Hellbound Heart

Elle's mouth hung open in disbelief. His words and that look in his eyes only made her feel dizzy, making her unable to think. Seriously… what was wrong with him? Why was he… acting like this? No one was watching them anymore. He did not need to look at her as though they were deeply in love with each other anymore. What was he trying to achieve by saying and doing things like that?

She had spent three whole days without him and came out of it just fine. She had already managed to get him off her head with much effort and was able to focus on the work that she needed to get done. Her life without him had been pretty good, carefree even. But now that he was here, so close to her, looking at her with those compelling metallic grey eyes… as if he was holding back from pinning her against the car. As if… if she had not known better, she would even think that he was looking as though he wanted to kiss her right now.

And she did not like it one bit. She did not like that how he easily create such chaos within her because it only made it harder for her to hold her ground. Was he trying to set her on fire and then pour a flood of ice water on her afterwards again?

Biting the insides of her lip, Elle swallowed as subtly as she could. She could not let him see her nervousness. She would not let that happen. She would not allow herself to be that silly to make the same mistake twice.

Tipping her chin up a little at him, Elle replied in an unfeeling tone. "And what will you do if you don't manage to catch me? What will be your punishment?" she raised a brow in defiance. With her speed, and if she uses the elevator, there was no way he would be able to catch up to her. Unless he was playing with her right now or he was planning to cheat and will in fact, follow right after her just a few moments after she runs off. But even if he comes after her immediately, provided she takes the elevator, there was still no way he could catch her.

He held her gaze. The distracting storm in his grey eyes did not subside at all despite her acting cold to counter the hot and heavy atmosphere he was creating.

"Punishment…" he half bite on his lip and it was too late before Elle could even stop herself from staring at his lips. "Don't you know how dangerous that word is, huh? Izabelle?"

"You're… dodging the question again, Sebastian." She managed to retort, not allowing his words to distract her from her question.

He smiled. She really hated how that deadly smile and that damned dimple kept showing up at times like this. Times when she really needed to stand firm. They are literally his cheat sheet!

"I will sleep on the couch tonight." Came his response, causing Elle to widen her eyes. H-him? This man will sleep on the couch?! No way, right?

As if he had read the doubts in her mind, he removed the heavy long coat draped on her back and said, "Take the elevator. I'll take the stairs. Will that be enough to erase your doubt?"

Elle's lips fall open. This… little… big devil… he must be thinking that she was lying about her running speed, right? The thought that he must be comparing her pace with a turtle's had her fighting spirit surging within her. Fine. She was ready to go! She would show him what happens when he underestimates her too much.

"Alright." Elle looked at him with a challenging gaze. "I will believe that you'd be a man of your word for this, Prince Sebastian." She made this disclaimer as a precaution so that he would not back out on his words.

A short breathy laugh escaped his lips after hearing her say that. He knew she was reiterating that just so he could not back out of it. Then he finally leaned away from her, releasing her from the iron jail of his which were his two arms. He propped himself back against the body of the car and lit up a cigarette.

"Rest assured, Izabelle." He said reassuringly as white smoke came out of his lips. "This husband of yours will be a man of his word tonight. You can trust in that."

Elle felt her heartbeat skipped a beat at him referring to himself using the word 'husband'. But she stared hard at him before she kicked off her heels one after another without averting her gaze from his.

Sebastian's hand halted midair as he watched her slip out of her heels. The corner of his eyes twitched a little and just as he was about to say something, Elle sped away from him without any warning.

His lips were parted as he watched her quickly disappearing from his eyes. He did not move for a moment as if something so unbelievable had just caught him off guard.

A low chuckle echoed in the silence as Sebastian ran his gloved fingers through his hair. He looked so amused he even bent over in his attempt to control his laughter. His shoulders were shaking a little as he did that.

But after a while, he took a deep breath and when he lifted his face again, something wicked shone in his metallic eyes.

"Run… faster Izabelle…" he murmured as he drew hard on his cigarette, looking up at the direction of their room.

Pushing away from the car, Sebastian killed his cigarette between his fingers, not bothered about the sting, and with a thrilled and wicked smile, he sauntered towards the entrance. "Forgive me though… because this devil will never let you win. Not tonight my dear." Perhaps, not ever… that swift thought came and left as well.

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