Saori could barely recall what had happened.
She was lying on the cold hard ground, and then she was placed on a stretcher before somehow taken to an Emergency Room. Everything was a blur but she regained her senses little by little after she found herself back home, sitting on the couch in her living room.
She could hear the loud noises from the fans, drying the carpet.
She could feel the soreness from her swollen nose.
She could feel the warmth from Seiya's hand as he was holding a gauze pad against her nose to absorb her nosebleed.
She wanted to tell him to leave, but she couldn't find her voice.
Faces flashed in her mind – Cassius, Aldebaran, Aiolus, and of course Seiya. Cassius had punched her in the nose, knocking the wind out of her. Aldebaran came to the mansion to fix the water leak, handing her a huge bill from his service. Seiya was her ex-boyfriend – no, ex-bodyguard – and Aiolus was probably busy at the court.
She had run into Cassius at the entrance of Roshan House, Dohko's restaurant. One blow from him and everything went black.
Well, at least she wasn't killed.
Even better, since Cassius had assaulted her, she could now file a restraining order or even put him in jail.
She moved away from Seiya to grab her phone.
"What are you doing?" Seiya asked, wiping the bleeding from her nose.
Finding her voice, Saori replied, "I'm filing a restraining order against Cassius."
"Over my dead body!" Seiya snatched the phone away from her. "You are not talking to the cops without a lawyer." His eyes were dead serious. "Now it's the time to call Aiolus, your castle and your sky ."
"I don't want to stress him out! He already got a handful with a case and a firm to run. Plus, I don't want him to see me like this!"
Seiya was in disbelief. "You texted him every five minutes for the most mundane things, but you are not calling him when you need him the most?"
"Why do I need a lawyer anyway? I'm the victim!"
"Nobody should be talking to the cops without a lawyer, unless you want to sit in a jail cell! I learned that the hard way." He held up her phone high in the air beyond her reach.
Annoyed, Saori fought Seiya for her phone. "For your information, I am a good girl and a law-abiding citizen with the cleanest record. No cop would have the heart to jail me!"
"Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?"
Saori responded by scratching him hard on the arms. While Seiya was stronger, she got nails. The two ended up wrestling on the floor when Saori's phone rang.
It was Aiolus.
Seiya answered it with one hand and pinned Saori down with his other. "Aiolus, it's Seiya. Yes, I'm with her right now in her fancy white house. She's fine…You are coming by? Okay, see you."
He hung up and said, "Aiolus is coming. Dohku already told him what happened."
He finally released her and threw her phone back to her.
It had been a while since Saori saw Aiolus in person. To her, it felt like years or even centuries. He still looked the same, with his dark hair and dark eyes. Saori was happy to see that he's wearing the tie clip she gave him for his birthday.
"Cassius assaulted me," Saori told him evenly. "I want to file a restraining order against him, but Seiya won't let me unless I get a lawyer."
"I wouldn't let you either," Aiolus said. "I'm not saying that to generate more business for my firm, but it's the safer thing to do. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Well," Saori began. "I went to Roshan House, you know Mr. Dohko's restaurant, to get something to eat–"
"That's interesting, you never liked Chinese food," Aiolus pointed out. "Its high sodium drying out your skin."
"I need to save money," Saori explained. "I got a gigantic bill from the water leak. The flooding happened on the top floor, and the water damaged the walls and ceilings all the way down to the ground floor. I'm looking at $15,000 at the minimum. The diner costs $20 per dish, while Roshan House only charges $10. Lunch specials cost even less."
"Okay, how did you run into Cassius?"
At the entrance of the Roshan House, Cassius was standing there with his tattooed arms folded. It was as if he had been waiting for her.
"Did he say anything to you?" Aiolus asked.
"He did."
"Who initiated the conversation?"
"Cassius."
"Spill it, where is your Dad?" Cassius demanded.
"That's none of your concern."
"You are coming with me. Your mother wants to talk to you."
"What did you say to him?" Aiolus asked.
"I'm not coming with you!" Saori showed her anger. "Who do you think you are anyway?"
"Something in my head tells me a spoiled brat like you deserves a beating!"
"Then your head is not normal!"
Seiya tried to hold down his laugh.
"Are you calling me a not normal head?" He pointed his finger at her like a gun.
"Are you threatening me in public? Mess up with me, there's hell to pay!"
"That sounds…familiar," Aiolus said, frowning.
"Oh, it just came to me," Saori lied.
Actually, she had learned that phrase from Aldebaran.
