Back In time

Twelve

To avoid further pain to my ears, I ran up the stairs as fast as I could.

"Not so fast, Miss Wellesley!" His authoritative voice reverberated throughout the house. I continued running up the stairs, ignorant of his command. My heart started pumping faster when I saw the entrance to my 'safe zone'. I increased my speed and stretched out to open the door.

Slam!

I was in utter shock when I felt the front of my body being pushed up against my door.

"Just where do you think you are going?" He whispered softly into my ear, causing goose bumps to form all over my body due to his proximity. The scent of his clothes wafted and filled the space around us. Too bad, if it weren't for his cocky attitude, I would have swooned.

I turned around and pushed him, causing him to move slightly backwards. "Are you stupid or are you seriously that stupid?" I stared at him. "What does it look like I'm doing?" I said and pointed towards my bedroom door.

Silence.

"It seems you have a few burning questions to ask me. What seems to be the problem? If it has anything to do about Fredricks, you are wasting your time, because you don't have any right to pry into my life."

Silence.

"Are you even listening?"

Silence

"Okay then, if you will excuse-" I turned around to open the door, only to be pulled back by Nicholas. I turned around to face him once more.

"What!" My patience was wearing thin, and with the exhaustion from the day's trip, I was an inch closer to kicking him right where the sun doesn't shine. But still, he stood firmly in front of me with his mouth zipped.

"Look, I am extremely tired, so if you would please do me a favor, we can continue whatever-this-is-that-we-are-doing tomorrow." I turned round, praying that I will not be held up again. Unfortunately, my prayers weren't answered.

"Hey-" I clenched my fists and struck him across his chest, only to have been captured by his hands and pinned to the door, with his face dangerously close to mine. Without having any time to react, he leant forward and pressed his lips against my forehead. I stood frozen to the ground with my heart thumping wildly against my chest. The heat that radiated from his body warmed mine. I would be lying if I said that I didn't like it.

"Ehem!" Nicholas pulled away from me and searched the area, only to find Christian standing a few meters away from us. I could feel my cheeks heat instantly when I fixed my eyes on Christian who had an unmistakable smirk hanging on his lips.

"Should I prepare your bath, sir?" He sniggered, bowing his head at the same time to avoid inflicting any further embarrassment on the both of us.

"Yes, please do." Nicholas answered coolly, increasing the distance between us, "and while you are at it, see to it that Camille helps Miss Abbey get ready for bed."

"Will do, Sir."

"And Miss Abbey, see to it that you report to my study at nine. Sharp. And I expect that you would have learnt your lesson today." With that, Nicholas receded back to his quarters along with Christian, leaving me standing in the hallway with my thoughts on what the crap just happened.

I laid in bed with my eyes closed. The image of Nicholas trapping me against the door kept appearing in my mind. Then, the feeling of his lips against my forehead rekindled, making my heart flutter and cheeks blush. I tossed and turned, making a mess on the bed, hoping to get rid of those thoughts. Nevertheless, amidst of hate, I was unable to deny the fact of how joyful I felt.

"Damn you, Nicholas!" I grabbed the pillow, pretending that it was Nicholas' face and punched it repeatedly. I then threw the pillow at the door, or so I thought it was.

I stared dumbfounded at Camille who was carrying a tray.

"Oops. Hehe!" I smiled awkwardly Camille who was now entering the room. A sudden surge of guilt and embarrassment coursed through me.

Just how many times do I have to get embarrassed in one night?!

"I am so sorry Camille! I didn't know you were there!"

"It is okay, Abbey. Besides, Christian had already told me what happened." She said, placing the tray on the desk before taking a seat on the bed. She grabbed my hands and placed it on her lap.

"I need to ask you something, Abbey." She said seriously, "do you perhaps have any feelings for Sir Nicholas?"

"What? NO!" I said, which sounded more to a shout, "never in my life will I ever have feelings for that jerk!" Camille looked at me suspiciously while I tried to keep a straight face. But I knew my heart told me otherwise.

"Deny all you want, but I have been through what you have been through before. The first stage is always undergoing absolute denial, followed by you, falling head over heels for him." She winked at me, before getting up to prepare my bath.

We'll just see about that.

In a blink of an eye, night turned to day, and here I was standing in Nicholas' study room. As usual, he was sitting on his chair with a book in his hand. I cannot help but gawk at the way he clenched his jaws and the way his eyes held such a serious and intense gaze. But sadly, he was totally oblivious to the fact that I had been standing right in front of him for the past five minutes.

"Ehem!" I signaled, causing him to look up. With his attention now fixed on me, visions from last night instantly flashed across my mind. I shook my head as hard as I could, earning a look of confusion from him.

"Whatever is the matter with you?" I immediately stopped shaking and remained stilled, afraid that I would do something that would make myself look even more ridiculous. How could he be so calm and composed after what happened last night? Is he even human? Or was he just toying with me to get me to shut up. Whatever reason or motive that he has, I was determined not to let him get to me.

"It's nothing," I finally plucked up the courage to reply, "Well, let's get started then. Wouldn't want to waste a moment longer."