Chapter Five: Let's go!

"Woah!" Alice felt herself falling, but didn't feel the ground. She raised her hands and felt Julius's chest and she blushed.

"Are you okay Alice?" Julius asked with concerned eyes. Their position looked a bit awkward as Julius had his arms wrapped around Alice's waist and Alice was clinging onto his chest.

"I'm fine," she mumbled and tried to stand, but wobbled and winced in pain. It was the same ankle she bruised the night of Lorina's engagement party.

"I don't think you're okay Alice…" said Julius. "It seems like you might have sprained your ankle." He carried Alice princess style to the closest chair.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Alice exclaimed. She didn't like how Julius was treating her and how close he was acting. She had to be wary of him since he was one of the fiancé candidates.

"I'm just bringing you to a chair, we don't want any more accidents, do we?" said Julius with his eyebrows raised.

Alice huffed and looked away. "Fine."

Julius gently placed Alice on one of the café couches and examined her ankle. "Hmm… I'm not too sure if it's sprained or not, but we should head to the doctor just in case."

Alice paled at the thought of going to the doctors'. "I-I think I'm fine Julius. Really, I'm okay. I think I'm just tired from today."

"But it's only 2:34 p.m.," said Julius. He showed his watch to Alice.

"I can feel that, but I can't see that," muttered Alice. Julius blushed. "Oh… I… I didn't mean to—"

"Like I said Julius, it's fine," said Alice, trying to be polite as possible. Julius wasn't actually that bad of a guy compared to Ace or Peter. "I'm not going anywhere important, so you can leave me alone."

Julius hesitated for a moment. As shy as he was, Julius still wanted to win Alice's heart. Her teal eyes captivated him.

"Wait, where were you headed earlier?"

Alice turned to Julius's direction. A faint blush painted his cheeks.

"Well, I was headed to the college library. I finally got enrolled into classes there and I wanted to go to the library," Alice said shyly. Why should I be telling him this anyways? I feel like an idiot… A blind person going to the library…

"Okay then, I'll go with you," offered Julius. Alice cocked her head to the side in a cute manner. "Huh?"

"I said I'll go with you," said Julius once again.

"Wait! But aren't you busy?" asked Alice. She didn't want to intrude on his time. Maybe Julius is the most normal of the five guys… Although Gray wasn't that bad but he just wanted to touch me…

"No it's fine, my shift here at the café is going to end at 2:45 anyways, so I can just leave early," he said. He began to take off his apron, but Alice reached for his arm.

"Are you really, really sure? Going with me? To the library?" asked Alice. She never had anyone pay this much attention to her normally. All the other guys were weird in some way.

Julius blushed. It felt like he was taking her out on a date. "Um, yeah, it's really fine Alice. No big deal if I leave work a few minutes early."

Ace walked down the streets and thought about how good Alice smelled. "I wish I could hold her again like that... not that I'm like Mr. Peter," he said to himself. He was looking for his motorcycle, but forgot where he parked it.

"Am I lost?" he asked himself. Suddenly he came across a café and saw Julius and Alice. Ace grinned. "Maybe I'm not..."

Julius and Alice headed off to the college library in silence. Julius walked closely to Alice, but didn't hold her hand or anything. Hmm… that's weird… I thought he would try something funny on me…

Alice thought about Julius's actions as she used her walking stick. Julius on the other hand looked worried and hoped that she wouldn't slip like last time in the café. Alice felt her spine shiver.

"Julius?"

"Hm?"

"Nevermind."

The two went back to being silent. Alice shook her head. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like there was someone else behind us...

"Alice, we're here," said Julius. He tapped her shoulder and helped lead the way to the library. Once they were inside, Alice's face brightened which made Julius smile a bit. They walked around for a few minutes as Alice's ears perked up as she heard the small whispers and strange echoes that filled the library air.

"Wow, it seems so spacious," murmured Alice. She could feel the sounds coming from the air and smiled.

"I feel so envious," said Alice. Julius was holding a book and turned around as Alice said this.

"Envious?"

Alice gave a similar huff she made in the café. "Well, I can't see and I'm really envious of everyone who can read. I love reading… but there are only so many books I can read that are translated to braille."

