbing kind of dancing, so he kept Atem company at our table.
I was a lot like Alec in the sense that I wasn't particularly fond of clubbing style dancing. But I had to admit, dancing with Ro and her silliness was always fun.
And after dancing for some time, we decided to take a break, and while we walked to our table I noticed that Alec was gone and Sunny had taken his spot.
I didn't even know Sunny was going to be at Winter Formal, though I should have expected it. So it was a pleasant surprise until I realized she was probably flirting with Atem.
"Hey!" Ro smiled at Sunny and I waved with a smile.
Sunny grinned, "hey girls!"
"Alec went to use the washroom," Atem said before we even asked the question.
"Oh, okay great," Ro didn't seem bothered as she grabbed a glass of water and gulped it right down.
For the short amount of time that Alec was gone, I avoided Sunny's flirting by talking to Ro.
Then Alec returned, Ro and I went back to dancing, and conveniently Ro dragged Sunny with us too.
And after a few more hours, (yes, I said hours) I returned to the table, pooped.
Alec and Atem were enjoying themselves by drinking a little and talking about who knows what.
But when I got there, Atem looked at me, "are you done?" He had to shout it for me to hear.
I let out a small laugh, "I think. I'm way too exhausted to dance anymore." Besides, my feet were aching in these heels.
He said something but I didn't hear it.
"What?"
He leaned forward, his face close to mine, "Let's go home."
And immediately after he closed his mouth Ro and Sunny returned, Ro grabbed Alec, wanting to force him to dance.
"You too, Atem!" Sunny pretty much screamed, grabbing his hand.
It took me a lot of effort to hold back my pout. However, Atem pulled away his hand and instead grabbed mine, "May and I are going home."
Sunny started to frown, "no way!"
"We both have work in the morning," Atem continued.
"Awww, man!"
Atem stood up, pulling me up with him.
"Well, I'll see you all later than?" I yelled over the music.
Sunny smiled a disappointed smile and Ro held her thumb up before winking.
Alec offered us a ride home, but I didn't want to bug him and Ro. Besides, our place was not too far away so I told him not to worry.
After that, Atem and I both left the hall after that and he really seemed like he wanted to hurry out of there.
Once we were out, the immediate gust of cold air actually felt good cause I was sweating like crazy. But that great feeling lasted for about a minute, and then I was shivering in my coat.
January was always the coldest month in the year.
Atem seemed to hate it too, obviously, but he sucked it up and was being a big boy.
"You know we don't have work tomorrow morning, right? It's in the afternoon?" I asked after we were a decent distance away from the hall.
Atem pulled up the collar of his coat to keep himself warm, "yes, but I hated that place. It was loud and smelly."
I laughed, not surprised. Everyone was sweating and everyone drinking and god knows what else was going on in that crowd of people grinding up against each other.
"You liked it?" Atem asked as he turned to me.
I shrugged, "I like it when Ro is there. If she's not there then it's awkward. And lots of guys at any sort of clubbing events are weird. They grab you and stuff."
He suddenly scowled.
"But Ro scares them away, which is awesome."
"Other men grabbed you?" Atem asked quickly.
I looked at him, "Well, yeah, gross right?"
He shook his head, "what is wrong with you people?"
I raised my eyebrows, "what?"
He seemed like he was holding something back.
"What?" I nudged him, "say it."
"Your people have weird interests," I could tell he was trying not to pick a fight, which was surprising, but since he was being nice, I let it go.
"Well, that's modern day life for you. Strange interests for strange people."
We stopped at a stop light and waited to cross the street while remaining silent.
My feet were killing me but I kept it to myself.
The last thing I wanted right now was for him to carry me home, which, by judging past experiences, was something he would totally do.
And when the little walking man appeared on the light and we started walking again, Atem spoke up.
"I don't know if you know this," he started, "but you look better icing cakes than you do dancing in crowds like that."
I immediately took it as an insult and snapped my head towards him to argue. But when my eyes fell on his face he had a calm expression as he kicked some snow out of the way.
He wasn't trying to insult me.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He looked at me now, "it means that you're clearly better at making cakes compared to dancing."
Okay now he was insulting me.
As I seemed to do a lot these days, I jabbed my elbow into his ribcage and made him wince and rub the spot, "stop doing that. I'm trying to be nice."
