Chapter Nine

Alice

"Hey, sweetheart. Good morning," Mama says as I walk down the stairs, greeted by her perfect smile.

She has a cup of peppermint tea in her hand, her all-time favourite. My mama's a bit different than regular women which would seriously depend on a cup of coffee or more precisely, caffeine. Almost every other women I've met have this addiction towards coffee and how they want to go to Starbucks whenever they can in the morning but my mama? She's a tea lover.

One of the reasons why, caffeine is bad for you. Think of the bad effects you'll get from drinking coffee every day just to feel awake or fresh—some even say they just want to follow the trend, make it a habit of drinking coffees. Well, I am more excited to disagree. I've always followed my mama's footsteps, she has taught me to eat healthy and always watch my calorie intake.

'Don't forget to drink water,' She said. 'I packed your vegetables. Eat them for lunch,' Those were the words that she would say every single day before I went to school and I had enough of listening to her blabbering about it. Luckily, I've graduated years ago and I'm an adult capable to take care of myself.

I still follow her strict diet though which explains why I'm lean.

"Good morning, mama." I smile, taking a seat near the kitchen island. "When did you come home?"

"Last night. You were already asleep,"

'Sleep early. You don't want to get bags under your eyes.' She reminded me every night. 'Take good care of your body. Your skin. You need it for the rest of your life,' The life lessons that I dreaded at first but after realising how much it was good for me, I started to understand better. Even when I was a teenager, acne never struck me—probably once or twice in a couple of years but it wasn't even half as bad. It would pop out of nowhere and then gone the next day, leaving only a fading scar.

Back in the days, people struggled with acne due to being hormonal teenagers but I was doing alright. I didn't need to go and see a dermatologist and get prescribed with accutane or get lasers. I was born pretty lucky in that department. Thanks to my mama being very strict in what I put in my mouth.

"No wonder. I was pretty exhausted," I respond, taking an apple before taking a bite.

Mama turns to look at me, "I assume you slept well?"

"Yeah, I slept okay. How about you?"

"Other than the fact that I've been dealing with your papa's snoring every night, it was acceptable." She replies, continuing to take a sip of her tea. A smile plastered on her face, no matter how much she talks about papa and how she would want to murder him in his sleep, she loves him to death. They've been married for over twenty-five years and it's truly a blessing they are still in love.

Most of my friends barely believe in love because they see how their parents despise each other.

"How dreadful," I chuckle.

"You'll go through that one day. Laugh all you want now,"

I look down at my apple, realising how I'm suddenly thinking of Damon. The mysterious mythical creature that I've come to like—ever since what happened while I was in Portland, I can't stop thinking about him. Even when I'm going to bed, he keeps popping up in my head which makes it harder for me to sleep.

Sometimes, I imagine him watching me from the window. As creepy as that sounds, I would actually love it if he does that to me. I'd love to know that he adores watching me from afar, even when I'm sleeping.

"About that . . . well, I met someone." I confess.

"Oh, who is this unlucky gentleman?"

We both chuckle, "Mama. Be serious!"

"Okay, baby. Tell me,"

"It's someone I met at the charity event last month. He's really charming,"

If only mama can see him, she'd agree one hundred percent. Damon is by far the most attractive man I've ever laid eyes on and I've been to places, to different countries and met with different people but nobody can even beat him. He has the most exotic features that just stand out and it would make anyone mesmerised by his beauty, by his power. He is truly one in a million—a man living way ahead of his time.

I assume men during his time was somehow, beautiful and how I wish I was born centuries ago.

Just to see beautiful creatures around.

"I like charming. Tell me more,"

"It's hard to describe him but he's really sweet," I look straight into my mum's eyes as I smile, remembering back the details of our previous kiss.

I've never been treated the way he treats me and I've only met him twice. The way he talks to me, the way he looks into my eyes when I'm speaking, the way he just sits and listens, the way he smiles whenever he looks at me, the way his eyes light up at the sound of my laugh—he's a perfect creature. Astonishing.

"What's his name, this charming young man?" Mama teases, playfully pinching me.

