Seo Hyun here! :D Sorry for the late update, I just got settled in with school…. Yep…. Still gotta study ;) Funny story: I was getting contacts earlier this week and my doctor (or whatever an eye specialist is) kept laughing at my eyes -_-…. Just because I'm Asian doesn't mean I can't fit contacts into my eyes! (Even though they are so tiny!) Anyways… it took me FOREVER to put them in but I was able to it…XD Okay, back on track! I will be updating Tweenage Days this week! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Heart no Kuni no Alice!

Chapter 20: Miss and Kiss

Gray smiled brightly as he entered the hotel. He found Ace and Julius talking while Peter was sitting in his own corner. "Hey there pal!" It was really strange... A bit too strange...

"Ew, what's wrong with Gray?" said Peter. He noticed that the boy was too happy and shooting too many flirty looks to the girls who were in the hotel lobby. "I dunno, maybe something good happened to him," smiled Ace. He gave Julius a stare, but he didn't budge. "I'm going up to my room," muttered Julius. He was curious to see what response Alice gave to Gray, but he couldn't bring himself to it.

I can't control myself anymore… Everything seems so messed up and there's nothing I can do about it!

Peter sat in the lobby and sighed. "I wish Alice would speak to me… she never accepts my hugs or my offers to go on a date." He scratched his head and stood up, only to accidentally bump into a young woman in her twenties.

"Oh, dear! I'm so sorry!" said the woman. For some reason, she looked oddly familiar. She had the same dazzling teal eyes as Alice and slightly darker shade of brown curly hair. "Alice?" Peter covered his mouth. "Alice?" the woman looked nervous and shook her head. "Do you know Alice?"

"Which Alice?" Peter tried to confuse the woman because she was stranger. Who knew if this woman was psychopathic killer on the loose. "Alice Liddell! She's my younger sister," said the woman. She looked desperate and tears were threatening to spill. Peter gulped. "Um, yeah, I know who Alice Monrey is. She goes to my school...Why are you asking me this?"

The woman started crying loudly and everyone in the lobby was staring at the pair. "Um wait! Please don't cry! I didn't mean to say anything….mean...?" Peter himself was confused and had no idea why this woman was crying. He observed her face more closely and she resembled Alice greatly. Before he could ask her more about Alice, out of nowhere, a man and younger girl in her early teens approached them. "Lorina? What happened and who is this young man?" The man looked a bit angry and his cheeks grew a bit red. "Um, you see, this isn't what it seems like," Peter frantically explained, trying to keep the man from getting angrier.

"Father, he knows where Alice is!" cried the woman, saving Peter from ultimate shame and a beating by the father. "Our Alice?" asked the Father. Peter's eyes grew wide and he realized what he just discovered.

Julius lay on his bed thinking of all the ways he could get Alice out of his mind. It's strange for Julius to feel love towards Alice as man when they lived together since they were young. He tried so hard to think of her as only a sister, but knowing that she's adopted and not blood related made things even more complicated.

*Click*

Julius heard the hotel door creak open. "Ace?" No response came from the door. "Ace, stop joking around, I'm not in the mood—" Alice bowed her head. "Oh, sorry onii-san… I didn't mean to bother you…"

Julius sat up immediately. "No! It's fine! You can come in," blushed Julius. He sat up on his bed as Alice came towards him and lay next to him. A long silence ensued right after. "So, anything wrong?" Julius asked. It was his duty as a brother to make sure his 'sister' was okay. Alice didn't respond. She kept her back against him and she stared out at the window. "Alice…"

"Don't say my name," cried Alice. Fresh tears came out from her eyes and her whole body started trembling. Julius's heart started beating faster. "I-I'm sorry. What's wrong?" Julius never liked it when Alice cried. He never knew what to do. He tried to touch her arm, but she pulled back. Something just cracked in Julius. "Why are pulling back? If you were going to cry in my room, why did you even come?" He was furious. His feelings were overflowing and it was killing him that Alice wouldn't open up to him. "You've been avoiding this whole time and you don't talk to me anymore!"