"There's nothing nice about that, buddy."
"What I meant to say was..." He sighed, "never mind."
"No, tell me," I got my elbow ready.
He rolled his eyes and took a step away, "never mind."
"To be honest though, it didn't seem like you weren't having a good time."
"I hated it."
"You enjoyed Sunny's company?"
He snorted, "she's annoying."
I hesitated, "really?"
"I don't like girls who are that forward. It is completely obvious that she is interested in me," he said, "I mean, I don't blame her but–"
"Oh goodness," I put a hand on my head, "you are so cocky."
"I have good reason to be."
"Oh, shut up."
And though I walked ahead and pretended I was annoyed by his cockiness, I was kind of pleased.
It was good to know that Sunny, as amazing as a girl she was, wasn't going to be a problem.
"We didn't finish A Christmas Carol," Atem suddenly said, "do you want to finish it tonight?"
"Too tired," I said.
He rolled his eyes, "you are ridiculous."
"Fine," I said, changing my mind, "but you're not allowed to fall asleep on my bed."
"Sure. Whatever."
"Then c'mon," I started to walk faster, "let's hurry! I'm cold."
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It was at work the next day that things officially began to get intense.
Grandma Seetha was a little bit busier than usual with orders, so while she spent her time in the back baking all the cakes and icing a couple of them, I spent my time in the front, tending to customers and icing a cake when I was free.
Atem did little things like put edible pearls all along the edge of the cake while my entire focus was on icing on swirly details along the sides. They were small and detailed so it took a long time, and Atem finished his job quick so he moved on to sweeping the shop.
At some point, he took a seat. I don't know when. But he sat there for a while and it was after I finished the detailed icing that I even noticed he was sitting.
I wiped my forehead with the back of my wrist to get rid of an itch as I examined the details. Once I was satisfied, I smiled, happy to know I was done. But right then, I saw Atem staring at me with his chin on his hand.
I watched him for a second before a barked a sharp, "what?"
It startled him, his chin literally slipping from his hand before he got back up and started sweeping, "nothing."
At that moment, what he said to be the night before replayed through my head.
I look better when I'm icing cakes?
I felt myself blush a little as I lifted the cake and took it to my grandma to refrigerate.
I was super curious now.
Why was he staring at me like that?
My brother's warnings started to ring in my head, which made my blushing worse.
But despite that, I started to pester him. I asked him over and over again to tell me why he was staring at me. He kept denying it at first but eventually he started to tell me to just shut up.
However, I was dying to know.
So as we walked home that evening, I stomped my foot in the snow, "Oh c'mon Atem! Tell me!"
"It's nothing, woman. Leave me be."
"I know you were thinking something while you were staring," I grabbed his hand, "what was it?"
He immediately pulled his arm away from me, "stop it."
"C'mon 'Tem! Tell me, tell me, tell me–"
"Dear Ra, woman, fine!"
I started to beam.
"You make a weird face when you ice cakes."
The smile faded, "what?"
He shrugged.
I started to walk faster, "wow. That was it?"
"What, were you fishing for compliments or something?"
I rolled my eyes and just walked into my building in disappointment.
When we got home, I was surprised to see that my door was unlocked.
I knew I locked it before I left, so I started to worry a little. But as I cautiously walked in, I saw someone walk right out of Atem's bedroom.
And almost instantly I had a heart attack.
It was my father.
"What is going on here, young woman?" No hello, no how are you, just straight to yelling at me.
"Dad."
"You have a cat here? A cat in my apartment? Without my permission? I come to ask you why you're late on your December payment and I see a cat?"
I opened my mouth to argue but he kept going.
"And from the looks of things, you have a man living with you?" He gestured at Atem, "is that him?"
Atem crossed his arms, a glare forming on his face.
"What is wrong with you, Mayaleena? Have you no self-respect? To allow a man to live with you at this age–"
I turned to Atem, "Hey, call Alec and ask him to pick you up. Just go to Ro's place for now while I talk to my dad."
Atem scoffed, but when he saw the look on my face he just nodded.
"Take Neferkiti too," I said, worried that something might happen to her.
Neferkiti, who had rushed to our side when we arrived, seemed to be worried or bothered too. So Atem picked her up and left, shutting the door behind him.
