Emma.

Every time he uttered that word, it was pure ecstasy. Perhaps I was deranged — was it normal to feel so delighted hearing your name?

It was affirmation that he knew my true identity. Even with his condition, he gravitated to me.

And it was clear how we connected. As we deepened the kiss, amped up the intensity, every inch of our bodies connected and played out in sync.

I held onto him as he had me cornered against the glass panel, sprawled against the portrait he had drawn of me. He had a hand to the back of my head, preventing me from slamming into the wall as we pushed into the frame.

With that said, we weren't all that kind with the touches. I allowed myself to roam his arms. I felt the sides, and next to the chiseled abdomen. He had an impossibly perfect figure, one that I chased with my palms. Every now and then I would touch a sensitive spot, and Nick would respond with a sharp intake of breath.

Emma. There it was again, as he moved his lips away from mine, and then chased my jawline. It went to my temple, and it was my turn to quiver. I was weak in the knees as he brought it down to my neck, tenderly.

I wrapped around him, closer. We were moving at an electrifying speed, but that didn't scare me at all. It was only him, the boy who was the summation of comfort and warmth.

And then suddenly, it ceased. It ached as he tore his lips away from my skin, and I opened my eyes in confusion.

Nick was staring at something in the distance, eyes widened. Something was wrong.

"Nick?" I asked, my voice reduced to a mere croak now.

He tried not to startle me. Nick met my eyes, cupping my cheek gently.

"Emma." It was really hard to listen to him sanely, especially when his eyes were so black. The silver-blue morphed into darkness, a clear sign of how urgent this must be to have interrupted the two of us.

"What?" I whipped my head around, but saw nothing. He definitely looked in the direction of the balcony, but when I looked past the small gap between the curtains, I couldn't see anything. "What did you see?"

Nick reached past me to the bedside drawer, and pulled something out. He pressed a black device to my hands, then brought his lips to my ears and whispered softly. "Don't freak out. There's someone at the balcony."

"What?" I gaped. He had to be joking. However, I knew Nick wasn't one to take jokes this far.

He was dead serious now.

"Stay here. Use this if necessary." He pointed to the device I was holding, before fetching a similar one.

I stared at the thing in my hand. What was it even? It looked like a black solid block, completely unassuming. Until I saw the button.

If it was some sort of weapon, I have never seen before. Perhaps Hestia invented it. Either way, the idea of it escalating to this filled me with disbelief.

Nick started creeping forward, in the direction of the balcony. There was determination in his eyes as he made each move stealthily. I was certain that he definitely had some kind of training apart from regular sports, in order to know how to move like that.

Only I was terrible at listening to instructions. I shifted as quietly as I could to a spot behind him. He cast a glance to the side to observe what I was doing, and so I mouthed,

What? I can't leave you to die alone.

It was just a joke, but suddenly it seemed to have taken on a whole new intensity. I mean, if there was really an intruder —

He sighed, shaking his head. Get behind the wall. He motioned his head towards the side.

That I could do. I rest my finger over the button and actually aimed for the curtain he was going for. I held my breath as he got a fistful of the curtain.

With one swift motion, Nick drew the curtain open and clicked that small button on his own block, dropping a cartridge so it fashioned into a gun. I bit back a scream at the sudden motion.

Nick kicked the door open and jumped through it to enter the balcony. He ran up to the edge of the balcony and peered over it.

I joined him, and I actually saw it.

A shadow, fading away into the darkness.

He was right. Someone was there tonight.

***

"That's highkey creepy." I said as Nick started inspecting the place, making sure the coast was clear. He phoned the security service that the Sheldons hired.

"This won't do. I'll make sure to have security near the premises at all times now. I'm sorry I had to put you through that." He embraced me gently, making my senses soothe instantly.

"It's not you." I said, watching his frazzled state. He looked like he was really kicking himself in the foot for whatever had happened.

Nick walked up to me and held either side of my shoulder. "Emma, I'm going to have a guard follow you from now on. He might have already seen you."

Hold on. A guard? My mouth was wide agape.

"What did you see at the balcony, Nick?" I asked. I was hiding behind the wall while Nick entered first, so I was definitely too late to witness whatever Nick encountered.

