I stood there frozen to the spot. There was something about her that changed. Her eyes didn't spark with friendliness anymore, rather they looked hard and stern. Her voice wasn't the soft confident voice but was strict and unfriendly.

I wondered why she took offense to me looking at her tattoo. A tattoo which I thought was really cool. "Nothing." I uttered.

"You are a terrible liar, Hillary, and trust me you don't want to know what I do to humans who dare lie to me." She took a step closer to me and I simultaneously took a step backward. "Let the dumb cat out of the bag, Hillary."

The fact that she used the word 'humans' to address me made me more frightened. What did she mean by that? If she isn't human, then what is she, some kind of Godzilla? Whatever she was, I wasn't taking any chances, although my life was crap, I still wanted it.

I cleared my throat and happily let out the cat. "Well, I saw a tattoo of a..."

"Shut up!" She barked at me, making me jump in fright. "That's right, shut up, Hillary. Now listen carefully, you didn't see anything like that, okay? You saw nothing."

I nodded my head frantically. "Yes, I swear I didn't see anything."

"That's better." She straightened her top and walked towards the door. She stopped at the door and turned around. "Hillary, if you ever say anything to anyone about me and the tattoo, YOU'RE DEAD."

That was the last thing she said before she walked away from the room.

I once again collapsed on the bed. For a brief moment, I had believed that we could have been friends, but again my mother's rule proved correct. The more pretty and better dressed girls always turn out to be the worst bullying bitches.

I couldn't believe that she had threatened to kill me, the only people who have ever threatened me to such an extent was my family.

I laid there on the bed with my eyes open until the party died down. From the wide beautiful window of my parents room, the sun slowly vanished and left the world dark. I was so interested in watching the light of the sun give way to darkness. I hated watching the sunset but I was still interested in watching it. I had this stupid idea in my head, which made me think that the sun setting to night is just like light surrendering to darkness, and like good surrendering to evil.

For like an hour and a half, I watched nature display its wonders, until I felt the creepy feeling of darkness around me. The monsters from my nightmares were already out and searching for me.

I stood up and reached out for the lamp switch and I flicked it on, the sight of light bringing me back from my delusions. My mind was still pondering on nature when I heard the landline phone ring loudly. I hurried out of the room and down the long spiral steps to the lounge where the phone was placed. I picked the call and asked who was on the line.

It was my mother. Her voice was quivering and it was obvious that she had been crying. She told me that they were close, and that she hoped I had made dinner because both she and Steve were starving. It was then it came to my mind that everywhere was a mess. I replied with a couple of yeses and okays before I dropped the phone.

My heart was in my mouth, as I knew that I'd be dead in less than an hour if Steve found out about the party.

Fortunately, I had prepared dinner—or something edible at least. In our family, dinner, breakfast and lunch had no difference, as long as they were edible, we were fine with it.

I knew that panic wouldn't lead me anywhere so I took in several deep breaths and began working like a Trojan.

To my own surprise, in less than five minutes I was done with the inside of the house, so I hurried outside. As I opened the front door, I was pushed back by the wind. It was going to rain really hard, and might even turn out to be a storm.

The wind really helped in blowing away most of the trash outside, and luckily, most of the alcohol was in cans, which made it easier for the wild wind to blow away.

As I picked up some trash which couldn't be blown away, I heard a loud roar...more like a howl. It felt so close... almost like it was in the woods close to my house. I attempted running back into the house but I slipped on the wet grass, instantly dislocating my knee. I yelled in pain, as I couldn't move and was helplessly waiting for the beast in the woods to come and find me.

For the first time in my life, I wished for my parents to come back quickly, at least if they were around they could get the guns inside and if not kill the beast, they could at least scare it away.

But that wasn't the case, they weren't around the one and only time I needed them in my life. They just happened to be late.

The sounds of the beast became clearer and louder, until I saw something incredible before my eyes. It was a giant white wolf, with beautiful blue eyes.

But how could there be a wolf in the woods? I had grown up there my whole life and I hadn't seen any wild animals.

