Under His Protection

After his release last night, japhet had been early the next morning waiting for Laura In her shop like a smitten dog waiting for the lady he fancied. Michael could give him credit for seeing him that early but there was still something about him that is too good to be true, even his Excellency had flaws. He had sensed it since their first meeting but this japhet….

“If looks could kill, poor japhet would be dead by now” he heard the snarky remark from the woman beside him on the pavement, ” Don’t you think it is rather too early to send dark glares to my good friend, Michael”

Michael raised an eyebrow in her direction, deep inside he got annoyed that the woman was childing him early in the morning because of her friend. Does she like him too? His mind asked the question that haunted him since the first day he met japhet, this was one of the reason why he did not want to accept this job in the first place, he could not take it anymore seeing a guy sniffing her heels while he was forced to watch it happen right before his very eyes.

“You are too harsh Laura, didn’t we establish already that iam not the enemy here?”

“So is japhet, stop seeing him as the enemy too” she answered vehemently.

Michael shook his head ” That remained to be seen, not until he will have to run a background check on him and prove he is trustworthy” Michael had swore never to lower his gaurd, and japhet would remain as an enemy…. at least on his part.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to harm your lapdog princess”

She glared at him, it was enough to kill him an instant. When she kept on protecting japhet, the devil in Michael head could not help but to plan japhet Denise very slowly, he already have at least one hundred ways to kill japhet in his brain that moment.

“Be kind to him, no at least be civil to him. Michael I mean it, japhet is such a good friend of mine, I don’t want you ruining our friendship because of your instincts and rude behavior”

“Is that supposed to be a warning princess?” He asked pleasantly moving closer to her side, Michael glanced sideways to the glass wind of Laura boutique, it seems as if japhet was already aware of their presence as he was looking at them intently so Michael moved even closer to Laura’s side and dipped his head into hers ” You know very well I don’t heed to warnings, remember what happened when you gave me warning before? You got eaten by a hungry wolf”

He heard her gasped, she took one step backwards and stared at him with such a stun reaction on her face, Michael wanted to laugh when he saw the crimson Stain on her cheek.

“What an awful thing to say Michael vernice, I don’t remember such thing”

He eyed her from head to toe, he knew very well she was lying and he decided to bait her even more, he liked it when she is uneasy in his company.

“Do you want me to remind you my princess?”

Her mouth hanged opened, ” You wouldn’t dare…”

He smiled evily in her direction, ” You and your father could not do anything to stop me, now that your father is not around what will you do to stop me from claiming what I want?”

“Stop saying nonsense” Laura eyes flared with annoyance, ” stop playing with my heart Michael, I have enough of this game we are having”

He turned to stare at her questiongly, he didn’t think he understand what she was saying, ” What are you talking about? What game?”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“You are playing with my heart Everytime” the hurt he saw in her eyes was nearly his undoing, he never wanted to see such sight in her beautiful eyes, ever. He would do anything and everything to wipe those pain he saw in her eyes.

“One moment we are okay, the next you are giving me back the cold shoulder, iam tired of your gauging mind Michael”

“Laura….” He stated.

“Enough of this Michael” she blinked away the hurt in her eyes as if he just imagine them, ” Let’s not talk about this okay, I understand that we can’t be friends but at least let’s be civil with each other and with the people around me”

Before he could formulate his reply, she walked away and went directly to her boutique. Michael could not help but follow her silently inside, once he got inside the shop his nostril were instantly filled with the delicious smell of coffee and freshly baked bread.

“Good morning beautiful” japhet greeted with a perfect smile on his face, ” I came here this morning to first of all apologize for my bad behavior yesterday and I also want to start my day by having breakfast with you”

Laura smiled at him brightly that made Michael look at her as if he just imagined the hurt look on her face awhile ago, he was starting to get annoyed by the turn of event.

Laura looked at the table where there was a cup of coffee and bag of bread, ” I think you have gone ahead already, thanks for the breakfast treat”

Japhet shook his head ” Nope dear, I didn’t bring that, speaking of your secretary she went outside to run some errands, she informed me and that is why iam here all alone waiting for you to come, even your secretary wasn’t aware where it came from but it had your name on the coffee cup”

Upon hearing this information, Michael raised his gaurd instantly, he had almost forgot the primarily reason why he was hired by his Excellency to gaurd his daughter. This little bastard stalker of hers, once he caught him Michael swore he would end his life with his bare hands, he carefully took a glimpse at Laura and he could see she was already looking pale.

She was trying to hard to hide her uneasiness with a smile, but Michael knew her very well and he was sure she already knew where the breakfast came from.

“Are you okay Laura?” Japhet asked with concern.

She gave japhet a smile that didn’t quite reach her beautiful eyes, ” Iam fine, you don’t have to worry about me. I think it came from one of my clients”

Michael knew very well that she was lying, he wanted to place her in the security of his rm and never let any harm come at her but he need to keep his distance because once she is in his arm he might never be able to let her go.

Japhet studied her for a moment before taking a deep breath, ” Alright dear, I need to go now. Iam already late for work, I will call you later” he moved closer to Laura and touched her cheek affectionately.

Michael clenched his fist to his side as he watched him make liberties to Laura ” Take care of yourself princess”

Laura nodded with a reassuring smile ” Michael is here to protect me”

Japhet smiled back but Michael could see the annoyance in his eyes at the thought that Laura trusted him to gaurd her, well too bad for him.

They both watched him walk out of the boutique in silence, once he rode out his car Michael faced Laura with a bright demeanor, ” well it seems that your stalker is early today, he even bother to wake up early to buy you breakfast. Bastard!”

He heard her take a deep breath ” You are not even sure that it came from any stalker, maybe it really came from a client of mine”

“Don’t be naive Laura, you do know very well that no client would send you coffee and freshly baked bread early in the morning without leaving a note” Michael walked towards the coffee table and picked one freshly baked bread and sniffed it, ” Smells delicious”

“Don’t eat that” she exclaimed when he was about to take a bite, ” What if he poisoned it?”

Michael raised an eyebrow in her direction, “I thought you don’t believe that this came from your stalker, so why are you cautioning me now?”

Laura broke the eye contact, tucked her hair at the back of her ear, Michael hid his smile when he saw the gesture, a sign that she’s nervous. He knew her well more than she thought he knew, ” Well I just don’t want to see you die in my shop early this morning if that bread is really with poison”

He stared at her for a moment while his heart made a giant leap in his chest, ” You don’t want to see me dead?”

“Yes!” She answered hotly, when she realized that her reply was way too passionate she stammered, ” well… uh.. that is… Any normal human would not want to see a person drop dead infront of them due to reckless behavior”

“Of course” he agreed, titling his lip to the side “and here I thought that you are geniuely concerned about my welfare”

“Michael….”

The warnings in her voice urged him even more, ” I do think these delicious bread have poison in it, look they are from the famous cafe down the street and if you don’t mind I will take a bite to be sure”

He was about to take a bite when Laura closed the distance between them and tried to snatch the bread from him, ” Give me that”

Since he was few inches taller than her, he held up the bread so she couldn’t reach it, she jumped up and down in those ridiculous heel just to seize the bread, ” Iam not playing games with you Michael” she said, trying her best to take the bread from his hand when she lost her balance, Michael reacted quickly and held her fast before she hit the floor.

“Are you….?” He stated.

“Oh my goodness” A female voice sounded from the door, did I interrupt something?”