When You Became My World (#1)

Reunited

Lalisa's POV:

I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have come...

My inner voice kept screaming at me, a sense of foreboding overpowering me. I had to get a grip on myself.

I'm just going to meet Jace. Again.  Nothing more.

That's right. After you mistaked him for a bouncer and called him a prick. After you said you were never going to see him again. How great!

Surely Jace has accepted my apology, right? He can't be holding a grudge now, would he? That would breed a nasty disaster I don't want to encounter.

I felt that I meant the apology back there. I acted a bit...brash out there, probably because my nerves had been on edge all day. But he deserved it so there was a small amount of justification in what I did.

"We're here, Lalisa" Zara beamed as she stared at Jace's mansion. "It's beautiful," I looked at her giddily happy face.

The camera at the metal gates scanned our faces, followed by the metal gates opening automatically as our access  was granted. "I still can't believe I'm meeting Jace. It's so-" Zara's voice caught in her throat as we stood at the stone-floored  pathway entrance.

Saying the place was beautiful was an understatement. His place was glorious. There were beautiful flower gardens artistically trimmed into a maze, Michelangelo-esque statue fountains and a fleet of sports car collection in a car park. Not to mention the big glass mansion that reflected the peach glow of sunset.

I couldn't stop wondering how much it looked like a painting that had come to life.

I took in a sharp breath as Vick and Jace stepped out of the maze to meet us. "So it wasn't a joke. He's real," Zara said staring at Jace  like he was some  trophy as he came closer. I mentally facepalmed myself at Zara's reaction.

Why am I even here in the first place?

"Hey Ash and..."he trailed off to let Zara fill in her name.

"I'm Zara. I'm such a big fan of yours." she gushed.

The name Ash brought back a lot of childhood memories, drowning out their voices.

I sat on the front porch, watching Victor play with the elusive boy in the backyard, my thoughts adrift on last night. The elusive boy, whose name I gathered was Jace looked at me curiously. I followed his gaze and fell on the bruises and little cuts on my arms. The cuts I got from standing in Dad's way when he was trying to hit Mom.

Oh, snap!

Why did my long sleeves have to rise so suddenly? I pulled them over the dull-aching bruises and hugged my knees. I didn't want him to feel sorry for me. I could deal with this. Nevertheless, Jace ignored how I closed in on myself and climbed the porch.

"Why don't you come play with us?" he sat by my side, still looking at my bruises.

"I'm fine."

"You look a little pale. Ashy." he added my nickname, with a small smile.

"It's my complexion." I turned and he saw the perfect opportunity to check my bruises. His grip on my hand was gentle but firm enough. So I let him check...

"How you doing, Ash," Jace's question snapped me back from my memories. Zara's brow twisted in confusion at why he called me Ash, a very old nickname long gone.

"My name isn't Ash." Just great! Did he really have to call me by that childish  name and pretend he didn't know my given one? Was he trying to irk me again?