I slowly retreated, wincing in pain as the wolf came closer to me. I had an awkward feeling about the wolf... it was almost like I knew it. I had seen it before, so many times, I had experienced this moment before but I just couldn't remember. I was in this same stupid blue jacket and black pants and I had broken my knee, it was also raining, so I was able to  anticipate every clap of thunder. This was a familiar experience which I had witnessed before...but when? Or rather, where?

It was a couple feet away from me, its legs pounding on the short trimmed grasses.

It was now so close to me, that I could feel it breathing on me. Both I and the wolf stayed like that for a few minutes which felt like a whole lifetime to me.

My quivering hands raised itself without me thinking about it and softly brushed the mane of the wolf.

Then, I experienced the impossible. My body was glowing and so was the wolf. The light which emanated from both our bodies became brighter but not hurtful to our eyes. I lost vision of everything except myself and the glowing wolf. Then, the light became brighter and brighter and so did our glow. I felt so excited like alI the adrenaline in my body was being pumped, I got more and more excited, and...I BLACKED OUT.

I struggled to open my eyes as  bright headlights were beaming on me. It was still raining so my eyelashes were soaked with rain.

I heard a vehicle door open and I heard footsteps. Lo and behold, it was my stepfather, Steve. He stood right above me and watched me on the ground for a while before he said with his calm but wicked voice."So what are you doing outside, Hillary? Playing in the rain at your age?"

He bent and reached out to the collar of my jacket and violently raised me up to my feet. "Answer me, scumbag."

I tried to wriggle my way out of his tight hold but he was too strong for me. I finally gave in to tears, and cried out. "It's not what you think, something else happened?"

"You better have some good and believable story to tell me, if not, you're toast." He released his grip and pushed me down to the wet grass.

My mum hurried from the car and picked me up from the grass. She had some new bruises on her face and no one needed to tell me how she had gotten them. "Are you alright, honey?"

"Yes."

"Perfect. After your explanation to your father..."

"You mean Steve." I backfired. I never referred to Steve as my father. Although I didn't know who my real father was, I always imagined him as some superhero who must have loved and cherished me—unlike my mum and Steve.

"Whatever, Hill. I have some good news to break out to you."

She smiled and guided me back to the house. I wondered how she could still manage to smile despite the level of suffering and pain she received and rendered.

My mother wasn't as nice as she displayed herself to be. She was a cold-hearted demented person who had a crazy view of life, that was one reason why i never pitied her whenever she got beaten by Steve. She was just like him, an insane person.

The warmth of the house made me feel a lot better. Steve was in the dining room with a bottle of rum in his hand. My mum dragged me to the dinning, pulled out a seat and forcefully pushed me down to sit.

He turned around and gave me a deadly look with his eyes glaring. "What is your explanation, Hillary?"

I cleared my throat loudly and fabricated a lie. "After I had received mum's phone call, i... I went to...my room to shut the windows because of the rain. As I was shutting it, my wrist watch got hooked by the window and as I attempted to free it, it fell off outside. So, I went outside with a torch to search for it."

"Okay, that makes sense, but... how does that explain why you were sleeping on the grass while it was raining."

I thought of how to continue my lies but nothing came into my mind. I knew that for Steve to believe me I had to tell him some part of the truth. Because if he found out about the party, I was sure that I wouldn't  see another sunrise. "While I was still searching for the watch, I heard a howl in the woods, very close to me. I ran for the house but I dislocated my knee, so I couldn't walk...."

Wait, what! But how on earth was I able to walk back inside the house? I reached out to my left knee and to my surprise there was no dislocation or pain. I looked at them but it was obvious that they hadn't noticed that error in my story.

Steve looked at my mum then back to me. "Did the wolf get you?"

"Did it see you?" My mum said with her voice quivering.

The sudden fear in their faces was striking. "Yes, it saw me."

"What happened?" They both asked simultaneously.

"Nothing." I lied.

"What do you mean by nothing, did it just see you and leave you alone." Steve asked with frustration and fear written all over him.

