C02

Alexander was very different from his half-brother, unlike the other man, he had a more slim figure, suits, business wear and dress shirts looked like they had been personally tailored to fit him. Where Cael was rough around the edges, Alexander was much smoother, with a clean-cut face, a straight narrow nose and a pair of soft lips. If there was a word to describe the man, it would be pretty. He was very pretty, despite the permanent scowl on his face. As if his dark eyes weren't intimidating enough, the man's glare could send any child running the opposite direction, of course when he wasn't being absolutely rotten, he was fairly decent to look at. When Theia last saw him, he was a lot skinnier, had shorter hair and retained the look of distaste in her direction.

Alexander had put on a healthy amount of weight, he had also grown his hair out and like usual, he was dressed in a flat button-down shirt, the vest piece of his suit hugging his frame while a pair of leather gloves covered his hands. After a minute of taking in the man's appearance, Theia leaned back and folded her arms, neither of them had any intention of talking first, and they had both been stubborn about it. If she knew this was going to happen, she would have clung to her brother, Thian, and begged him to keep her at his side instead. While she enjoyed the idea of independence away from her brother, being stuck with him sounded like a far better option right now.

"Strange, I thought I'd find you crying when Cael told you the news" he broke the silence first, lifting a gloved hand to his mouth to stare at her as he propped his head up with his arm and lazily dragged his eyes over her. Theia's jaw tightened, of course. What else was she expecting? A decent conversation? As if.

"Sorry to disappoint, my tears are pretty expensive" she snapped, releasing her hands from the tight clench she had them in and slowly relaxed. No, she should be mature about this. If she was going to spend God knows how many weeks with this man, she should at least try to make it bearable.

"For someone cheaply throwing herself at my brother I couldn't tell" he snorted. Fuck him.

"How long is this ridiculous 'bodyguard-session' and what exactly will you be doing?" ignoring his statement, she wanted to be the bigger person here.

"As long as it needs to be. Let's just say you're going to have to get used to having me around pixie" was all he said, still staring at her, not moving, instead he focused his eyes on her for a reaction.

Theia's jaw squared, she had already expected this from him, a conversation that was getting nowhere and an uncooperative Alexander. Perfect. Getting up from the couch, she had half the mind to thrust the decorative pillow at him, however, she walked to the door and stopped shortly to look back at him.

"Just so you know, I pray you stub your toe so hard your toenail falls off" she glared, leaving the room with a slam and going down to meet up with the butler so that she could get directions to her room and start settling in.

Alexander settled further in his study's couch with a small smirk after the girl had left, wishing his downfall upon him shortly before disappearing. When Cael had forced him to agree to this he had firmly rejected the idea of being stuck to her twenty-four seven, just the thought of it had already envisioned everything that could happen. She was so love-struck, spellbound, and crazy for his brother that she didn't even know how to function at the sight of him. Seeing her so... Uncontrolled irked something inside of him, and he was unsure of what it was. Maybe it was her reckless, or her ability to become someone completely different in the eyes of his brother, but Alexander didn't like it.

Getting up from the sofa and making his way to his desk, he stopped short, turning towards the books they found her standing at when they entered. If his memory was correct, she was standing right about here. Charles Dickens? Hm. Interesting. Scanning the copies of his books, he hadn't seemed like any of them were moved out of their places and neither did it seem like she had gone far enough to touch unnecessarily. Walking back to his desk, he sat down and pulled out the papers from his drawer to scan the documents briefly. Thian mentioned that the people after him knew confidential information, which meant that there were several possibilities for the attacks. Either they were dealing with someone who was crazy and smart enough to tamper with their files and system, or a rat was snooping around.

The man took a breath and rung the butler up. He was going to have to purge his employees for the time being, until things were clear, no one was allowed to move unless he said so. When the elder man came in, Alexander gave a short notice to send out an inspection for each current employee, making sure that it was discreet and he had a full record of everyone's file on his desk within a day.

"And about Ms Theia, where should I assign her room?" the butler asked.

"She can stay in the one next to mine" was all Alexander said before dismissing the man and returning to his paperwork.

