“Dad, calm down,” Sandra tried to apologize to everyone looking at him with a weird gaze.
“You are making a scene,” Sandra’s words made Nathan huff before he crossed his arms around his chest.
“I think we should talk outside?” Sandra asked, and Danny looked at Aaliyah.
“Do you know this old man?” He asked, and Aaliyah looked at Nathan before smirking.
“I don’t think I have a recollection of him. Who are you, uncle?” Aaliyah blinked innocently, and the more Nathan looked at her, the angrier he became.
“Aaliyah! You insolent child. Are you doing this in a fit of anger at my son?” Nathan sighed before slumping onto the chair.
“I think you should stay inside the kitchen. Let me ask the owner to escort this man out, okay?” Danny tucked Aaliyah’s hair behind her ears before holding her hand, and Nathan stood again.
“You! Leave her hand, or I will kill you,” Nathan grumbled, and Danny raised his brows.
“Are you threatening us, sir? Don’t you think you are being too shameless? This is the 21st century, and pedophiles like you go around so proudly,” Danny scoffed, and Aaliyah nearly burst out laughing at his comment before she bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself.
“Pedo – what? Is he calling me that?” Nathan asked, shocked, and Aaliyah thought it was going out of hand now.
“Danny, it’s enough. Don’t worry about him. I just dumped his son, and that’s why he is going crazy. I still have plenty of time before my shift starts. Shall we go somewhere to talk?” Aaliyah asked, and
Nathan didn’t like how she ignored him.
“I think that would be better,” Danny said.
“Aaliyah, I know I was at fault last time, but Dominic has nothing to do with it. Why are you behaving like this? I know you are a good girl. Dominic will go crazy with anger if he hears of it -”
“Hears of what?” They heard a voice, and Aaliyah turned to see Dominic standing there.
When Dominic passed in front of the cafe, he thought he saw their car parked in front. He had to make a U-turn. When he came back, he was right. It was his father’s car.
Wanting to know what his father was doing here, he came inside, and just as expected, his father was creating a scene.
“It’s still some time. Leave that boy’s hand,” Nathan said, and Aaliyah leaned toward Danny.
“He is my boyfriend. We are hiding our relationship from his dad because you can see how crazy he can become. I will meet you later, okay?” Aaliyah whispered, and Danny looked at the man who entered before humming.
No wonder none of the boys at the ring or racing caught Aaliyah’s gaze. She already had such a handsome and powerful man in her palm.
“Okay. Take care, princess,” Danny winked before leaving, and Aaliyah turned to Dominic.
The urge to hug and kiss him was so strong that she had to scrunch her brows to calm her emotions.
“Thanks for making a scene at my workplace. Sort this out,” Aaliyah pretended to be angry before leaving the cafe, and Dominic glared at his father and followed Aaliyah, catching her right behind the cafe.
“Are you angry for real?” He asked.
“What do you think?”
“I think there is nothing that a kiss can’t resolve,” Dominic grabbed her face before roughly kissing her, making her sigh.
“For an old man, he is quite energetic. Why don’t you just tell him the truth?” Aaliyah asked.
“I guess that would be right or he would go around telling people you dumped me,” Dominic sighed amusedly.
“Anyway, there is a masquerade party this weekend. It’s organized by Maria. I will go there,” Aaliyah said.
“What are you thinking of doing?” Dominic didn’t like the sound of it, and Aaliyah shrugged, not telling him anything.
“I don’t want to get into your mess. Handle it before I lose my temper,” She walked back towards the cafe where Nathan was pouting at the table and Sandra was coaxing him.
“Aaliyah -”
“What would you like to order? It’s on the house from me. Take that as an apology for my friend calling you a pedo,” Aaliyah took their orders before going to the kitchen, and Nathan scrunched his brows.
“Does this girl have multiple personality disorders or something?” Nathan asked before straightening as soon as Dominic walked inside.
“What were you doing here, dad?” Dominic pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Well, I wanted to apologize to her. Things would’ve been better if she had gotten into the car, but she threatened me instead. I waited here for her so that I could apologize and coax her, but then I saw her hugging that kid. They were talking about some pregnancy, and I lost it. And then I -” Nathan stopped when he realized he was blabbering and Sandra and Dominic burst out laughing.
“Stop it, dad. There’s nothing wrong between Aaliyah and me. We are fine, okay?” Dominic said at the same time as Aaliyah brought their drinks.