"I don't know. I blacked out, and the next thing I saw was your vehicle headlights."

He stared at me for a long while and then turned around, went to the small cabinet which held many of our pictures then he angrily wiped them off the table. "Impossible, this can't be happening." He walked up the stairs, yelling curse words on no one in particular.

My mum was shaking and mumbling inaudible words.

"Mum, what's wrong?"

She didn't respond.

"Is everything alright?" I asked again but still got no response. "Mum, please talk to me, I..."

"Shut the fuck up!" She yelled. "You have no idea, do you?"

"No idea of what? Is it the wolf?"

She held her head with her two hands. "Too many questions, you ask way too many questions, Hill. Questions which I'll never answer, even if you put my neck on a goddamn blade."

I didn't get it, why were they behaving like this? "Mum.."

"Don't call me!! You are the one who called them, you want revenge, don't you?"

I didn't know what she was talking about, what revenge was she talking about? For sure, i knew i couldn't tell them about what happened between the wolf and i, the strong connection we had, the fact that I had witnessed it before. They'll go gaga, if they ever found out.

"Did you see only one wolf or was it a pack?" My mum asked with fright in her voice.

"Just one."

"Did you...feel connected to it?" Steve said from the staircase with a shotgun in his hands.

My eyes were fixed on the gun for some seconds and then moved up to Steve's red face.

"Answer me!!!" He said cocking the gun.

I didn't know what to say, my head had gone blank after Steve had appeared with the gun. Several horrible memories came back to my mind. Memories of the times I've been tortured with the gun, memories that date back to when I was very little then to latest ones.

The charming golden lights in the dinning became blurry, my ears rang and the room began to swirl around. I felt lost and alone for a while before I was knocked out of that by the sound of a gun cocking close to my face.

Gradually the blur vanished and I regained my sight, only to find a shotgun directed to my forehead.

I staggered backwards until I was resting on the mahogany dining table.

My mum was trembling with annoyance as she pointed the gun at me. "Answer the goddamn question or I'll blast your brains."

"Please don't shoot! Don't shoot!" I pleaded.

She gave out a short laugh. "Hill, I think you should know better by now. I don't care if you die or not, seeing your dead body will be nothing else but pleasure."

I stared at her shaking eyes and deep down I knew she really meant it, so I did what was best for me. I spoke out. "No. I didn't feel anything."

Steve threw one of our glass vases away and yelled; "Why did it take you so much time to spit that out, Hillary."

"I don't know...I...guess I was just...frightened, you know? By the gun." I said.

My mum pressed the gun on my forehead with so much force that gave me an immediate headache. "If I find out that you're lying to me, you will be truly sorry."

She dropped the gun on the floor and fell to the ground. She suddenly began to cry and yell out loud. Steve went over to her and comforted her.

"She wants me dead." My mum cried. "She hates me just like her sister does."

I watched her cry and yell curses at me. She cried louder and louder and accused me of certain things I had no idea of.

"What are you looking at?" Steve spat out. "Get out of our sight, before I use the gun on you?"

I quickly ran out of the dinning room and up the spiral stairs. I started from up until Steve's wicked eyes caught me. I ran into my room and slammed the door shut.

I climbed my bed, covered myself with a soft blanket and awaited the worst.

I laid there, trembling and weeping until it was dawn. After I heard the first cock crow by 5:45a.m, I decided to give sleep a try, and in a few minutes I found myself in dream land.

The next day was a Sunday. I woke up with my alarm blaring madly. To my surprise it was 11:32a.m, and my alarm had been blaring since 6:30a.m, some minutes after I had decided to sleep.

At first, I hurried out of bed and into the shower. In a couple of minutes I was out. I got into one of my large Cinderella ball gowns which were oversized and with a big scarf, I tied my hair like I was a Saudi.

I didn't look at the mirror like most girls do, mainly because I didn't care about my looks, I couldn't recall the last time I had looked at myself in the mirror—it was uncalled for. By the way, I was extremely late to church, and that was something my mum never tolerated.

