Chapter 34

**CHAPTER 34**

**She sighed.** She remembered what Rebecca last said to her: "Just remember that you can always tell them any time before it's too late."

'Should I? No. I shouldn't. It was my fault for being irresponsible. The world will look down on me if I...'

Her stomach growled once again, taking her away from her reverie.

'I hope there's food in the fridge,' she thought before striding to the door and opening it meticulously. She took a peek outside to see if there was any person outside, and much to her relief, there wasn't a single sign of anyone's presence.

Silently, she began to step her foot outside the barrier between the room and the hall. The antechamber was completely dark and cold that rendered her to shiver. The cotton shorts and sleeveless that she was wearing weren't enough to make her feel warm. She embraced herself and caressed her arm. 'What a chilly night,' she thought.

She tried to remember where the kitchen was as she walked through the halls. She may be smart, but she wasn't that smart to have a retentive memory, and she didn't have a good sense of directions. She did find the kitchen once, but she couldn't remember which way she took to reach there. She was in the middle of recollecting the directions she took when she heard a series of grunts. In an instant, her head turned to look in the direction where the sound originated. It sounded weird and eerie. She heard the grunts once again and realized it was from the door on her left.

She stared at the door as the grunts were getting louder and louder, making her eyebrows meet in confusion. The groans sounded familiar and angry. It sounded as if someone was frustrated, and he was throwing his frustration by doing something violent.

'Who could that be?' she asked herself with full curiosity.

Driven by curiosity, she carefully laced her fingers around the doorknob and slowly turned it, and applied a diminutive force to push the door open. Little by little, the door unraveled a scene that made Allison's eyes widen in bewilderment and her mouth gape open in awe and surprise.

It was Hades.

The room was a gym, after all. Hades was wearing boxing gloves while throwing strong and hard punches at an enormous punching bag bigger than his size. She observed his movements. How his bulky arms stretched and his muscles flex, his feet moved and danced in rhythm as he gave jabs at the punching bag that kept on swinging back and forth, and of course, his stunning grey eyes that were smoldering with rage as he glared at the punching bag as if it was someone he hated the most.

His whole viewpoint was slightly skewed, which gave her a full exposure to his broad and sweaty body. Allison wasn't a fan of colossal-bodied guys that have toned chests, broad backs, and hard abs, but Hades' body just made her one in an instant. She admits his body was something to drool for. Suddenly, he stopped and turned his head, shocked her, and immediately closed the door out of sheer panic, making it shut with a loud BANG!

Out of instinct, she ran and made her way to the staircase while praying and hoping that he didn't see her. That was not very pleasant! If he did see her, she swore, she'd bury herself alive. She didn't intend to pry; her curiosity only drew her. And curiosity was always deadly. She was running down the staircase, flustering, when a strong body collided against hers. She immediately lost her equilibrium and almost fell on the marbled floor, but someone caught her by the arm. The person pulled her to stand up.

"Mistress! Are you all right? Did you break anything? Shall I call the doctor? What are you doing here this late at night?" it was Richard, the butler.

She looked at Richard as if he was an alien from outer space. Her head and vision were swirling, but she could see him vividly. He was still the same, she observed. His salt and pepper hair was in a clean-cut, and he stood primly and graceful like a swan on a lake. Her eyes went down to his fair body. For a man close to his golden age and by the looks of his neat, elegant uniform, no one could ever think his body was hard and strong. Well, that's what they think. This man had a silver platter of capabilities. She shook her head a little while her brain calculated her current position, recollecting her equilibrium.

When she was fine, she looked up to face Richard. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine."

The man's nose scrunched and his brows in confusion. "Are you sure you're all right, Mistress?" he asked worriedly and placed his thumb on her wrist to check her pulse. "Your pulse is fast as if you were shocked, and you do look shocked, not to mention your face is red. Are you sick? Would you like us to bring you to the hospital, or shall we call the house doctor instead?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. I'm just... hungry. I don't know where the kitchen is, can you bring me there?" she explained.

"But Mistr..."

"Richard, I'm fine. I was just running down the halls because I was afraid of the dark." that's a lie.

His forehead creased as his thick brows touched each other. "Are you sure?" he asked doubtfully. Even though Allison was the wife of his Master and he was paid to take care of the woman, he cared for her like a father.

She nodded once again. "Yup. So persistent," she rolled her eyes playfully with a smile stretching her face. He reminded her of Mr. Marshall, who was as persistent as him. "Now, can you bring me to the kitchen? I'm ravenous, and I don't have a good sense of directions."