Verena tossed and adjusted her position in bed, annoyed that she was not able to move around much. Even with her eyes closed, she knows that she has a lot of room to at least move a bit on her bed, but it felt like she was being pushed to the corner of the wall by something.
She used her hand to softly reach over to her side and tap on the mattress to check if she had accidentally left anything lying around, perhaps her bag or pillows, but there was nothing but something hard.
"Huh?" She was confused at first as to what it could be. She rubbed her eyes and slowly opened them, only to be surprised by something so unreal lying beside her. Oh, my God!" she covered her mouth quickly. She tried to close her eyes and get back to sleep.
Finally, Verena decided to slowly open her eyes, feeling disoriented. Her heart raced as she looked over the handsome young man lying beside her, half naked. Her mind raced with questions—who was he? How did he get here? And why was he sleeping beside her?
Just then, the events of the previous night came flooding back to her. She remembered everything—the strange book, the eerie moonlight, and Zoren Bullet. It was then that she realized that the man next to her was none other than the character from the book. She couldn't believe it—he was real, and he was lying right beside her. Panic set in as she frantically tried to remember what had happened after they had fallen asleep. What had they done? What had she said? She had so many questions, but had nothing as an answer.
"What is going on?" She heard his hoarse and deep morning voice as she tried to cover her mouth and pretend to not be there. He still had his eyes closed, so, of course, he won't be able to realize that she's still sitting right beside him. "I could hear you pant."
Oh, my gosh," she whispered. "How did you get here?"
"Ah, now we are back to square one, aren't we?" Zoren lifted up his arms to place them behind his head and used them as pillows before he slowly opened his eyes to meet hers. "I asked you that, I'm pretty sure, right?" He chuckled and wiggled his brows just to tease her a bit. "Don't you think we're moving a little slowly? We kept on going back to the topics that we talked about over and over again, not getting any of it resolved."
"That is not what I meant," Verena said, breathing harder. "How are you here... in my bed, and why are you half naked?"
"Do you expect me to sleep fully clothed in this hot weather?"
"It's cold!"
"I do not have the same body temperature as you do," Zoren grabbed Verena's hand to place her palm on top of his bare abs. "What do you feel?"
"What do I feel? Are you serious? Oh, you're hot."
"Thanks, I guess."
Verena rolled her eyes and immediately pulled her hand away. "I did not appreciate you sleeping in my bed. I already gave you a blanket, didn't I?"
"It's too early to argue, woman," Zoren sat up and looked at her with a questioning look in his eyes. "After letting me use my body last night as your personal warmer, you are going to grill me with a bunch of questions?" He used his pinky finger to check his ears. "I have sensitive ears; I told you, right? Don't be too loud around me, please; that's too much."
"Excuse me? "I used what?"
Zoren rolled his eyes, looking annoyed that he had to repeat himself: "Don't you remember? You kept on hugging me last night, pressing your little head to my neck and mumbling happily about how warm it was."
Oh, my goodness, I would never do that!"
He crossed his arms and sighed. "How would you know if you were asleep?"
Verena knew that he had a point. But she can't just accept that. Especially after realizing that Zoren had sat up so his legs would trap her in between, he looked at her with a slight grin on his face, as if he were making fun of how she acted last night.
"You are in my world," Verena said. "You can't just come here and sleep on the same bed as a woman."
"Do you want me to sleep on the floor?"
"Yes!"
"Is that a bed?"
"No?"
"It doesn't make sense now, does it?" He proudly leaned in to get closer to Verena, trapping her even more. A naughty smile appeared on his lips as soon as he realized his effect on her. She could barely breathe; she couldn't even look at him in the eyes because of how shy she felt.
"You're turning red," Zoren commented. He leaned in to check. "Are you feeling how hot it is now?" he asked.
"Ye-yes."
"Lie."
Her eyes grew big as she looked up at him. "What?"
"How could it be hot when I feel cold?" he asked. Zoren giggled while her face turned a brighter color of red. "It's much colder right now; you lied."
"Well, it's--"
"It is alright; don't worry," Zoren tapped her shoulder. "I understand what's happening. I have the same effect on those women in my world. I think it's not your problem; it might have been caused by me."
"What the hell are you trying to say?"
"Nothing," he smirked. "What are we going to do today? Are you going to help me get back into my world, or are you going to trap me in here and take me as yours?"
"Oh my gosh, he lost his mind." Verena whispered to herself. "I am the one who's experiencing something so outrageous; how are you the one to lose it?"
"Are you saying that I am insane?" Verena tried to stand up and leave as soon as his voice began to rise.
"Uh, I need to freshen up and--ah!"
She felt a tight grip on her arm that pulled her closer. Then his chilling voice filled her entirely. Like a cold breeze, making every hair in her body stick up.
"I tried being nice," he whispered. "But you seem like you wanted something else; don't ever play with me again. You understand?"
"Ye-yes."
A soft kiss was planted on her nape, making her knees turn into jello. She can't even attempt to stand up after
"Good, very good."