I dashed out of my bedroom and hopped down the steps to the sitting room, but they weren't there. I went outside to check the patio, but they still weren't there. I returned back inside and checked their room and still nobody, but they had slept there as their scent was still very sharp.

Yes! That was another strange thing about me, I had an awkward sense of smell; I could even trace a person if I got a good sniff of that person. The last time I had told Steve and my mum, I had regretted it as they took offense in it and banished me into the dark, old basement for two days without eating. From that time I had learned to keep my lips sealed concerning myself.

In defeat, I walked down the spiral steps and into the kitchen. Damn! They must have gone without me.

As I was about to open the fridge to get something to eat, I noticed a small piece of paper pasted on the fridge. In it were boldly written words which said;

Hill, I want to apologize about Yesterday, I was really boiled up and out of my mind which led to me saying a lot of things I didn't mean. Hope you forgive me and get it out of your head.

Anyways, your dad and I are going out to someplace far away and will be away for two weeks. We wish you the best and we pray that God bless you and that you remain the responsible and good child that you are.

Stay safe and know that mummy loves you.

I scoffed irritatedly as I read the last paragraph. Mummy loves me? Love? Love and I had nothing to do with each other. All my life I had known nothing but hatred and insanity from my two guardians. The only person who I had loved and cherished was my twin sister, Maribel, but she had also betrayed me and had left me for dead in this house.

According to what my mum told me, she had committed suicide but deep down I felt that was a lie. I felt a connection to her. Somehow I knew she wasn't dead, it was either she had escaped from this hellhole, leaving me behind to rot, or she had been captured by my parents and taken away to a faraway place—maybe the same place where they always went to every now and then.

I had cried for months until I realized that she was never coming back again. Though I still cried occasionally it wasn't as tedious as it once was but it was still hurtful. She had gone almost three years ago when I had just clocked fifteen.

I gave a sigh of relief and joy as the thought of them not being around for two weeks sweetened my heart. I opened the fridge and picked as much junk food as I could get, and I felt good, at least I was breaking the first rule of being responsible.

Sunday passed quickly but not without me doing a lot of fun stuff. I even drove out in one of my dad's trucks—he had quite a number—to the supermarket to get more junk food and red wine, which was something I secretly enjoyed.

I slept happily and woke up to a sunny Monday morning. Today, I woke up immediately the alarm blared. I brushed and got into the cold shower. I enjoyed how the cold water sprayed on my soft, even toned skin. It made me forget about my problems for that moment.

Dressing up wasn't a problem for me, I opened my wardrobe and picked out the first thing I saw, which was a baggy straight jean with a pale white top with no design on it. I picked up my backpack from my room and went to the kitchen to take some food and snacks which I take in school. Then, I took a few dollar bills and stormed outside.

I took my time locking the house before taking off on my bicycle. I didn't take a truck because I wanted to enjoy the beautiful morning. I wanted to feel the mild morning sun on my skin and also feel the mild breeze blow through my long, wavy ebony hair which I let loose for the first time ever.

The journey to school was quite long and I could have gotten there with the truck in 25 minutes instead I used almost an hour to arrive.

The first two periods of school went well. Then I had a free period.

I went outside to the school compound, sat down on one of the benches and I watched the morning birds chirp excitedly, until... I got pied in the face.

I stood up in shock and frantically cleared the cold pie off my face.

"Look at her." Janette laughed.

I got really pissed off, I was having a really good day before she and Clarissa just had to come to ruin it for me.

As it was also a free period for most senior school students, I had a lot of prying eyes on me. Most of the students were laughing and taking pictures of me, they were probably going to post it on their socials, with the caption "pied in the face." Or "Summer Pied face."

After clearing the pie off my face, I glared at Janette and Clarissa. "Why did you do that?"

Clarissa chuckled and said babishly. "Oh sweetheart, as your bestie, I wanted to knock you out of your daydream. What better way to do that than blessing you with a frozen pie."

The others laughed along with them, making me feel like an idiot. "I hate you." I murmured under my voice.

"You said what?" Janette asked.

I didn't respond, I just stood there helplessly.

