My Protector | Meliodas

25. Approval

I liked romance movies. 

But that one was the most cliche, cheesy and unrealistic romance movie I'd ever seen. Merlin and I shuddered as we burst through the doors of the cinema room, throwing our rubbish in the closest bin. 

Diane held herself and made smooching sounds. 

"It was a cute movie," she cooed as she fluttered her eyelashes. It was past the point of sarcasm at that point. Merlin and I playfully gave her the finger as she laughed at our feigned disgust. 

"I need to pee," Diane whispered as she slipped into the labeled doors. Merlin and I waited outside. 

"So, how come that bodyguard of yours didn't come tonight?" Merlin purred, her sharp nails tapping on her arms. I looked at her momentarily - she was never the kind to care about my relationships with guys. 

She never liked them either. With good reason, but still. Meliodas was the first guy she seemed remotely fond of.  

I turned my attention back to the doors of the cinema, which kept opening and closing with the exit of people. 

"He had to go on a business trip with my father, he won't be back until a bit later," I said, eyeing a couple as they held hands and commented on the movie. Merlin chuckled gently. 

"Well, let's make the most of it while you're a free woman," her eyes glinted. I swatted her away with a smile. 

"The only reason I was able to come tonight was that my father didn't answer the phone when one of his butlers tried to stop me from leaving," I added, which earned an eye roll from her. 

The door to the bathroom swung open and Diane stepped out, wiping her wet hands on her jeans. She stuck her tongue out at us as she walked over. 

"Let's go, King is outside waiting for us," Diane said to Merlin, who nodded in response. We left the empty cinema and stepped out into the quiet night. 

Besides the stray car crawling through the lights, the street was dead. That was one of the things I hated about this town. It was like a small city during the day, but every soul scurried to their homes no later than seven-thirty most nights. 

Some days were busier than others obviously, but in general, this town was a deserted wasteland throughout the night. 

I hurriedly fished out my phone and held the power button, counting the seconds it took for it to turn back on. Merlin and Diane slid into King's car with a departing wave as I approached the road. 

My Converses stopped right on the curb and balanced along the concrete, my toes hanging off the edge. Finally, my phone was functioning, and I opened the keypad to call Chandler. King's car sped off down the street, and I tried to relax my growing nerves. 

It was 9:24, and I mentally groaned for telling Chandler that the movie would finish at 9:30. I had assumed we would have been made to watch credits or something, but that stuff clearly didn't happen in movie premieres. 

Just as I finished typing in his number, a pair of headlights flickered on ahead of me, causing me to jerk my head up. I squinted against the bright white and let out a pained smile as I made it out to be a black car. 

I ended the call with Chandler and began walking up the road to meet him halfway. 

The car did a slight maneuver before rolling along the curb in front of me, the windows tinted so darkly I could only see my reflection stare back at me. I tried to smile at him through the window, but I couldn't make out if he saw me. 

My fingers slipped under the door handle and pulled it open swiftly before I slipped into the dark car. 

"Hey Chandler, sorry I'm early," I said as I shut the door beside me. As I turned to put my seatbelt on, I heard a click. Something was pressed against the back of my head. 

"No need to apologize," a strange voice answered. I froze in my seat, the seatbelt buckled in my hand. My breathing began to speed up at the realization that I most definitely was not in Chandler's car. 

The hum of the vehicle loudened as the driver sped off down the street. The gun was slowly moved away from my head, so I took that as my opportunity to carefully put on my seatbelt, trying to catch a glimpse at the person beside me. 

It was too dark to see much of his face, especially as the driver began leaving the more lit-up areas of the town. My heart was racing in my chest, all areas of my body covered in sweat as I trembled in my seat, on the edge of a panic attack. 

My phone began vibrating in my bag, catching the man's attention. I gasped as he ripped my bag away from me, fishing out my phone. 

Meliodas' name flashed across the screen for exactly ten seconds before it disappeared. Every second that passed, the deeper my heart sank into my stomach.

I stopped the sob that threatened to leave my mouth as my hope diminished quickly. While the man inspected my notifications - messages from Meliodas and my father that hadn't loaded earlier - I saw his face. 

Although I didn't recognize his face entirely, he wasn't a complete stranger. He didn't have any outstanding features, but perhaps if I knew him, so did Meliodas. 

I was slightly more relieved to see it wasn't the man that attacked me at the bar and on the street over a month ago. I was still petrified for my life of course, but I at least knew I wasn't definitely in the presence of a predator. 

There was a chance he was just going to hold me hostage for something my father had done. Or maybe a slight beating before he would let me go home. Perhaps my father had implanted a tracking device in my arm when I was an infant? 

As the scenarios escalated, the final ounce of hope was ripped from my chest and stomped into a million tiny pieces. Tears began to well in my eyes.

Meliodas's name appeared on my phone again, and the man chuckled as he titled it toward me. 

"This guy is persistent," he said, using the barrel of his gun to tap my phone screen. 

If I wasn't on the brink of passing out or less than a meter away from a psycho in the possession of a firearm, I would have slapped him for hitting my phone so hard. 

Instead, I let the tears fall down my face as I watched him turn my phone off.