Round Seven

Hazel scowled upon seeing a familiar figure from afar, leaning on his black sleek car. She quickly turned away and started walking as fast as she can away from him. Not long after that though, a familiar voice was calling after her. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. A hand encircled around her arm.

She had the urge to shove his face on the ground but she stopped herself. With a growl, she turned to him and hissed. "What now?"

"Why, hello to you too." He said. "I'll drive you to-"

"No thanks." She cut him off, pulling her arm roughly back.

"You're being a bitch, you know." He irritably said.

"Wow, that's really new." She retorted, rolling her eyes again. "If you don't have to have a taste of my bitchy attitude, then stop bothering me."

"I don't know about your bitchy attitude." He said. "But I do hell want to have a taste of you."

A smirk curved her lips. "Too bad." She mocked. "I don't go for childish guys like you."

"Childish?" He spurted. "Me?"

She rolled her eyes for the nth time. "Just leave me alone. The mere sight of you annoys me."

"Haven't you realized it yet?" He called out loud as she started walking away from him. "The more you pull away from me, the more determined I'm to pull you towards me."

"How flattering." She grimaced. "The little boy wants to play tug of war with me."

"I don't understand you!" He suddenly burst out. "I'm already offering you something you won't get from anyone and probably you won't have for the rest of your life but still have to guts to turn it down, to turn me down."

"Now that's exactly why I don't want to accept your offer." She snapped back. "You're so full of yourself. You think everyone's willing to bow down in front of you and kiss your shiny shoes in worship. You're so pathetic."

"Pathetic?" He repeated.

"Aww..." She said. "Am I hurting your ego? If you weren't so damn arrogant, I might've accepted your offer in just a blink of an eye. Now unlike you, I've a lot of things to do than stalk someone who's obviously disgusted with you-"

"Obviously disgusted?"

"In any possible way. Now leave me alone and stop following me or might just file a case against you." She declared fiercely and flipped her hair before walking away again.

Chase was about to snap something nasty back when his phone suddenly started ringing. Annoyed that his doll outsmarted him again, he took his phone with an oath.

"What?" He snapped without bothering to know who the caller was.

"Y-your... y-your sister... " Jeff, his assistant answered in a broken voice.

"What happened to Cheryl?" He asked sharply.

"S-she... oh God, she commited suicide!"

**********

He doesn't to hold back his tears in front of all the people who come to sympathize with what happened. He felt dry and didn't feel like crying anyways. He should feel sad or at loss but no, he didn't feel any of those. Instead, he felt angry. That must be the reason why the tears won't flow.

People come and go, offering condolences but none of those words and none of the people mattered to him. Why should he when the person he treasure the most is... gone?

His sister, his little sister... his baby Cheryl's gone. He can no longer see her again, hear her laugh or listen to the tone of disapproval in her voice everytime he brings a different girl every other day in his room. His fists balled tightly, knuckles going white. His teeth ground together.

Out of respect to his sister's wake, he bottled everything inside him. God knows how much he wanted to trash the whole place, shout at his father for being too late from saving his sister from the over dosage of sleeping pills and most especially, he wanted to punch the hell out of Ethan.

He blames him for everything. And seeing the guy looking so devastated with Cheryl's death didn't stop Chase from hating him. It only made him more desperate to wipe that face off, to wipe that anguish off the pretty boy's face because it made everything surreal. He'll get back at him, that's for sure.

Even though his siser didn't leave any farewell note, he was sure Cheryl was led to take her life by something wrong that Ethan had done. He had seen how despressed and affected she was after finding a girl in Ethan's bathroom in his suite the night the guy proposed to her.

His thought were getting darker that he stood up and stormed away. No, he didn't want to cause a scene, not while his sister's body is there. His whole body was trembling so hard that it surprised him he reached his car without causing havoc.

**********

It was three in the morning but Hazel Wyatt still had her eyes opened. She stared at the set of printed digits and sighed. Closing her eyes for a moment, she leaned back and massaged her temples. Her head was throbbing.

She stood up and took a tablet for headaches from a little case. She proceeded to get herself a glass of water first before popping the medicine into her mouth. As she drank down the tablet with the water, a sigh escaped her lips again. She rested one free hand on her hip and stared blankly ahead.

After a while, she went back to the desk. Frustrated at the six digits that seemed to have double in font size, she ran her hand roughly through her hair. There was no use denying it.

She's in a tight spot for money. Everything just kept on increasing nowadays that the money she's been getting from her clients weren't enough anymore. She needs to have another job, a stable one at the most since what she does is like being in show business, there's no certainty in it. She could do two or three jobs if given the opportunity and if she has spare time.

For years, being a homewrecker helped her through everyday but she must also admit that the money she's getting from her missions usually ends up to the operations of the job.

Annoyed, frustrated and feeling rather helpless, she cleared the desk out. Staring at what seemed ro be left up with her savings won't do her any good. She flicked the night lamp off and was about to go to bed when she heard the doorbell rang.