After Aldebaran handed her his service bill, Saori wrote him a check. Seeing her facial expression, Aldebaran asked her the same question Aiolus had asked, "Do you have insurance?"
And Saori gave him the same answer that she had given Aiolus, "I don't know. My father would know, and he's away."
"Save your copy of the bill. Once your father comes back, submit this to the insurance if he has one."
With frustration, she vented, "First I have to deal with a bully, and now this!"
"Who would have the heart to bully a beautiful, good girl like you?" Aldebaran looked at her with slight disbelief, taking her check.
"There's this nasty guy whose name I will not say," Saori told him. "He has been stalking me and harassing me. I can't even leave his house without fearing that he's popping up somewhere, spying on me on someone else's behalf."
"How long has this been going on?"
"Months, ever since my dad left."
"Did you call the police?"
"I did, but all they did was give me a log sheet to record each time he harassed me. Aiolus said it's better to have someone with me each time I leave the mansion and it worked for a while."
"That's not the best advice," Aldebaran said. "Don't get me wrong. I respect Aiolus and he's my friend. He likes to take care of people but he doesn't understand that people have to take care of their own problems. If anyone is messing with me, I tell them word to word, mess up with me, there's hell to pay. Believe me, bullies are cowards and weaklings. The more you hide behind someone's back, the worse they become. If you want that nameless bully to leave you alone, then he has to hear it from you. Trust me, it works."
Taking his advice to heart, that's what exactly she said to Cassius, word to word.
Mess up with me, there's hell to pay .
Now she realized her stupidity. Aldebaran was a giant. Who would've dared to mess up with him?
"Are you hiding something?" Aiolus asked her, noticing that she wasn't making eye contact.
"No, I mean after I told Cassius that, next thing I know I was on a stretcher."
"Luckily for you, there were witnesses," Aiolus told her with a sigh. "As for the restraining order, I will appoint another attorney from my firm to represent you. If the police ask you anything, direct them to him. Don't say anything to the authorities unless he's there by your side. Understood?"
"You are not helping me?" She couldn't hide her disappointment.
Aiolus took her hand and said patiently, "Listen, I promise you that I am not abandoning you. To me, that assault from Cassius seems to be a tip of the iceberg. It's odd that he would go that extreme for your stepmother's cause. Something tells me that this isn't the end. I would rather you have an attorney who's more impartial on your circumstance to keep you safe."
"Okay," Saori nodded. "Who's this attorney?"
"His name is Milo. He's very experienced and straight to the point."
"Good."
"You know the firm is going to bill you for his legal service."
"I know."
"Milo will be in touch," Aiolus assured her, standing up to leave.
"How's your case going?" Saori asked him, changing the subject.
"The judge took me off the case. It's all Aiolia's now."
"Good luck to him," Saori said before giving him a hug.
As Saori was bidding Aiolus goodbye, Seiya rubbed the scratch marks she had left on his arm. That girl was a mess for almost two days. It was Seiya who accompanied her at the hospital; it was Seiya who filled out the forms for her; it was Seiya who took her home and took care of her.
He didn't even realize how much he cared for her until now.
Cassius was in jail from assault. After hitting Saori in the nose, he found bystanders watching him and taking pictures. The hostess of Rohan House was locking the entrance door before picking up a phone, possibly calling the police. So, he did the first thing that came to his mind.
Run.
But he was caught nevertheless.
Luckily, Guraad bailed him out but he would still be charged.
"What were you thinking?" Guraad was very pissed.
"She called me not-normal head!"
"I asked you to bring her to see me," Guraad said. "I never told you to hurt her! Now you give that girl a reason to file charges. The last thing I want is the police to come to my door."
Chuckling, Nero said, "You don't need to go after the girl anymore. I saw the mansion being repaired. I spoke to the repairman, a big guy. He said that there's flood on the third floor on the left side. If I remember correctly, that's where your old room was. The floor was replaced."
Guraad closed her eyes and then said, "That list on my hard drive, and I kept a hard copy hidden under the floor tiles of my bedroom in case if there's a virus. I left it behind after Alman kicked me out. Last thing I needed was for Alman to find out. I tried to go back for it, but that girl slammed the door into my face. I had Cassius go to retrieve it, and that girl is accusing him of stalking. Now that hard copy is probably destroyed, if Alman didn't take it with him."
"How do we know for sure?" Cassius asked. "My name is on that list. I don't want to take any risk."
After a long thought, Guraad said, "I'm going to make peace with that girl, and convince her to drop the charges. Even if she has that list, it's highly likely she doesn't even know what it is."