Author's Notes: Why did I delete this book in the first place? Bah! I'm never deleting anything again. Boo! Okay, I didn't say any of that. Thanks to everyone who reviews. I appreciate it.
Chapter Four
Hitomi and Van pulled up in front of the apartment building Hitomi lived in. Van pulled the emergency brake and apologized once more for what happened in the restaurant.
"It's all right," she told him. "Things happen. I mean . . . those things don't usually happen, but things just happen."
He smiled slowly, "Things just like that happen to me all the time. I just deal with it."
"Were they really after you? Who were those men?"
"I don't know exactly who they were, but I know where they come from." He paused for a moment, and then went on, "But it was a pity that we couldn't have dinner like I planned. Perhaps next time."
"That isn't a very good answer to my question. Care to elaborate?"
"I'm sorry that I can't explain more than that," he said shrugging his shoulders and bending over the steering wheel. "I want to tell you much more, but I don't dare. The more you know the less safe you are. I don't know that you can take care of yourself, and I can't be with you all the time yet." Suddenly he brightened. "But I can give you this." He pulled a silver neck lace out of one of the front pockets of his jeans.
It was a simple chain, and Hitomi was disappointed when she looked at it at first, but hen she saw the pendant. It was something really special. It was a shiny pink stone almost like mother-of-pearl, but far too translucent for that. It was beautiful and she smiled with pleasure at the sight of it. It seemed a little strange to her to be accepting a gift from a guy who maybe cared about her. This was the kind of thing Hitomi thought was strictly reserved for boyfriends.
She took it in her hand and was about to put it in her pocket, as she wasn't sure yet how she felt about the present, but Van took her hand in his and took away the necklace. Then he undid the clasp and clipped it around her neck, skimming his fingertips across her skin as he moved away.
"It belongs on you," he said softly, and the look in his eyes seemed somehow warmer than before.
His fingers touching her throat sent shivers all through her skin.
"Thank you," she said uneasily.
"My pleasure."
"Do you want to come up with me?"
He looked across at her. "I would love to, but I can't. There's somewhere I have to be. I'll call you later." He opened the car door and got out.
As he strode towards the back of the car, she took off her seat belt and propped her head up on the head rest back wards, so she could look at him.
Van smiled at her again before he popped open the truck. He pulled her bag out and slammed the lid shut. "I'll try to come spend some time with you when I get the chance. Then we can see if we can have enough privacy for me to help this mess make sense to you. I'll even try to pick you up from school now and then. Would you mind it if I picked you up from school?"
"I'd like it," she admitted blushing uncontrollably.
"Then I'll try to be there on Monday." He walked up to her side of the car and opened the door for her. "And I'll even try to be on time," he said, bending down and hugging her
She went to put her arms around his neck, but he stood up too quickly. It ended up looking like she wanted him to lift her out of the convertible, instead of looking like she wanted more of a hug. So, he picked her up and set her down on her feet.
"Thank you again," she said as sweetly as she could, and tried not to feel stupid, even though she did.
"I'll call you later tonight. Good night." He got into the drivers' seat and drove away.
Hitomi watched him go from the boot room of her apartment building. The way he looked back at the apartment made her smile. She stood there and watched long after she couldn't see his car anymore. Only then did she turn around and unlock the inside door. She walked calmly up the many stairs on her way up to her hallway.
She was an idiot. The boy was obviously going to be a whole heap load of trouble – probably more than she could handle. If she had any brain at all she would send him away without a backward glance. But . . . what if he was a good guy who got drug into a bad situation through no fault of his own? Then if she discarded him, she'd be discarding a perfectly good hot boy for no reason. Better keep him around, just to make sure.
Her fingers found the pendant hanging from her neck. It was cold. She stuck it down her shirt thinking that it would get warm pretty quickly once it was down there for a little while. The chill metal shocked her skin when it fell. She might have thought that was strange if she had been in less of a daze, but since she was in a daze she didn't notice.
She opened the door to her apartment, and went in.
As soon as the door shut behind Hitomi, her mother came up to her. "You know Dilandau has been waiting here a whole hour? He called Millerna from over here trying to find out where you'd gone. Why didn't you at least call home to tell where you were going? Didn't you remember that Dilandau was coming?"
"I didn't have any plans with Dilandau, even though I should have called," she said looking into the empty living room. "Where is he now?" Hitomi asked seriously. She inched out of her shoes, and placed them next to the wall.
"He's in your room."
"Okay mom. Sorry, I meant to call," she apologized quickly and headed for her bedroom.
She opened the door and said to Dilandau shortly, "What are you doing here?"
He was lying on her bed (with his shoes on). "Hello to you too," he said with a charming smile, looking up from a manga he was reading. "What is up with you lately, girl? You've been acting weird lately."
