S H E L I A

"Okay, this has dragged out for too long!" I slammed my fist into my palm as I defended my point. Logan and Ayo have been acting weird and distant with each other and it is affecting me as their teammate and Logan's girlfriend. Logan's been seriously distant with me and even the rest of the clique. It's as though he is hiding a secret and Ayo knows about it.

It is currently lunch time and neither of them has come to the table the clique normally sits at. A smile graced my lips when I saw Logan walking towards us and I waved to flag him down. His lips quirked up in a gentle smile, highlighting his handsome features, and he walked steadily to our table.

The smile on his face suddenly broke which caused me to frown and turn around to see the reason for his sudden change in emotion. There Ayo stood with a tray in hand, mirroring Logan's unhappy expression. Ayo's face turned blank and emotionless before turning around to leave while Logan's eyes showed how much the action had hurt him. His hurt was soon covered up by a blank expression and he also turned around and left. So much for wanting to eat lunch with my boyfriend.

I was about to follow Logan when Sharon dragged me back. "Sit, Shelia." She said. "We have to plan how to get them back together. Something obviously happened between the two of them."

I sat down reluctantly and we all started throwing ideas of how we could bring the two together to talk things out. Ultimately, we went with Bryan's ridiculous seven minutes in heaven idea. The real problem was how we would get them to even look at each other talk less of even staying in the same room. We eventually went with an early morning plan (which didn't impress Sharon one bit) because Ayo was an early bird. My job was to wake up early to drag Logan with me to school.

Trust me, waking up early is not easy but I had to do it for the sake of my relationship with Logan and Ayo. Walking to Logan's house was an exercise and after literally dragging Sharon out of our street, we finally got to his house.

"So this is Logan's apartment." She observed between yawns and lazily knocked the door. It surprised me when an immediate 'who is it?' echoed through the house. "Does your boyfriend sleep at all, I mean how could he -yawn- sound so active in the morning?!" Sharon asked incredulously to which I shrugged indifferently.

I know Logan is a light sleeper so him being awake at this time of the day doesn't surprise me. The door opened to reveal Logan in...God help me...boxers and...no shirt. I think I'm drooling.

'He is slim but muscular, just look at that six pack, his v-line, that toned chest...my God our boyfriend is hot!'

I agreed with my inner Shelia for once and didn't argue. This guy is directly from God's cookie jar and I love eye candy.

"My eyes! Logan, you sleep like this?!" Stella screamed as she shielded her eyes while Logan just stared at us both as if we grew horns each.

'Why is his left eye closed?'

I observed that his eye was closed but before I could dwell on it, I observed another thing on his body; scars and lots of them too. I couldn't make them out well in the dim light but I could see they that were so many. Logan is very gentle and careful so he couldn't have hurt himself. Did he get into an accident before moving here?! What happened?!

"C-come in. Why are you girls early?" He ushered us in and I saw the gashes clearly under the lighting in his apartment.

"Why are there scars on your body?!" Sharon voiced my thoughts. I saw Logan's flinch but it was quickly covered up with a small smile I knew was a fake.

"I got into an accident before moving here." He said in a small voice.

"Is that why your left eye is closed?" I asked this time but he just smiled.

"Nah, I can see better with my right than with my left. I have myopia so I use contacts to see clearly." He explained and before I could ask any further questions, he started walking out on us. "I should...change, I'll be back." He said and left us in the living room.

"Do you believe what he said? Those gashes look like..." I started but I shook the thought off my head. No, it can't be.

L O G A N

Did they buy it? I feel bad about lying to Shelia but I don't want to lose her. Am I being selfish? No, I just don't want her knowing the real me.

We got to school and the girls just left me to go to the comfort room. I sighed as I watched the best friends giggling to the powder room, wishing that my best friend were here with me. I watched Sheila's retreating figure and face palmed with a groan. Man I'm horrible aren't I? I haven't been spending much time with her lately.

I walked into the classroom only to find Ayo sitting on his seat reading his textbook. Oh right, he comes early to escape his fan girls. He glanced up at me and plain ignored me. As I wanted to turn away, I heard the door shut close. It didn't take me long to know that Sharon and Shelia and maybe the others were behind this. I should've known.

