"Let me walk you home," He repeated himself for the hundredth time, putting one hand over mine. "C'mon, it's not that far."

I watched as his mouth twitched into a smile and wavered between a cheeky smile and a concerned one. It was the middle of December and as usual, winter was a . I could feel the inside of my nose forming icicles, eventually, I began breathing from my mouth. I let out little puffs of white clouds, watching both mine and his mix together before evaporating into the midnight air.

His statement of, "not that far", made me scoff. It had to be at least a 15 minute walk from his house to mine.

I glanced away from his face and brought my attention to his big hand on mine, which was as red as a cherry. I really should have bought gloves this year, it was much colder than I remembered it to be last year. The air was cold and brisk, each intake of air felt like a sharp shooting pain in my chest. Then again, maybe this was all because I wasn't made for the cold and my fever was creeping back on me. I'd just gotten over the worst fever of my life two days ago and being in the cold again wasn't the smartest idea. 

"You have a basketball game tomorrow," I brought up, slipping my hand out of his. "I don't want you getting sick or anything. You should go back in and sleep, I'll be fine."

His glaze fell onto his empty hand, a small frown took place of his smile. But only long enough for me to catch it. It was always long enough for me to catch it, before his smile came back into view. His wonderful and addicting smile, but it didn't have it's affect on me, not like it had before. No, this time... things were different. 

"I'll be fine," He rebutted, tilting his head slightly. "I-I want to. Plus, it's really dark now. I didn't think the project would take so long to finish."

I nodded absentmindedly, "It's fine, I want to walk alone. I'll be fine by myself."

Unlike the time I had to catch his classic smile, he had no time to stop me from walking down his driveway. 

"W-Wait!" He shouted, a tinge of surprise laced in his voice as he jogged down behind me. 

I turned around, somewhat tired of this. "Listen, I don't need you to do anything for me. It's done, okay?"

This time, his smile stayed hidden behind that frown of his.

"I--"

"I'm going to go home," I interrupted. "I'm going to walk away, you are going to stay here, and we're going to see each other tomorrow for the presentation."

He nodded but his facial expression said different.

I took my leave, not even looking back at him. For some reason, I didn't realize that it was even colder until after I'd left.

It was something crossing the two reasons in my head telling me to make this effort. One was because of how dark it was getting, this was possibly because of my father's ideology about being the man every woman needed, and taking care of those you hold dear. In other aspects, I guess that the fact that it was getting darker and darker with every passing minute didn't help either. I looked at her, noticing every detail about her; her light brown eyes illuminating her pale face, her usually matching light brown hair looking almost black, the little red tip of her nose, even her hands-- you know how that old jingle goes? "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight~"-- yeah well, she could have totally guided him like a policeman conducting traffic when the stop lights go out.

"I--"

"I'm going to go home," She frowned, denying any eye contact with mine. "I'm going to walk away, you are going to stay here, and we're going to see each other tomorrow for the presentation."

I thought about my father's life teaching again, "Be the man every woman needs, take care of those you hold dear." I thought about her, I began to feel a strong sense of guilt at the moment I'd brought my thoughts back onto what had transpired in the past four days. 

I nodded though I was sure that my expression was the complete opposite of what I'd agreed to. I didn't want her to walk home when it was so dark, not during such a late hour, and definitely not alone.

I watched her as she left my drive way, her feet coming above ground when she took a step and seeping into the snow after. I couldn't help but feel the need to walk her. It was as if I owed it to her. So what do you do when a girl refuses your help? You apparently stalk her home, disregarding her wishes. 

I kept a good distance between her, using every street light as a good measuring device to decide what was considered a "safe" distance. Under each street light came her little puffs of white, and the occasional tugging on her hair when she'd brushed it over her right shoulder. 

Just as she was about to take the shortcut that cut through behind a few houses and the convenience store, I noticed something I'd never actually believed.

There, also following her, was a navy blue, maybe black van. They parked the car at a nearby home and three men got out of the car, one holding a towel, one holding rope, and the other holding a wooden bat. I'd been able to understand two things in the next two minutes before I'd made my move.

1. This was a kidnapping, she's going to get stolen. Ha, not on my watch! 

2. I'd better move fast, fast as in now.

I rushed closer, closing in on the three men. I had the advantage of a sneak attack and was able to kick the man holding the bat onto his knees, grabbing the bat, I knocked the other two each in the head. My eyes never left their bodies that were rolling in the snow, only to check up on her. I saw her turn around and stop walking, what I couldn't believe was that she'd begun rushing to my rescue!

I held the bat out and shouted for her to run away, for her to go home, for her to stay safe. I didn't know it at that moment but, it was only until I saw the expression on her face that'd I turned around to check why she'd been staring behind me with such a shocked look. I turned, swirling in a circle only to meet eyes with the first man I'd hit. Without even a second to blink, he punched me square in the face, knocking me onto my back. I rolled onto my side and got up in no time, and by "no time", I mean literally. I had absolutely no time before I'd realized one more thing; I was being kidnapped, taken...captured.