The sun streamed at its fullest holding its permanent position of waking Blair up from her deep sleep. She groaned at the thin curtains over her windows, cursed the nature for being too early but mostly, she sweared at the constant banging on her door. She rolled over but the knock was like an alarm, too loud, too high to be bearable. 'Shut up!' She yelled at the door but the knocking was not lessen rather it increased.

Blair furiously got up from her bed, tossing the covers back on the bed so angrily that they ended up tangle in her feet and she fell on the floor. 'Ooh.' She said but and  wailing only brought stop to the knocking.

The door cracked open and Adrien —in his suit—entered the room widening his eyes at the scene. His too straight face couldn't even muster a single smile at the funny scene of Blair, entangled in the cover as he simply stood there. Blair was glad for this.

'OK, you can pick me up you know.' Blair kicked her legs on the floor to get out of the mess.

Adrien spoke after what felt to Blair a million years later. 'You told me not to touch you.'

Blair groaned and craned her neck down to see a knot formed between her legs that seemed impossible to get out for now. 'I don't know, help me. Isn't that why dad hired you?'

'No.' His answer was quick. 'He hired me to protect you from sudden attacks and escort you. He employed me to guard you from any bodily harm or any damage done to your personnel property.'

Blair was ready to bang her head on the floor. 'OK. I got it why he hired you. Now, help me up.'

'I can't. Get up on your own.' Adrien said monotonously and began walking out of the door.

'Adrien!' Blair called and tried to sit up but fell chest first on the floor. 'Help me forgot sake.'

Adrien turned around  and stared down at Blair who couldn't guess a single thing that might be happening in Adrien's mind. Finally, Adrien, being unexpected did what Blair could never guess. He gripped the knot that the covers tied themselves into, and hauled Blair up with only one hand all the way careful he doesn't touch an inch of Blair's body but in his trial, Blair was twisted and had had her head hit on the headboard but Adrien didn't even apologised. 'Careful!'

'How the heck did you entangle yourself in this mess?' He asked irritatedly.

'I don't know, but you are the cause.' She said when she finally felt the floor beneath her feet.

Blair huffed and sat on the bed to untie the knot. 'Thank you.' Blair said but Adrien didn't give any response. 'Why were you knocking—oh, lemme correct, "Smacking" my door?'

'You need to go to work. You were getting late.' Adrien replied.

Blair threw her head back. 'Oh my, it's just ten. Forgot sakes, I have one and a half hour.' Blair picked up her covers and wore them as a hijab around her head to fall back to sleep on the bed. 'Lemme sleep.'

'You'll require fifteen minutes to change and fifteen minutes to do your breakfast. It's forty minutes from here to your work without any traffic so, no. You have no time to waste.' Adrien

Blair ran a marathon of calculations in her mind. 'I still have, 10 minutes left.'

'Fifteen.' Adrien corrected her. 'And might you remember, I didn't add the traffic that takes fifteen minutes.'

Blair rolled her eyes but nevertheless, laid on the bed. Her heavy eyelids begged for a shut down but before they could, an ear piercing tune bellowed in Blair's ears. She covered her ears and sat up in the bed. 'FINE! I'M GETTING UP! SHUT IT NOW!' she yelled on top of her lungs and then, that painful tune was turned off by Adrien by a single tap on his mobile.

'Good. You have only thirty minutes. Remember.' With that being commanded, Adrien walked out of the room.

'I hate you!' Blair furiously said and threw the covers away this time careful they don't end up in the mess again.

Blair, as fast as she could, got dressed up, ready to prove Adrien wrong but his calculations were on point.

Each one of them.

Blair used to think that it takes her only ten minutes to get ready but when she paid attention to the time being spent, it was actually fifteen minutes maybe it was her turtle speed due to her stomach bruise or that her clumsiness restricted her to take note of time correctly.

She rushed downstairs and furrowed. 'You have eaten the breakfast?'

Adrien looked up from his phone. 'I have.'

'You didn't made me any?' She asked annoyingly.

Adrien cocked his eyebrow. The least of expressions he had showed in past forty eight hours. 'Why would I?'

'Cause hello, but you're not only my bodyguard but also my housemate.' Blair stated and opened the cupboard for cereal.

'You should eat healthy than that.' He pointed at the cereal.

'Then make me some.' Blair said and took out the milk.

Adrien's already fallen face fell much lower as Blair grinned at her with a little request. He said after a long pause. 'Eat whatever you have.'

