The guy lets out a scream as his other friend pulled him away from the stranger, who was now standing in front of me as if shielding me from my two attackers. “Leave. Or would you like me to break your jaws and feed you that...glass thing that you are holding?”
Glass thing? Does he mean the can of beer? But it’s not even GLASS!
“You two aren’t moving. Would you like me to break something else?” He asked menacingly and started moving forward. The two immediately ran away in a haste the longer they continued to look at the guy.
As soon as they were gone, I looked at the man warily. His back was still facing me that I can’t even tell what he looks like at the moment. “Thank you.” I blurted out.
The moment I spoke, I noticed him flinch and turned slightly in my direction. In that brief moment, I caught sight of his eyes. They were a dark shade of blue that I almost mistook for black if it weren’t for the light coming from the shop.
He looked away. “Y-You’re welcome!” He says and starts pulling his hoodie over his face. “I..I hope you don’t mind me staying here for a bit. Maybe those guys will come back with reinforcements or something.” He says.
There was something about this guy. His eyes, his voice, and his figure. It was familiar to me. I know the thing about stranger danger, but something was nagging at me to go and see his face.
I got up from my seat and carefully leaned my head so I was looking at his face, which he hides under his hoodie. As soon as I did, the man looked away abruptly.
“Do I know you? You look familiar. Let me see your face, sir.” I shamefully said.
“No.” He answered and pulled his hood lower over his face.
“Why not? It’s just a face.” I tried to move in front of him again. But he still covered his face.
“Exactly. It’s just a face.”
I frowned. This guy is being sarcastic with me. “Sir, let me see your face.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Are you ashamed of your face?”
“No.”
“Then why are you hiding?”
“None of your business, woman.” He said it so rudely like he was annoyed or something.
Fine. That’s it. I know that I shouldn’t be doing this to a stranger but I just had to!!
“I said...LET ME SEE YOUR FACE!” With a war cry, I grabbed the back of his hoodie and pulled it down, but he simply pulled it back up.
“Geez! What’s with you!? Mind your own business!”
“Come on, let me see your face, damn it.”
“Why are you like this!? This is not normal!”
Now, we were literally yelling and fighting over his hoodie that my necklace got caught in his sleeve, and felt the chain snap.
“My necklace!” I screamed as I grabbed my phone and started to look around for it.
“Your what?”
“My necklace!” I was starting to panic. “It’s red and soft and...please. Just help me find it!”
Without a word, that man dropped to the ground to look for it with me, but a few minutes passed by, and when I still haven’t found my necklace. I started crying.
“H-h-hey hey! W-Why are you crying!? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” The man asked as he started to look around in a panic. Then he started to wipe a stray tear from my cheek and attempted to place it back in my freaking eyeballs!
I slapped his hand away in annoyance. Is he making fun of me?
“My necklace.” I whimpered. “I-I can’t find it! Please stop fooling around.”
The man fell silent for a couple of seconds. “It’s just a piece of jewelry. You don’t have to cry about it. I’ll...I’ll buy you a new one.”
“No!” I yelled at him. “That necklace is important to me!” I sniffed. “I can’t...I can’t lose it. I can’t tell you why but it’s priceless to me!”
“Rose, it’s just a necklace. I’ll buy you hundreds and even a thousand of those if I have to. Just please, stop crying.” He says softly as he came to my side and placed a hand behind my back.
As he did, I got another vision of two large creatures fighting in front of me. One was a wolf with a horn and the other was a huge fox. From the vision, it looked like I was yelling at them when I tripped and fell back. But then a hand behind me suddenly pushed me back up.
The vision ended and I started to blink.
I looked at him, surprised at what I just saw and heard. “Wait. How did you know my name?” I looked at him suspiciously. “Just, who are you?” He didn’t answer. “Please, can’t you just show me your face?”
There was a pause. “If I do, will you stop crying?”
“Yes.”
The man lets out a sigh. “Alright. But do not freak out when you do.” He says and waited for me to nod my head before he pulled his hoodie down.
I gasped. The man in front of me was like someone from television. Clear skin, sharp jaw, angular nose, even when he has a scar he was clearly good looking.
The only thing that was out of place was his ears. They were sharp and pointed.
But despite that, I could not help but feel drawn to him that my hands automatically moved to touch his cheek. As I made contact, our eyes met.
I stumbled back as images started to resurface. Faces that seem blur and the names that I forgot suddenly flooded my mind.
I fell back at the surge of memories. The man grabbed my hand to stop me from falling back. I heard him screaming my name but my brain was too busy making me remember that I have forgotten.
The memories that I was desperately searching for the past couple of years.
Thalia, my aunt, Luke, Nate, Ren, Dan, Fred, Custard, Viex, and….
I looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “You damn PRINCE.” I whimpered and could not help but cry as I fully looked at him with recognition. “Two years. It took you two years to come and get me. Really?” I raised a brow at him.
Ace paused for a moment. His features suddenly changed and as he lets out a breath of relief, I saw him tearing up before he pulled me to a tight embrace. “I’m sorry. Came looking for you but you were no longer in your old place. It took me two months. I have almost gone mad! And when I realized that you have forgotten everything I was scared. I’m sorry. I thought it would be best for you to just forget. To make a fresh start. One without me.”
I frowned and pushed him away so that I was looking at him in the eyes. “2 years I have suffered and felt like something was missing. For two years I tried to act like everything was okay with me, but it’s not. Ace, this place is no longer my home. I wish to return to Thalia. With you and everyone. I miss them. Everyone. Especially Custard and Viex.”
“Excuse me?!”
“And you of course.” I chuckled.
Ace looked at me as a slow smile played at his lips. “Just because of that, you can’t go back to Thalia.”
“What!? Why not?!”
“Because I won’t allow you to keep on living with that flirty vampire king.”
“Tordis then?” I asked hopefully. If I knew that he would be this petty for saying I miss Custard and Viex more then I shouldn’t have said something.
“Close, but not quite.”
“Then where?” I was losing patience at this point.
Ace chuckled as he held my hands in his. “Be with me in Gija?”
“YE -” I paused as something sounded weird just about now. “Waiiiit a minute. Gija!?" I gasped.
Ace tried to hide his annoyance when I did not fully say yes. “I got bored thinking of you that I got a hobby and rebuild Gija. But as soon as I started, the other kingdoms started pitching into the point that it is now a functioning kingdom in just a span of two months. At the moment, your familiars are the ones guarding it. Nathaniel, the idiot king, assigned me as temporary ruler there as well.” He says.
“Why temporary?”
“I told you, didn’t I? I’ll go where you go. So if you don’t want-”
“Yes.” I answered. And as I did, I reveled at the look on his stunned face before he smiled brighter than I have ever seen him before.
And to end a perfect engagement, we shared a kiss. A kiss to make up for the lost time. We stopped when Ace looked at his shoulder and laughed.
“I think I just found your necklace.” He says while placing it around my neck. “How about this as a temporary engagement...thing? I’ll buy you the grandest ring that I could find when we’re back in Gija.” He promised.
“Ehem.” We suddenly broke apart and looked up at Stella with a tray of food in her hands. “What is...going on?” Stella’s eyes were darting back and forth at us.
Ace and I exchanged a look before we both laughed. I looked up at my sister with a sheepish smile on my face. “Stella, I think I just got engaged.”