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New day,
New beginning.
I can do it!
You can too.
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In the kitchen, opening all the doors and drawers. I smiled when I finally found the essentials for a beautiful morning.
Happy, I brew my coffee and watched the jar as it filled, smelling the intoxicating scent.
A movement behind me caught my eye, making me deeply breathe, knowing that a battle was about to begin. Mustering my courage, I exhaled.
"Good morning, Tom. Hi... Did you sleep well? I mean, not too tired from your party last night?" I tried, but the words stalled for a second in my head. How was I to establish communication?
"Yeah, all good. What about you and your night of isolation?" He said, passing next to me, already grabbing cups from a cabinet.
My arms crossed, his smirk freezing my body. Everything was wrong already, from what I imagined. Taking the cups from the countertop where he let them, moved to the coffee machine.
"Fantastic! I. Well. I made a list of things I want to go over with you." I exhaled, feeling my lungs cry for release. "Here's your coffee," I added, pushing forward the fuming cup. "Do you take anything sweet?" I added with a sweet voice, hoping to ease things up.
He didn't answer and looked at me with intent. Our eyes locked, and I realized my free hand was involuntarily reaching for a free lock of hair on my head. I lowered it, conscious of the nervous tic that I gave off.
"Right. So, since this place is now also my place, I have to feel at home here." Opening the drawers, I couldn't find the spoons.
He remained quiet, seemingly suspicious. His eyebrows arched, his chin contracting for a second, and he closed his eyes.
"Open the drawer next to the refrigerator,"
I nodded.
"I am well aware we started our relationship weirdly. But we need to get along. Let's make rules. Let's make this bearable for both." With the spoon in my hand, I looked for the sweetener.
He moved, getting close to me as I played dumbly with my hands, he hands over me the sugar.
Never let your enemy know how scared you are. The memory of a past encounter in the girl's bathroom coming to my mind. "Since you spend so much of your time in the library, why don't you do my homework to keep you busy?" Sana's eyes were dead serious and for the first time, I held her gaze. "Like you said, it's my time and not yours," I turned away from her stoned look. That day, I held my head high facing my bully and the fact that my brother was quite popular helped, too.
Today was no different. This was my life, and I wasn't gonna let him dictate my life. Tom rolled his right shoulder, pressing his fingers around his muscles while going back to his seat.
"what you ask is a waste of time. We go to college, we buy food there and we go to the restaurant for supper. There is no need at all. I even have a cleaning team. I settled everything, then why bother?" He snorted.
I lifted my hands in the air.
"Hell no. I can't live like this. All pampered." Words kept disappearing in my head before I could say them. "Normal people don't." I see myself taking care of my family. "I need to take care of my needs." It became a realization. I always took care of others when I didn't do that for myself.
He shook his head, but let me finish my thought.
"I need proper food. I need it, because I like it. Besides, I am not asking you to cook or clean." I added so fast that I suddenly felt dizzy, needing to hold on to the countertop.
He frowned.
"What's the point? We could go hang out and enjoy life instead. I don't see your point".
Being surrounded by new people was my nightmare followed by living new situations and that all I had for the past two days. My head dropped.
"can't you get it? I am stuck with YOU." Emphasizing the last word, "These little and futile things, as you call them, are all I have left. Don't take them away from me."
He locked his eyes into mine, and for one, I didn't look away.
"what if I don't like your food? You know, I have expectations." He crossed his arms.
Negotiation wasn't my best friend. Worried about the outcome, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying not to lose my composure. This was the longest showdown I put on in my life.
"You can order takeout," I proposed.
He frowned and got his hand under his chin, his elbow over the countertop facing me.
"How many meals a week do you plan on doing?"
"I was thinking of cooking three times a week and eating leftovers." Without thinking too agitated by the perspective of some normalcy, my features relaxed to the hope.
"leftovers! Are you baffling?" He paused and looked at me and my head slyly dropped, but I kept looking at him. "I have a sensitive stomach. You might kill me with your cooking, or perhaps that is your plan." His overdramatic voice made me smile.