Clarissa walked around me and toyed with my hair. "You have such nice hair, Hillary. Why do you always braid and pack it like a stupid lunatic."

I didn't respond. I just wished the ground would open and swallow—not me—them up, all of them.

Janette chuckled wickedly. "Hold on, how are we sure it isn't a wig?"

"Let me see." Clarissa grabbed my hair and pulled it roughly, making me yelp in pain and embarrassment.

"Oh sorry." Clarissa said. "It isn't a wig, it's truly your hair. Do you think it's pretty, Hillary? I'm sure you think it's pretty, don't you?"

Janette giggled. "Of course she thinks it's pretty. Maybe next Sunday, she could leave it loose and put on some of her pretty princess dresses and then she could look like Rapunzel."

An uproar of laughter burst out, giving them more encouragement to make ridicule of me.

Clarissa still wasn't satisfied. "Honestly Hillary, your hair is really...really pretty." She signaled to some of the girls behind her, who came beside me and forcefully held me down. "But the issue is....I think your hair is too pretty for a loser like you." She looked at Janette and whispered to her, and to my surprise, Janette brought out a pair of scissors from her backpack and handed it over to Clarissa who delightfully collected it. "Now, princess Hillary, let me give you the hairstyle that befits you."

I tried to wriggle myself out of their hold but that came out futile and left me with some bruises from their sharp pointed fingernails.

I shut my eyes and gave in to defeat but to my surprise, I heard a loud thud and screams following it. I opened my eyes as the grip on me was released and I was really shocked.

On the ground was Clarissa, yelling and holding her face, the rest were far away and were running as far as their feet could take them.

Before me, was the blonde girl I had seen in my party two days ago.

She held out her hand, and I had no other choice than to grab it. She pulled me up and hugged me. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Thank you...again."I managed to say. I didn't want to let go of her as I clung onto her. Apart from the fact that she had saved me again from being bullied by Clarissa and Janette, she smelled great...like Lavender.

At last we separated from each other's arms and she graced me with a smile. "Hope they didn't hurt you?"

"No, you came just in time."

Her smile faded and her face became tamed. "I really want to tell you something."

"What?"I asked curiously.

"Hmm..about what I said on Friday...I'm sorry."

"Oh." I remembered the death threat. "It's okay. I'm sure you didn't mean it."

She frowned. "I do."

"What!!!" I said out loud, blinking my eyes more times than I needed to in a whole day.

"I meant it, Hillary. But I hope we won't be in that situation where I'll be forced to inflict harm on you."

My eyes were fixed on her. She had really meant what she had said. Oh my! What the hell is she? A savior or a killer?

She added. "But as long as you never say anything about what you saw, then we will be cool...we could even become friends. So what do you say, Friends?"

"Of course...friends." I smiled sheepishly.

She gave me a brief hug. "OK, Hillary...I'll see you later, I really have to go back home...I only came to register my...younger brother. So ciao." She turned around and began walking away.

I watched her walk away, her hips swaying beautifully. Then I remembered something. I shouted. "Hey, hey."

She turned around.

I cleared my throat. "I never got your name."

"I'm Ava."

A week had past since I had met Ava and yet it still felt like yesterday.

She was nice and a fun kind of person. We spent most of our time playing video games, causing trouble at malls, viewing movies at cinemas, and making Janette and Clarissa pay for their previous actions.

Everything had been going perfect between us until I met him.

It was another Sunday and we had gone to the cafeteria to have some food after a long day at the salon—which she had convinced me to go to.

I had never seen myself so pretty before and although I didn't say it out, i felt supremely confident and beautiful.

We were talking about one of the ladies at the salon who we thought would do better as a stand-up comedian than a salonist, when he walked into the cafeteria.

My eyes caught sight of him immediately and I lost interest in what Ava was saying and in the entire world in general.

For a moment, it felt like the whole world was paused and only him and I were still moving.

He looked dazed as he looked around until his eyes caught mine. Normally I would have looked away but I didn't, I just couldn't.

