DARKSIDE

11 | The Scar

"Derek, but what about my luggage and stuff?" Nova asked him when they both entered the penthouse.

"It will be here by tomorrow," he said and Nova could only stare at him.

How was this going to work? Nova couldn't help but wonder.

So, she stood there, waiting for some sort of command or something so that she would know what to do next, how to proceed on with this new living arrangement.

Nova knew that she had to tell her parents, and she had to tell them fast because if this was the speed Derek was going to keep this at, then she had to manage with it.

"Well, then, you can't be standing there for the rest of your life, now can you? " Nova looked up from her feet getting out of her thoughts, startled.

"I — What?"

"Come on in, your room is that way," he gestured taking off his coat which he'd looked rather good in tonight, she recalled.

"Yeah, right, I just, I'll be going in a minute," she said but still remained rooted to her spot for some reason.

But when Derek started undoing his tie and shook his neck while doing it, the scar came in direct light above his head. And Nova stood staring at it, admiring it, admiring him.

She dropped her bag almost unconsciously but stood there staring.

He noticed her of course, but Nova didn't back down this time, as if she was in some kind of trance.

And she knew she was in a trance when she advanced towards the male in front of her. As if she weren't in her own head and as if she'd changed bodies with someone who wasn't her. She kept on moving in his direction.

He tensed visibly, his jaws clenching slightly and brows furrowed and that guarded expression back at his face. But none of it was stopping Nova that day, she wanted some answers, answers about him, about her fiance.

She stopped right in front of him, her eyes dancing over every gorgeous feature of his, but never staying for long over his eyes. Those pools of blue were staring right at her too, and the intensity was something Nova could never force herself to bare.

Stopping at his scar again, she lifted her hand and almost immediately Derek's sharp intake of breath could be practically heard in the silent penthouse.

She stopped her hand midair for a few seconds but when Derek's eyes found hers after examining her hand for that while, she took another step closer. When their bodies were almost brushing each others, she journeyed her hand towards his cheek again and this time only stopped when it made contact with his skin.

His skin was warm against her rather cold hand, and he did not seem to like such invasion in his private space. But since Nova wasn't her in that moment, she didn't care. All she did was tilt her head and his head along with her hand and leaned in closer, to look at the scar from a closer distance.

Derek didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit and that was very evident with the way he forced his face back to facing her, taking her hand in his and dropping it at her side. His brows now we're even more knitted than before, jaw clenched tighter and before and it almost seemed like he couldn't breath and he couldn't get enough breath both at the same time.

"What," he let out breathily, closing his eyes then opening them again to continue, "do you think you're doing, Ms. Newton?" he asked, his eyes holding the same guarded glint.

"The scar," she said, only to have the male beside her turn into a statue.

"It's...Your face...You're — "