Cole stopped the car as we reached a place I had never seen before. It was a beautiful garden near a lake. Absorbing its serenity, I felt the hour-long ride was worth it. Cole got out of the car and started walking, I followed him.

We approached a gate. I could see a small cottage through it. Cole took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the gate.

"Is this place yours?" I asked.

"Yes, my grandparents stayed here years ago." he smiled.

I looked around in awe. There was a small pond with a fountain. It had a wooden swing beside it. I could hear the chirping of the birds along with the burble of the lake. The air was so soothing. I could feel it on my skin and the wind blowing through my hair.

"You liked this place it seems, "Cole said as he walked next to me.

"Who wouldn't?" I said and sat on the wooden swing.

Cole stood in front of me and mumbled, "You know, I never brought anyone here before,"

It almost sounded like he was talking to himself. Actually, I myself was pretty surprised that I had vandalised Mr.Grey's car and I am sitting here at Cole's cottage with him standing in front of me. Some days turn out to be so unexpected.

I looked at Cole. His hazel eyes, his pink plump lips, his messy brown hair... It was hard to not be affected by his beauty. Now that he was being so good to me, the part of me that hated his jerky behaviour was also fading away. We could be good friends if Alex didn't hate him so much. ' Alex... '

My entire mood changed as thoughts about him started to run through my mind again.

"What is it that I do not know about Alex?" I gulped.

Cole let out a sigh and sat next to me.

"I know you like him a lot and he is your boyfriend but there are things about him and his family and their business that you need to know."

"Business? They just  have a chocolate factory, right?" I asked.

"It isn't just a chocolate factory. The Hunt's indulge in drug trade through it."

I was astonished by what Cole just said.

"I and Alex bonded pretty well when he had accompanied Ethan at one of our boxing camps. He told me he was looking for a place in the city I used to live in with my parents. I offered him to stay over my place until he found one of his own. He would come there once or twice in a couple of months to deliver the chocolates. He would get them shipped all the way to the city and then we would hire a truck and go on about delivering the chocolates. I accompanied him to most of the deliveries. It all seemed pretty normal," Cole said and looked at me. I nodded to assure him that I was listening.

"Until one day, my eight-year-old cousin got his hands on the chocolates. He sneaked into Alex's room and took some chocolates from the cartons. Later at night, we found him unconscious in his room. We rushed him to the hospital but he couldn't survive it. The doctors found traces of cocaine through the reports. None of us had any idea about how a child had access to such an illicit substance." said Cole in a sad tone.

"I am sorry about your cousin," I said.

" We found wrappers of crinkies chocolates in his room. I confronted Alex about it, he denied it initially until I threatened to have them tested. He threatened that he had proof of me delivering them for him as well as the drugs being stored at my home. He had pictures and other proofs of it so I could not do anything about it. He used me and I never even thought that he would be a part of something like that. The drug business is run under the pretext of chocolates. The normal chocolates are supplied to regular stores while the ones with cocaine are supplied through drug peddlers."

I attentively listened to whatever Cole said but I wasn't convinced that all of it is true. Cole didn't have a reason to lie but I couldn't get myself to believe it.

"You should stay away from him and his family Angel, "warned Cole.

"I need to think about it," I mumbled.

"Think? Is this not enough for you?"Cole fumed.

"It is not what you think Cole. I do want to believe you but don't forget that my father too was a part of the Crinkies Chocolate business and I can never believe that he would be a part of something like that." I explained.

Cole looked at me in disbelief.

"Your father died years ago, there might be no relation of him to all this or even if there was how would you know you were a too young back then," exclaimed Cole.

"What? Did you just mean to say that my father might have been into this drug shit?"

"You wouldn't know! And it doesn't matter! What matters is you need to stay the hell away from this for your own good!"

I wish I could just stab Cole with something right now. How could it not matter to me?

"You know what? I think you should drop me back to the university or somewhere near to Huntsville," I said.

"I am not dropping you anywhere, especially not near that drug manufacturing factory!"

I grabbed Cole by his face," You got me here, you are supposed to drop me back!"

I hurried towards the car. Cole too started following me after a few moments.

He attempted to convince me all along the way while we were driving back to the university as he didn't agree to drop me near Huntsville. He wanted me to reconsider my decision by giving a thought over it at the university.

Tired of arguing with him for almost around an hour, I asked him to shut up.

"Get out of my car and do whatever the hell you want. Don't ever talk to me again!" he fumed.

"Nor am I interested to talk to you ever again," I said in an annoyed tone and stepped out of his car.

He drove away in a jiffy. I was still at a 20 minutes walking distance from the university. I decided to wait at a nearby cafeteria until Jessica was done with her lectures. It would not be wise of me to go back to the university after what I had done to Mr.Grey's car.

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are doing great. I have finally cleared my ambassador training as well as I am on a long summer break. You could expect more frequent updates for the next two months!

Do let me know what you think about the chapter.

Please vote and comment to let me know if you enjoyed it! :)

Love,
Serene <3