the prologue is how they met four years back.
this is the present.
01 / Don't Tell
Harper / POV
I stretched my arms above my head and groaned. I balled my hand into a fist and hit the back of my shoulder repeatedly.
"I can't believe I've been doing this for four years now." I sighed, moving my head from side to side.
Melanie takes the tray full of empty mugs and placed them on the kitchen sink.
Lucky for me, it wasn't so busy at this hour. This time of the day, i'd be working for the Candy Caffeine, a little coffee shop at the center of the city.
My shift starts at eight in the morning until two in the afternoon. It was fifteen minutes before three and I can't wait to go home and get some shuteye.
Bryan's head pops into the kitchen door.
"Hey Harper, Alexander's here." He points with his thumb.
Melanie squeals, holding the hand towel over her mouth.
I let out a small laugh and shook my head. I waved my hand at her. "Save it."
Melanie has this huge crush on Alexander. Who wouldn't? I mean, he's an okay guy. He's kinda cool.
Except that sometimes he can get really cocky, narcissistic, selfish, self-loving, and a total man-whore.
Alexander comes here everyday to pick me up from work and drives me back to the apartment.
I untied my apron and neatly folded it. I walked to my locker.
"You don't mind if I time out early today?" I asked and Bryan shrugs. "It's okay, it's not a busy hour anyway." He says before walking back to the register.
I grab my bag and my phone, Melanie tags along behind me as I walk out the kitchen.
Alexander was sitting across the coffee shop, scrolling through his phone until he looks up and sees me.
His smile turns into a grin as he stands up. "Ready to go?"
I nod.
We were about to go when Melanie's little voice squeaks.
"Hi Alexander." She says shyly. Alexander turns around, raising his eyebrows.
I nudged him. "Don't be rude, she's my friend." I tell him and his face relaxes.
"Oh." He says and looks at Melanie.
"Look, babe, I'd go for you but rules are rules, I can't touch Harper's friends." He says, raising his hands up in the air and I laugh.
"You don't want him, Melanie, he's a man-whore. You're gonna have HIV the moment you go on a date with him." I shrugged.
I hear Alexander's laugh, he pulls me by the shoulder and ruffles my hair with his knuckles.
"Rascal." He says.
While fixing my hair, I look at Melanie who bites her lip shyly.
"We'll be going now." I tell her, giving he a quick hug before leaving Candy Caffeine.
He opens the door for me and I get in, he gets in the driver's seat afterwards.
He starts the engine and puts on his sunglasses as we drove off to my apartment.
"So, aren't you gonna say anything?" He asks, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel.
I look at him and he looks at be for a brief moment before bringing his attention back in the road.
"About what?" I ask him.
He rolls his eyes. "About my new car!" He says.
"What a spoiled child. You change it almost every two months, what's new?" I scoffed.
His lips parted slightly as he dramatically acts hurting.
"This time it's different! I really fell in love with this one." He says, patting the sleek dashboard of his car.
"Pfft." I said while looking out the window.
"You said that when you bought the cat, and now you're saying the same thing about the horse." I roll my eyes as I look at him.
His head snaps to look at me with a shocked face.
He looks back at the road with one hand on the steering wheel. The other on the stick.
"Okay you know what, first of all, it's not a 'cat'—" He says, putting up air quote with his fingers.
"—it was a Jaguar." He says as a matter of fact.
"And second—" He puts up two fingers in front of my face and I let out a soft laugh, moving his fingers away.
"This is a Ferrari. A FEH-RAAAH-REE." He says laughing. "Not a goddamn horse." He bites his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"You always want to kill my vibe." He says quietly and I close my eyes. "It's not even a hobby, it's a habit." I grin.
I hear him chuckle.
He turns the radio off so it was silent, he knows I couldn't sleep when there's so much noise.
"I'll wake you up when we get there." He says. "Mm." I hummed.
—
I woke up when the car met a speed bump.
"Oh, I was about to wake you up." Alexander had his cheeky smile on his face.
I shove his arm a bit. "You went on that speed bump harshly on purpose!" I closed my eyes again.
He laughs. "I didn't!" I felt him poke the side of my waist and I jolted up.
"Open your eyes! We're almost at your place." He says and grip my bag.
My heart starts to squeeze. I was always afraid to go home.
"Hey, don't forget about Cassie, okay?" I remind him.