"Have I? Is that just because I don't jump at the change to spend thirty seconds with you?" She gave him a long look. "What are you doing here Dilandau?"
"I though you might like to come out with me tonight," he said coolly.
"You didn't call."
"Do I have to call?"
"Yes, if you want to make sure I'm available, but that doesn't matter anymore. You have to go," Hitomi said, remembering her promise to Van.
He ignored what she said and went on talking, "Millerna told me that you went somewhere with Vince. Care to explain that to me?"
"What makes you think that I'd tell you anything?"
"He was over here last weekend, wasn't he? You introduced him to me."
"I remember. Now please, get your dirty feet off my bedspread Dilandau," she ordered irritably.
"Okay, no need to get so hostile. Are you going out with him tonight?"
She noticed he hardly moved his shoes off the cover.
"No. I just came home from being out with him. Are you going to go anytime in the immediate future?" she continued demanding, and feeling like she was getting close to a rampage.
Just then Hitomi felt the cold of the pendant around her neck. It was still cold. As a matter of fact it was so cold that she had to pull it out of her shirt, because of how painful it was becoming. It reminded her quite forcefully of her promise to Van. She had to get Dilandau out of the apartment now.
"Get out," she said loudly.
"Why? I only just got here."
"No, my mom said you have been here an hour. This is the last time. Dilandau, get out!"
He got very defensive and sullen all of a sudden. "Hitomi, why are you doing this? I'm not a bad guy. Have I ever hurt you?"
She stopped him. "Why can't you just accept that I don't want to go out tonight, and I don't want to see you right now? You are so abusive most of the time – can't you take a little of your own back? You push me around all the time. Well, that's all over now. You have ten seconds to get out of this apartment. If you're still here after that I'll call the police." She snatched up the cordless phone and stood at the entrance to her room. "One," she practically yelled, as she looked straight into Dilandau's eyes.
"Okay. Okay. Okay." He got up off her bed and started towards the door. "Will you just tell me why you're so pissed off all of a sudden?"
Hitomi thought about what he asked. It did seem a little crazy that she should just start snapping at him for what seemed like no good reason. She exhaled a deep breath, and said calmly to him. "I need to be by myself right now. My outburst is probably strictly hormonal, but that doesn't change that you're up to four."
"Sheesh," he breathed, walking out of her bedroom.
As he was making his way down the hall way it looked like he might stop and talk to her mother for a moment.
To stop him Hitomi yelled down the hallway, "Five."
He visibly jumped to hear her yell so loudly, and opened the door to exit the apartment. He shut the door behind him with a loud bang.
Hitomi's mother, who had just come out of the kitchen, looked at Hitomi, "Why did he leave like that?"
Hitomi walked up to her mother and pointed the cordless phone at her. "Dilandau and I aren't really friends anymore. Don't let him in here again. Tell Marlene and papa. I'm cutting him off. If he calls, simply tell him that I'm not home and get off the phone as quickly as possible. Don't tell him where I've gone if I'm not home, and that goes for all personal information from now on. Don't tell him anything about my shoes laces to who I'm dating. Understand?"
Her mother looked perplexed. "Why? I thought that you liked him?"
"I did like him," Hitomi said hastily. "Things have changed. You didn't know this mom, but he treats me like garbage. I can't even remember the last time he was nice to me without wanting something back for it. I didn't want to say anything bad about him before, because I liked him so much I was blinded by it. But now, I want to date other people and I don't want Dilandau around to screw things up."
This was all true. In fact it was much truer than the fact that Van had asked her to not see Dilandau at all anymore. What Van had said had simply empowered her to conquer her problem. "He didn't ask you to do anything . . ." her mom stuttered.
"Bad?" Hitomi finished for her. "Don't worry about that. His idea of using me has always been something more along the lines of asking me to hold a flashlight."
After talking more about Diliandau with her mom and quieting some of her more serious fears about Hitomi's love life, Hitomi went back into her room; Van said that he would call. That probably wouldn't be anytime soon. She lay down on her bed and hoped that he wouldn't call in the middle of the night.
All of the things that happened were very strange. Why wasn't she scared to death of Van? People were dead it seemed, because of him. Yet she had the nerve to think that he was extremely good looking and want to spend more of her time with him. She remembered the upset table and the food on the floor of that restaurant. It appeared to be a dangerous situation, but she hadn't really panicked in the bath room. At least, she thought she had kept her head. Instead of being afraid she simply wanted to know more about Van, and he was so mysterious. She was more interested than warned.
She pulled her pillow close to her, and rested her head on it.
"Will he call soon?" she said out loud to herself.
4