"Ok, no leftovers... for you... I get it. It means more for my lunches." Lifting my hands in the air, surrendering.
He looked at me as if a mole appeared on my face.
"Tell me you are not serious. Leftovers for lunch at school!"
I scratched my head, feeling the need for a sip of coffee only to make a face of disgust at the taste of it. It was bitter. The brew was stronger than what I was used to. What was that thing?
"We represent my father here. There will be no such thing."
He smiled, looking at my reaction to the coffee.
Taking hold on the countertop, I surrendered, and he moved to the sink with his cup. Grabbing mine, he dropped the in the drain next to me.
"Ok, but I have to cook three meals! What about breakfast?" I looked at him next to me and walked to the other side, pressing my back on the counter next to the cook-stove.
"I surrender the leftovers and lunch bags... you can at least surrender breakfast... Let's eat at home like normal people, would you?"
He rinsed the cups and nodded, taking away a heaviness in my chest.
Thinking of something else, I opened my mouth, but his hand lifted to a stop, turning to me.
"That's enough or no deal!"
He then extends his hand to me, and I extend mine, knowing that this was it. Weird tingling sensations went up my hand and arm. Was it a jolt of electricity? I quickly retracted my hand and look at it. I notice then a subtle smile stretching on his face.
"By the way, these coffee beans are for the expresso machine." My lips turned to an o form. "I get it. We will get things you are used to seeing."
Feeling happy, I noticed he was still talking!
"Perfect. So get dressed. We will head to the grocery store!" I proposed, completely unaware of what he was saying just now.
"I'm already dressed, Sherlock, but you should." His head shook for a second before it ended with a knowing nod.
Fidgeting with my hair, I looked at myself.
Only to realize that I was still in pyjamas, feeling the weirdness of my behaviour, I went to my room.
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The grocery run was a nightmare. We argued over quality and quantity of the items we were getting, as if he never had set foot in a grocery store.
I mean, could it be?
I tried to make this brief trip as enjoyable as possible and learned about the foods he likes. After all, he was to pay for it and I hated this!
We are finally done and ready to cash it. Of course, he didn't want to bother with the bags. He is such a princess. He would pay for delivery. What was the use of all that intensive working if he wasn't capable of carrying a few bags? His muscle was obviously just for show.
Putting up a smile, I tried to keep my movements in check, and hid how annoyed I was with his attitude.
My stomach rumbled, and the spark in his eye told me he noticed. Without a word, he handed his wallet.
Feeling humiliated, I looked elsewhere. He grabbed my hand and stepped aside.
"How will you pay?"
He showed me a second wallet with credit cards and his ID.
My eyes popped, reminding me how wealthy he was. Without further discussion, I took it and turned away, still noticing the smirk on his lips.
With long strides, I got away from him and headed for the restaurant cubicle in the middle of the hallway. That's when I noticed it.
Two individuals that I've already come across a few times before. Were they following me? First, I noticed them in the parking lot, then around the small grocery aisles, and nowhere. They had no grocery bags.
Was I the target? It then clicked. That gigolo, with his acting at the food market, attracted two petty thieves, and the target was now in my hands.
"Wonderful."
Walking faster in a zigzag, I hoped to prove myself wrong, but it was the opposite. What am I to do?
Run? I couldn't even run without triggering an asthma attack. My goal was to blend around the crowd.
Hands moist, I grabbed my handbag closer and tighten my grip on the wallet.
'I'm not in an action movie! Ot must be my imagination.'
Those thoughts weren't enough to calm my jumpy heart any longer. I placed my order.
'It's just my imagination. I have tons of it.'
Half convinced, I lifted the wallet, opening it up.
Tom had nice fat banknotes inside. My eyebrow twitched on its own. I kept my breathing as normal as possible, trying not to show the panic that was growing in me. I took out a 20 dollars bill.
Someone collided with my body. Tumbling on my feet, I looked back.
"Oh, sorry, I lost my footing."
No one reacted, nor did I, until the grin over his lips twisted with a satisfied look.
'Footing, my ass.' I replied in my head. I looked down and notice my now empty hands and my missing handbag.
