Aliyah reached her apartment and flopped down on the only couch she had. Her place was a one-room apartment with a small kitchen and a sparsely decorated lounge. She was hardly home so she never gave thought of adding decorations since she transferred.
She sighed in the dark. Never did she think that she would be reduced to the position she was in right now. Until now Aliyah couldn't believe that she would encounter a sly general. This was not one of the expectations she had after becoming an enforcer. She thought that she would always fight monsters but now she became a babysitter.
Ever since she was a child, she dreamed of becoming an Enforcer. She was passionate about her chosen profession. She fought tooth and nail for what she had right now and with just a word from some general, she was reduced to a nobody once again. Another sigh came out from her mouth as she leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling.
"That general..." she clenched her fists and shut her eyes. "I won't forget what that general did and I will definitely get my revenge."
The next morning, Aliyah was looking at herself in the only full-length mirror inside her room. She tied her hair up and sighed once again before she reluctantly left for the general's manor only to find a smiling Aizel. She couldn't help but grit her teeth and calm herself with encouraging words on her mind. She was really doing a good job in holding herself back from punching and cursing her charge.
"Is there something wrong?" Aizel asked when he saw Aliyah's contorted face. He was hoping that today would be different so he decided to give the woman a smile and greet her warmly but it might not have been effective.
Aliyah took a deep breath before she answered. "Nothing," she shrugged and entered the manor like she owned it. It was early in the morning but she felt like going home.
Aizel followed inside and stood behind Aliyah. She was annoyed at the actions of the man. Yesterday he was as docile as a cat and now he was acting like a puppy. "Will you please stop standing behind me?" Aizel immediately stood beside Aliyah and looked at her with his smiling face. "Stop smiling and do what you should do today and stop bothering me."
He sensed that the woman was not happy about him being there so he reluctantly agreed to the woman's words. "Okay," Aizel slowly nodded. He gave the woman one last look before he turned around and left. He did not want to irritate her any further so even with his heavy heart he went to the garden and waved through all the plants until he came to a stop in front of a greenhouse.
His only consolation was that Aliyah couldn't leave his side because of her job. He turned around and looked at Aliyah, "Do you want to come in?" He tilted his head slightly to the side as he tried to act cute because according to a book all women like men who were acting cute.
Aliyah literally cringed at what she saw and all she wanted to do right now was just to turn around and leave. She couldn't really take a look at the general's son's actions. She was now genuinely confused. He was clearly acting like a child right now.
"Is this a joke?" She asked in an irritated voice. "Stop acting all cute, it doesn't suit a grown-up man like you."
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Aizel couldn't help but frown at Aliyah's words so he stopped smiling and turned around to walk inside the greenhouse without even sparing a glance at his bodyguard. All he wanted was to become closer with Aliyah so he was making himself more approachable but he didn't expect to be reprimanded. He even tried smiling a few times in front of a mirror but it was all for naught.
Looking at the person who entered the greenhouse without a word, Aliyah became exasperated. Just now she had the illusion that Aizel was a child who was sulking because he was denied of what he wanted. Now, the notion of him being a spoiled brat festered at her mind.
She followed inside and was surprised to see that the greenhouse was actually like a mini forest. It was actually wrong to just call it a greenhouse, it would be more appropriate to call it a conservatory because at the center of the forest was a sitting area with four gray couches, a glass coffee table situated in the middle and there were two long bookshelves enclosing half of the area. Beside the sitting area was a small pond with scattered lotus flowers, there were also some water lilies that were in full bloom and some water hyacinths, irises, and hawthorns.
It was a very colorful view of greens, whites, blues, and purples. It was actually very pleasing to the eye and the environment was very relaxing. Aliyah chose to sit down on the couch nearest to the pond but farthest from where Aizel was sitting. Because of her circumstances, it had been difficult for her to even have a simple walk in the park and appreciate nature. That was why she was a bit happy to be in that kind of place.
'At least there was a consolation to staying beside the general's son,' she silently thought to herself.
He was silent for a long time but his eyes kept on darting to where Aliyah was. This action did not escape the woman's eyes though but she chose to ignore it. She was very clear of her own role, that is to protect the brat, even though he was older than her. It doesn't state that she was required to talk to her charge or be his conversation buddy so she also kept silent. She would rather appreciate the scenery around her than to pay attention to the man.
Aizel was at a loss because he didn't know how to approach Aliyah or even start a conversation with her. He was also clueless as to what he did that made Aliyah annoyed with him. Now, he became even more reluctant and apprehensive to talk to her. He was losing all his self-confidence and the courage he just found. All he could do was to let out a sigh of disappointment and to remain silent. He predicted that at the end of the day, no progress would happen.
A week has passed since Aliyah started acting as a bodyguard and during that whole time, she never paid much attention to Aizel. She continued to treat him like he didn't exist and just did her work diligently. She was just counting the days when this torment would end so that she could be freed and return to her normal life.
The moment Aliyah stepped inside the manor, an overly enthusiastic Aizel met her. She could practically feel the excited energy bubbling from the man. She was now used to this childish Aizel, because for an unknown reason, Aizel remained like a child for the past few days. She didn't know what he was planning so she remained unmoved by his actions.
"Let's visit the city, I'm particularly happy today so let's go." He suddenly announced and strode out of the door without waiting for Aliyah so the woman had no other choice but to follow him. It would also be refreshing to get out of that place once in a while.
They parked in one of the underground parking lots available in the city. They first visited the mall where Aizel excitedly ran off to any store that he took a fancy to. He would buy so many things and give it to the other bodyguards who were with him. He was like a whirlwind sweeping anything that caught his eyes.
"Is your young master always this enthusiastic?" Aliyah couldn't help but ask the bodyguard near her. This was the first time that she was seeing this side of Aizel which she didn't know he had in the first place.
"Not always, most of the time he would just stay inside the manor's library all day," the bodyguard answered. She returned her gaze to the man and stood there silently together with the other bodyguards.
Not long after that, she heard a very familiar voice that called out to her. "Aliyah, is that you?" She looked back and saw Loki with another enforcer walking towards them. Aliyah grimaced because of all the people they would be running into, Loki was the least she wanted to see.
"Yes, is there any other Aliyah in here right now?" She asked with a glare that says if he ever talked about something unnecessary, she would kill him.
"I never thought to see you in this kind of place, are you buying clothes? And by the way, why didn't I see you for the past week? The chief only said that you were assigned to a different mission..." He shoots out without stopping for a second and Aliyah's eyelids twitch at this chatterbox.