"Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden." -Phaedrus

CHAPTER THREE

I've always thanked my lucky stars for granting my wishes.

I like wishing than hoping because when I wish, I have already accepted the idea that not all wish can be granted. However, when I hope my whole being clings to that hope. With hope, I close my eyes and cry out my pleas.

But now? Oh, how I wished I didn't wish on my wishing stars.

"I apologize," The man gasps as he tries to salvage the remains of my list. Instead of helping out, he worsens it. When he tried to wipe off the coffee, the napkin was torn into half. After getting drenched in hot coffee, I cannot blame the napkin to be mushy. But I can do blame this dude.

Searing pain shoots out on my left hand, which reminded my brain that I should be worried about it. I wasn't aware because I didn't even let out a short scream or a gasp. It just happened.

I snatched the cloth from his grasp, the one he used to flush all my ideas down the toilet, and patted it on my left hand to wipe off the coffee remains.

Like my nerves, he was late to react at what he has done, "You got coffee on your hand, I apologize," He paused, "Let me get you some ice." With that, he rushes towards the kitchen.

He looks familiar, well, his voice sounds familiar. But that would be weird because the only males I've talked to since I arrived in this town would be Rem and Mr. Northcott.

Not even a minute later, he was back with a bag of frozen peas, "I'm sorry. I'm usually not this clumsy. You startled me." It's my fault?

I scoffed, "I startled you?" I looked up to face him and immediately, I froze.

IT'S EDITH'S STALKER!

I need to tell my aunt that one of her staff is her stalker. I don't need any more evidence because the fact that he works here confirms my suspicion!

"Yeah," He nods as he takes the seat right cross of mine and puts the frozen bag on top of the burnt area, "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

My eyes widened out of irritation and gave him a full-on glare and tried to pull my hand away, "I really shouldn't be shocked to see you here too."

"You know that I work here?" He raised an eyebrow as he firmly clutches my hand, not letting me go.

"Oh," I scoffed, "I know more than that."

He looks taken aback, "I wasn't aware that the new girl was a stalker."

How dare he?!

I pulled my hand from his grasp, this time I was successful, and glare at him harder. I took this time to scan him. He looks young enough to be somewhere in my age range. He has curly hair. Blonde. He has a well-defined sharp jaw. And he owns a pair of the most mesmerizing gray eyes I've ever seen. I can totally stare at those silver-like orbs. It is such a shame that someone who looks good as he turned out to be a stalker.

I gulped.

My Aunt's stalker.

I looked at him straight in the eyes and said, "I'm gonna call the police."

He gapes, "I'm sorry that I spilled coffee on you, but I think calling the cops on me is a little overboard!"

"You think spilling coffee on a customer is your crime?"

He looks at me preposterously, "If you even call it that."

"Oh, no." I snorted, "Your crime would be stalking."

"I thought we've established the fact that you were the stalker."

"How dare you?" I gasped loudly, getting a little aggravated with this moron, "I wasn't the one sitting outside of another person's house in the middle of the night." I hissed quietly, "I was not the one stalking Edith."

This time, it was he who scoffed loudly, "You think I'm stalking my boss?"

"I don't think," I gave him a smug smile, "I know."

He raises both of his arms to the air, "This is absurd!"

I pointed at him accusingly, "You are absurd!"

In the middle of nowhere, Edith shows up and asks us, "Is there a problem here?"

We both startled her when we answered simultaneously, "YES!"

He stood up, "She accused me of stalking you." He told her as if he was flabbergasted with the idea; The truth.

Her eyes widened out in shock and she faces me, "You did?"

I nodded while standing up too, "I did." If he thought I was afraid of the good one-foot height distance between us, he's wrong.

I may be 5'4, but I act tall. If that makes sense.

"And why would you do so?" She asks, looking at me as if I was making the whole story up. I can't blame her, she did hire him. She probably thought that this stalker was completely harmless.

Pfft.

I looked at my aunt in all earnestly and told her the truth, "I saw him last night."

She gave me an uncanny look, "You did?"

The stalker gave a nod as he crosses his arms while agreeing with me, "She did."

