Guys, look who's back! Yeah, yeah, I know that I deserve loads of hate because it's been decades since I last posted. I was hell lot of busy people. Studies are getting tough and my parents want best result. But, I'm back and there is going to be an actual chapter. So don't hate me and I'm going to present you a new year gift! ^.^

Chapter Six

"O.M.G!"

A smile rolled out on my lips, as the consciousness hit me and brought my out of my dream world. Throwing my blankets away, I jumped out of the bed and dashed toward the bathroom. I quickly took shower, pulled onto jeans and a mustard top, wore my ankle boots, took my hand bag and dashed out in the living was Brandon''s birthday and we, Stella and I, had decided to go buy some gifts for him as the boys had taken up all the duties for his surprise birthday party and we were free. Musa, Bloom, Tecna and Aisha were all doing God knows what and had refused to go out with us.

As my feet took me into the living room, a heavy tapping of foot caught hold of my attention. My eyes almost shot out of my sockets as soon as my eyes registered that who was standing opposite to me. Unconsciously, my lower jaw dropped open and my one hand reached up to my chest. It was Stella Jane Solaria standing in the doorway of our apartment with a scowl splashed across her beautiful face.

"Woah!" Wonder filled voice escaped out my throat, as a surprise look appeared on my face. It was Stella. A girl who is infamous for never getting ready on time.

"Really, Flo? It's already 9. I've been waiting for you since one hour. What the hell where you up to?"And a girl who hates to wake up early in the morning. Stella was glaring at me but I was just staring at her. I was awestruck. It was unbelievable. Stella must love my brother too much, even more than her sleep because Stella getting up before 10 was like staying the whole winters in a towel.

I felt my face turning to right with a jerk and then a wave of pain surged through my cheek. Immediately, I came back to the living world and perceived that I've been slapped by Stella. She was looking at me with fire in her eyes. "Idiot, we are getting late."

My mind was still processing Stella and the slap, and my hand was still resting on my face, when Stella took my by arm and darted out of the apartment. Stella was all hyped up today.

"Should we take the car, Flo?" Stella questioned, when the lift opened and we started walking out of it.

"Nah, I think we should walk. The mall is at walking distance." This time I grabbed her arm and pulled her out on the road. Stella shrugged and let me lead her to the mall.

It was Saturday and many people were out in the park. Mostly the local parks were filled with children and old people. Hardly a car could be seen on our way and it was a common scene because we lived in such an area where people preferred to keep the environment clean. People here used the cars to either get to far places or for offices and on weekends the roads usually remained vehicles free.

Suddenly, everything came to a halt. Stella had decided to stop in the middle of the road and I automatically ceased my tread after her. She looked me through the corner of her eyes. There was some kind of alertness in her eyes. It caused me to lean in and whisper to her. "What is going, Stel?"

"We are being followed, have guns. Don't look behind." Stella whispered.

A feeling of horror washed over me and my eyes dilated in fear. My body started shaking in fear and the quiver raised up to my lips. "W-wh..What?" I gulped.

I was scared and I wanted to go back home. I wanted to go to my parents, Brandon and Helia. Right now, I chided myself for not coming out with the work. It was so stupid of me. And it was so stupid of Stella. She never asked me before. Why had she chosen this day to ask me whether we should take the car or not? I could see Stella lamenting over the fact as well, but she was so much more courageous than me. I was a downright coward fellow.

She tilted her head to my side, looked into my eyes and silently mouthed. "1.2.3. Run!"

Stella and I, hand in hand and with blown away minds, hastened out on the deserted road where there was no such place to take refuge in near by. We were far away from our home and we had no place to hide in and get away from those dangerous people. They were behind us. I could hear their heavy footsteps. Their every step filled me further with terror. My hands were sweating, heart was pounding and body was aching. My throat was choking with tears and some of them were leaking out of my eyes.