He slowly began to walk towards me with a style which enticed me the more. I watched his every move and his every step and my heart began racing faster than ever.

When I was sure that he was indeed walking towards me, my mind went wild with several thoughts; 'Why is he walking towards me? 'What am I going to the when he approaches me? Does he feel the same way?

But then, all my questions were answered at once as he tapped Ava from behind and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

I felt like I was just shot in the heart. I looked stupidly at them laughing and saying probably happy things to each other. One of his hands were on her shoulder and the other playing with her beautiful newly trimmed hair.

As for Ava, I had never seen her so happy before. Her eyes glowed with excitement. Her smile was perfect. and did well in exposing all her white pretty teeth. She was truly happy and....I wasn't.

Fine, it's okay for you to judge me but I can bet that if you were in my shoes you will feel the same.

Ava must have noticed my mood as she touched my hands gently and said to him. "This is Hillary Hunter, the girl I told you about."

She talked about me to him. That brought more questions to my head, like 'what kind of things did she talk about? Good things? Bad things? Did she tell him I was a loser who couldn't stand up for herself? Did she tell him that I was the school laughing stock? Oh my!

Like she read my thoughts, she quickly added. "Don't bother, only nice things." She laughed and I corresponded nervously.

He was staring at me with an amazing smile on his face. It felt like his golden brown eyes could see right inside me, probably pry into my thoughts and find out that I liked him, definitely not as a friend. He was the first guy I had ever acknowledged despite the number that came after me. Most of the guys that had gone after me in the past had been put off by my intentional weirdness. Now, they all saw me as a creep, and never bothered me anymore. Good riddance to bad rubbish, anyways.

He stretched his hand out and graced me with a smile, which sent chills all over me. "Hi, I'm Dylan."

His eyes were still fixed on me, making me partially paralyzed and numb. I rubbed my sweaty palm on my trousers and anxiously shook his outstretched hand.

"Hi." Our first touch was magical. The feeling of our hands touching sent sparks all over my body. It wasn't a strong handshake, it wasn't soft, it wasn't too long neither was it short but it was plainly perfect.

Our hands maintained the same position with our eyes fixed on eachother until Ava gently separated us. "Hey, what's going on here? That's enough." She said jokingly but I knew she didn't like it.

"You have really soft hands."He said still staring at me.

His compliment almost gave me a heart attack. "Thanks." I struggled to utter.

"What about me? You never commend me." Ava said with a babyish voice.

He laughed. "Your hands are as hard as a rock, Ava."

"What! You're a liar."

We all laughed.

"Take that back, Dylan." She said poking his muscular arm with her manicured finger nails.

"You see, your hands are hard but not as hard and cold as your heart." He said.

She gave him a funny hard look and then looked at me with a smile on her face. "Well Hillary, say something nice about me to prove him wrong."

I giggled shyly. "Uhm...you are..."

He interrupted me. "Don't think too hard Hillary," He placed his hand on my shoulder, renewing the sparks. "there's nothing nice about her.

She tapped his hands off my shoulder. "Don't mind him Hillary, you were about to say something really nice about me, right?"

"Exactly. Well, I think you are very friendly unlike most beautiful girls I know."

"Ohh, that's so sweet. Thank you, Hillary." She said.

He scoffed. "Beautiful? Ava? She's just plain, the only beautiful person here is you, Hillary."

I almost choked as he uttered that. I wish the ground could open up and swallow me this time. Did he really mean that or was he just joking. Whether joking or not, I felt happier than I've ever felt since I was given birth to.

Ava was still smiling but it was obvious that she was getting a bit jealous, which was natural.

He must have noticed the awkward vibe as he quickly changed the topic.

The rest of the evening went well, we discussed about various topics and we all laughed, until it was late.

Ava who was the least person having fun as her mood had changed after Dylan's comment, was the first to notice that it was a few minutes past ten.

We paid the attendants and walked out of the cafe.

We hadn't taken ten steps before it began to rain. Ava hurried to her expensive car which was two-seated. She urged Dylan to come in but he refused. "We can't leave her here." He said.

