Hello my loves,

First of all, belated Merry Christmas. I hope all your wishes came true. All I wish you is good health, prosperity and tons and tons of happiness. 

Thank you to all my readers who have been extremely supportive and have been by my side ever since I have launched The Bad Boy and His Nerd. Thank you for being by my side from the beginning. This is the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for and thanks for giving me this happiness.

Love you all,

Enjoy

*

I walked back to the car clearly annoyed at Asher and Caleb. Why wouldn't they want me to come?! I'm nearly an adult for heaven's sake! And why the hell Caleb told me all these just to bring me back home?!

I furiously opened the door, sat in the car and closed it with a force. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Caleb coming. I crossed my hands over my chest, looking straight at the windshield.

I heard him open the door and sit down but I behaved as if I was unaware of anything.

Caleb sighed heavily, "Really, Emberly. You'll be giving me the silent treatment now?" He asked incredulously.

Well, you deserve it for telling me half of the story and not letting me investigate.

"Emberly, first of all, making you come here was a big mistake that I made. I shouldn't have let you come with me. I thought you deserved to see how Asher leads his life but now I see that I made a horrible mistake. You shouldn't have seen all these." Caleb spoke in a strained voice. I could see him running his hands over his face.

"But I need to know Caleb. Please." I finally replied. "Please let me come over tonight." I nearly begged. I need to know what led him to drugs and fighting. I know that back home, no one is going to let me know the truth.

"I'm really sorry Emberly." Caleb replied dejectedly, starting the ignition.

"If you're scared that Asher will be annoyed at you for bringing me here, trust me, I will not allow him to be mad at you." I tried to convince him making him chuckle.

"You're too sweet Emberly." Caleb smiled. "But Asher being mad at me is the least of my concerns but thanks anyways."

Fine. I guess I need to find the truth on my own. I just need to make Caleb believe that I have taken note of what he has just told me.

"Okay. I won't go if you say so." I lied looking outside.

"Thanks." Caleb replied.

I just need to make a plan.

Half an hour later, we reached home. I got out of the car while Caleb drove off saying that he needed to buy something.

Once I walked inside I saw Ally and Monica in what seemed was a debate.

"Suits." Ally muttered loudly.

"No, The Vampire Diaries. Damon is so hot." Monica countered back.

Are they seriously discussing TV shows?!

"No, Suits, there is so much drama in that show. And Harvey Specter is the epitome of male beauty." Ally responded dramatically.

"Ehem." I cleared my throat to make them aware of my presence and both heads snapped at me.

"Ahh, finally she's here." Ally ran towards me. "Emmy, tell Monica that Suits is a way better show than The Vampire Diaries." Ally wrapped her hands around my shoulders.

"Eum, Ally, I have never watched Suits." I told her apologetically. "But honestly speaking, even I like The Vampire Diaries." The expression that Ally wore right now was definitely one of her best. It was as if she has just received a huge shock.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! In your face!" Monica mocked triumphantly. "The Vampire Diaries it is." Monica clapped her hands together.

"May I ask what is happening?" I removed Ally's arm from my shoulders and moved slightly aside.

"We were planning to have a marathon tonight and I suggested The Vampire Diaries while Ally on the other hand wanted to watch Suits. So it has just been decided that we will watch The Vampire Diaries, all the seasons. Majority wins." Monica claimed.

"Hey, I was never part of this debate." I lifted my hands in surrender making Monica narrow her eyes at me.

"Urgh, Emmy, please don't be such a spoilsport." Monica said making me laugh.

"Okay fine, let's do one thing. Let's watch both The Vampire Diaries and Suits. We'll just divide it." I suggested.

"Fine." Both girls answered unenthusiastically.

"But, Harvey is way hotter." Ally argued.

"Oh please, Damon is better." Monica said dreamily.

And here we go again.

*

Finally, it was time for watching the TV shows. Monica had ordered two boxes of pizza. I had already planned what I would say to the girls before I left them to go to The Tunnel. As far as I know the fight starts at eight. It was now seven in the evening. I can do this.

"Can we start?" Ally asked placing The Vampire Diaries DVD in the DVD player.

"Yes." Monica responded taking a piece of pizza and we began watching the show.

While Monica and Ally were completely engrossed in the show, my eyes were travelling from the clock on the wall to the television. Fifteen minutes had already passed.

