Delilah's POV

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“So what? I’m not scared of anyone.”, I said, on which Ruby shook her head.

“Confidence and stupidity are a very dangerous combination, but they generally go together. Learn to identify it. The line between confidence and arrogance is very fine and the line between arrogance and stupidity even finer.”, She explained. “If you’re not scared, then you should be. What if instead of punishing you, he will choose to punish mom for not keeping an eye on you?”

Immediately my face paled hearing that.

“In short, you have no other choice than to convince Mr. Hayes.”, Sana, my third elder sister, said to which I nodded my head.

“Great then. We will help you in sneaking out of the house at night.”, Mia said. “You know his house, right?”, She asked, on which I nodded my head again.

*

At night!!

When everyone in the home was sleeping, I sneaked out of the house with my sister’s help and then hid from all the guards. I reached Mr. Hayes’s house. I sensed someone’s eyes on me, but when I turned around, I found no one. I picked up a stone and threw it in the opposite direction to divert someone’s eyes and using that moment I climbed on the tree and sat on the branch to see who was following me but found no one.

I lifted my head and found Mr. Hayes looking at me, straight into my eyes from his window.

Shit!

Was he the one whose eyes were on me?

Well, not sure!

He stepped away from his window by walking with the help of crutches under his right arm.

“Jump!”, he ordered. “If you want to talk with me or go back to your home.”, he added. After that, he left there. I looked at the distance between the tree and his window. There was a high chance that I would fall, but I still tried to jump, and the moment I felt like I grabbed the edge of the window, I fell down. The ground was not tough because of which I didn’t get any injuries, but I felt like I got a sprain in my ankles. I winced in pain and bit my lips tightly, trying not to cry.

I picked my ass from there and somehow managed to get home. On the way home, I kept someone’s eyes on me, and this time, I knew that person.

‘I will be back soon.’

*

My ankle took two weeks to return back to its previous shape. Meanwhile, I practiced more and more for the long jump during this period. That night, I tried again to jump from the tree to his reach inside the house but finally succeeded in holding the edge of the window, but the more I tried to lift my body up, it was going down, and my grip on the window started loosening because of pain. I was about to fall again when Mr. Hayes held my wrist at the last moment and pulled me inside.

I panted for a while, bending a little, keeping my hands on my thighs.

“Mr. Hayes, …. I believe you know… why I am here… I want you to train … me just like others.”

“No.”

I looked at him in shock. “I … I thought you would train me because… you didn’t tell dad about the previous incident yet.”

“I hadn’t told your dad about you for the past year, Delilah.”, He said, making my eyes go widen. “Yes, I always knew that you used to keep an eye on me and my instruction. At first, I couldn’t understand who that person was who kept watching me during training time until I saw you, a girl.”

“So, you won’t train me just because I’m a girl?” I asked, not able to understand why he did not tell about it to dad if he knew everything.

“No. I won’t train you like others because you’re a girl. In fact, I will train you and push you harder than any other hunters that every day you will think to quit.”, he replied. I couldn’t understand again whether he was doing a favor or wanted to show me my place in household work.

“If that’s the case. I will prove you wrong every day.”

He gave an amused smile but didn’t say anything. Instead, he did exactly the same as he had said. Every day, I used to think about quitting, but then I used to recall why I started this in the first place, and the idea of quitting used to run away from my mind.

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Nine years had passed, and over the years, Mr. Hayes kept his words, while all other hunters of my age, i.e., sixteen years old, learned only one skill in which they were interested, whether it was of making poison and antidotes, OR, whether it was of learning magic, OR, whether it was in getting PRO with the weapons. I had learned all the things, not just learned but also passed the test that Mr. Hayes used to keep by arranging battles between his other loyal students who would never open my truth in front of others.

I had also formed a routine to balance both lives with a routine. I used to train at night, sleep in the morning, and then school, and then again, I used to practice the same thing that I had learned last night, and I couldn’t be more thankful to my sisters and now my mother who supported me and tried their best, not to get my truth revealed in front of others. Whenever my stepmother and her irritating son used to ask me to work in the kitchen, my younger or elder sisters used to fill for me, keeping me away from the household work, which I was least interested to learn.

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#TBC