She frowned and glanced at the digital clock whose numbers glowed in the dark. After a while, her face cleared. She already had the idea who the intruder was.

'He doesn't give up, does he?' she thought.

At first, she thought of ignoring him but her frustration got the best out of her. She needed an outlet anyways, she felt like bullying him to vent out her frustrations.

As she made her way to the door, words of sarcasm and insults floated in her mind. Maybe taunting him or insulting him would ease her in a way. Besides, having a good laugh at the guy's reactions to her remarks and retorts might drive the headache away.

She reached for the handle and pulled the door open. She was about to say something insulting when the guy staggered forward that he almost knocked her backwards.

"What the-?!" She exclaimed, pushing him of off her but Chase held on to her.

He mumbled something so low that she wasn't able to hear or understand any of it. Chase closed the door with his foot. He leaned back against the closed door with closed eyes, chuckling under his breath.

Hazel smelled a combination of alcohol, swear and perfume from him. "You're drunk!"

He stopped chuckling as he opened his eyes and peered at her through his weirdly heavy eyelids. "Ah..." He breathed. "...have a twin?"

Hazel's mouth fell down in disgust. "Stupid!" She scolded. He must be too drank that he's seeing two persons in front of him.

"Why the hell did you come here? You should've went straight to your place. This isn't an orphanage or rehabilitation center. I'm actually surprised you even managed to drive yourself here. It would've been better if you were caught drunk while driving."

"Took a cab..." He grunted.

"Oh well, then I'll call a cab for you to bring to your place. Jeez, what do you think of me, a babysitter?" She impatiently ranted.

A hollow laughed escaped Chase's mouth. Hazel raised her brows at him, arms across her chest. Then, he suddenly stopped laughing. His face went blank at first then he grimaced. Not long after that, tears started falling down from his eyes. Thinking that it was just an act to convince her to agree to his offer, Hazel rolled her eyes again.

"What the hell?" She snorted. "You look pathetic. And the acting isn't working."

But the tears didn't stop. His face was so red from the effort of keeping himself silent. His knees then gave in, making him kneel to the floor.

"Hey, stop it!" Hazel snapped, taking a step back.

"She's gone..." He whispered brokenly. "My sister took her life... she took life because of her fiance betrayed her I want to kill him! I WANT TO KILL HIM!"

The girl stood rooted on the spot, unsure of what to do. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. As seconds ticked by, she just stared down at him.

After a while, she found herself kneeling down in front of him. She wasn't sure what made her to do it- maybe he was just so convincing, maybe she was moved by his tears, maybe because the guy showed a side of him that she rarely sees in men and wouldn't have believed he had if she didn''t witness it firsthand, maybe because she never expected him to be like this knowing how proud, conceited, sexist and arrogant he can be but she just found herself pulling him in her arms.

Chase can be the worlds's greatest idiot and playboy but right now, he was just being... human. Maybe thats what made her do it because she gave up a long time ago that there's still human left in men. She sees them all as monsters, though there are a few exceptions to it, like the Ethan guy. Chase cried like a baby while being held by Hazel.

He was probably too drunk to be shy or embarrassed with the way he's howling childishly. He clung almost desperatedly on Hazel that one would think he never had this much attention and comfort from his parents.

It was some time later when he finally subsided. Hazel instantly froze up upon feeling his wet and soft lips on her collarbone. Her mind automatically shut down as a spin tingling sensation shook her body. His lips slowly travelled up to her neck then to her chin, nipping a little. She pushed him away and angrily stood up. She was about to kick him when he suddenly reached out for her hand.

"Make me forget..." He demanded hoarsely. "I'll give you anything. I'll pay you as much as you want... just... help me...” He looked up at her with shockingly genuine eyes filled with so much anguish that her logical and practical when went haywire.

The part of her that's been dead for a long time wasn't as dead as it appeared to be. Somehow, she had the urge to help another person; her self didn't matter at the moment.

Loss for words, which for the first time, suprised her, she could only stare at him. When she remained quite and still, Chase tugged her arm, pulling her down on his lap. His lips connected to hers at once after murmuring a soft thank you. Unlike his previous aggressive attacks, he started to gentle this time that it somehow unnerved her.

She was unresponsive for the first few seconds but she wasn't able to resist him, not while he's being this gentle and considerate her. She lifted one hand and rested it on his cheek while the other held on tight on his arm.

With his hands on her waist, he lifted her up, making her straddle him. As their hands moved here and there, their tongues were doing a dance on their own.

The gentle union of their lips when on until slowly, they increased pace and intensity. He was now undressing her. With equally steady hands, she started undressing him too.

At the back of her mind, a voice was starting to protest, to stop her, to warn her. But as he unclasped her bra producing a click sound, the sound seemed to have drown the voice in her head.