"Is that what you came for?" I asked as soon as the door was shut, "the December payment? Cause if that's it then here." I pulled open my purse took out my wallet, removed the bills and handed them to him, "take it and leave."
"Do not speak to me that way," he said as he pocketed the money, "I am your father."
Yeah. Only by genes.
"You time and time again prove to be a disgrace to me, a disgrace to your mother and even a disgrace to your brother. Are you that selfish? Not caring about what your actions will make us look like?"
"I'm not doing anything wrong."
"Oh, don't try to act all innocent. You've done nothing but embarrass me. I don't know what the hell I did to deserve a daughter like you. What are you doing in school again? Anthropology? It's ridiculous."
Suddenly, I burst.
"You and mom chose to abandon me," I screamed, tears welling up in my eyes, "so I can do whatever I want now! Don't tell me what to do!"
And now he looked furious, "If you will continually disobey me then I want nothing to do with you!" he shouted back, "you will no longer have the right to live off of me–"
"Live off of you?" I yelled, "I've been paying–"
"You will pack up your things," he said firmly, "and leave by the end of January."
I fell silent.
"You are no longer allowed to live here. If you wish to disgrace me than I have no intention of helping you in any way."
I scoffed, "helping me?" I asked, "you have never helped me, dad. Not once."
My dad didn't say anything to that. Instead, he walked past me and slammed the door shut.
Almost immediately, I started to cry.
I wanted to break something.
Anything.
So I ran into my room and tried to slam the door as hard as I could.
Of course, it didn't break.
So I climbed onto my bed, leaned against the headboard, hugged my legs and started to bawl my eyes out.
The water works hadn't even gone on for a minute when I felt my bed move. I looked up quickly and was both surprised and annoyed by the fact that Atem was sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at me.
Neferkiti jumped up onto the bed too, sitting at my feet purring as she rubbed against me.
"I thought I told you to go," I said to him as I wiped away my tears away.
He shrugged but then leaned against the headboard beside me, "is it... my fault that your father is upset?"
I let out a small laugh as I continued to try and wipe my tears away, "no. He's just a douche bag."
"But he's mad that I'm here."
"No," I repeated, "he's mad that I'm not doing what he wants me to be doing and he's trying to find a way to scare me into doing things his way." I sighed, "whether you were here or not he would have found something to yell at me about."
"Well, he's an asshole," Atem said, "I believe that's how you use that term?"
I chuckled, though the tears wouldn't stop. I think that was the first time I heard him use that word.
I then signed again and hugged my legs tightly, "we're gonna have to find a new place to live. He pretty much kicked me out," I played with my toes as I spoke, letting my tears soak my jeans, "Uncle Ethan did say I could rely on him... Maybe I should give him a call–"
I cut myself off when I felt Atem put his arm around my shoulder and gently rub it, as if trying to comfort me. It wasn't like the usual, awkward touch. This was a firm hold, and it almost immediately made me feel better. Especially when he pulled me closer to him, "I'll help in any way that I can," he said, "I don't know if it means anything to you, but I... am here for you."
I was taken aback by this. But I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder, "thanks Atem. That does mean a lot."
"Well, it's the least I can do for all the help you've given me."
I wasn't crying anymore, which was a good thing since I hated crying in front of people, but I was still upset.
"Why does he disapprove of you're choices so much? Is it that important for him that you be a lawyer?"
"He cares too much about the family name. To him, I'm not just a daughter... I'm a vessel that is meant to make him look good. And that comes first to him."
"That's ridiculous."
"I know."
"Was there ever a point where you wanted to do what he wanted you to do?"
"When I was a kid, I guess. I mean, what little girl doesn''t want to be daddy's little angel? I always tried to impress him with my marks and all that kind of stuff... But it was when I got to high school that I realized it was all the wrong things that impressed him. He was never impressed by things like me learning to ride a bike, or my first really good cake, or any of that sort of stuff. And to be honest, it was after Aunty Maya joined the family that I realized that. She used to praise me for the smallest things..." I started to tear up again, "Like how neat I kept my notebooks or how nicely I could braid hair. It was weird to me but it made me so happy. It also made me realize that every time I made a simple mistake my dad would spaz out at me. It could be as simple as forgetting to put away a dish... And every time he spazzed at me he'd always bring up the fact that I was going to make him look bad. I didn't get it when I was a kid but I did eventually start to understand." I sighed, "but whatever. It's good for me to part with him. He's never done me any good anyways."