"Yes, I did." I faced the stalker and continued, "I saw him sitting a few feet away from your house, right beside the waste containers."

She looked horrified as she turns her attention to him, "You were sitting outside?!"

He suddenly looked sheepish. He rubs the back of his neck with one of his hands, "Yeah..."

Ha! Caught him.

I was expecting to see some full-blown Kardashian moment where my aunt would throw him out of the restaurant with some condiments along the way, or at least call the cops.

What I didn't expect though was for her to run towards him and give him a hug.

A tight hug.

She started rubbing his back, "It was almost thirty-two degrees last night, CC! I told you, you're always welcome at my house."

Is this one of those weird scenarios where my aunt fell for her own stalker? That would also mean that she likes people half her age. Oh my!

"I think I'm missing something," muttered silently, "What information did I miss?"

As if my aunt realized that I was still there, she started chuckling as she pulls away from him and said, "This is Carson Cooper." Okay?

Now what? Does she want me to write that down for one of the characters in my romance book?

She walks toward me and smiled, "And this is my niece, Larissa." She glanced at him, "She and her little brother would be living with me."

"Ah, that explains why she claimed that she lives with you." He laughs, "Welcome to Denovan, where are you from?"

"Okay," I pulled away from my aunt, "What's happening? Why are you so close to your stalker?"

Edith bursts into a fit of booming laughter, "Oh Larry, he's not my stalker."

"Or a stalker," He laughs with her, "At all."

"But I saw you sitting outside of her house."

"No," He chuckles, "You saw me sitting beside the waste containers."

I rolled my eyes and sarcastically said, "Yeah, 'cause that just summed everything up!"

"I'm Carson Cooper," He gave me what I bet is his million-dollar smile, "I live beside her villa. Your neighbor."

Oh.

Okay wishing stars, I wish for a black hole to appear right now, please.

"Oh my God," I gasped out of embarrassment, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Carson chuckles, "It happens."

"Weirdly enough, but it does." Edith looked at me, "I do hope though that all issues are cleared now?"

"Yes," I covered my face with my hands as I felt my blood rush to my face, and really, I bet I look like a tomato, "I'm so sorry."

"Glad that's all done," Edith laughs as she fixes her messy ponytail, "I'm going to get going now. I have cupcakes waiting for me in the oven." She gives a small wave before disappearing back to the kitchen. I sat back down my chair and looked at my hands, avoiding the eyes of the accused stalker of Edith, Carson.

Seeing that the swelling hasn't stopped, I cleared my throat and glanced up to him while breaking the silence, "Uh, Carson... right?"

His eyes twinkled, "CC." Right.

"Can you pass me the... the bag..." I awkwardly pointed at the frozen peas near him. He passes me the frozen bag while sitting down too. I instantly moved back my attention back to my swollen hand.

Gosh, where's the black hole I wished? The air around us is as tense as my shoulders. I counted sixty seconds before glancing up to him and see him staring at me. I cleared my throat again, "Uh, CC..."

"Mmhm?"

What are you still doing here? I wanted to ask that, but instead, I whispered, "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

Instead of answering my question, he answered me with another question that has nothing to do with my question, "Are you going to attend Denovan High?"

I don't like it when people do that. I like it when I do it, but it's a serious pet peeve of mine if others do it. Am I a hypocrite? Almost everyone is.

"Hmm... That depends."

"Depends on what?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to answer my question?"

He gave me an amused look, "Are you going to be answering mine?"

"As I've mentioned, that depends."

"Do you have an answer though?"

I gritted my teeth, "That depends."

He tilts his head to the right and looks at me as if he was trying to solve a puzzle, "You have a temper." And he solved the puzzle.

I sighed through my nose and asked him once again, "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

He smirks, "Are you going to attend Denovan High?"

I asked him exasperatingly, "Can't you just answer my question?"

This time, he full-blown smile, "Can't you just answer my question?"

"That's not fair," I scowled, "I asked first."

He shrugs nonchalantly, "Like what a wise person had said, life is not fair to everyone, and that makes life fair."Edith.

I wonder how he is so close to my aunt. I understand why he works for her, they're neighbors and it's a small town. But enough to start quoting from her? There's a relationship here. Not a romantic one, got it.

