The Mysterious Alpha

Chapter 5: Fight or Flight

❤ Isabella’s POV ❤

I could hear my heart beating as I walked toward the truck. The mysterious man had his head down, and I didn't even know what he was looking at. When I was only a few steps away from him, he lifted his head and looked at me before saying, "Hi."

His voice was so deep and made him more attractive. I stopped walking and didn't say anything. After a few seconds, I mustered the courage to say, "Uhm, hi."

Nikolas: "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new?"

Isabella: "Uhm, yes."

Nikolas smiled and said, "Are you able to form full sentences?"

I gasped and tried to think of something witty to say, but all I could think of was "Yes."

Seeing Nikolas smiling made me blush, and I lowered my head to hide my face. I didn't hear him say anything else. When I was confident that my face had returned to its normal color, I lifted my head and was about to ask Nikolas to move away from the truck.

I almost fell when I saw Nikolas walk closer to me and say "See you around."

He winked before walking away from me. I stood still where I was. My heart kept beating fast as I got a whiff of Nikolas' beautiful scent. I don't know what it was, but he just smelled delicious for some reason.

I shook off the feeling and immediately got on the truck. I put my hand on top of my chest and waited for my heartbeat to slow down. Once it had, I started the truck and made my way home.

I can't stop thinking of Nikolas, and why he affects me this way. Is it because he's good-looking? I'll admit he's gorgeous, but I've never been into looks alone.

I consider myself pretty popular in my former school, and I've been asked out by the captain of the basketball team, and a few other popular guys in school. They're all pretty good-looking, but I never went out with any of them just because they were airheads who were too much into their looks, and they only target pretty and popular girls to be a part of their collection. This is why I am surprised that I am drawn to Nikolas for some reason.

I got home not long after and my mom helped me unload the paint cans and supplies from the truck, while my sister started ravaging the muffins I brought home.

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I decided not to eat a muffin until later. I figured I could use it to reward myself. I turned my laptop on and opened the instructional video on how to paint a concrete wall. I don't have a lot of stuff in my room, so there wasn't much for me to move. I then cleaned the walls, and put down sheets of newspaper on the floor. The video said it's best to lay something on the floor near the walls just so paint won't get on the floor.

I found ten holes that needed spackling, and I did that first. Afterward, I started applying paint to the edges of the walls. It took me a few tries to finally get just the right amount of paint on the brush so that it wouldn't drip. I finished painting an entire wall in about 45 minutes. I smiled as I looked at what I'd done. I felt proud of myself, and I took a picture of the finished wall, then sent it to Arwind. I added a message that said, "See, I told you I could do it myself."

Arwind added a clapping emoji and a message saying "That's awesome! Great job."

I put my phone down and decided to take a break. I washed my hands and checked on my sister before going downstairs to eat a chocolate muffin and drink some water.

I resumed painting afterward, and by the end of the day, I was done painting my room. I was only able to paint the walls because the ceiling was too high for me to reach. When Angelica saw my room, she said "Wow. Your room looks amazing."

Isabella: "It does, doesn't it? We're painting your room tomorrow."

Angelica: "Really? Thanks!"

I cleaned up not long after and got a quick shower. Arwind included some paint thinner which he said could get paint off, so I used it to clean the paint off my hands. When I was done cleaning my room and myself, I went to the kitchen with Angelica to prepare dinner.

My mom doesn't come home from work for another three hours, so I have been preparing dinner for us. She didn't ask me, but I knew that my mom would be tired when she got home, so I took over the task. As usual, YouTube has been my companion for cooking. I've learned to cook simple dishes, and I plan to cook more complicated ones as the days pass by.

I was done cooking in less than an hour, and I prepared the table for me and Angelica. As much as I wanted to eat with my mom, she came home past Angelica's bedtime. Therefore, we usually ate ahead of her. Sometimes, I would just sit with Angelica at the table as she ate, so I could eat dinner with my mom.

When my mom arrived that night, I showed him my painted room, and she cried when she saw it.

Isabella: "What's wrong, mom? Why are you crying?"

Erlinda: "It's so beautiful honey. You did a good job, honey. I can't believe you did this all by yourself. I'm so proud of you."

Isabella: "Thanks, mom. As it turns out, I'm very good at following instructions."

My mom hugged me and she headed to her room to change, while I went downstairs to heat up the food and set the table. When my mom found me, she said "I could have done that myself. You should be resting. You must have tired from all that painting."

Isabella: "I'm fine, mom. I made chicken pochero today. I hope you like it."

Erlinda: "How did you learn to make chicken pochero?"

Isabella: "YouTube. I plan to learn how to cook beef kare kare next week."

Erlinda: "Wow. Pretty ambitious, aren't we?"

Isabella: "Well, if I'm going to dream, I might as well dream big."

My mom smiled and stroked my head before saying "I'm sorry you have to learn to do these things."

Isabella: "Don't worry about it, mom. I'm enjoying it."

Erlinda: "Thank you, honey. You've been a great help to me."

Isabella: "Don't mention it, mom. Like I said, I enjoy learning new things. It would be great when I go to college and start living on my own."

Erlinda: "Oh my God, don't even remind me. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

I chuckled and said "Don't worry mom. It's not going to be for another four years. Besides, we could all move to where I'd be going to college. You don't really plan to stay in this small town forever, do you?"

My mom just smiled and didn't say anything. She started eating not long after. I bid her goodnight and headed upstairs. I brushed my teeth and washed my face before changing into sleeping clothes.

I sat in bed and turned my laptop back on. I started reading some news and had a video call with one of my friends from my previous call for a few minutes. When we were done, I was about to shut the laptop down when Nikolas Guerrero's face flashed in my head.

I went to Google and searched for his name. None of the results yielded the Nikolas that I was looking for.

I estimate Nikolas to be a few years older than me, and I've never met anyone around my age who doesn't have a social media account. He doesn't seem to be the weird type, who's a shut-in, that he wouldn't want to share pictures or life events. The first time I saw him, he was with friends. I've also seen him holding a mobile phone. What else would he use it for, if not for social media?

When I still couldn't find anything related to Nikolas, I searched for the town of Guerrero.

There weren't a lot of entries, and those that I found sounded more like fiction than fact. There was an article about the history of Guerrero. It is said that the town was founded by the Guerrero clan and that they continue to inhabit and lead the town. It seems that they've all stayed in town, and have found wealth in the oil and gas industry. It doesn't say much about the members of the clan though, so I'm not sure if they're even referring to Nikolas' family.

If the Guerreros are so wealthy, where are they living? The town is pretty small and I would have seen big houses easily.

I wonder if the town is actually bigger than is visible to us. I made a plan to ask Arwind about it the next time I see him.