The man came closer in the moonlight and Lettuce caught a good look of him. He was around her age with dark coloured hair and tan skin. He was muscled, which gave Lettuce a thought that she probably couldn't fight him.

She did the next best thing.

Lettuce let her feet take over and sprinted away, the adrenaline back. Heavy footsteps weren't far behind her so she took a sharp left. He was still on her tail.

A tall tree was near her path with a branch low enough to jump to. She took the risk, knowing she'd be caught if she carried on like this. Please, just a little bit further...

Lettuce jumped for it, latched onto it and spun on it in a way that she could kick him onto the ground. Landing in a not so graceful way, she continued to sprint away.

But Lettuce was dragged down by the hem of her dress, letting out a scream on the way. She tried kicking and yelling but he placed a dirty hand over her mouth to muffle them.

He wriggled further up and placed a bite on her neck that hurt. "MMMPH!" She tried to protest and tears leaked out of her frightened eyes. Please don't let him-

CRACK!

Lettuce was tossed away from him to catch herself a few metres away. She hadn't realised that she'd squeezed her eyes shut until she'd opened them. There she saw Pai beating the living daylights out of the man who barely landed a few hits.

The girl crawled away from the scene to put as much distance between the man and her as possible. Lettuce shivered as the adrenaline and scarce warmth faded away.

She watched almost in awe at Pai before realising. Pai was here. And he had noticed that she'd escaped.

Panic flooded her mind and she breathed heavily, making herself light-headed. He was going to beat her. Kill her. Lettuce's heart went at a scarily fast pace, so much so that she thought it would tear itself from her body.

She was having a panic attack.

"Calm down. I am not going to hurt you. Please Lettuce. Just breathe slowly." Pai said gently. "We are going back to the house, have a good night's sleep and then we'll talk. Okay?"

She backed away from him as if he was a monster. Pai approached her slowly, like she was a puppy. Not to startle her.

Eventually she calmed down and tried to stand without saying a word. As she set her left foot on the ground, she yelped slightly and slammed back down.

Pai didn't hesitate to pick her up bridal style and start walking. At first, she was tense but gradually calmed and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her steady breathing told Pai that she had fallen asleep.

That left him alone with his thoughts. Why had she left? He knew he was rough with her, but he was denying his feelings. Pai now knew that it was love.

He loved her.

When they got back to the house, Pai set her on his bed, tucking her into the thick sheets. He decided to be a gentleman and slept on the sofa on the end of the bed.

"Goodnight, my princess." He muttered as he slept for the rest of the night. He'd need the sleep for what was coming tomorrow.

The next cchapter mught be the last one. But we will also find out the REAL reason why Lettuce ran away. Was Pai the reason? I don't want this to be a cliché ending but I don't want you to hate me either. Even so, I've decided on how this will end. The ending will be posted either today or tomorrow so please bear with me. In the meantime, yes again, please review my other stories. Thank you :D