Three years ago, Alexander volunteered to carpool Cassie to school. She's my little sister, she's seven now.
"Of course. Bosco's gonna pick up Cassie and bring her straight to the house." He tells me.
Bosco is Alexander's chauffeur, but since he's a man-child now and drives his own cars, Bosco drives Gavin around.
Gavin Smith is Alexander's younger brother, he's a year older than Cassie. They get along well, Cassie is basically the only friend of Gavin, because he's homeschooled and he doesn't really see much people aside from their butlers and maids everyday.
Unlike Alexander, he's a sweetheart.
Basically, this is my everyday routine.
Get up at five in the morning, cook and have breakfast with Cassie, and make sure she is ready for school.
Alexander comes and takes her to school, but in cases where he can't make it, A.K.A. when he's up all night partying or having his version of fun with some girls, Bosco carpools on his behalf.
When Cassie's gone, I get ready for work at Candy Caffeine which starts at eight. Alexander comes and picks me up from Candy Caffeine where my shift ends at two in the afternoon.
Cassie gets off school at three, she hangs out with Gavin over at Alexander's place right after school.
Usually, Bosco drives Cassie home and drops her off at nine-thirty, because Alexander was always the party animal. He'd be out every night, partying, playing around.
I don't want Cassie to be home right after school.
There are three things I didn't tell Alexander.
First off, he doesn't know that I have another part-time job. I work as a bartender nearby, shift starts at three and ends at nine in the evening. You might be wondering why I work two jobs.
I've been working so hard to pay the rent of the small apartment that we own. What about my parents, you ask? My mom died four years ago. The day I met Alexander was the day of my mother's funeral.
To which I found out Jason ditched for some pixie-haired chick.
Second thing I didn't tell my best friend? Is that my mother always protected me and Cassie from my father.
Now that my mother's gone, I have to work my ass off harder to pay the rent and feed us.
I get off my second work at nine, so I'm home just in time when Bosco drops Cassie home at nine-thirty.
"Why is Bosco carpooling her today? You playin' tonight?" I ask, fixing my hair up in a ponytail.
You know what I mean about play.
"Cannot wait." He turns to me and clicks his tongue once. I shook my head. "Never in my life I imagined to befriend a man-whore."
"Eeeeeeh." He says, reaching for my cheeks and pinching it.
"I'm the best, unboring thing that has happened to you." He says and I laugh.
He stops in front of the building of my apartment.
"Well, here you are, home sweet home." He says. I turned to him and smile.
"Thanks bro." I tell him.
"What do you even do for the rest of the day? Jesus, stop being a couch potato and party some time. You should come with me." He says and I shake my head.
"I lay around in my PJs, maybe next time." I lied, opening the door.
When I close it, I bent over to look at the window and he rolls it down.
"Thanks dude." I beamed and waved, he gives me a thumbs up before driving off.
I stood straight and turned to my heels.
I stare at the building in front of me and sighed.
"Home sweet hell." I whispered to myself as I walked to the entrance.
I have more or less thirty minutes to prepare before I head for my next job.
When the elevator opens for the seventh floor, I exit.
I took out my keys and opened the door.
The TV was loud and it reeked of Alcohol.
There's a reason why I didn't want Cassie to come home right after school.
"Oh, so you're finally home?!" The voice I dreaded to hear. He emerges from the kitchen, carrying with him a new case of beer.
He walks and towers over me. "You little piece of shit. I told you to buy more cases!" He yells, pulling me by the wrist and hurls me on the floor, my wrist breaking the fall.
I wince.
He throws the case and I jump at the sound.
There's a reason why I didn't want Cassie to be home alone with my father.
"You're out all day and all night!" He yells down at me. Grabs my arm and pushes me on the wall.
Because I didn't want her to witness any of this.
I'll protect Cassie like how my mother always did.
"What are you doing?! Partying?" He scoffs, his eyebrows meeting.
My hands began to tremble and I just want to cower in fear.
I look away.
His huge hands takes a strong hold on my jaw as he forced me to look at him.
"You useless piece of shit! What good are you?!" He drunkenly screams at my face.
He raises his fist..and I close my eyes shut preparing for the familiar pain I've felt for four years.
His knuckles hit my face..he hits my arm and I lie on the floor as he kicks me.
And the final thing I didn't tell Alexander..is that I'm a battered daughter.
---
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