Julius pulled her up and made her face him. Alice blushed turned her tear-streaked face away. "I can't look at you…"

"What?"

"I said I can't look at you!" Alice turned away and wiped away the remaining tears on her face. "It's too embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?"

"My heart beats faster every time I look at your face. I couldn't even hold a conversation properly with Gray-nii. And I don't—" Julius pulled Alice in for a sweet kiss. His move startled Alice at first, but she relaxed as the kiss became more natural. Julius was gentle and made sure he didn't scare Alice. Slowly, the two became more passionate and the kiss deepened. Julius pushed Alice onto the bed and gave a small kisses towards her neck. Things were really getting out of control.

Alice fell hard for Julius ever since she could remember. She tried to keep her own feelings under control because they were "family". She had no idea that he felt this way towards her. Only when the hard, cold truth hit Alice, she pushed Julius away. Julius stopped and both looked at each with flushed faces. Alice was still underneath Julius, who was on top of her. "This is wrong," mumbled Alice. She climbed out from underneath and sat the edge of the bed. "We're family…. We can't do this to each other," cried Alice. Julius gave a hug from behind and held her tightly. "Please don't go…I… I love you." Those three words made Alice freeze.

"I don't know when it started, but I will always love you Alice and not in a brotherly way." It was bold move that Julius made. Alice gave a big sigh and pulled Julius's arms off. "I… I can't do this." With that, Alice dashed out of the room leaving a frustrated Julius by himself. Ace peeked from the door and looked at his best friend. He knew it wasn't the time to be joking.

"Anything I can do for you?" It was weird for Ace to be kind, but at moments like these it sort of made the situation less bad than it could be. "I messed up…"

"Julius?" Ace walked towards the bed and found tear drops coming down from Julius's face.

"I love you."

Those three words made Alice's heart flutter. No, flutter is an understatement. It made her soar and fly like a bird in the springtime. Her heart was still racing and she ran towards the empty stairwell of the hotel. She wiped her tears and caught her breath. She couldn't love him. It was too late anyways. She's considered to be a Monrey, so they are related in that way. Alice slowly slid down and covered her face sobbing. Never in her life had she felt this way towards anyone.

Love is probably the most difficult feeling that people deal with. And it's definitely not going to be easy for the two if they got together.

Boris casually walked down the hallway looking for something to do. It's been about an hour since he messed around with Dee and Dum, and even longer since he met up with Alice. It dawned on Boris that he hasn't seen Alice all day. "Maybe I should call her…"

Alice buried her face into her hands and sat on the ground of the stairwell.

*Ring, ring!*

Her cellphone scared her and almost caused her to bump her head against the fire extinguisher that hung right above her head. "He-hello?" she croaked. Her voice was hoarse from crying too much. "Alice? Are you alright?"

She knew she couldn't hide it from her good friend. "No, I'm not alright. Can I talk to you?" said Alice, as fresh tears blurred her vision. "I'll come to you. Where are you at?"

"The stairwell at the end of the sixth floor," said Alice. "Don't move, I'm coming to get you," shouted Boris. He knew he had to deal with Julius. All those years he's been with her, she's always looked at Julius differently and from the start of the trip, he had a bad feeling about the two.

"Father it's definitely her! He said her last name was Monrey!" cried Lorina. "That was where mother gave Alice!" She paced around the room while her younger sister, Edith, looked confusingly at her sister.

"We'll make sure it's her. We need to pull out some records before visiting her school," said Mr. Liddell. "It's been so long since that incident," he sighed. Lorina hugged her father. He knew how much he missed Alice and her mother, who passed away about two years ago.

"Don't worry, we'll bring her home for good this time."

Oohhh! A cliff hanger! :D I realized that it's been one year since I've published this fan fiction... happy one year annivesary Forbidden Kiss! xD Haha! Well, more things will be unraveling as the story progresses... Maybe I should've rushed things earlier... hmm... Anyways...

Thanks for reading and please review! ;D