CHAPTER SIX - THE CHOICE

MONA’S POV

The next day, Luka came to pick me up for school like he promised. His car was a sleek grey Porsche. As he opened the door for me to sit down, I could not help but think about how the color of his car seemed to match his eyes completely.

“This car is very like you,” I said, trying to make small talk as he drove us to school.

“Oh yeah? Why do you say that?” he asked, glancing at me.

“Your car color matches your eyes,” I said to him, “Is that why you picked it?” I asked and he turned to me, giving me a slight smirk.

“So you have been looking at my eyes?” he said, his voice dropping flirtatiously and I rolled my eyes, like my heart wasn’t beating faster.

“You said you would tell me what is between you and Aster,” I said, changing the topic and his smile immediately faded away.

“You always seem to bring him into our conversations,” Luka grumbled, facing the road.

“Well forgive me if I am trying to learn about the two guys my father wants me to choose from,” I retorted in annoyance and he sighed deeply.

“I am sorry, I just really hate talking about him,” Luka replied, turning to face me.

“Then tell me why?” I pressed softly.

“Because we used to be best friends before,” he revealed, and my eyes flicked to his face in shock.

Best friends?

My mind recalled the two guys who had literally been at each other’s throats yesterday

That was surprising.

“So why did you guys stop being friends?” I asked, inquisitive.

“Because he took something that was mine,” Luka said, his hand tightening on the steering wheel as he stared ahead, with his brows furrowed in rage like he was imagining Aster in front of him. He accelerated as he drove and my eyes widened in fear.

“Um… Luka, can you slow down?” I asked him as the breeze from outside slapped into my face.

“That is what Aster does Mona,” Luka replied like he hadn’t heard me, going even faster.

What the hell?

“Luka can you slow down?!” I asked him, holding on to the grab handle.

“He takes and he takes and he takes everything that you care about until there is nothing left.”

Great, now he was going to kill us because he hated Aster.

“Okay I got it!! Can you slow down now? You are scaring me!!” I yelled at him and he finally tapped the brakes, gradually slowing the car.

“Sorry if I was intense,” he apologized, giving me a guilty look

Intense wasn’t the right word, insane was more fitting.

“I guess Aster is a really touchy subject for you,” I said, trying to regulate my breathing. Back when Luka had offered to drop me at school, I had been flattered, now I was just horrified.

“Yeah,” Luka replied awkwardly as we arrived in front of the school gate.

I barely thanked him, before I hopped out of the car and just basically sped away. Luka was definitely a red flag, I felt like I had to write that in a book somewhere.

In fact when I thought about the fight yesterday, they were both red flags. I just had to choose the one who had the least red flags.

But right now, choosing between them was the least of my worries, especially when my mind was still recovering from what had happened last night.

Who was that golden eyed man?

And why did he call me his?

As I thought about him, my wrist heated up like it was burning from the inside. As I held out my arm, I saw a golden mark form on my hand, it was shaped like a rune and it disappeared almost as soon as I had seen it.

What the fuck?

Now I definitely had to be seeing things. Ever since I followed my father here it had been one thing or the other and now, I was just flat out delusional.

But the burning sensation had felt real, or did I imagine that too?

What was really going on with me?

“Hey!!” a chirpy voice called out from behind, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned to find Vera smiling at me brightly.

“Hey Vera,” I replied weakly. It wasn’t even nine am yet and I felt like I had definitely had enough drama for today.

“Well, you definitely look excited to see me,” she said and I sighed in exhaustion, feeling bad.

“Sorry, I just had a really bad night and an even worse morning,” I explained to her as we walked to my locker.

“Really? You act like Luka Everstorm didn’t drop you off this morning, or do you think I didn’t see you both?” she asked, her tone more accusatory than inquiring.

It was funny how every conversation we had seemed to lead back to Luka and Aster. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that she wanted them for herself.

But did I know better?

Did I even know Vera?

“What exactly do you want me to say?” I asked Vera as I pulled out my textbooks. “Do you want me to admit that I know Luka? Or what? Admit that we are dating?”

“No.. I just wanted you to—

“To what? Give you the whole gist, tell you how I know him and Aster. I don’t understand why you feel so entitled to that information,” I said to her and she stepped back, shock evident on her face as she looked at me.

“I just wanted to know who you are, I don’t understand why you are reacting this way,” Vera said, and I sighed, feeling guilty.

Maybe I had overreacted.

“Just forget about it,” I replied to her, mentally done with the conversation. I closed my locker and walked away, leaving her standing there as I went to class.

Class started and I felt myself thinking of the golden eyed man again.

