After hanging up the call, Adolphine rolled the window up and was about to drive away when Adolph came over and knocked.

"What?" She asked with a deep frown on her face.

They had long ended their relationship, so why was he still following her around?

"I saw your car, and I thought I should come over and say hi." Adolph responded while resting his elbow on the car's window edge.

"Well, since you have, I'll take your leave now." Adolphine quickly replied while stepping on the gas pedal.

Adoph, who had long expected her next move, chuckled, "Not so fast, Adolphine." and then observing her, he asked in anger, "What are those marks on your wrists and neck?"

"What do they look like?" 

"Mmmh," Adolph hummed, then, removing his elbow from the window edge, he bent to push his head inside the car. "It looks to me like the innocent Adolphine didn't hesitate to throw herself in the hands of another man two weeks after ending things with her mate."

A disbelief chuckle escaped Adolphine's lips. "What?"

The person who proposed to his mistress the night after he rejected his mate was the one questioning her for sleeping with another man two weeks after their break-up. How ridicilous?

"Of all people, you are asking me that question?" She stared at him in disbelief.

Adolph raised his hands in the air as if in surrender, and then, with an evil smirk etching on his face, he leaned in again and said, "Mine is justified. It's not like I didn't know Anya. I've dated her for six years, so proposing to her the same night I rejected you isn't much of a deal."

Not wanting to bicker with him because she had better things to take care of, Adolphine nodded, "I, you say so," to bring an end to the conversation.

"The man you slept with, how long have you known him? Is he better in bed than me?" Adolph shamelessly asked, his gaze still stuck on Adolphine's neck.

Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, Adolphine grabbed a creamy scarf from the backseat and wrapped it around her neck.

"Why do you care, Adolph? I and you ended things, so you should learn to respect boundaries." With a serious tone etching on her voice, Adolphine schooled him.

"Boundaries? How can I respect boundaries when I don't know when you started seeing this man who left all those marks on you? Is he a beast? Did you start seeing him when you were still with me?" He asked, not letting go of the window edges, which he had now gripped tightly on them.

"Adolph, for the last time. You take your shitty hands off my car window, or I'll pick them up and hurt you." She warned.

Titling his head sideways, he asked, "You would?"

With a deep sigh escaping her lips, Adolphine mumbled, "Don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she pressed the side button, rolling the window upward, and caged his hands inside the car.

Adolph started complaining from outside, telling her that she was hurting him, but she ignited the car and slowly started driving away from there.

It was not her idea to hurt him, but she wanted to teach him a lesson for poking his nose in her business.

Reaching the gate, satisfied by how far she had dragged him, Adolphine stopped driving.

"You whore!" Adolph cursed when the window was rolled down. "Are you insane? Did you just want to break my fingers? I should have known from the beginning that you are nothing but a monster."

"Well, isn't it good that you have realized that now?" She shruggled then continued, "You pock your dirty nose in my business again; I won't be just dragging you until the gate but the sea."

"You b-. You know what? I don't want to see you ever again!"

"That will only happen if you stop following me around." She yelled back at him and drove away, leaving him jumping from his pain.

Adolphine was sure marks would be left on his hands—a scar that would always remind him of the consequences of pocking his nose in her business.

A satisfied chuckle escaped Adolphine's lips. She remembered to call her mother like she had promised, and after chatting for a while, she hung up, turned on the music, and speeded back home.

Her stomach had been rumbling for over an hour now, constantly reminding her of her starvation.

At home, she parked her car in the garage and walked inside. Walking to the kitchen, she washed her hands and swung into action.

After thinking for a while, she decided to have a home-cooked meal.

Over her breakfast/lunch, because she was yet to have her breakfast and morning hours had long passed, she turned on her TV and watched her favorite vlogger's as she ate.

Halfway through her meal, the doorbell rang. "Am I expecting someone?" She asked herself, then focused on her food, thinking she was hearing things.

The doorbell rang, this time repeatedly. Thinking it was Anika because she had promised her to come over and bring the cream to her, she left her food on the table and went to open the door.

"That was fast, Ani-" Shocked that it wasn't Akina, she stopped midway and asked, "What the hell are you doing here?" 

"What the hell am I doing here? Should I be sad or mad, doll?" The person asked with a smirk playing at the end of his lips.

Adolphine slammed the door shut and leaned on it. Through the peephole, she pressed her face to see if her eyes were playing a trick on her, but they weren't.

Knowing she would have to fake not knowing the person, she pulled the door open and politely asked, "Who are you, sir? Can I help you?" She didn't forget to wear a smile on her face, even though it looked fake.

"Doll," the man growled solftly, a hint of warning pressing at his voice.

He didn't give Adolphine time to respond, but he pushed the door open and walked in.

"I didn't permit you to come in. What are you doing here? What do you want? How did you find me?" She asked in one breath.

"So you now admit that you know me?" The man asked.

"I don't? I just assumed that I..."

Adolphine's lie was cut short by a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Don't lie to me, doll. I don't like it." The man rasped, pulling away from her. "Why did you run away without waiting for me?" He then asked, caressing her lower lip.

