Breathe.

Chapter 19

Vixen continued to sketch the woman in front of her, as Vixen signed the portrait and received the cash that was handed to her, she spared a glance at the shadow in the corner of her eye, Zaiden stood there staring at her with a dumbfounded look on his face, Vixen smiled at her customer and gave her change and waving to her as she left,

"I'm glad you made it, but i think you look dumb with your face like that,"

Zaiden smiled at Vixen with a slightly pink face, he walked up to her, and scanned over her printed artworks in multiple sizes, he glanced up at her, catching the look on her face, Vixen had a small smile on her face, the blue strand still hanging down, Zaiden hadn't realized his hand was moving until he gently tucked the blue strand behind her ear, Vixen's eyes widened as she look up at him, his hand hovering in the space between them, Zaiden smiled and gently retracting his hand, he backed up and held up a postcard with her art printed on the back,

"This is beautiful,  i'll buy this print,"

Vixen smiled, his face was full red all the way to the tips of his ears, Vixen took the money and handed the packaged postcard,

"Thank you for your purchase!"

Vixen smiled widely, Zaiden felt his heart stop, while Vixen felt hers speed up, both red faced, the two were shocked when they heard someone clear their throat, the pair turned to source of the noise,

"Mr. Randall! what a pleasure! didn't see you standing there sir,"

A middle aged man with black hair slicked back stood with a casual shirt, his sleeves rolled up, wearing a pair of brown pants and brown dress shoes, he held a friendly smile as he walked up to Vixen and pushed himself through the gap between Zaiden and Vixen, he stood directly in front of her, he smiled widely and spoke, his voice dripping with honey.

"Ms. Hayes, I see you are making a quite amount of sales. will I be seeing you at the event tonight?"

Vixen smiled nervously, as she played with her fingers, twisting them back and forth and she spoke, her voice slightly nervous, 

"Unfortunately Mr. Randall I have plans tonight with my friends, I hope that's okay."

Mr. Randall's face fell, but he immediately forced a smile,

"Oh that's sad, I wanted to finally introduce you to the most important people in the company, it would have taken your career to new heights,"

Vixen smiled apologetically, 

"I do apologize Mr. Randall but maybe another time?"

"Well I suppose in that case you can come for dinner with my family, my son has been waiting to meet you, he sees you as a role model, he is an aspiring artist himself,"  

Vixen's eyes widened for a moment, 

'Oh jeez he really went for that offer,'

"I-I suppose that's alright, I wouldn't mind that, do let me know the details Mr. Randall,"

"Definitely Ms.Hayes, I'll keep in touch,"

Zaiden felt uneasy about his assertive request, his face held a grimace for the majority of the conversation, as the man walked passed Zaiden he slammed his shoulder against his and walked away with brisk steps. Zaiden turned back to Vixen with an annoyed face, 

"Hey, why did you agree to his request? he was kind of rude," 

"I can't really say no to him, he pulled me through my struggle when my mom died, he got me the job and gave me the opportunity to get my art this far,"

Zaiden's uneasiness slowly increased, but he didn't say anymore, Vixen smiled hoping to relax her friend's uneasy expression, but he held it in place. Vixen sighed in defeat and walked out from behind the table, she took a hold of his hand and she felt him tense up but slowly relaxed.

"Hey, how about we go find the other two and grab some lunch,"   

Zaiden sighed and agreed to her request, he reluctantly dropped her hand and started walking towards the crowds. Vixen walked behind him and started scanning the crowd for Damien and Natasha, Vixen felt a hand graze her waist,

'Cold'

Her eyes widened as she spun around to see who it was, but she was met with a crowd of people not paying attention to anything going on around them, her heart thrumming against her rib cage, her eyes swiftly scanning the crowd, she felt a pair of hands rest gently on her shoulders, she whipped around and was me with concerned eyes, her eyes were slowly filling with tears. 

"Vixen? hey what's wrong?," 

Zaiden, placed a hand on her face swiping the stray tears that fell,

"I-I... I felt someone grab m-me and I-I don't know w-who and I-I,"

Vixen's eyes became blurry as she felt herself be lead outside, 

Zaiden took Vixen's hand gently and led her outside of the library, he took her to the lobby and sat her down on a flight of stairs leading to a second floor, Zaiden sat beside her, still holding her hand and gently rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand, Vixen immediately put her head in her hands, calming her breathing as Zaiden rubbed her back, Vixen felt her mind clearing from the loud buzzing that usually follows her attacks, 

The pair heard a set of footsteps heading in their direction, Damien and Natasha walked towards them with concerned faces, 

"What happened? are you guys okay?"

Natasha immediately crouched in front of Vixen who still had her heads in her hands and breathing deeply, Natasha reached out and grabbed her arm in as a way of comfort, Damien kneeled down in front of Vixen, and gently rubbed her arm, 

"We were looking for you guys and while we were walking around someone grabbed her waist and she freaked out,"  

"WHAT!? did you find out who?"

Vixen shook her head and looked at the group, her head clear and her breathing stable, 

"I don't know who it was, it wasn't an accident, who ever it was intentionally grabbed me, but it felt Familiar in a way, and that's what made me lose my shit,"

"How does it feel familiar? that's impossible vixie,"

"Damien, I-it felt like Jeremiah, that sounds crazy when I say it out loud though,"

The shock on Natasha's and Damien's faces left Zaiden confused, but he dismissed it,

"You know what? let's just forget that, and instead decide where we should go for lunch."

 As the group were talking Zaiden noticed a man standing by the door, his red hoodie made him stand out, but as soon as Zaiden looked up at the stranger, he turned and walked away, 

'That's strange, I wonder how long he was there? and who was he looking at?'