Chapter 4: Misunderstanding

"Are you alright? You didn't get hurt, did you?" Achilles asks worriedly while checking her face to see if she got any scars.

"I'm fine Achilles," she said and scanned his face too.

She saw some wounds on Achilles' face, especially the cut on the side of his lip. She caressed them absentmindedly.

"Does it hurt?" she asked gently.

"Yeah, a little." Achilles replied, pouting.

She sighed and later hit Achilles' arm in annoyance.

"Ouch! Why are you hurting me?" Achilles complained. 

"Why were you so brave earlier! What if you can't handle those rascals?! What do you think would happen? They could've killed you Achilles!" She combed her hair in worry and frustration.

Achilles looked at her as if she had said something wrong. "Then what do you want me to do? Let them touch you and take you with them?" he said in a cold manner.

She swallowed multiple times. If Achilles had not intervened earlier, she would probably have been completely taken away by those rascals and made her their slut.

"B—but even so! You got hurt because of me," she fretted.

Achilles chuckled with her reaction. "This is far from the gut, Katerina. And besides, why don't you just thank me rather than picking a fight? Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Fine! thank you." She scoffed, rolling her eyes on him. 

"Uh-ah you're not sincere on that, can you just kiss me to make the pain go away." Achilles then sneered and slowly brought his face closer to hers with matching squints.

Her heart suddenly pounded so fast that she swallowed hard and shook her head to return to her senses.

"Stop it Achilles, maybe you want me to beat again huh!"

"Woah, woah, just kidding okay," he frowned. 

"Achilles!" Louella's shrill voice echoed in her eardrum as she ran towards where they were.

"You really look like an action star earlier! You're not just a hottie yummy, you're also good at fighting too," she immediately praised Achilles after arriving.

"Really?" Achilles asked ammusingly.

"Of course!" The woman immediately answered.

"I'm really good at any kind of fight, Louella," he mischievously grinned, which made Louella's cheeks turn red from excitement.

"Oh, you have a wound. You should come home with me, I'll treat that wound of yours." Louella offered with seduction in her voice.

Katerina raised one of her brows. She couldn't stand their cringeness anymore. "He lives in my house, Louella, so I will treat him myself. He doesn't need your care," she said flatly and pulled Achilles away.

She heard Achilles' soft laugh when they got away from Louella. He tried to control his laughter when she shot a death glare at him but still Achilles couldn't hide the smile even when he's now biting his lower lip.

"What are you smiling at? You want her to treat you instead?" she asked meekly.

The man shook his head. "I didn't know you were this jealous," Achilles smiled teasingly at her.

"Tsk! Assuming!" She then turned her back to avoid him noticing the red blush on her cheeks.

She walked towards the coconut tree where the five men were tied. Achilles followed behind her. The pirates are full of bruises and wounds. She felt a little pity for what happened to them but it was also their fault.

"What are we going to do with them anyway?" Katerina asked one of their elderly neighbors.

"Ben has gone to the police precinct Katerina, it's just that it will take a few more hours so we'll keep an eye on them first," he said, making her nod.

She felt Achilles stand beside her that made her turn her eyes on him and saw his deadly gaze to the tied men. When he probably felt her stare, Achilles looked at her, but his eyes were now soft, contrary to what she had seen recently.

"Let's go?" Achilles requested.

She blinked before nodding and saying goodbye to the neighbors who were there then they left. While walking, what happened earlier kept playing in her mind. How good Achilles was at fighting earlier and the deadly and scary stares. She got used to the Achilles who is always smiling or smirking. She remembered that his eyes really looked familiar earlier but she couldn't remember where she had seen them.

"We're here," Achilles announced.

"Huh?"

"I said we're here. You seemed space out. Are you sure you're alright?" he asked worriedly.

She just digressed everything she's thinking and invited Achilles inside. "Let's go in and I'll treat your wounds." 

The young man followed her from behind.

"Ahh!"

"Ouch!"

"Can you make it a little gentle!" Achilles kept complaining while Katerina was treating him, which made the woman slightly annoyed.

"You're so overacting Achilles!" She hissed. "You had the courage to fight five strong men and now you keep complaining even if I'm treating your wounds gently?" She added and frowned.

Achilles also frowned at her. "It hurts! Did you know that wounds get painful afterwards? That's what I'm feeling right now."

She rolled her eyeballs on him, she's sure he's just faking it. "I don't know Sir, don't make a move so we can finish this immediately, okay?," she said sarcastically.

He sat up and didn't speak, but he had a small smile on his lips. After a while she started smiling too even though she didn't know why.

They both decided to rest first. She felt tired because of what happened earlier, how much more to Achilles who fought five men alone. Katerina didn't realize that she slept too long. She just woke up to a loud knock from outside the house. 

Forcing herself to get up, she opened the door and was greeted by Empoy's anxious appearance. She frowned and got confused at his reaction.

"What happened to you, Empoy?" she asked worriedly. 

"The pirates are missing Katerina!" Empoy exclaimed that shocked her. 

"What? How come? Didn't the police have already taken them?"

"They said they were on their way to the precinct when they were suddenly stopped by men in black suits that wore bonnets and masks then took the pirates with them!"

She was suddenly got nervous. Could it be that the colleagues of the pirates had saved those men and came back soon to get their revenge on Achilles?

Oh my god What will she do?!

"Okay, wait a minute, I'll just  look for Achilles," she immediately rushed inside but Empoy interrupted her.

"He was at the beach earlier with Rico when I passed by," he shared.

Katerina decided to see Achilles and told him about the news, she walked to the shoreline with Empoy and was surprised to see her neighbors in chaos. She thinks somebody is fighting but when she got closer, she saw Achilles and Rico who were both restrained by their neighbors. Both were so furious and struggling to get out of their neighbors grip to fight each other.

"Achilles!" the young man stopped and turned his gaze at her.

His aura softened upon seeing her. She angrily marched towards him and pulled him away from Rico.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble," she apologized to the neighbors around them.

"It's okay Katerina, just take Achilles away from here for now and calm him down so that the trouble will not get worse," Tonyo replied to her.

She was furious until they both reached his house. 

"What did you do Achilles!" she yelled at him.

"What?" Achilles looked at her innocently as if nothing had happened earlier.

Katerina sighed. "You shouldn't have done that. You know you're not a native resident here and neither am I. What will our neighbors think about what happened? That you're a quarrelsome fellow? That you're looking for trouble because you're good at fighting?"

"It's not my fault. That childish dickhead was just boasting and then got angry when I slapped him with the truth of what he can't do," Achilles defended himself. 

"That's not the point. Look, I don't know what the two of you are fighting about, but is that what you're going to do after his parents' kindness to us?" 

Achilles shook his head in dismay while clenching his jaw then he looked at her with tired eyes. "Fine, it won't happen again," Achilles uttered then turned his back on her.

She watched him walk away from her and remembered how she reacted earlier. Maybe she's a bit impulsive on scolding him. She felt guilty all of a sudden. Maybe Achilles' patience finally disrupted after a couple of insults from Rico but still violence isn't the answer for it.

She tapped her head in disappointment at herself for raising her voice onto him. This is the first time they fought since they've been together. Katerina held her breath at the coming sunset. She'll definitely have to coax Achilles later on.