Chapter X

Be aware of switching POV's.

Several months have passed...

Esteire’s POV

I inhale the refreshing outdoors. I was finally out of that stuffy office.

Pretty soon I would have enough to travel to back to the U.S. where various investigators and witnesses were waiting for me to arrive. I was longing to return to my search. I will find him no matter how long it’ll take. Be that days, or years.

I round the bend. Nico!

I flip back around. Did he see me?

I peep out. He’s gone. Thank goodness.

Nico’s POV

“Hey Andy,”I nudge my brother, “Did you just see Esteire over there?” I point to an office building.

“No, what’re you saying? Come on, we’re doing errands,” Andy says and hauls me away from my corner lookout.

“Oh, okay...” I mumble. I swear that was her though!

As we left the area, I was starting to speculate whether I should’ve checked it out or not.

---

“AH! Home Sweet Home!” exclaims my brother bounding onto his bed. We share the same bedroom.

The Talent Show is coming up; so is the dance. Of course, my brother is thinking about the latter.

“Hey Nico!” he says, rolling around on his covers, “who’re you taking to the dance?”

I shrug. 

There are two dances in the school year for juniors and seniors. The winter dance and the prom. Some call it the spring dance though.

He stops rolling, getting serious. “I was thinking about taking Elisa, what do you think?”

I scoff at him in jest, “A nice girl like her going out with someone wild like you? She’ll turn you down flat.”

“Hey,” he whines, playing along, then tackling me.

“Oof!” I cry out. He laughs before releasing me.

“And you?”

I sit up and shrug.

“Oh, I know that look!” he points at me.

“What?” I say, shying away. He had one of those looks too.

Too late.

He looks at me straight in the face.

“You like someone, don’t you?” he says craftily.

I inch away.

“Ha! You do! Let me guess...” He stops and meditates for a second.

Now’s my chance.

“Esteire!”

I jerk; I was half-way out the door.

I circle around to look at him. He looks so pleased with himself.

Noticing me, he becomes serious again.

“I would be careful around her, Nico. I’m not sure how she’ll like being with someone who looks like her ex.”

“You don’t know for sure it’s her ex,” I mutter.

Andy just shrugs.

Mikael’s POV

I see her walk out of the school with her sister.

I was already getting nervous seeing her.

“Argh!” I exclaim, shaking my head, “Get a hold of yourself!”

“Something wrong Red?”

I jolt. 

It was Esteire.

“Always sneaking up on me...” I mutter.

She smiles, “Well, I need to go; see you around.”

“Wait!” I lunge out and grasp her arm.

“Hm? What is it?”

“That is..” I let go of her.

Say it Mikael! I grit my teeth.

“Would you go to the dance with me?”

Her mouth formed a little ‘o’.

I gazed at her earnestly. Is she even aware of my feelings for her?

She evaded my gaze. My heart sunk.

“I’ll be there,” she finally responded. My heart soared.

“So, yes?” I could hardly contain my delight.

“Not exactly, I’ll just be there...” she explains, still avoiding my gaze.

‘Be’ there? As long as it’s not a ‘no’, I don’t care.

Although my heart calmed a bit, I still couldn’t quell my emotion. 

I encircled her in my arms. Whether she liked it or not, I was going to hold her until I was ready to let go.

After squirming a bit, she relented and gave an exasperated sigh.

“That’s a good little Esteire,” I whisper, bringing her closer.

With one arm secure on her waist, I trace the outline of her jaw with my forefinger. I could feel her shiver at my touch. I grinned to myself and then released her.

She gave me a look before leaving to her sister.

I smirked. Better watch out.