'That was damn fast!' I told myself, looking around for them only to see them walking away, hiding in the crowded hall. He took his hoodie off that made me turn my guard down. They could take his damn walled for all I cared, but that bag was one of the few meaningful things I owned and I wasn't about to let them have it.
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, making me run towards them.
'Oh no sir, that is my bag. I barely have anything left from my family. I can't let them steal this.' My eyes get blurry. Julie and Luc brought this to a secondhand store. They hid it and wrapped it around my birthday. All that time, I thought it was a gift for mother's day meant for her. They fooled me in a good way.
People around shouted in surprise while I stumbled across a bag or an arm, but I kept moving forward away to keep politeness alive.
Moving faster, I was now on a mission. Soon I was on their heels. Without thinking, I launched over the keeper of my bag.
He stumbled. I obviously missed my attack. He ran faster, but I ran even faster, closing into him. The whole time, I kept my eyes on my prize.
People moved away, warmer by the commotion around the hall.
"He stole her handbag"
"Thieves"
People were aware of it now.
Ready to make another move, I inhaled in an odd matter. This time, there was no way I would miss. I jumped for the prize: my bag.
I ended up rolling a little further. Ending up flat on the ground next to the bandit.
Passers finally gathered some courage to speak up.
"Someone help her!"
"Let's grab the thief."
But there was no time.
Crawling to my bag, I was already there, taking a good grip on the handle as if my life depended on it.
The man was already up, pulling the bag so hard that he pulled me along with it until a ripping sound came to my ears.
He tossed my belongings around the crowd as the man flee and I remained there on the floor, looking murderously at him.
Pulling my ripped bag to me, I looked for comfort that wouldn't come.
It's fixable, I can fix it. It has to.
Searching for the missing handle with trembling palms and watering eyes.
People moved around. A man caught my eye. He was holding Tom's wallet. Instead of fleeing, he was looking for something else.
Then I saw Tom approaching. With no more fight within me, I pointed at the man. Tom followed the movement of my hand with his eyes.
"Hey, you!" Tom screamed in the crowd.
Feeling concerned, the man lifted his head and, as if he had seen the Devil himself, he ran for his life.
I laid down my head on the cold ceramic and took a breath.
"Well, I didn't know, you were such a Wonder Woman?" Noticing my breathing, "Ok... Breathe. You can't do that here."
He helped me get upon my feet.
What on earth was I thinking? My asthma, but the deed was done.
People around slowly gathered my stuff and gave it back to me while others resumed their activities. Smiling at them, I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down.
At least I tried, and that was a success on its own. My now laboured breaths were getting worse.
Pride bottling up inside, I looked at Tom now, tapping my back with a gentles I didn't know he had.
He is cute. That though helping me to focus on something other than my breathing.
"That's it. Breathe." We locked eyes. "Your eyes. Oh. There are people around. Take your inhaler. Where's your inhaler?" He hurriedly looked around.
Searching in my pockets, I couldn't find it. My throat tightening by the second.
Where was it, my bag? It was in my bag.
Looking around and I saw it then, crushed. People spreading the pieces around the floor. Panting, I frantically turned my head in horror. Where was the existence? If I had fewer eyes around, then perhaps I could get it under control?
He followed me, trying to help me walk as if that was the problem. The problem was my airways, not my legs.
"Let me help you." I heard above the sound of my laboured breathing.
At the entry of the mall, people looked at us with questionable eyes. Waving my hand, I try to ease him, hoping he would shut his mouth. He was just adding fuelling my anxiety and worsening my asthma. I wasn't doing so badly before he reminded me about my asthma, after all.
Conscious about the people looking at us as they entered the mall, I noticed how different this was from my previous episodes. Often, I had no recollection about them, and when I did, I always used my inhaler.
"Are you ok, miss?"
Looking at the girl, I shook my head, trying to smile. Tom looked at him with disdain.
They might think we're a fighting couple.
A jolt stabbed my lungs, making me grab my shirt with one hand as the other dropped the shredded bag.
Tom held me, but my symptoms got worse, my heart pounding as if it was about to get out of my chest.
If only he could just let me calm down on my own instead of making a show out of it.
