Concealed Love

Chapter- 21 I won't harm you princess.

Al's days usually start at 9. 00 Am he got up, wash himself and went to work after breakfast. Today he got up a bit earlier than usual, woken up by a painful nightmare.

It was the same dream which he had been having frequently having for the past months; a foreign place but a familiar feeling, it was a quite soundless dream but the place was filled with busy people, soon the atmosphere changes, there were fire and smokes everywhere and he could see the crowd running away, it seem like they were running from someone.

At first the dream was not clear but later he could see the more vividly and ever since than, she was always there among the dreams, the girl in fiery red hair, standing still and unmoved in the middle of all the chaos, she seemed to be crying but no matter how vivid the dream, he could never see her face as she had facepalmed her face, he tried to approach her but he could not move his body. It was like he was witnessing a movie scene in someone's body.

The dream this day was even more vivid than all the others, after the usual dream scene he felt a stabbing pain in his body and couldn't move. He tried so hard to stood up but in vain, all he could see was a blurry face and a heavy crying voice just before he woke up covered in sweat.

After what Ella told him at the hospital, he partly suspected that it was his past life but the dream was no help to him in solving the mysteries. As for the girl in the dream, he felt that it must have been someone important to him but he doubted that it was Ella, as the girl in the dream had red hair and childish get up almost in contrast to Ella. He thought that he had no desire to think further of a girl he had no knowledge of and that the past shall have no control over his current feelings.

He got off bed, went straight to the bathroom and did his business and went down the kitchen to have his readymade breakfast, prepare by his maid who is a cheerful chatty woman in her fifties, she had been with him ever since he moved to his current house 5 years ago.

The maid's name was Sira, who's husband died. She opened a convenience store in the area with her husband before he died and after his death, she could not open it by herself anymore so she let go of it and went to work as a maid for Al who paid her much more than any other maids anywhere else ever gets paid.

She had no child and looks after Al as her own, she addresses him as young master and made sure to make foods that suits his taste. She came to his mansion in the morning before he wakes up and after his dinner at night, she went back again, she never wished to let go of the house she had lived with his late husband.

Al sat on the kitchen table and ate his breakfast and Sira gave him some freshly cut kiwis saying " The shopkeeper said that they arrived freshly this morning, have some young master. "

" Thanks Sira, you should eat some too. " Al was heartily biting down those kiwis.

" It's fine young master, I don't want it, it's not helpful for old woman like me. " Sira stood on the kitchen counter doing her work while chatting with Al.

" Why? You should have eat healthy fruits and keep your skin glowing, the guys from the mart will all fall for you. But of course you are still very beautiful as you are. " Al loved the old maid as she always took care of him and is very convenient.

Sira laughed and shook her head " Oh young master I'm not that young anymore and besides I can never forget my husband, I shall always love him. I'll marry him again after I die and we meet in heaven. " She laughed and loving joke about her deep felt love for her husband.

Al grinned and added to the joke " Oh now I feel like a bad guy for suggesting that you cheat. "

" Haha, I will not marry anymore but young master what about you? It's time you start dating someone, I haven't seen you bring home a woman other than your mom. Do you not have anyone you love? ". Sira asked curiously.

All heaved a deep sigh and said in a manner which was a little like a complain " Haaa.... I also wanna bring her home but she won't agree. "

Sira was a bit surprised and asked " What? There is a woman who won't agree to my young master courting her? Which daring young lady is it? ".

Al chuckled a bit and said with some seriousness " The daring lady is a friend of mine, she doesn't seem to believe that I like her, I have told her many times but she just won't believe me. I don't know what to do, do I really seem like that bad of a guy?"

Sira gave him a reassuring smile and said " No young master, you are a real gentleman in my eyes and I'm sure others see you as one too, she must be a shy lady. And since she doesn't reject you but only denies your love, I think she has some feelings for you too. And believe me young man, old woman's instincts are always right so give her some time and dive in for the catch. "

Al smile and decided on what she said " Thanks Sira, I will! And you are no old woman, you're a classy one. Hehe thanks for the breakfast I'll go now. "

" Anytime young master, are you going to work? shall I prepare lunch for you? "

" It's fine! I'm going to my parents house today, my mom has been nagging me I'm sure it's for the same reason as just now, they're always nagging me about woman ". Al ruffled his hair in a bored manner.

Sira chuckled and said " Sure they'll be curious, they are your parents, and every parent want a good in law. "

" Yes yes. " Al shook his head and went upstairs to get dressed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The sun was almost done hiding itself away when Ella finished her house work. She sat by the table and was going through her laptop when a knock came from the door.

It was unusual for someone to be knocking at the door when there was a doorbell. She closed her laptop and went down asking ' who is it? 'but no reply came.

She went and opened the door and to her surprise the Masked man was standing in the doorway, wearing the same old creepy mask which was made creepier by his chilling aura.

Ella took some steps back and stood in a defensive position but the man laughed and said " Don't be too nervous, I just came here for a little chat that's all, I won't harm you my dear princess. Moreover the last wound I got from you still hurts so much, I don't want risk fighting you. "

Ella's was still unmoved and aked " What do you want? And don't call me that. "

" Just looking for some rat that ran away, but I guess he's not been here. Can I come in? I wanna talk about the current prince Charming you see? He looked so devoted when he was confessing the last time. "

Ella knew the prince Charming he was referring to was Al " How do you.... Say what you want and leave. " She knew it won't make any difference in asking him how he knew about the confession.

He walked into the room walking past Ella as he sat himself down on the couch, facing his back at Ella " Just wanted to asked how your visit to the cave was. "

Ella knew that she has a low chance of winning against him, he may have said he's still injured but if he really had no power he won't be waltzing around with this confidence so he dared not get offensive. Her only bet was getting Al his power back in order to defeat them all.

She clenched her fist and asked through gritted teeth " How did you find out about that place. " She didn't had a very fond memory of that place.

" Oh princess, our little princess always so naive. I didn't just found out about the place, I made it so that you had to go there. Although I didn't knew that it would end up helping you find the treasure... Haaa that one was my miss. " He talked carefreely like he was telling a regretful event he went through to a close friend.

Ella was confused by all these, she could not clearly understand what he meant when he said ' made it so that you had to go there' but she knew about the treasure and could hardly effort to be surprised after all he's done.

There was a small hidden pathway inside the cave which could be seen only if you look clearly enough. lt could be opened with a light push. The place was where she found Al's sword. After that she's been guarding it for a long time before she knew she could weild it, and after finding out she could she still went to check it hoping to find other important leads for her plans.

She may have guarded the place but she could never forget the reason why she found it out in the first place. It was also the reason for her main hatred to the humans, her memories of that time become vivid again when she saw the place but as to how The Masked man was connected to that, she couldn't guess.

" What do you mean, say it clearly. "

He chuckled made a dramatic statement which made Ella burn " The person who instigated those humans to throw stones and fire gunshots at you and also almost burn you was all me, my princess".