章節 3: Kidnapped Again

Lina saw his future play out before her. A woman was sobbing in front of an empty altar, hugging her shoulders as she screamed.

"Anyone but him!" She sobbed out, "Anyone but him…"

Lina rapidly blinked, her heart racing when the woman's head turned around. Lina cried out in shock.

The woman… The woman in white was Lina!

But before Lina could register what was going on, the woman rose from the ground, revealing the blood-stained wedding gown. The bride was running towards Lina, but never got to her. With each step the bride took, the ground crumbled and fell, until Lina was standing in pure darkness.

Lina was frightened and frantic. She quickly looked around her surroundings and saw nothing, but heard everything.

"…I don't know her…"

"That's definitely one way to sweep a woman off her feet, Boss…"

Lina groaned as the world became more sharp and she was back in reality. This was the first time she had seen someone's future so dark and dangerous.

Lina made up her mind to stay away from this man. Except, when she opened her eyes, a face popped into her peripheral vision.

"Miss, you're awake!"

Lina screamed.

He screamed.

The entire car was filled with screams. Lina sat upright, knocking her head against the other stranger's forehead, causing him to howl in pain.

"Miss, your gigantic forehead should be called a five-head!" The victim groaned.

"Who are you?" Lina looked around her surroundings, realizing she was in a car. Fuck. She was being kidnapped, wasn't she?

"I'm poor," Lina suddenly blurted out, grabbing her white canvas bag from the seat and emptying it to show there was nothing inside except a book, gum, and spare change.

"If you're going to kidnap me for ransom, I have nothing on me but a single gum and thirteen cents!" Lina confessed.

Lina's heart was racing loudly in her ears. She knew she always fainted when seeing someone's future, but she expected to wake up on the museum floor, not some man's car!

"What prospects do you have to be kidnapped for?" An irritated voice asked from the other side of the car.

Lina stared at him in disbelief. They were sitting in a limousine, with someone beside her, and someone across from her.

Lina ignored the way his muscles bulged in his black button-up, or the way his cruel eyes crinkled towards her. She ignored how familiar his gaze felt on her skin that burned in reaction to his attention.

"Then what are you going to do to me?" Lina asked, averting her eyes, but somehow, found herself looking at him again.

Her heart skipped, butterflies fluttering in her stomach when he examined her face. His eyes were bleak, like an empty night where stars were too frightened to shine.

"Depends," he said, his thumb rubbing across his shiny watch. "Do you want me to do anything to you?"

Lina stared at his hands. Masculine, muscular, and large.

Lina should've known her fate was entangled with his the second she saw his future. She was present in his future. But how? And why?

"I want you to let me go…" Lina trailed off. "I am a nobody, Mister, please—"

"Mister?" He sharply said, offended by how she addressed him, like someone in their late forties.

"Pft," the man beside her suppressed a laugh.

Noticing the darkened glare and drop in temperature, the man forced out a cough. "I must be getting sick," he grumbled.

"Only idiots get sick in summer," Lina mumbled, earning her a glower from both of them.

Lina pressed her knees together and looked away, regretting making the joke. She couldn't help it.

Now, she was probably going to die in some forest in the middle of nowhere. And no one would be able to find her body, where her meat would be pecked by vultures and she'll be a lonely spirit wandering the world and—

"No one is going to sell you off, little dove," he grunted.

"It's Lina," she mumbled, grateful that he pulled her out of her anxiety-ridden scenario.

"Just Lina?" he demanded.

"Just Lina," she deadpanned.

"…"

Silence engulfed the car ride.

Lina wondered why he didn't ask any questions about her fainting. Normal people would ask if she was alright, but then again, normal people wouldn't shove her into a limousine and drive to god-knows-where.

"Mister, where are we going—"

"Kaden," he grunted.

"What?"

"It's Kaden, not Mister."

So it really was him.

Lina's chest felt heavy like she had just experienced the worst heartbreak in history. Her eyes watered, finally realizing why he was so familiar. She had met him before, a long, long time ago.

"If you're going to cry, don't." Kaden's eyes narrowed on her watery ones.

"But Boss, it shouldn't be a surprise. Women generally cry when they hear your name…"

His glare hardened. She really was going to cry. Was his name so painful to hear that it provoked tears?

His secretary rambled on. "Of course, it's generally in bed when they cry out your name and—"

"Sebastian," Kaden snapped.

Sebastian instantly shut his mouth. He was just trying to lighten the mood. His Boss only had to open his mouth, and all the joy would be sucked from the world.

"Are you taking me home?" Lina asked.

"Would a stranger know where your home is?" Kaden returned.

Lina gripped her dress tighter, and his brooding stare flickered to her hands. She grew warm from his intense gaze.

"Then where are we going?" Lina said.

"Home."

"But you just said you didn't know where I lived."

"My home."

"Oh." Lina blinked. "Oh okay."

Then, she jolted. "R-really…?"

"No."

Lina blinked.

Kaden grunted.

Kaden crossed his legs and continued looking out the window. In all his years of mortality, he had never met someone who recognized him. At least, not in the way she did.

Kaden was beginning to have deja vu of his first life, the most unpleasant one.

"You asked if I had anything worthy to be kidnapped over, and now, you're going to kidnap me again?" Lina asked, but instantly regretted what she said.

"Again?" Kaden echoed, his head snapping towards her. Did she really remember?

Lina swallowed. So maybe she shouldn't have said that…