Chapter 17

Aria POV 

"What's the problem?" Mr Francis asked as he met me standing at Ethan's door.

Obviously, I'm here to do nothing than to beg for Ethan's forgiveness. 

"Hmm..." What can I tell him? 

"Hmm... I want to ask him about the program we had today in school__" I lied.

" Which program?" He asked me.

" Well, just as you left I was informed that a program was going on and everybody was there. Ethan was also there.." I said.

Then he smiled. " So how was the program?"

" It was fantastic.." I said.

" Hope you enjoyed school today?" He asked me.

" Yes, it was interesting.." I lied. School wasn't interesting at all. If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone there in the first place.

"Did Ethan introduced you to some of his friends?" He asked me.

I guess he's thinking that his son is a nice guy.

"Hmm... He was a bit busy and he promised he would introduce me to some of his friends by tomorrow." I lied again.

"Hope nobody bullied you or harm you?" He asked me.

Of course Ethan did!

"No one did, not when Ethan is around." I lied. 

"I trust my boy, no matter how he's acting not to really care about you, he's not going to let anyone treat you bad." He said proudly.

What??

He feels that his son really cares about me? I wish he was aware of what happened today in school. But I dare not tell him about it, if I do, Ethan wouldn't mind to chop my head off.

"Yep," I said.

"I don't wanna waste your time, you can go in.." he said with a smirk.

"Okay," I said and pretended to knock at the door. I seriously want him to leave this place.

"Anyway, incase anyone comes to find me, I'm in my library." He told me.

"Okay sir, I'll do as you say," I said and then he walked away.

I took a deep breath in and I'm wondering where to start from.

This time I know quite well that I was wrong. I shouldn't have entered his room since he didn't instructed me to. I met him completely naked and who wouldn't be angry about that? 

I'm not his girlfriend and so, he's going to feel bad about it since we ain't the same gender. 

I know Ethan meant every single word that came out of his mouth. He had threatened that he would make me pay for it. He had made it clear to me that it would be worse than what happened today. What could that be? Something that's worse than what happened today is equivalent to death.

Oh, no!

What if he tells his friends to beat me?

What if he asked me to get naked as a way to pay me back? Can I do something like that?

Dammit, it shouldn't be what I'm thinking.

I pushed aside all those thoughts and knocked at the door but he didn't said anything.

"Ethan, please, I'm sorry," I told him from the door, since he wouldn't open it. I couldn't make the same mistake twice. If he wasn't going to permit me to come inside, I wouldn't think of opening the door.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and I thought he'd wanted to talk to me. But he was dressed, looking like he was going out on a date. 

"Why are you disturbing my peace?" he asked harshly. 

" Please, I'm sorry for what happened, and I swear to God it won't happen again," I pleaded. 

" You've seen what you wanted, right? So can you please let me be?" he asked. 

"What are you even saying?" I asked. "I told you it wasn't intentional."

 "Whether it's intentional or not it's none of my business!" He told me.

" It wouldn't take you anything to just say that three words to me." I said persuasively.

" Nothing is going to change my mind, I want you to just get ready to face the music," he said, and walked out.

Could it be that Ethan finds pleasure in punishing me?

"C'mon, Ethan!" I called out to him and rushed outside. He was about to enter his car. "We can just settle our differences and be friends or enemies. You stay on your own, and I'll stay on mine," I told him. He closed the car door, wound down the window, and looked at me.

"There's no how we can stay on our own when you're still in this house, just leave and there would be peace!" He told me.

"My mother won't accept it, but don't worry, I'm an introvert, and behaving as if I don't exist won't be a big deal for me," I told him, thinking he would listen.

"I wish you weren't existing!" he said, his voice laced with hatred, and then he drove off.

"Then he should go ahead and do his worst.." I shrugged my shoulders.

***

I couldn't even sleep all through the night since Ethan's threat couldn't leave my mind. Just as I woke up, I checked the wall clock and the time was 5:45 am. I removed the blanket from my body and climbed down from the bed. I opened my wardrobe, brought out a jogging suits and put it on. I came outside the house and decided to take a little run to see if it would help ease the anxiety that had been building inside my head.

I put my earpiece in my ears and played one of my favorite songs from my favorite artist, Adele - "Easy on Me." Then I put the phone in the pocket of my jogging pants and started jogging.

I took a long run into the woods and sat on a fallen tree, panting after a while. Looking ahead, I saw a river. It had been a long time since I last swam, but I couldn't resist. I removed my jogging suit and dove into the water. After a while, I was done and emerged from the river.

Just as I came out, I collected my phone from my pocket and there's already fifteen missed calls with some messages.

Where are you, you shouldn't be late for school __ one of the text reads. It's a message from Mr Francis.

When you get this message, text back __ another message reads.

What would I tell him by the time I get home since I'm not interested in going to that school today? 

Should I possibly run away, far away from here?