'Eat whatever you have.' Blair repeated his statement rather more weirdly, exaggerating his thick accent and voice but she was caught mid way as Adrien did turn away mid way and glared at her at which Blair merely shrugged.

She made herself a breakfast —cereal—and ate it. Adrien was waiting for her outside her house. When she had packed her belongings and had locked the house, she noticed that the car Adrien was waiting beside was not hers. 'Who's car is it?' She asked, intrigued.

Adrien didn't turn around. 'Mine.' As he opened the passenger door for Blair and cued her to settle herself in. Blair glared at him. Should she trust him?

She roamed in her mind and heart to find the answer but she was already sitting in the car.

***

The rest of the day was Blair, working as usual in her book shop losing herself in the sea of books with Adrien sitting at the far side of the shop, working on his laptop which Blair thought was better than him ogling her actions and her surroundings.

At sharp ten o' clock, Adrien shut down his laptop and strolled towards Blair issuing a book to a visitor. 'We should go home.' Adrien said.

'Ok, let me just wrap this up real quick.'

'I'm waiting upside.' Adrien told her as as he said, walked upside.

Blair on the other hand, closed her book shop and stepped upside her shop only t find Adrien being nowhere. She furrowed and looked at her surroundings but no sign of Adrien , neither his car showed. She walked a few steps back and forth, trying to catch a glimpse of his strong facade and the mop of those bronze hair but either it was the night or the imaginary blindness before her eyes that restricted her to.

Cool wind blew and her knees shook. She decided that staying here would do her no good. She fished out her phone but then realised she didn't have his number.

She walked down the street to find a taxi and luckily, she did. A yellow cab was standing at the end of the road as if waiting specially for her. She raced towards it, and the driver lowered the passenger seat window. 'Hiya,' Blair said.

'Hey. How can I help you?'

Blair told him her address and asked if he could drop her. 'My shift has actually ended, but I can drop you.' The driver smiled and Blair sat in his cab.

The driver's presentation was rather a rough one as his hair were badly messed up and his eye bags were darker than Blair had seen of anyone's before. A strong aura of alcohol hit her as she said in the car. Just as she moved a little to her right, her toes hit a glass bottle of vodka.

'You alone miss?' He asked.

'Er ... kinda.' Blair looked outside the window. She didn't know if she should be happy that Adrien left or angry that he left her in such a hurry.

'Oh,' he said. 'Would you like to have these?' The driver passed her a pack of potato chips that she gently refused. 'Just take one, they are good. Spicy.' The driver commented and Blair, took just one tiny chip and stuffed it in her mouth.

'Thank you.'

'No problem.' The driver said. 'Name's Mike.'

'OK.' Blair was in no mood to tell hers.

'I usually drive around your neighbourhood. Lemme know if you'd like to have a lift.' Blair faked a smile and continued to look outside. Why is it taking so long?

After a while, she entered her neighbourhood. Her eyes widened as she suspected a man standing outside her main door.

'Hey, stop stop stop,' she blurted out. She pulled out her money and practically threw at the driver. 'Oh, sorry.' She apologised and jumped out of the car.

As silently as she could muster, she took the steps towards her home that was occupied by a man, crouched down. She had decided to scold the person, but as if expecting, began walking away from the home and disappeared into the dark. Furrowed, she carefully stood in front of the door and noticed a box wrapped in brown paper.

Her heart thumped, her knees shook, her steps faltered, her head spun. What could be in there? Why would someone deliver something at this time? She threw her gaze around, no one was in the neighbour hood.

She crouched down and started unwrapping the gift. If it'll be of any worth, she decide to take it in her home. But being delivered at this time, she thought it to be too dangerous to be taken in home. Bits by bits, fold after fold, the paper came off.

The box was of a barbie doll, tied with rope on a chair, a paper ball was pretended to be sacked in the doll's mouth and locked in the box. The lines on Blair's forehead deepened. What could it mean? She couldn't decipher. All she knew that her heart skipped a beat as she turned the box and there, a timer clicked.

Her hands shook. Was it a timer bomb? And if it really was, she knew she had the least of time to get rid of it. Cause the clock on the bomb was struck at:

00:02

oOo

Hola guys! WHAT do ya think? What could it be? And what do you think about the chapter? I was hoping to post it on wed, or thurs, buuuuut, it's Friday now. My punctuality is always on point.
*note the sarcasm*.

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Love 💕, huz