"I agree," Atem said, still rubbing my shoulder, "such a conceited man is not worth your time."
I smiled, well, at least we agreed on that. "We're probably gonna have to start packing up... I'm so relieved it's not exam period. If it was I would be so screwed."
"It's fine, I always enjoyed packing. As Pharaoh I traveled a lot and packing things into trunks was enjoyable."
I smiled, "well, I'm glad. And Uncle Ethan will welcome us with open arms but we gotta make sure we aren't too much of a hassle for him."
He nodded, "did your Aunty Maya live with him before her death?"
I nodded, "yeah, they bought that apartment together for the time being. They were planning on getting a house of Aunty Maya ever got pregnant."
"Maybe moving there is a blessing then," Atem said, "since you'll be closer to her."
"You're right."
We talked like that for some time, and at some point I fell fast asleep. But I didn't sleep for long. I found myself waking up in my bed at around midnight. My stomach was growling since I didn't eat dinner and I also needed to pee.
So I freshened myself up in the washroom made my way to the kitchen.
Atem was surprisingly awake.
He was sitting on the couch, reading Hunger Games. We watched the movie together and he seemed to have a crush on Katniss. So when I told him that there were books, he really wanted to read them.
I didn't mind the crushes on the fictional characters.
That was fine.
I mean I had a crush on Jon Snow, Sasuke Uchiha, Edward Elric and even L from Death Note.
I even had a crush on Ji Chang Wook and G-Dragon and Kim Jong Kook. (Hot Korean celebrities, if you couldn't figure it out.)
Obviously unattainable crushes were fine.
When he noticed me, he smiled a small smile, "feeling better?"
I nodded, smiling back.
He got up from his spot and walked over to me, and just then I spotted a plate with aluminum foil over it.
"I made you dinner," he said, blushing slightly, "it's mashed potatoes and gravy and steak."
Despite the fact that all of that was pretty much stuff that was in my fridge which he warmed up and put onto a plate, I was pretty flattered by the act of kindness, "Thank's 'Tem."
I started to gobble it all down right away since I was starving, and he just stood rather awkwardly next to me, watching me.
When I looked at him, he spoke up again, "so you are feeling okay?"
"Yeah, no worries," I smiled, "I'm gonna call Uncle Ethan in the morning and talk to him. It's gonna be a big struggle but oh well, we gotta do what we gotta do."
He nodded and then pointed at my face, "your eyes are red."
"Still?" I rubbed them with the back of my hands, I thought they would settle down but I guess they didn't, "well, that's embarrassing."
"You should go back to sleep. You're tired, clearly."
"I will."
He was silent for a moment and then he looked at me, "I think I know something that will make you feel a lot better."
I chuckled, but the thought that he wanted to make me feel better made my heart skip a beat. "Try me," I said, jokingly.
I could see his cheeks redden slightly under his dark skin, "remember how you asked me why I was staring at you?"
My cheeks started to warm up too, "yeah, you said it was cause I make weird faces."
"I lied."
"Really?"
He nodded, "you look... you have this..." he took a breath and let it out, "you look... most attractive... when you're focused on something."
If I wasn't blushing already, I was definitely now. My cheeks burned and I suddenly got light headed.
He was calling me attractive?
"I notice it when you study... but also when you put the decorations on the cakes."
I placed a hand on my cheek, "you think so?"
He looked away, "yeah, I guess."
"You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No. I'm not."
"Aww! Thank you, 'Tem!"
He crossed his arms, "it's only when you are focused though, all the other times you look like a mess, seriously–"
I started to chuckle, which made him look at me.
"Don't get all high and cocky or anything–"
It took a lot of courage on my part, but I did it.
I took a deep breath... and I did it.
I got on my toes.
And shut him up by kissing his cheek.
When I pulled away, I saw him staring at me in shock, So I hugged him real tight trying to hide my own embarrassment but also because I wanted to hug him.
"Thanks Atem," I said, "I feel completely better."
He stood there frozen for a bit, but then he hugged me back, doing that weird back pat thing he always seemed to do. "Good," he said, "I'm glad."