An hour later and Theia had finished unpacking her suitcase, taking her books out and settling on the bed to complete her assignments. The butler and maids were all very kind and offered her help with her items, but somehow the idea of someone directly in her business didn't seem to sit well with her. Maybe she was more private than she thought, or maybe she just didn't want anyone to see her 'granny panties' as Dani calls it. Marking all the important stuff down in her notebook, she found herself momentarily lost in thought. Everyone here had referred to Alexander as the Master of the house... Then, that would mean that he was also the Master of the study, and the books would have belonged to him.

It made sense, she found herself nodding-- no. Why the hell did she picture him reading the classics and making note of the literature as well. Cael could also be a man of literature, she shouldn't be so quick to judge. Alexander was now her new bodyguard, more like her babysitter, according to her brother's law. She needed to find a way to make the time pass as quickly as possible. Going back to her assignments and forcing herself to focus, hours had passed and the girl was famished. She didn't think rejecting dinner would've been such a big deal, usually she had toast for dinner and called it a night, but the scent of food filling the room earlier really had her stomach growling.

Crawling out of her room, she peeked around the corner and then tiptoed her way down the stairs. The butler had given her a tour of the essentials in the mansion but the girl was still very lost, she couldn't imagine remembering everything immediately and neither was she even able to. Instead, she found herself hoping that the direction she went was toward the kitchen and she would be able to at least get something to munch on before she slept.

The kitchen was massive, a large island in the centre and everything was far too fancy for her to not take note of. It was also one of those houses that had the fridge designed and built into the cupboard, which resulted in her opening up every one of the possible options and hoping that it would be the right one. About three minutes later, a cheese sandwich and some hot chocolate and Theia was already happily munching on seconds. Whatever flour they used to make the bread was created by God himself, and the cheese, Mhh, perfect. Finishing her sandwich and washing up, she turned around, rubbing her full tummy when her face smashed right into a firm chest. Scaring the shit out of her, she opened her mouth to scream when a hand covered it and she was staring into a pair of familiar dark eyes.

"Don't you dare scream. See what happens when you miss dinner pixie?" he snorted, releasing her and reaching behind her on the counter to grab the kettle before turning away once more and busying himself with the coffee section.

"Shit, you could at least make some noise when you walk! I wasn't very hungry earlier." shrugging her shoulders, she peeked over at the mug he filled with pitch-black coffee. Not a spoon of sugar, or a hint of milk. Theia looked at the man as though he was the devil, which he may have been, there was no way humanly possible someone can drink boiling hot coffee without a hint of cream or sugar.

"God, no wonder you're so bitter" she muttered to herself, but he heard her very clearly.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" turning around to raise a brow at the girl, she noticed that he had pulled his hair back into what appeared a half up-do, only the bottom of his hair curling along his neck while slick black bangs framed his face.

"Are you trying to corrupt your insides? Who the hell drinks poison like it's a good thing?" her pointed accusation at his mug of coffee hadn't earned a reaction from him but instead, he made sure to simply stare at her until she continued.

"Ahem, what I'm trying to say is that you're as bitter as your coffee, that's why you're lonely, unloved, and can't find a woman to tolerate you" she mirrored his pose, crossing her arms straight across her chest while confidently thrusting insults at him when she knew he could easily kick her out like it was nothing.

"Is that so?" he took another sip.

"Very much. You poor thing, it must be your shit for a personality that keeps you single huh?" now was probably a good time to silence herself and return to her room, but she had no intention of backing down just yet.

"You seem to think I have problems finding a woman pixie, not that I care, but shouldn't you be more concerned about yourself?" he stared at her from the top of his mug and watched her tense.

"I don't see what would concern me" Theia knew he was going to bring the topic of Cael up once more, and if there was one thing that threw her off the most, it was this.

"Don't act stupid, you and I both know that Cael doesn't give a shit about you. I'm surprised you haven't jumped in his bed yet" he said pointedly, earning a frustrated stomp to his foot from her.

"You're a fucking jerk you know that? My feelings for him amount to more than just sharing a bed. Asshole" she made sure to dig her heel right into the top of his foot.

"Fuck. Does it? I just thought you were a little minx in heat, trying to pounce on his dick the minute you get him alone" Alexander swallowed the irritation, but when she only pressed her foot further down and intentionally stabbed at him, he grabbed her at the thigh and yanked her over, holding her leg up and forcing her to press right into him.

"Keep doing that, and I'll make sure your legs forget how it feels to close pixie" he threatened, clawing his nails into her thigh over her pyjamas.

"You don't scare me"