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As she entered the big hall with her granny and father, she heard a pleasing voice of a man.
"Oh my goodness!" and the man hugged her father, after a long hug they both pulled away and looked at Alethea and granny.
"How are you, mother?" Jacob asked granny, she wasn't her mother but she was the mother of his best-friend so he calls her mother too. "Good to see you." Granny chuckled.
"is she— Alethea?" Jacob asked william, he nodded his head, "oh, you've grown up very well, I'm your uncle." Jacob said smiling at Alethea as she passed the smile back at him with a nod, she looked away from Jacob while smiling when her eyes met a familiar body; Maverick.
'what is he doing here?' she thought.
as Maverick caught Alethea looking at him, he looked down at his mother as bella was shorter than him.
"who is she? you know her?" bella asked him, "w-who?" Bella smirked at maverick's fake innocence, "the girl you were staring at?" she asked, "how would I know h-her." he lied avoiding eye contact with her.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" a waiter interrupted bella and Maverick, "yes?" Asked bella, "sir Jacob is calling you there." waiter said pointing at Jacob and the Alethea and her small family, getting a nod from bella the waiter walked away.
Maverick watched bella walking towards alethea and her family, while he was looking at his mother, his eyes again fell on Alethea and she caught him, maverick looked away this time too and walked away in the crowd.
after an hour or long, maverick tried his best to stay away from Alethea but he could not stop thinking about her beauty today, he was right now sipping on his juice when he heard a call from his step-sister from behind.
"Rick, look, who is with me." her voice said, Maverick turned around to face his sister when his smile faded after seeing Alethea standing beside her.
The innocence in her eyes, the beautiful face, the colour suits her very well, oh my god!
Maverick transferred his eyes from Alethea to Alba, "You know her? she told me she knows you, when i told her about my two brothers." Alba said smiling at Alethea as well as at Maverick.
"You know her?" She asked again, "i—" Maverick was about to say something when Alba cut him off again, "If you don't know her then you should be friends with her, look how cute she is, so pretty." Alba cooed at Alethea as Alethea smiled at her.
"Ladies and Gentle— oh my goodness!" Andrew exclaimed after finding out Alethea, Maverick and Alba at the same time.
"didn't you tell me yesterday that you both were never together?" Andrew asked Alethea, she looked at Maverick as he looked at her with furrowed brows. "But when i badmouthed him, you glared at me." Andrew laughed, "it was funny." He laughed more.
"wait, what do you mean by together?" Asked Alba, "Ah, sister—" Andrew was about to explain the whole strange situation between Maverick and Alethea which will turn out to be all lie, as Andrew thought they both were dating secretly while it was completely a lie.
Before Andrew could speak further, Maverick walked away from them with angry expressions. His hands in his pants pockets and going towards upstairs, Alethea excused them and followed Maverick, he was too fast while she couldn't walk fast in her not so high heeled sandals.
finally, they both were at the rooftop where the cold breeze of December was blowing, she saw him beside the railing. He didn't know that she followed him here, as she was about to walk towards him, she saw him lighting up a cigrette.
'he smokes?' she asked herself mentally.
And then she made her way beside him gradually, when he saw her beside himself, he immediately threw the cigrette away from him not wanting anyone to know that he smoke as it was a secret.
"why are you here?" Maverick asked coldly, "i don't know the reason, but why are you distancing yourself from me suddenly?" Alethea asked as she couldn't keep seeing him like this.
"If i— if i had done something wrong then you should tell me—"
"You had done nothing wrong." He said cutting her off, she turned herself to him while he wasn't facing her but his side was.
"then why?" he didn't answer, "Maverick, i never had friends or anyone like me with whom i could share my worries, although i have granny but—" she paused, "—i don't want her to be worried about me, when i met you, i felt so familiar with me, i never felt this way with anybody but you." she completed herself.
"If there would be someone else at your place then i would never have come here to ask why are you distancing me from you, but i feel like home with you. i don't know why." a sob left her mouth as she completed herself.
Maverick looked at her and saw tears rolling down from her eyes, his heart clenched seeing her crying just because he was distancing himself from her.