Nick grunted. "There was a man out there, probably not much older than us. He swung himself off just in time. Just that, because of my prosopagnosia, I couldn't see his face —" He slammed a fist into the wall as he admitted to the defeat.

His voice shook with rage, "That was my one shot. For once my eyes met with the attacker, yet I couldn't even recognize him —"

I responded by clutching that fist, and then prying it open gently. "Breathe," I calmed him down.

Nick obeyed, and soon the anger clouding his eyes was fading away. He was undeniably frustrated and worried, but at least I could ask my burning question now. I tread carefully.

"So, it wasn't my stepfather? It's that attacker that you encountered on that night you hurt your head and got prosopagnosia?"

"Didn't seem like your stepfather. Is he known for being very agile?"

My lips pressed into a thin line. "He's drunk most of the time, and I doubt he could pull of a stunt like that."

"It's the attacker, then." Nick huffed.

"I don't even know what happened that night." I said quietly. "What happened? Was the attack all to steal your fortunes?"

Nick's answer was ominous. "If only it were as simple as that."

Next, he looked at me with full seriousness, tilting my head up slightly to meet his gaze. "I'll tell you all about it someday. About the dangers that the Sheldons face. It might not even be safe for you, considering he knows you are my weakness." He gulped next. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you leave me, Em, I would understand. It's safer that way."

What? Why would they want to attack the Sheldons for? None of this made sense. But the one thing I was clear about was that I didn't want to leave him.

I brought his face down to mine. Even though the room was still full of investigators and agents, it didn't matter. With that kiss, I had drawn up a portal in which only the two of us ever existed. It was beautiful.

"I don't want you to be alone in this." I pulled back a little to say.

He closed his eyes. After savoring the moment, he eventually pulled away to ask the next serious question.

"There's another added concern. It doesn't feel safe with your stepfather around too. Who knows — our enemies might collaborate to take us down. I understand he's still your father, so I have to ask — if I could get him prosecuted, would you want him to be imprisoned?"

"I know the law, Nick. Without empirical evidence that he's done something, he won't be going into jail again. Plus, he's on the good side of the cops. Behaved really well in jail and acted as if he quit his habits, apparently."

Nick turned his head to the side and said ominously, "I know a way. So would you want me to do it?"

Did I? Thinking back to the torment, I knew my answer.

"If there was some chance that you could, I would like that to be the case."

"Okay." Nick sighed with relief. "Now all we have to do is figure out who was outside just now. There's security footage and everything, so there's still a chance we can nab the culprit."

I stepped closer to him, my voice dropped to a daring low. "If there's security footage, does that mean you've captured everything we did?"

His grunt matched mine. He closed his eyes. "Emma, if you don't want me to take you senseless right now in a room full of people, you should probably stop."

I chuckled, really amused by how I could do that just those simple words. But as I laughed, I caught myself. I couldn't help but replay the words in my head,

Let's say Hestia isn't everyone's favorite company.

***

The only reason why I could sleep that night because he was there. Even though security had arrived, Nick insisted on sitting on the chair beside my bed, watching on.

Even as I protested and tried to make him cave and come next to me, he stayed put. Other than being on the lookout, I could tell he wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway. Nick was an insomniac, plus he was probably freaked out and perplexed by the night's scare.

When I woke up, breakfast was already prepared. Nick tried to hide it by being humorous and all, but I could tell that last night affected him.

"Behold, my signature honey pancakes." He greeted me as I rubbed my eyes.

I decided to wear his baseball jersey today. I could have put on whatever I bought yesterday, or gone back home to fetch my clothes, but what's the fun in that? I adored the way he looked at me when he saw me parading in his outfits. Giving me a once-over until it was too much —

"I'll get you coffee, you nocturnal." I ruffled his hair gently, and passed him to get to the coffee machine. I worked part time as a barista before, so this was definitely another one of my jack of trades.

Silently, I also thought of it as my apology. I was definitely going to ditch the guard that Nick had assigned to me. It seemed hard to dissuade him, so I was going to have to make a break for it when necessary.

I chased Nick to take a seat at the table first as I waited for the coffee to brew. He watched me with a lopsided grin, which put a smile on my face too.

And then I turned on my phone, read my new message, and the my smile faded.

Yuri:
Remember our meeting at noon.
I have something to tell you.