Ayo hates being under pressure and I hate being in awkward positions so letting us stay in the same place alone would only push us to either fight or talk.

"Hi." I greeted and went to my seat. The silence was so stiffening that it literally was choking me. I shifted my feet awkwardly, how long till periods start? I am suffocating here!

"Logan."

It took a great deal of self-control not to jump off my chair at the suddenness of his deep voice. This guy can be scary when he wants to be and something tells me I do not want to make him angry if I don't want to be buried six feet. I gulped and turned slowly around only to meet with his scrutinizing eyes. The brown orbs bore holes into my head and I could almost swear they were orange-red and narrow.

"Let's meet after your work, I have something to tell and ask you." He simply stated.

"Is he going to kill him and dump his body in a truck?!"

Ayo rolled his eyes at Don's not so silent whisper- I knew they were behind this!- but I subconsciously gulped. Would he really kill me and dump my body in a truck, or worse?

***

Why am I hiding in the changing closet after my work hours are over? Because I can't face Ayo Adams right now. I tried to think of many possible things he wants to talk about and all my imaginations are not pretty.

"How long are you going to stay there for? A guy out there is asking for you and he is hot." A coworker scared the shit out of me. What's going on, I've been unusually jumpy these days. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even take notice of the underlying meaning of the coworker's statement until he left.

"I have a girlfriend!" I yelled at nobody in particular, which only earned me the 'you should go for a mental check up' look. I walked out of the closet and signed out. To my relief, Ayo was nowhere to be found. Maybe he left after waiting impatiently for me...

"Are you a meerkat?"

...or not. The person I am presently most afraid of was right behind me and I couldn't keep my cool anymore so I jumped like two feet and yelled in fright. Ayo frowned at me and poked my head, also giving me the 'go get a mental checkup' look. "Let's go."

Mrs Jennifer, Ayo's mum, was preparing dinner when I got there. "I'm home!" Ayo yelled.

"Ayo, oh I see you brought Logan." Mrs Jennifer greeted.

"Good evening Mrs Jennifer." I greeted. She just gave her million dollar smile and went back to the kitchen to continue what she was doing. I followed Ayo upstairs to his room and stood awkwardly at the door.

Hio room has plain green walls and a fairly big bed with green sheets. An Xbox sat at one corner and a closet/wardrobe sat in another while a study table stayed near his bed. Pandora was fast asleep on Ayo's bed, once again ignoring her basket but Ayo didn't care. I remember the first day I came here, it wasn't so lovely with Pandora threatening me.

Ayo searched his drawer for something and gave it to me. It was a picture of a very beautiful woman. Don't tell me my father...

"That's my mum." Ayo broke the silence. A confused expression crosses my face so he explains. "Mama Jennifer is my step mother."

"Oh. What happened to her?" I looked down at the picture. "Don't tell m-me..." I was afraid to ask but deep down I knew my suspicion was correct.

"My mother was the possessor of the Griffin Sannin." Ayo sat on his bed and motioned for me to sit next to him. My legs felt too heavy to move but I managed to drag myself to sit beside him.

Sannins are small palm sized sculptures made to look like unique creatures. They are eight in number, made with precious jewels and are worth millions of currencies. They were originally thought of as worthless artifacts but cultural researchers proved them wrong. The eight are the Dragon, Phoenix, Selkie, Valkeye, Nine tailed fox, Unicorn, Basilisk and the Griffin. Mr Kamile, the man who helped Nata and I, owns the Phoenix and his wife, Mrs Suree owns the unicorn. Now I know Ayo owns the Griffin.

"I was seven when Maru came and asked for the Griffin. My dad, being a cop, called for reinforcements but when Maru found out he killed my mother off and swore to find me and the Griffin. Dad moved us to Beast ville, changed our family name to Adams and married my step-mom." Ayo summarized his story.

I never knew that my father targeted the sannins, I only thought he was a crazy psychotic killer.

Ayo collected the picture from me and placed it back inside the drawer. By the time he sat back on the bed, Pandora awakened with a yawn and climbed into his lap.

"Now what is your story?"

***
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Annyong!

-★Byeol (Star).