"Damon,"

"Damon? Sexy name,"

"Well . . . you can only imagine,"

"Mmhm, I really like where this is going. Did you sleep with him yet?"

"Mama!"

"Oh, come on, Alice. You're not a kid." She rolls her eyes, smirking. "I don't know what you kids are always up to these days but I was young once, it was the thrill of my life. I'm pretty sure you've done the things that I did in the past,"

"Like what?" I raise an eyebrow.

"You know . . . yummy stuff?"

"Sometimes, I don't think you're my mother."

She laughs, "As long as you're not doing drugs or excessive alcohol intake,"

"No, mama. I've only met him a couple of times,"

"That's great. When is he coming over for dinner?"

I frown, "That soon?"

"I'd love to meet Damon—let me be the judge of the hour,"

My eyes widen in surprise, not believing my mother's response. It seems almost like she's willing to put aside my traumas and disagreements for the past years. After Eric, I was devastated—my life was literally falling apart and I was out of options. My heart was broken, it left me with nothing because I truly depended on him; one-hundred percent. Regardless of what we went through, whether it was bad or good. He was still my prince charming, while we were together.

"You actually mean that?" I ask.

She nods, confirming. "Honey, you went through shit with Eric. I didn't get to meet him sooner and if I did, I could've at least notice the bad signs. I want to meet Damon and I want to make sure that he's a good person and he'll treat you right,"

"Ma, we're just—I don't know where we stand yet,"

"It's okay. Just invite him over!"

"You're ecstatic!"

"This weekend," She stands, pecking me on the cheek.

"But, ma—"

Even as I try to interrupt her, she has already made her way up the stairs, leaving to wonder if I'll ever meet Damon. We did exchange numbers but we didn't tell each other where we live and we certainly didn't have each other's email addresses. All I can hope for if we would somehow meet again or you know . . . just call him.

I'd love to meet him. I' d love to gaze into his eyes, they're perfect.

I immediately grab onto my phone before calling Juliet and Teresa, them picking up within seconds.

"Hellooo?"

''Yes, girly. What's up?" Teresa asks, placing her phone so that I'll be able to see her clearer.

"Hey, are you guys free right now?"

"Yup, I'm just in my room." Juliet responds, making goofy faces at the camera.

"Same, I'm bored to death. Let's meet up?" Teresa adds.

"I was thinking the same thing."

A couple of hours have passed and I'm standing in front of our favourite café, seeing Teresa and Juliet sitting near the window as they wave towards my direction. I smile before entering the café and making my way towards them, "Hey!"

"We were just looking at this one guy," Teresa says.

"Juliet's getting married."

"Okay, it was just me." She replies.

I chuckle, "Thanks for actually giving me something to do today."

"Yeah, I was almost dying at home." Juliet says.

"I have to tell you guys something . . . about my ma and about Damon,"

Teresa's eyes widen, "This is juicy. Tell us,"

I roll my eyes, "This isn't anything juicy. Just something that mama said about Damon,"

"She knows him?"

"I told her about him this morning. About how we met and how he makes me feel—she wants him to come over for dinner this weekend," I continue to speak, "There's a bit of a problem about that, too."

"What would the problem be?" Juliet asks, frowning.

"I don't know how to invite him for dinner,"

Teresa pretends to be in shock, "Oh my god. I thought we left the golden ages. You guys can literally just pick up the phone and call each other—hey, my mum's inviting you for dinner this weekend. Come over and maybe we can snuggle later?" She continues, laughing.

"I don't have the guts to call him," I sigh, "I should call him, right?"

"You should but you're not doing it?"

"Yeah, ugh."

"Well . . . can we Google him? I really want to know more about him." Juliet suggests, smiling.

"Right. Me too," I immediately take out my phone, going on Safari and typing his name which leaves me in a bit of a confusion. "I don't know his last name,"

"It's okay, we can just try." Juliet reassures me.

I type his name, Damon. A lot of Damons just continue to appear on the front page, making me scroll down if I'll be able to find any similarities. Damon's a werewolf, he must hide his identity very well and I think he wouldn't want anyone to find him—he had years, centuries, to even conceal his identity from the one main enemy, the internet. Where anything can be exposed if he's not careful.

