Alluring Masquerade

          Kael slowed down his car on the gravel in front of Hira's house. They journey in the car had been very quite since she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. He gently nudged her arm to awaken her. "You're home, wake up," he announced.

          She blinked her eyes open and yawned behind her hands. Then she slowly looked around to face him with her eyes still half sleepy. "Thanks for the ride," she sighed, and opened the door and got out. "Bye, Kael!" she added before closing the car door.

          He watched her get out and smiled – although he didn't want her to go so soon. "Oh, wait!" he said, but she hadn't heard him.

          She had reached the front door just as she heard footsteps behind her.

          He had brought the bag of flowers – which her family had bought for her – and her phone with a couple of other small things. "Here," he said and passed her the carrier bag.

          "I..." They both started to say in unison, and laughed a bit.

          She was nervous for some reason and couldn't even look at him.

          He was just smiling stupidly and looking down at her with a cheeky smile.

          "It's cold," she whispered out her thoughts.

          "Come here then, I'll be your heater," he said jokily. He opened up his long jacket and enveloped her inside it while wrapping it behind her. He frowned. "You've lost weight."

          Her blush disappeared and an angry look took over. She looked at him sharply. "You makin' fun of me?" she snapped.

          "No, no!" he shook his head.

          "Oh," she said after she paused, and look away again.

          "Hm, this is nice..." he teased.

          "You can let me go now," she muttered.

          "What?" he asked. He was pretending not to hear her.

          "I said," she repeated with a breathy laugh, "you can let me go now."

          "Hey, stop messing around!" she cried, pushing his chest from inside the coat. Suddenly, she got an idea. "Mum!" she cried out.

          Kael freaked out and let her go instantly and tried to look like he wasn't trying anything with her.

          Hira laughed and clapped her hands, opening the door before he could stop her.

          Kael was dumbstruck for a minute. He had never been tricked by a girl before and especially by her. A smile spread across his face as he walked down and onto the footstep. He caught sight of her waving from the window when he had looked back. He waved back with a wink and laughed when she blushed. He signaled 'bye-bye' again and climbed into his car.

                                                                                                                             ~*~

          Hira watched the car drive away into the darkness, and screamed for her life when she'd turned around.

          Her mother was standing there with her hands on her hips. The foot was tapping. That was not good. Her expression was one of mild surprise. That was worse. When her mother wasn't showing anything openly something terrible was going to happen.