His Sudden Kiss

GWYNETH'S COUSIN

"You don’t have to go this far, Gee."

I manage to sneak Gwyneth into our kitchen as soon as the boys settle down in the living room. I need a logical explanation about what is happening right now. Gwyneth reluctantly follows me and stand awkwardly in front of our fridge while avoiding my gaze.

“What is he doing here?” I ask, pointing to the guys who silently acknowledging each other.

 At some point, they seem to talk about something interesting, laughing and mocking each other. Alex on the other seems fine to me. I don’t really mind if he wants to joins us since I have met him before. But the other side of me obviously does not agree.

I barely know him.                                                    

"I don’t know, Stacy. I just felt like I need to call him."

 "Seriously, Gwyneth. But why?”

 “I don’t know, okay. He wants to know you better. Shouldn’t you give him a chance? I told you about him the other day, remember?”

 “ You think I would believing those craps? I barely know him. He isn’t even my friend. This is my life we are gonna talk about. Shouldn’t you ask me first? Or at least, be discreet about it?” I fume. This is really getting out of hand.

“I am sorry, Stacy. But you have to believe me. You can count on us. I want to tell you more but the guys are waiting. We will talk about this later, okay?” Gwyneth tries to convince me.

She is right indeed. I have to think of a better plan to avoid meeting Ken. It is so much better if I could just vanish into thin air and he would never find me. The scar that he gave to me feels like it was just happened yesterday. It is still hurting whenever I think about it.

 I remember every second and every bit of it.

 "Please, Gwyneth." I whisper, word by word.

 Taking a good deep breath, I slowly close my eyes to calm my nerve. All of this mess has to stop and I in a dire need of a good, beauty sleep. Talking about all of this nonsense, the stranger, the bad guy, and my dark past are making me exhausted. A good rest is all I need now.

“Hello, sexy.”

 My head immediately snaps at whomever that dares to disturb me at this very crucial moment. I rolled my eyes and quickly get myself together before turning around to face Alex that smiles gorgeously, looking at me with his funky eyes. Tonight, there are no more baggy clothes, and hideous cap. He looks different. A good different?

 "Whatever, I am tired and I am going to sleep." I say, trying to get out of the kitchen.

 Alex is standing against the kitchen counter, observing what I did just now. He looks like he wants to ask me but instead his eyes choose to observe my behavior first. He probably doesn’t want to add to the burden that I have to bear now. As if he knows what is happening.

 "Hold on, Stacy. We still need to talk." Derek comes in a few seconds later stopping me midway towards my bedroom.

 "Yeah, Sure." I quickly reply and turn around and walk to the living room again.

Although my mind starts to wonder about what we are going to discuss, my body seems to refusing and hesitantly sits on the further chair at the corner of the living room. I decide to listen to whatever plan that they could think of and think about it later.

 "So, we have come to a temporary decision." Gwyneth comes into the room and silently sits next to me. Her hands softly grabbing my hands.

"Yes, we have agreed on something, for a while." Derek adds, looking as calm as always. It is one of the reasons why I want him to be here tonight. I know I can always count on him.

 “I want you to be open and listen to us while this decision may sound ridiculous. It’s the only way I could think of besides hiring some personal bodyguard to protect you.” He explains while looking deeply into my eyes trying to gain my consent.

 I nod helplessly and shrug my shoulders, possibly trying to not have any ill feeling toward the decision that they already made without me. I don’t really mind about that because obviously my mind can’t think of anything other than to protect myself. I really hope that I will never meet Ken again.

"Yes." I reply. My eyes quickly busy scanning every single person in the living room. They are all waiting for Derek to continue our discussion.

 "Honestly, Stacy. This is all I could think of while driving to your place earlier. You know we ought to come out with something before Ken finally catches you which I hope he will not..” Ken stop mid-sentences but his eyes hesitantly look at Alex.

 "But we have come to a decision and I hope it is the best we can do for you for now. We don’t know Ken’s where about so we have to at least prevent him from getting closer to you." Gwyneth reassures me. My eyebrows furrow as I am slowly getting impatient.

“Since I have to get back to LA again, I don’t think I can be here with you as always. You also acknowledge my situation back in LA thus it can’t be help but to count on our new friend here, Alex.” Derek speaks quickly and not giving a chance for me to interrupt. I am stun on my seat.

"Alex? Why?" I am utterly surprise. I don’t know why we shall include him in my personal matter.

 "Easy, because he is obviously Gee's cousin and you need at least a man to guard both of you closely." He adds, leaning against the chair proudly happy with his last minute decision.

 "What?" My head snaps right to where Gwyneth smiling knowingly. This is really getting out of my hands.

 "You didn’t know?" Alex interrupts. He looks slightly surprise that I do not know about this crucial information but his small smile sending different feeling inside me.

 "Gwyneth?"

***

"Tell me again, Derek."

 I speak as soon as I managed to sneak him into my bedroom. Seriously, this is getting out of hand. This is not supposed to happen. I barely know him even though the whole universe recognizes his pretty face. I don’t need sympathy from a stranger. Plus, where did this cousin of Gwyneth come from? I don’t even know about him before. Not even from Gwyneth herself.

 "This is ridiculous! He is a stranger for goodness sake." I scrub my face trying to ease the fume that starts to fire inside me. This decision is wrong. I shouldn’t involve all of my friends into my personal matter. This is going far from what I expect.

What do I expect?

 "Calm down, Stacy. This is only for the time being. Trust me. I also don’t want you to be in any danger. And Alex is not a stranger. He is Gee's cousin." Derek holds both my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

 "f**k Derek! You want him to acknowledge how many flaws I have? Do you want him to know who ever I was before all of this flawless success? How do you think he will believe all of those bullshits? Look at him, Derek. Do you seriously think he can protect Gwyneth and I?

 "Listen to me, Stacy. He may not be as stronger as Ken would be, but we can use his fame. Everyone knows him. He got himself a few bodyguards to just protect him alone. If we can’t fight Ken, at least we can block any possible ways that can bring him to you. Let's see if Ken would consider messing with us this time." He explains every detail he gets in his hands.

 That got me thinking for a while. His explanations leave me standing there and just freeze on my spot for a few minutes, processing all of the information. It is too much for me churns all at a time but at some point, he was right. Although Alex existence sounds pretty awkward for me, he is also a good help for me. I shall use all the time that we are going to spend together to know him better so this new feeling I have about him will eventually fade away.

 "Think, Stacy. Would you rather Alex help you or to let your father know about what had happened all this time. Do you want to go back to where we started?" He asks again, trying to convince me one last time.

 Derek is right. We have been keeping this big secret of my life for a quite long time. I had make a good use of my time running away from my father by keeping all of these dark secrets alone so he will never come and find me. I am literally hiding away from my biological father.

Besides, I am not in a really good term with him.

 "Oh, Derek. I don't know." I sigh, walking helplessly and sit on the edge of my bed.

 "Trust me, this is the best we could do." He whispers, hugging himself.

 While in that small distance between us, I can feel that he too is unsure about his own decision. I should learn to not involving my close friends into my problems. Obviously, I have to learn and try to make my own decision. They shouldn’t be in my nightmares.

"Promise me, Derek." I open my mouth finally to give myself another chance of trusting others. I silently pray that this is going to be the last time.

 "Hmm?"

 "Promise me that this is the last time.. Promise me this is the last time we are going to fight him." I whisper. Unfortunately, I sound almost desperate.

 "Yes, I promise.