Pushing his helping hand away, I placed my back on the icy wall.
Still looking at me, he bend over and picked my bag. When he approached again, I walked further away. Curious shoppers looked at my odd behaviour.
Tom mimicked my behaviour and leaned against a wall. Eyes on the sky, I contemplated the clouds. The colours were brighter than usual; the noises sounded crisper, and the smells were repulsive!
My nose twitched.
'What the hell is that smell?'
Only to notice a trashcan not too far away.
'Don't they clean those out once in a while? It's a mall, for crying out loud.'
The noise Tom was doing caught my attention.
'When did he began breathing lime that, was he trying to match mine!?' to my amazement it seemed to work.
"Yelp! You're going to have to race with Phil one of these days. I think you're faster than him." He joked, but he wasn't laughing. He was forcing a change of topic.
Heartily, I chuckled. Sports weren't my thing, for obvious reasons? In the end, I never tried and the medical paper granted me that much? Today was different. The need to reclaim my bag made forget that.
"We'll have to see! It was the first time I ever raced like that." He sternly looked at me. "Asthma, remember?"
The asthma attack was now over. He looked at me with his beautiful brown eyes before I turned them away, feeling flustered.
"Sorry, I couldn't save your wallet." I pouted, my eyes wandering longer than necessary over his body. Mortified, I looked for his eyes.
"Are you talking about this? He left it on the floor and someone brought it back. It's empty, but I got it back." A smile made its way over his lips.
"Yeah, you're so ugly that he ran away in fear, forgetting it behind." My eyes widened out of my socket for a second until he chuckle. Laughing too, I battled to keep a serious face, but I failed until I teared up.
He rubbed his head. His shy grin made me look at the people nearby. They were peering at us with doe eyes.
"We should go." He pointed.
I nodded and followed him.
In the end, we skipped the restaurant as he planned on. I grabbed some fruit, filling the void in my belly. That day, he ate the pasta I made and even enjoyed it. Is the plate was empty. It was a victory on its own.
We finished the day sitting in-front of the screen.
We watched a show of his choosing. He picked Star Wars. That movie I wanted to see, people made a fuzz about it back at school and now I was to know why. After a while, I stretched my neck and yawned.
Surprised to feel my body lifted, I opened my eyes against my will. Groggy, I lifted my arms around his neck. Mumbling incoherent words, I gave up and let him do.
He gently dropped me on my bed and tucked me in. Closing my eyes repeatedly, I never heard the door when he departed.
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ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Tom POV... ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
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Annie, this girl, is so impetuous whenever she feels at ease. I contemplate her sleeping figure. A smile plasterers its way over my lips. I am not myself around her. I can't maintain a stoic face around her. Inhaling the scent of her perfume, she is so beautiful, smart, funny.. What is there not to like? Can I let her in?
I pushed aside a hair ticketing her nose and battled against my desire to kiss her.
No... not this way. I am not that type, but today somehow I wished I was.
As I walked out, my head continued to spin around her.
Taking a last look at her, I couldn't help but wonder.
Why does my father have such interest in you, enough to promote me and give me my freedom back? He can't have you. I will protect your thriving spirit. He won't turn you into another passive subject.
Reluctantly, I closed the door behind me.
Besides, why was the high priestess unaccountable for her actions? Not only did she erase her memory, she worked hard to kill half of her.
I can't help but feel sorry. As if it wasn't enough, your mother ditch you like garbage, and you keep on smiling.
"Annie... who or what are you, really?" I ask myself, now ready to type my report and deciding over her fate. I decided it I would write the bare minimum of her until I decided what to do with her.
Could it be? Could she be a witch and a werewolf, a creature of legend?
I shake my head.
"Only time will tell!"
Losing the inhalers was the first step toward finding out who she really was.
"Annie, who are you really?"
Only time will tell.
Will her powers override the wolf, or will it be the other way around?
'*•.•ஜீ☼۞☼ஜீ•.•*'
Note:
'*•.•ஜீ☼۞☼ஜீ•.•*'
🤔 why did they run away so scared?
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Aren't they adorable?
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