Okay, time to start my plan.

"I'll be right back." I said getting up from the couch. I walked to my room and ensured that I had everything prepared.

Money in my wallet, check.

Charge in the mobile phone, check.

Pepper spray, check.

Okay, let's do this.

I walked back to the room where the girls were and made a pained expression.

"Um, girls, I'm not feeling too well. I have a massive headache. Um, I'm going to bed." I tried to say as convincingly as possible.

"Oh, have you taken any medicine? Should I get it?" Monica immediately got up from her seat and came rushing towards me. crap! Now I feel so bad for lying to them.

"I'm fine. I think I just need some sleep." I nodded my head.

"Okay." Ally replied not totally persuaded. She was looking strangely at me. oh no! please don't tell me she found out something.

No, I think I have been quite persuasive.

"I'll see you girls tomorrow." I said, walking out of the room.

Once I came to my room I immediately closed the door and placed some pillows under my blanket. I hope anyone who comes here will believe that I'm actually sleeping.

Once I was done, I took my phone, wallet and pepper spray. I opened the window, stood on the window bar and took a deep breath before jumping. Thank goodness this room was only on the first floor. God help me and I jumped.

"Crap!" I muttered under my breath feeling like I have scratched my arm. Well, at least I haven't broken anything. Great, now blood was oozing.

This is the least of my concerns. I got up from the ground, remove the dirt that was found on my jeans and walked towards the main road.

Once a saw a taxi coming, I immediately placed my hand forward in an attempt to stop it.

I got in the car once it halted and told him the address of where I had to go.

Twenty minutes later, we reached The Tunnel. I paid the taxi driver and got out of the car.

Oh boy!

This was so crowded. It was even more crowded than the first time I came here. I had to move certain people to get to the front. Thank goodness I had wrapped my scarf around my face such that anyone would just see my eyes.

I could hear people shouting A.

Oh, so he was already fighting.

Oh my God, he was even more hotter while fighting. The way he was dodging his opponent was simply magnificent. It was as if he already knew the moves that his opponent would make and easily avoided the smacks.

And some minutes later, Asher had punched his opponent so hard that the latter fell down and I have a gut feeling that he will not be getting up any time soon and Asher was the clear winner.

I could see that girls were nearly ready to rip off their clothes once the arbitrator declared Asher the winner.

Just when I was about to leave and go and find out the guy who talked to me in the afternoon, I could feel Asher's gaze stuck on me.

Both of us were staring at each other as if there was no one else present.

Oh Lord! Please don't tell me that he knows this is me.

No! He can't know. I checked whether the scarf was still present on my face.

Ahh, good! It was still there. He's perhaps wondering who is this idiot who came with a scarf all over the face.

Not losing any more time, I broke the eye contact and moved away from the ring and went in search of the guy.

I was now really away from the ring and mostly no one was in sight. Crap! Where do I find him now?

I could see a frightful old man coming towards me with lust clearly written in his eyes. The way he was looking at me was absolutely uncomfortable. Oh no!

Losing no time, I ran away from there, not knowing where to go. When looked behind me, I saw him smiling evilly at me and coming right back.

Shit!

Just when I was about to increase my speed, I was met with a wall and fell down and my scarf was detached from my face.

"I'm so sorry." I heard the wall say. How can walls speak?! You silly, Emberly. It's a boy!

Looking up from where I was, I realized that I was met with the guy that talked to Caleb and I this afternoon.

"Oh hey! What are you doing here?" The guy asked handing me a hand which gratefully took. "And I'm sorry by the way."

"It's fine. Um, I'm actually escaping a weird looking man." I said nervously, pointing behind me.

"Get away from here, Jones!" The guy said in a hard tone making the evil looking man, Jones go away.

"Thanks." I replied.

"Are you looking for Asher?" I somewhat blushed when he said Asher's name. Focus Emberly! My inner voice snapped.

"Um, no." I responded making him look oddly at me. "Um, I- I am feeling really thirsty and there's no canteen here, so I was wondering where can I get some water." I lied. What a lie, Emberly, my subconscious mocked.

And he began to laugh. "Are- are you really looking for a canteen here?!" He asked disbelievingly.

"Y-yeah." I muttered, unsure of what should I say next.