Even without looking at Stella, I knew she was in the same condition. We were both gasping for air and our feet were hurting from all the running, but we had to carry this on for the sake of our lives. They were gaining on us. They were just behind us. I could sense their loud tired breaths. Their gasps for air. But, they were running behind for the sake of their duty. They weren't going to stop until they catch us and I knew that it was going to be soon because we were losing it. We were failing to hold our senses and it was not far when we were also going to bid farewell to this world because Stella had dropped down on her knees and I was mirroring her situation.

Stella and I were looking at each other. Similar thought ran through our minds. A slight smile pulled itself up on Stella's lips as the footsteps ceased behind us and that was the last thing that I remembered before the men behind us covered our faces with clothes and I felt myself letting go on the hold of senses and getting into a world of mere darkness.

The veil of unconsciousness, which was previously concealing my body, now lifted off and the darkness around started to fade away. Slowly the parts of my body began sensing the cold environment around them. My hearing was the first one to return and then everything that I had experienced before passing out came back as a flash of lightening to me.

"Brandon, it is almost evening time and she is not up yet! What the hell did you put on that cloth?" A screeching voice rang my ear drums and I felt a pounding headache upsurging. It was like a deadly hangover.

My eyes fluttered open after my mind finally decided to recognise the owner of the voice. The focus of sight gradually settled in and I comprehended that I was lying in an alien surrounding. "Helia?" I whispered in a hoarse voice, as my eyes trained on a figure standing a few steps away from me.

His head turned to me with a jerk and he shot his self at me and sat down next to me. "Oh, Thank God!" He said, while engulfing me in a strong hug. "You scared the living day lights out of me."

Breaking out of his hug, I placed my palms on either of his cheek. "Where are we? Where is Stella? How did you save us from the kidnappers? Where are those kidnappers? Am I_" Helia placed a finger against my lips and conveyed silence to me.

"Shush down, Lora," He phrased, as a sheepish look surfaced his countenance. "Let me tell you everything. First, let me take you somewhere." And that made my ajar mouth shut up again.

Helia stood up from beside me and offered his hand to me, which I accepted quietly and let me lead through the unknown place. It occurred to me as a forest because it contained loads of trees, bushes and grasses on the ground. Far off voices of birds could be heard now and then and different kinds of flowers and plants crossed paths with us after every little while. Silence was the third companion accompanying us since Helia had opted to only look in the forward direction and lead me to somewhere about which I had no idea.

The growing anticipation in me had started to produce the by-product of unwanted thoughts in my brain and now my subconscious was attacking me with unnerving question. No matter how much I tried to resist those thoughts, my subconscious came back with more powerful questions. I looked at Helia for the hundredth time but to no avail. He was like ignoring my existence.

'But he's holding my hand,' I reminded myself.

Eventually, Helia terminated his walk and I, lost in my own little bubble, went colliding with his concrete torso. I stumbled back on my steps as Helia took this as a really funny fact and started buckling in laughter. My tensed muscles relaxed a bit and my subconscious was punched square in the face. 'Everything is fine,'I called silently and a feeble smile materialised on my face. Howbeit, it couldn't last. The smile of my face turned upside down simultaneously with Helia's. He now carried a more serious look.

"Lora, do you remember this place?" He addressed me, while his hands moved around.

In a matter of seconds, a grin broke out on my mouth and I began skipping around the place, giggling. How could I forget this place? It was the place where Helia had asked me out to be his girlfriend. I staggered to the rock where he had sat down and pulled me on his lap. Tears rose up in my eyes as my mind worked to bring the beautiful memories to my mind. My eyes wandered to the top of tree where our pictures still hung. Yes, those were still there. We wanted them to stay there and always remind us about us. About the time when we had started to spend our time with each other. I caressed the tree and then remembering that Helia still had to give me an explanation, I spun around on my heel.

But what came next escaped my imagination and I gasped loudly with my hands going all over my mouth. I couldn't believe my eyes. Helia Knightly was getting down on of his knee and taking something out of his pocket.