Google has everything. The world's information, the world's map, entirely everything. However, not even Google is capable of capturing Damon's information or he just has a really great hacker, to hide all of his informations. He would hide everything, he's a werewolf.

"Nothing. Nada," I mutter under my breath.

"Let me try," Teresa takes the phone away from my grasps which causes me to lean back, sighing.

"Let's just stop. It's obviously we're not going to find him—I only know his first name!"

"Well . . . Alice's sort of right,"

"It's weird for someone not to show up at all on Google," Teresa replies.

"Yeah, keep going. You might find him somewhere,"

I continue to look around, realising that we didn't get the chance to order our drinks yet. "I'm going to buy myself a drink while picking up all the strengths to call him,"

I make my way towards the counter, "Hi. One iced caramel latte with chocolate drizzle at the bottom,"

"That'll be $5.78."

After using my card to pay, I wait for my order to be made. My eyes wander around at the amount of people wandering around at the streets and how people are just busy with their lives, not even caring about the people around them—what if one day, all of this has to stop? What if something terrifying just stops people from having their normal lives?

Everyone and everything needs to be on hold. We'd have to take precautions and it'd be harder to do the things we used to do without following the rules.

That'd be a movie. A dystopian movie.

"I didn't think you'd be the one to daydream," Someone says, causing me to turn around and my eyes widen at the sight—it's none other than the man I was trying to find. Damon.

"How—how are you here?" I ask, frowning.

"I have my ways," He replies, smirking.

I immediately wrap my arms around him for a quick hug in which it feels really nice, his body is really warm. Even though it was quick, he did wrap his arms around me, too. "You kept thinking about me, didn't you?"

"Don't tell me, you can read minds?" I ask.

He laughs, "No. That's just my ego speaking,"

"Damn it," We chuckle, my cheeks warming up, too.

"Miss, your latte." Someone says, interrupting me.

"Sorry," I take my latte and stand near the walls, Damon trailing behind me.

I breathe, taking a sip of my latte.

"Favourite drink?" He asks.

"You can say that. I love the taste,"

"You never try anything new?"

That's the thing about Damon, he would tell me endless things about himself. About how he is different and how he is capable of many things. He would even try to reassure me that he's the same Damon, despite his appearance whether he would shift into a werewolf or just . . . his human self. Then again, he would still be very curious about me, about my likes and dislikes, about any slight changes.

"Not really. I'm always comfortable with this drink," I respond. "Don't want to disappoint myself with another,"

"So, you're not willing to take risks?"

"Not when it comes to my tastebuds,"

We laugh, somehow recalling back the memories of our previous kiss.

"You didn't exactly tell me, Damon."

"About what?"

I take my time to look at him, really look at him. There's not much of a difference ever since I saw him a couple of days ago—I didn't expect to see him this soon but here he is, standing in his flesh and blood, in front of me. The way he just appeared out of nowhere to surprise me, it's exciting.

He stands tall in his white button-up shirt with the sleeves being rolled up to his elbows and his nicely straight cut slacks. One glance or one gaze, anyone can tell he came from his office to grab a coffee but what I do realise . . . the strands of hair falling down his forehead, looks like he had the entire morning just stuffed with work.

The fading dark circles under his eyes, they show that he's exhausted.

"You being here," I respond, "You weren't supposed to be in New York?"

"Yeah . . . I had work."

"That's all? Work?"

"And, I want to permanently stay here. To be closer to you,"

When I tell you, my heart feels like it's going to thump out of my chest and butterflies are somehow going crazy in my stomach, I wouldn't be lying. It's the truth—I'm literally standing here and it feels like I'm dying unless I find a place to sit.

"Right . . . hehe," I blush.

"Hehe?" He raises an eyebrow, smiling.

"Nothing, it's just—by the way, are you free this weekend?"

"I guess. I can free my time for you,"

There it is, again. The butterflies. The excitement.

"My mum wants to see you,"