I had not told anyone about the dream, the truth was, I didn’t know who to tell.

I couldn’t exactly tell my father that a man chased me in my dream and then tried to kiss me, it was appropriate information.

As I thought about him, my wrist started to heat up again and the golden rune from earlier appeared on it.

You are mine, I seemed to hear his voice at the back of my head as I looked at the golden symbol, flashing on my wrist.

So I wasn’t hallucinating earlier.

This was real, whatever it was.

“Mona, can you answer the question I just asked?”

I looked up to find my English teacher looking at me expectantly.

“Um…” I stood up awkwardly, looking at the white board in confusion. “Can you please repeat the question?” I asked her politely.

“Repeat the question? Can you hear yourself?” she asked and my cheeks burned red in embarrassment as my classmates turned back to look at me.

“You joined this class in the middle of the session, you clearly have a lot to cover up if you plan on graduating with them and you can’t even pay attention in class?” she scolded, adjusting her glasses as she looked at me in disapproval.

I had made such a big fuss about how happy I was to be back in school, but I could barely even focus

“I am sorry,” I apologized sheepishly.

“How can she focus when she is busy thinking about her two boyfriends, Luka and Aster?” one of the girls in front said and the entire class erupted in laughter, while I stood there feeling humiliated.

My eyes met Vera’s expecting her to join in the laughter, but all she did was give me a sympathetic look.

“Get your priorities straight Mona,” the teacher warned, making me feel even worse.

As soon as the class was over, I grabbed my bag and rushed out, hoping not to run into Luka again. Today had been a shitty day, and I needed to find somewhere I could clear my head before my next class.

I was headed to the bathroom, when a firm hand suddenly grabbed me, pulling me in its direction.

I looked up in confusion to find Aster’s blue eyes staring down at me.

“I thought you would look for me today,” he said cockily as I ripped my arm away from his grasp.

“And why would I do that?” I asked him clearly not in the mood for whatever he was playing at.

“Because I thought you would be curious about me.”

“As far as I know, you are the one who is supposed to be trying to impress me, not the other way around,” I replied, locking my eyes with his.

He was still beautiful, he barely had any injuries from yesterday’s fight and the more I looked at him, the more he looked like a fallen angel of some sorts. With his unruly brown hair and his playful smirk, I could only describe him in one word – Hot.

“You are right, I guess I haven’t been doing a good job of getting your attention, seeing that you are already allowing Luka to give you rides,” he said it like it was a question.

“If you don’t have any point to make, I have a class right now,” I answered back coldly and he blinked at me like he was stunned. It was one of my many flaws, the ability not to care about anyone’s feelings whenever I was angry.

“Okay, let me make my point quickly then,” he said, staring at me like he was amused. “I want to take you out on a date.”

Whatever I had been expecting it was clearly not that.

A date? Seriously?

He didn’t seem like a date kind of guy, with his leather jacket and his ripped jeans. He seemed like a ‘hookup once and forget about you kind of person’.

“Is that supposed to be your attempt at impressing me?” I asked, folding my arms as I looked at him and he laughed.

“How about you just show up and decide whether or not you are impressed by me?” he said it like a challenge.

And I loved challenges.

“Just in case I decide to show up, what time should I be there?” I asked him.

“You have no choice but to show up, because it will be immediately after school.”

He was really serious about this.

“What if I don’t come?” I asked him.

Was this flirting? Was I flirting with him?

“Then I guess you wouldn’t be able to find out what I have planned,” he shrugged nonchalantly and walked away just as the bell rang.

I smiled in amusement, wondering what I was going to do. I guess it would be funny to see his cocky face tomorrow when I stood him up.

As I looked up ahead, I found Luka’s stormy eyes locked on mine from a distance. From how angry he looked, I could tell that he had seen me talking with Aster.

He opened his mouth he was about to tell me something, but I just turned and walked away heading to my class

I could still remember how frightened I was of him earlier and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hang around with someone that I felt unsafe with.

The final bell rang and I rushed to my locker impatiently, ready to be out of this school. As I opened my locker a note fell out.

We need to talk, I will tell you everything that happened between Aster and I this time.

It was from Luca.

Sighing, I ripped the note and trashed it and closed my locker.

Was he really ready to talk now?

What if he reacted the way he did earlier?

I stepped outside the school gate, holding my bag strap and my stomach immediately dropped as I took in the sight in front of me.

Luka’s Porsche was parked outside, with him standing beside it. He saw me as soon as I stepped out but so did Aster, he was seated on top of a black motorbike, holding another helmet.

They both looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to make a choice.

Who was I going to go with?