Verana stood outside of her uncle's room, afraid and shaking. She has been worried about him and his safety since last night. It's been an entire night of him staying quiet since Zoren stopped him from harming Verena. It was well deserved; she knew that much, but she was a bit scared that he wasn't going to wake up. It was actually eating her alive, the truth that she's somehow feeling relieved of how he was unconscious throughout the night, but the real her kept on reminding her brain to care. After asking him countless times, Zoren had enough. He would often shrug or roll his eyes, but he kept on insisting that he was just resting, taking in a good night of sleep. He would phrase it as if he were the sole reason that the old man was able to get some good sleep in his system."This must have been some sort of misunderstanding or something.""What are you talking about?" Verena asked. "Don't be too dramatic; I know it's not that bad.""Are you serious?" Zoren yelled as he stepped out
Verena sat still, trying to calculate her breathing as she sat in front of her uncle. In his hands, three pieces of precious gems were being clenched. A really creepy and suspicious grin was plastered. It gave Verena nothing but the chills, as if she already knew that something bad was going to happen soon. The old man's eyes grew big and glowing whenever he peered at the new stones that he just got."I guess now that I have given you those gems, you will be able to stop pestering this woman," Zoren said, sitting like a king on the couch. He sat tall, as if he owned the whole place—even the man's soul. "You won't be able to get anything from me ever again; this is the only thing that my generosity could offer.""I've seen you keep a lot," the old man whispered. "You can't just fool me like that.""I can also take your life," Zoren casually said. "I chose not to, and I hope you'd give me a fair trade for that."Nelo grinned and shrugged. "You are threatening me in my own home?""I am n
"Verena, I think it's about time you got off work.""It's too early, no?" Verena looked at the clock, showing that it's at least thirty minutes before her shift ends. "Yeah, it's too early, auntie. I still have to wash the dishes."Oh, my goodness, you do not need to worry about that right now," the older woman chuckled. "You have to spend time with your boyfriend.""My boyfriend?" She noticed how the old woman pointed at Zoren, who is leaning at the door of the restaurant, waiting for the time to pass."I've noticed how girls kept on coming in since he chose the entrance as his spot," said the owner. "We've got at least five times more customers than usual. Letting you off early to have fun is a thank-you gift!""I... he's not my...""My love!" Zoren had cut off Verena's words. Not only Verena, but the entire restaurant's attention was caught. His voice was loud enough for all the girls' to crumble as soon as they heard him."What did you just call me?""My love, my lovely girlfriend
Zoren looked down on his hand, feeling a bit numb at how hard Verena was clenching it. At any moment, he has a strange guess that the tips of his fingers would turn blue, but he can't really tell the woman to leave him alone or let go of him since she's clearly scared and confused by how a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere in her eyes."Are you sure that you saw someone?" he asked. The way she nodded so quickly made him believe how serious she was. "Then what happened?"Verena looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked."What happened to the guy that you saw?"Verena grabbed his whole arm, scared to her core. "Nothing happened to him, Zoren, nothing!""Where did he go then?""He..." Verena hid her entire face behind him and pointed at the bench. "He is still there, sitting and watching us! What do you mean?"Zoren looked back at her with a ton of questions about to pop out of his brain, but he could tell, based on her breathing and the sound of her heart beating, t
"You can stop looking at me like you just saw a talking worm," Galen said with a huge, youthful smile on his face, looking at Verena. "What's so confusing and unbelievable about me when you have the future king of a different world sitting right beside you?" he added while taking a sip of his iced tea.He then grabbed his fork and knife to obliterate the thick steak that was sitting on his plate. He intended to treat the two to a nice meal for lunch with hopes of being able to get to know them better, especially since he really wants to be close with Zoren."You heard the guy; go ahead and eat," Zoren said, tapping Verena's knee. She hasn't given Zoren's arm back since they met up with Galen. She desperately hugged his arm to make sure that he wouldn't be able to leave her alone with the scary, cursed spirit. "He's treating us to such a nice meal, woman, don't let it go to waste.""I-" Verena struggled to speak. "I don't think that I'll be able to digest.""Don't worry about me," said
"Isn't this awkward?" Galen asked as Verena continued to try her best, acting as if she couldn't hear or feel his presence when the two of them had been standing side by side for the past ten minutes. "You can talk to me; I won't harm you. You know that, right?"The two of them have spent time together, roaming around the mall. The guys were able to convince Verena to take a day off and use their time to buy what Zoren needs at the mall. The first thing that the prince wanted was a new set of clothes, and of course, as his follower, Galen couldn't reject him. All they had to do was drive to the nearest mall and grab all the expensive-looking stuff off the mannequins, and Zoren would be happy. He did not like the number of people walking near him still, but he appreciated the classy and fresh-smelling clothes."Verena, you can talk to me; he won't hear you from here," Galen whispered. "I saw his fitting room; there is a really loud speaker behind it. I think he won't be able to hear an
"Zoren, you don't have to buy clothes for me as well," Verena pushed away his hand, holding up a beautiful periwinkle dress that looked like it would suit a woman in the top 0.1% of the social status. "Do you not see how much this costs? I would need to work without a break for at least nine months before I could afford that. I wouldn't dare wear it.""You won't need to pay for it; Galen is here to do that.""I would be paying, that's right.""Still," Verena sighed. The two kept pressing on her, trying to make her pick anything so that Galen would pay for something, but she would do the most just to avoid paying and save the old, young man some pennies. "I really can't make you spend that much money," she said. "I don't want you to give your hard-earned money to someone like me. First of all, I do not deserve it, and second, I am not going to be happy if I receive it. I would just feel burdened and guilty."Zoren sighed. He rolled his eyes as he placed the dress back on the rack. Perh
Verena grabbed the last box of freshly picked apples with all her power to get them inside her house. She had to use her whole body and power to grab everything she could in order to get all the delivered goods in her house into her kitchen. Looking at everything that she had arranged on the small table, she sighed."When am I going to finish all these?" she asked. "I don't have that much appetite; I'm not going to finish this even after three weeks." She sighed as she looked back once more. "I can't even get these into the fridge!"Verena looked at her whole house. The kitchen was filled with so many groceries that they wouldn't even stay on the cabinets and shelves. She cad to put the one sack of onions by the broom and the one sack of potatoes next to her fridge. Beside that, she has three more sacks filled with rice, garlic, and flour. Whatever she can think of, Verena is sure that she has it all. She never expected that she would have five kilos of sugar and salt in her pantry. B