Ava said. "We have no choice. It's cold out here and it's late, we need to go home."

"It's alright, I'm fine." I said, hugging myself as the cold rain pattered hardly on me.

"No, you can't go home all by yourself, apart from the rain, it's late and it's dangerous for a girl like you wandering the road alone." He looked back at Ava. "You know what, how about you drive her home and come pick me up here, I could wait inside the cafe... or I could even go home myself."

The fact that he wanted me safe, made my heart scream with joy.

It took Ava a while to process it. "No, Dylan. The road to her place is awfully bad. Only a truck can get there."

"OK. Go home, Ava. I'll drop her myself."

She looked defeated. She hopped into her car, slammed the door and drove off with speed.

He placed his hand on my shoulder as we walked to my place. Regardless of the downpour and the cold which made me shiver, he still found ways to make me laugh.

It took us about an hour and a half to get to my place. He had carried me on his back most of the way as I had gotten cold from the rain.

He carried me into my house and asked for the direction to my bedroom, and I relunctantly told him with my teeth clattering and lips shivering.

He walked into my room and dropped me on my bed. He helped in taking off his jacket which he had placed on me earlier. He advised me take off my wet clothes, have a hot water bath, amd put on some comfortable dry clothes on, while he waited downstairs.

He was right, so I adhered to his advise and did exactly what he had said. In fifteen minutes I was done with it, so i shakily walked to the corridor and told him I was done and that if he wanted to, he could sleep on the couch in my room.

He walked upstairs and into my room

with a balm in his hands. He had also gotten most of his clothes off, except a white shorts which was really short. It was so inappropriate for him to dress like that in front of me—a church chorister who was also the assistant head of the abstinence club in church. If my mum found out, I'll be finished. But he looked extremely hot, with his abs and muscles glistening and flaunting under the dim golden lights, I didn't mind, I like it.

He applied it slowly and gently on my body and when he was done, he carefully tucked me in bed.

As he was about standing up, I grabbed his hand and said softly. "Thank you, Dylan."

He looked at me with genuine care. "No problem, Hillary. By tomorrow you'll be fine."

He stood up and began walking away, but he stopped by the door.

I looked at him curiously and asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes....but." He turned around. "This sounds really crazy, but have we met before?"

"No, we haven't." I said, shocked by his question. If we had met i would surely remember a personality, face and body like his. I don't forget people with good personalities—they happened to be really rare in my life.

"But, I'm sure we have met before." He said with certainty.

I managed a laugh. "Maybe you met someone who looks like me, but I'm Aldo sure that you and I haven't met."

He stared at me for a while with doubt. "OK, Hillary. Good night."

"You can stay here with me." I spat out without thinking about it. "The couch here is way more comfortable than that in the sitting room."I said trying to cover up for my earlier statement.

"Never mind, I'm fine." He hesitantly walked out and shut my room door.

I switched off my side lamp and shut my eyes to sleep but I couldn't. My mind still pondered about what he had said.

What of if he had seen my twin sister, Maribel, before and thought I was the one. No way!! Although Maribel and I were twins, we didn't look alike in anyway. She had dark brown hair, I had ebony hair. She was 5 '6' I was 5'9'. She was fleshy while I was slim. She had a thick, bold and loud voice while mine was calm and soft. She had more boobs and butt than I, so it was almost impossible to substitute one for the other. Our differences were too vast for anybody to mistake one for the other.

I was still awake, rolling in my bed, and thinking deeply when Dylan knocked on my bedroom door.

I switched on my bedside lamp and said lazily "Open up."

He walked in with a charming smile on his face, and then the next statement he said blew up my imaginations. "I saw you last week, under the rain, in a blue jacket and black pants."

What the hell! "How do you know that was what I was wearing? Where you in the party?" I asked more curious than ever.

"No Hillary. I'm sure it wasn't raining during the party, was it?"

"No, it rained later in the night. Then how did you know what I was wearing?"

He smiled. "I was the wolf you saw, Hillary...and from the connection we shared, you're...my mate."