Shatter: A Jonah Clemence x MC Romance (Ikemen Revolution)

6: Nuisance

(Kelly's P.O.V)

"D-d-dont look!!!" I squealed angrily with my cheeks tinted the colour of fire. As I yelled at my new 'keeper' from down below, I slowly slipped my foot onto another rung of the ladder I was currently ascending.

"How rude. Do you even take me for a gentleman? What snob in their right mind would peak under a woman's skirt?" Jonah hissed back as he leant against the ornate bookshelf I was currently attempting to get to the top shelf of.

I was already frustrated with how conceited Jonah acted, but now that I had to actually live with him and work for him, I was even more put-off.

....and I'd only been here for a few hours.

"I mean...I wouldn't put it past you." I whispered, more as a spiteful joke than as a truth.

A low blow? Well...maybe.

But I was already tired, and the only way to circumvent this irritation was to channel that anger into my complaints as I retrieved this stupid folder he asked for.

Whack!

The Queen of Hearts suddenly knocked the fist of his good hand into the wood paneling of a cupboard within the book shelf and sent my heart soaring a mile a minute. It wasn't extremely violent, but it was loud compared to the silence of the office we were in.

"I heard that!" He yelped.

"W---woahh!"

But I wasn't listening anymore. The ladder jumped (along with myself) when Jonah yelled, causing the feet to skitter across the floor and begin to topple sideways. I squeaked in stress as the ladder began falling towards the Queen -

Thok!

Yet the situation didn't even phase him. His good arm curled up above his head and his forearm easily haulted my fall by steadying the side of the ladder with hardly a blink.

His bright eyes rose coldly to stare into mine as I gazed down at him, our faces only a few feet from eachother.

"I..-"

Uh oh. I'm hesitating.

"I've done nothing but help you so far, Alice. The least you could do is show some respect." He spat quietly, firmly ingraining how offended he was by my words.

I wanted to speak out, but held my tongue - though not on purpose.

It was just...that gesture. Of stopping the ladder so easily - and so swiftly.

I'd really only seen such a feat in romantic movies. Never had I witnessed a man actually commit to something so small, yet so....

So kind. So polite.

And though I refused to admit it...

He looked handsome, too. While he simply held my entire weight, along with the ladder, against his arm as if it didn't matter.

I swallowed heavily to quell my thundering heart.

"Well?"

I didn't quite register Jonah's words as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Alice? Are you going to find the folder, or are you just going to stand there and gawk at my beautiful features?"

The cocky gall of the Queen of Hearts resurfaced in his voice, causing me to snap out of my daze and straighten up.

"You're so full of yourself." I lashed back, before continuing up the ladder like nothing had happened.

"I have quite the reputation to uphold. You could never live a day in my shoes." Jonah uttered with a shrug as he rolled his shoulders, attempting to stretch his broken and now casted arm, before placing his good hand against the ladder to make sure I didn't fall once again.