Julius listened as Alice continued talking. "My parents see me as helpless and they always keep me at the most basic levels when I am capable of doing more. I only embarrass them," said Alice. She sighed and sat on the floor.

Julius sat next to her and tried to give comforting advice. "Well, you can prove them wrong," he said.

"Prove them wrong?"

"Show them that you can do more and be more independent," said Julius. He seemed to get a sense of how Alice is treated at home.

"Show them more…" murmured Alice. "So—"

Before Alice could even begin her sentence she felt herself being lifted away. "Julius?" But the hands felt different. They felt… so familiar…

"ACE?"

Alice shouted and her voice echoed throughout the library. Ace chuckled. "Oh Alice, you shouldn't be loud in the library! You're supposed to be whispering," he whispered into her ear, causing Alice to blush.

"Hey! Let me go!" Alice didn't like how Ace acted. He was so suggestive and it made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Ace, what are you doing?" asked Julius. He stood up and faced Ace with an annoyed look as Ace was carrying Alice in his arms.

"What? I just want to spend some quality time with Alice here," smiled Ace. "No worries, the three of us can be… TOGETHER… later." He smiled evilly as he said this sentence making Julius blush.

"What?! What do you mean Ace?" Julius whispered fiercely.

"I mean, we can you know…"

"ACE LET ME DOWN!" whispered Alice. Her whisper wasn't much of a whisper, but more of a harsh regular use of her voice. People who were sitting at the end of the book aisle began to stare at the trio.

Ace smiled again and blew into her ear. "No can do, see you Julius!" He waved to Julius with his free hand while holding Alice tightly with his other hand.

"Ace!" Julius tried running after Ace, but the brunette was much faster than him. By the time he exited the library, they were long gone. Julius smacked his forehead as Alice was snatched away.

"Ace, where are we going?" Alice asked as Ace continued carrying her down the sidewalk. Ace has been carrying Alice for probably ten minutes now, but hasn't stopped walking since the incident in the library.

"Hmm… I don't know."

"Do you know where you are?"

"I don't know."

"Can you give me some other kind of answer?" Alice popped a vein as Ace gave the same answer.

"I don't know."

"Arghhhh!" Alice groaned in frustration. Just when I was having a good time with Julius… wow… I actually enjoyed my time with Julius… But now I'm with this weirdo… Where is going to take me anyways? And he didn't even take my walking stick! How am supposed to run away from him?

Finally Ace put Alice down. "Good thing I forgot your walking stick, now we can be together for a loooong time," said Ace. Alice sighed. So he did forget it on purpose!

Alice felt Ace put a strange thing on her head and touch her cheeks. "H-hey what are you doing?" exclaimed Alice. Is he going to do something like last time? Ace looked at her with a confused expression.

"It's just safety first Alice," replied Ace. "You wouldn't want to hurt yourself if you didn't wear a helmet."

"Helmet?"

Ace snapped the helmet onto her head and patted her. He put on his own helmet afterwards. "Now, let's have some fun Alice!"

Once again, Ace picked up Alice and put her on his motorcycle. "Wait… I can't see Ace! I'm scared!" Alice held onto the sides of the seat as Ace revved up the engine.

"Aww and I thought you were going to hold onto me," he said sweetly.

Alice shook her head. "No way! I… I can manage," she said. Alice gulped as the engine got louder. Not having the comfort of a car made her heart beat nervously.

Ace smirked. "Suit yourself~"

In less than ten seconds they were speeding down the road at 60 miles an hour. Alice screamed. "ACEEE!"

Ace laughed. "Say my name again!" Alice couldn't take it anymore and finally wrapped her arms around Ace.

He smiled smugly. "I thought you didn't want to hold onto me," he said.

Alice gave him an angry look. "I didn't! But… I have nothing else to hold onto," she mumbled.

Ace smiled again. "Aww, that sounds so sweet of you, Alice!"

He did this on purpose too… Ugh…

Now where did Ace take Alice? Haha, I love it when Ace takes Alice away on adventures :) I just finished reading Clover no Kuni no Alice for Boris's story x) It was so sweet, Boris is too amazing. I need to add him somewhere in this story. New fanfictions coming soon (namely Dance of the Roses) :)

Thanks for reading and please review~ REVIEW :D

~Seo Hyunee