"If I'm going to answer your question, are you going to answer mine?" I asked subtly while patting the frozen bag on my hand, "You can't answer no."

His eyes widened, "Then why did you even ask me for my input-"

I snapped, "Are you going to answer mine?"

He breaks out laughing, "Okay, I will."

I caught his eyes and answered him honestly, "I don't know." It's the truth.

He chuckles, "Come on,"

"It's the truth," I told him nonchalantly, "I haven't talked with Edith about that... yet."

"Attend Denovan High," He grins, "It will be fun."

"Is that where you go?"

"Yeah!"

"Then that's a no," I smiled politely at him, "I don't like seeing you." That's a lie. But I can't keep on wishing for a black hole to appear every time we see each other, right?

"Attending another school would be a pain in the ass," He scoffs, "What are you? A Junior? You're new and you expect to survive high school without knowing anyone?" He has a point there.

"I'm a senior, actually." I muttered, "And why would you care?"

He paused for a moment, before shrugging nonchalantly, "Edith's like my mom," Ah, there's the relationship. "If Edith cares about you, then I care about you." Right.

I sighed, "I'll think about it." Doubt it.

His eyes widened, "I'm a senior too. I would totally hang out with you."

Does he know that he's not helping his case right now?

"Look, CC," I smiled politely, "I'll think about it." Ish.

"If it counts, I have a twin sister. She's fun, in a way, and very loud. I'm sure you guys will be great friends."

Okay, I guess that's a point for Denovan High. Knowing someone wouldn't suck, even if she is related to him. I nodded firmly, "I'll think about it."

He smiles cutely, "Cool."

I looked back down on my hands when we both fell in silence. It wasn't as awkward as the one from earlier but it's still awkward nonetheless. Wait...

I faced him and crossed my arms, "So, why aren't you still working?"

He grins, "See you around, Larissa." With that, he stood up and walked to a table with customers and entertained them.

I wanted to correct him, but I didn't want to mention my name in front of people I don't know. And so I stood up with the frozen bag and walked towards my brother who was a few tables away from me.

"What are you doing there, Rem?" I asked while peeking at his iPad.

"Building a ship." Of course.

I asked, "What happened to the castle?"

"Finished it already." Of course.

Expect my brother to finish a 19th Century castle in less than two days. Or a day.

"Well, if you need anything, I'd be in the Kitchen with Edith, okay?"

He didn't bother to face me when he answered with dismissive, "Okay." Of course.

Chuckling to myself, I walked towards the kitchen. Sweet savory scent welcomed my nostrils when I entered the bustling kitchen. There were four people inside doing their own thing, including my aunt.

I was surprised to see what seems like thirty cupcakes all lined up in trays, and there's even some in the oven. I walked towards Edith, "Whoa, where's the party?"

She chuckles before offering me a bowl with batter in it, "Want a taste?"

"Yes please," I grinned before taking a clean spoon from the corner of her table and scooped some batter. Screw salmonella, right?

I gushed, "This is so good."

She grins, "It should be."

"So," I looked around, "What's the occasion?"

"Christmas."

What?

I asked out of shock, "Tonight's Christmas Eve?"

She looked at me weirdly, "Didn't you know?" So that's why mom left in a hurry.

"I completely forgot." I answered honestly, "Oh no, I didn't get presents!" What do you give to the person who can own everything?

"It's fine," She shrugs me off, "We don't do that."

"But..." I bit my lower lip, "I mean, I have a gift for Rem that I've been giving him since he owned an iPad, Robux."

"Robux?"

"There's a game he plays called Roblox. Robux is like a gift check." Or something.

"Ah," She nods, "Do you want anything?"

I subtly said, "The cupcake recipe."

"Haha," She rolls her eyes, "Nice try."

I wiggled my eyebrows teasingly, "I gotta do what I gotta do." Especially considering the fact that all my ideas are now gone thanks to the owner of those silver eyes.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked while pulling my hair up in a ponytail, "I can throw the trashes if you want?"

"Nah," She winks, "You might call someone a stalker again."