“Aaliyah,” Dominic held her hand, and Aaliyah paused to look at him.
“Do you want to die? I am working,” Aaliyah’s eyes turned furious, and Dominic left her hand.
“See? Everything is alright,” Dominic’s words made Nathan and Sandra look at each other.
“My son is becoming a hopeless case in love now. She just scolded him, and he thinks it was her confession of love,” Nathan shook his head dejectedly.
After Aaliyah’s shift was over, she came back to the table before plopping beside Dominic.
“Are you invited to the coastal ring meeting?” She asked.
“It’s about choosing the new fighters, right?”
“Yeah,” Aaliyah played with her smoothie before looking at Nathan.
“I am not pregnant if that’s what you are worried about,” she said.
“I am sorry for overreacting both times. For that day when I invited you to lunch and today too. I have been acting peculiarly towards you because I didn’t want my son to choose the wrong girl. Dominic has never been involved with females before, so when I came to know he might have a girlfriend, I just couldn’t help myself,” Nathan said.
“That’s fine. Anyway, if you are truly sorry, shouldn’t you do me a favor?” Aaliyah’s question made Nathan nod.
“I can do anything in my power,” Nathan’s words made Aaliyah smirk.
“Okay. Remember your words. I will ask you something soon, and you can’t deny it. I won’t ask for something illegal for sure. Deal?” Aaliyah asked, and Nathan nodded before she walked out of the cafe.
Meanwhile, the man following her sat in the restaurant with mixed feelings. He didn’t see Dominic kissing her, but he saw Aaliyah interacting with Nathan, the former boss of the python gang.
On one note, he was happy for her because this would ensure her safety from his boss, but on the other note, he didn’t know if it was a good thing.
From what he could see, Nathan was shouting at her for some reason, and she looked unbothered until that teacher from her school walked in.
Everything around Aaliyah was becoming more complicated as the days of his stalking passed.
Besides, this constant feeling that Aaliyah knows about his presence was more irritating. Sighing loudly, he wrote what he saw in his diary before going out of the restaurant to follow her again.
~~~~~~
After three days (the day of the masquerade party).
“Mom, do I look fine?” Aaliyah asked, and Laura clapped her hands excitedly.
“You look lovely dear. What’s the matter? You don’t feel comfortable?” Laura couldn’t help but notice the scowl on Aaliyah’s face.
“I think this one is too revealing. I asked Katherine to give me a different one, but she won’t agree,” Aaliyah pouted.
“Woah, you should feel grateful that you have a sister who can design beautiful dresses for you. Why don’t you exploit these moments for the best? Anyway, I talked to Laila, Henry’s sister. I think she needs some grooming before we can start working with her,” Katherine said.
“Okay. I won’t ask you to go easy, but make sure her confidence isn’t broken. Go easy with your harsh words,” Aaliyah took her clutch and left.
“Call me when you are done if you get drunk, okay?” Lily asked as she dropped Aaliyah to the venue.
“I will, thank you,” Aaliyah walked to the door, taking a deep breath.
She wasn’t here just to party. The main reason she was here was to get Alex’s and Maria’s confession on how they tampered with the Olympiad and tried to screw her over. She will submit that as evidence in case anyone questions her wild card entry later. Honestly, she was least interested in this olympiad but more in this game now.
From Maria’s expression on that day, Aaliyah would be surprised if Maria didn’t try anything.
“Damn, you look gorgeous,” Ashton commented, looking at her dreamily.
“Why, thank you, sir,” Aaliyah bowed like a lady, making everyone chuckle as her eyes were trying to find Maria or Alex, and it wasn’t long before she spotted them.
“Let’s go to the bar,” Aaliyah practically pulled Ashton there to stay close to her enemies in case they didn’t recognize her.
She needs them to make a move so she can start with her plans.
“Hey, aren’t those people from the football team?” Aaliyah asked.
“Right, I will say hi to them. Don’t go anywhere,” Ashton said, and Aaliyah nodded.
Just as she had predicted, as soon as Ashton left, Alex and his friends came over to the bar.
“Well, hello, lovely princess. May I know who you are?” Alex bowed like a gentleman, and it took every ounce of patience in Aaliyah to not scoff in his face.
“You know me, Alex. It’s Aaliyah,” Aaliyah said.
“You look divine, I must say. Care to have a dance with me? Your partner looks busy,” Aaliyah smiled at Alex’s words before placing her hand in his.
Of course, this was what she was waiting for.