"You are funny." He shook his head. "Anyways, come in my cabin. There's some water over there." He said, beginning to walk with me following suit.

Thankfully, his cabin was not far away and soon we reached there. Once we got inside, I removed my scarf while the guy handed me a bottle of water.

"So, what's your name." He asked taking a seat on the table and gestured me to sit on the chair beside the door.

"I'm Emberly. What's yours?" I asked, taking a long drink. I wasn't aware that I was so thirsty until now.

"Alex." He replied taking a tennis ball and playing with it. "What are you doing here?" He asked suddenly serious making me stop drinking the water.

"Um, I'm drinking water." I stated, shrugging making him narrow his eyes at me.

"Emberly, I know for a fact that you didn't come all the way just to drink water. And if you're done, I can give Asher a call so that he can come and pick you up." He smiled maliciously, picking up his phone.

"No, no, no!" I shouted, immediately getting up from my seat and snatching his phone away from him making him raise an eyebrow at me, smirking.

Bastard!

"Well, can I have the truth now?" He asked, playing with the tennis ball once again.

"Okay, you got me." I responded, placing the bottle of water on the floor. "I'm here to learn more about Asher. He's my boyfriend, yes, but he refuses to me anything about his life. And I want to know." I said looking straight at him.

"What do you want to know?" Alex asked, still playing with that ball.

"Everything, like why he started fighting?" I said, giving him an example.

"And why do you think I am the one who will be giving you all the answers that you need?" Alex questioned, looking seriously at me.

I took a while before answering. "I don't know. I just thought. You what it was probably a bad idea. I'm sorry for taking you time." I got up from the seat.

"Two years ago, Asher got to know this place called The Tunnel." Alex began and gestured me to sit down, which I complied immediately. "Asher was always really curious. He wanted to know what is the real meaning of thrill, so he began racing just for fun. Last year he had given on racing for certain reasons and started doing drugs instead." Alex said walking to fetch another bottle of water.

"What reasons?" I asked quickly, willing to learn more.

"He was devastated." Alex simply said.

"Devastated? By what?" I asked speedily.

"You know, Asher was this gorgeous looking guy that every girl wanted. He was the man of every girls dreams. But two years ago, he met this girl called Emily and let me tell you that you are a photocopy of her. The only difference between you and here is that she had blue eyes and blond hair while you have brown hair and eyes. But when I saw you this afternoon, I thought Emily was back but then I looked closely at you and understood that you are someone else.

"Asher had met her here. She was just another fan just like other girls but she had a really good heart and won Asher over and trust me, all the girls were jealous of this couple. Emily was like a kid at heart. She knew how to make people smile and Asher was crazy about her. They were this golden couple that everyone wanted to be.

"However, life isn't filled of roses. Last year, from what I heard is that she was met with a horrible accident and is in a coma. From what doctors have said, they don't believe that she will make it through. And this is what devastated Asher. From this crazy in love guy, he was transformed into a literally crazy person. He would pick fights with anyone, swear at anyone and even at his best friends and worse of all is that he began taking drugs. He even gave up racing as this apparently reminded him of Emily.

"Remember, that Jones guy?" Alex asked while I nodded my head, "well, his boss, Alfredo supplied these drugs. And then this year, I have no idea what happened but he began racing and fighting as well. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Asher but I can see that he is happy now and I have a clear feeling why." He said smiling at me.

Oh my God! I can't believe this. Asher liked or should I say loved another girl who looked just like me. I don't know whether this new found information has me feeling better or worse.

Somehow, I do not like the thought of Asher mingled with another girl.

So am I just another girl who is here to fill a gap in Asher's life?

"Are you okay, Emberly?" Alex asked, concerned.

"I-I don't know." I replied honestly.

Sensing my discomfort, Alex came by my side and placed both of his hands in mine. "Hey, don't get so worked up about this. Emily is his past. You are Asher's present and I can tell you that he really likes you more than you think he does." I nearly laughed at his statement.

"I—" I couldn't continue what had to say when suddenly the door opened and a furious looking Asher was ferociously glaring at Alex and his hands over mine.

*

I hope you liked it,

Tell me your views on Asher's past and whether he truly loves Emberly or is he just using her.

Vote and comment

Love you all,

Ina <3