"I-"

"Come stay with me." The man proposed.

"What? What's your name again?" Adolphine asked instead.

Sighing, he brought his thumb to his lower lip and then responded, "Alaric."

"I am not coming with you, Alaric." Adolphine said, stepping away from him.

Alpha Alaric followed her until she fell on the couch. Standing in between her legs, she leaned in and inched closer to her face. "Why? Didn't you like what we did yesterday?"

"Yes! That was too horrible. I was never satisfied at all." Adolphine bluttered out, hoping her words would hurt his ego.

When Alpha Alaric knitted his brows, Adolphine laughed inwardly, knowing her trick had worked.

"Give me another chance tonight, and I swear it will be worth it." To her surprise, Alaric proposed another night with her.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Adolphine pushed him backward. Because he wasn't expecting that, Alaric was pushed away as Adolphine ran away from him.

Responding to her question with a question, Alaric asked, "The hell is wrong with me? I should ask you that question, doll. The hell is wrong with you?"

"Where are you going? Stay where you are." Adolphine picked up a fork from her abandoned food and pointed it toward Alaric when he started walking to her side.

Jumping over the table, Alaric pushed her against the wall, and towering above her, he admitted, "No one runs away from me, doll."

"Well, I did." She responded with a proud smirk on her face, which made Alaric chuckle.

He had never met a woman who amused him as much as Adolphine did.

"I doubt that will happen again," he chuckled, holding her small face in his large palms.

Taking advantage of the fact that Adolphine had forgotten about the fork in her hands, he took it away and threw it aside.

He then gently reached for the strand of hair falling on her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"Didn't you see how compatible we were last night? Come stay with me, doll." He proposed again.

Inching closer to her lips, he planted a wet kiss on her cheek and then looked at her in the eye, waiting for an answer.

"Why? Why do you want me to come stay with you? It was a stupid night stand; why can't you forget about it?" Adolphine was left with no choice but to ask.

Never had she thought that someone could be serious about a nightstand like the man standing in front of her.

"To you, it might have been a stupid nightstand that can be forgotten, but to me, it is not. And as for why I want you to come live with me, it's because I want to take responsibility." He explained it to her.

Adolphine sighed and went to the couch. Alpha Alaric followed her and sat beside her. "I want you to think about this doll; one week is enough, and please don't give me a no as an answer."

"If you don't want no as an answer, then what's the use of thinking?" She wanted to ask him but pressed her lips instead.

"I don't want to come live with you." She bluttered out, playing with her fingers.

"You have no choice, doll. You were already mine when you agreed to come with me to my villa. In fact, I've changed my mind; the seven days I'm giving you aren't for thinking but packing your belongings." He demanded with a serious tone.

"I don't know you, Alan, or whatever you call yourself. How can I live with a stranger?" She asked in defeat.

"So that's what's worrying you?" Alaric asked, pushing another strand at the back of her ear, "For the seven days that I've given you and I'll be coming here so that we can know about each other, how does that sound?"

"I can't promise you anything. Why don't you let me think about it?" Adolphine asked, already accepting in her heart that there was no way he could run away from him.

"Deal." He smirked.

Adolphine leaned on the couch, a defeated sigh escaping her lips. She stared at the man sitting beside her, a million questions running through her head.

She wanted to ask him those questions so that she could find answers to them, but she was afraid Alaric would think she was interested in him.

"Take a picture; it would last longer or easier; why don't you move in with me today? That way, you'll see my face the first thing you wake up for the rest of your life."

"Shut up!" Adolphine blushed, glancing over to the other side. "How did you find me?" She asked again when she recalled that he had yet to answer that question.

"Finding someone is a piece of cake to me." Alaric responded. "While I am still here, should I make my actions worthy?" He shifted closer to her, pinning her on the couch and holding her wrists above her head.

"Alaric, let go," she asked him, trying to kick him, but her legs were pinned in position the moment Alaric hovered above her.

He leaned closer, wanting to kiss her, but the door was pushed open as one of his guards walked in.

"Alpha Alaric, sorry for disturbing you, but there is an emergency," the guard said.

"A-Alpha Alaric?" Adolphine asked in shock when she finally got the name.

Alaric turned to face her with a smirk on his face.

He then pulled something from his back pocket and pushed it into her hands. "Here, apply it to your wrists and ankles. It will help heal the marks. See you later." He kissed her on the cheek and walked out of his room, followed by his guard behind him.

"What kind of trap have you set yourself in, Adolphine? Of all the random men at the bar, why did you choose him?" Her conscience asked her.

"I am thinking the same. Why him? How do I get away from him?" She thought louldy, clenching her small fists together.

She stared at the cream in her hands and sighed. It was the same type of cream Anika had promised to bring over to her.

"How come he knows about creams more than I do?" She asked herself, lying on the couch on her back.

Before she could close her eyes like she intended to, her doorbell rang again. "Finally, she is here." She yawned, dragging herself to the door.

"Miss Adolphine, Alpha Alaric said he'll be taking you for dinner tonight. Please be prepared." It was Alaric's guard.