"Flora Alice Linphea, I don't what to say because I have no words to explain what I feel for you. It is something that escapes the limitations of love and it is something that makes me feel crazy about you. I love everything about you and I love every inch of you. I fall in love with you over and over again and it feels like an intense pain to spend a single moment about you..." He paused to take a deep breath."I want to spend my whole life with you and I promise to love you madly for the rest of my life. So, my Lora, will you marry me?" He finished while I managed to approach him without falling down and passing out.

"I love you more than my life and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So Yes, Helia Knightly, I want you to love me madly for the rest of your life." I managed to vocalize those words before throwing my arms around him.

Throwing the doors open to Brandon's house, I sprinted inside his living room where everyone was gathered around one of the couches, but had turned to look our way when we arrived there.

"Thank God, you guys are here. Stella won't stop crying." Brandon looked quite perplexed and the rest of them didn't look different from him.

Then out of nowhere Stella leapt at me and wrapped her slender arms around me with her head coming to rest on my shoulder. She was sobbing really hard and tears were trickling down her cheeks. I averted my attention to Brandon who looked extremely freaked out. "What have you done, Brother?" I questioned with a stern expression.

Musa rolled her eyes at Stella and patted Brandon's arm sympathetically. "He made the mistake to propose this butthead."

Stella stopped sobbing for a moment and gazed up to throw a dirty look at Musa and then went back to her sobbing. I started laughing really hard and broke myself out of Stella's hug. I strode to Brandon and embraced him in a short hug. "How did you propose her, big brother?"

Everyone else now looked sheepish and it took me only some seconds to conclude that Brandon must have chosen the worst way to propose Stella. I couldn't expect anything different from him.

Stella started speaking again, and this time there were no tears but blazing fire in her eyes. I was literally scared, actually. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me tell you, Flora. Your brother is the worst the person ever. You know how he proposed me? Brandon f**king fainted me then he f**king kidnapped me. When I woke up, you know where I was? Tied to a f**king tree!_"

Everybody, including me, started laughing at the moment but quietened down when Stella awarded us with a nasty expression. Her attention was mainly on Brandon, who was sulking down with humiliation. He deserved it. How could he do that to her?. Stella then continued her story, all the while looking at Brandon. "Flora, your brother didn't even wait for me to come back to my senses and shoved the ring my face...Flora, who the d...HEY! WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND?!" Her shout startled everyone in the room and they started looking at my hands.

Stella was now holding my hand and looking closely at my engagement ring. Her eyes were sparkling now and she faced me with a large grin. "Helia proposed you?"

I nodded at her and smiled slightly. She pulled into a hug. "Awww, congratulations," She said after breaking the hug and looked proudly at Helia before finally glaring at Brandon. "He must have chosen the cutest way to propose her, I can bet that."

Bloom without realising the situation clapped her hands and tittered. "Yeah, he proposed her on the same place where had asked her out."

Everybody in the room face palmed and gave Bloom a look, who was now covering her face by her palms. Stella was now sobbing once more but the fire of her eyes was still there.

"Brandon f**king Linphea!"Her deadly calm voice created silence in the air. Helia gestured to everyone to vanish out of this room before we all fall victim to her unleashed wrath.

"It is my Birthday, Stella." Brandon tried to reason, but the mistake of incurring her wrath had already been made and quite unfortunately, it was an irreversible mistake.

Stella raised her hand up in the air to silence him. "To hell with your freaking birthday, Linphea."

These were the only words which we could hear because all of us were out of his house after that. Now we were all running out on the street of his house, but how could we leave the place without yelling delightfully a happy birthday wish to my dear elder brother?

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know it was short but it was what I could do after so many months. I had a slight writer block. I don't know when I can write a new chapter but I promise to complete every story of mine, so people never forget about me because Cute Cupcake will be back with new chapters.

Review and follow/fav the story.

I love you all a lot.

Hugs and kisses.

-Cute cupcake.