As Aldrich rushed downstairs, he noticed a figure in the living room. It was a woman with a slender figure and flowing hair, dressed in the same comfortable clothes he had seen Maggie in a moment ago.
“I don’t think this is the right time for someone to be wandering in the living room,” Aldrich said, his jaw clenched.
Alisa turned around, “Such a pity. You didn’t fall for it. Tell me, where did I fail to impersonate someone? I’ll improve.”
Aldrich gritted his teeth. “You can never compare to Maggie. Your appearance won’t fool me, and I can sense Maggie’s presence.”
“I see,” Alisa nodded. “I guess I’ll have to ask Maggie what fragrance she’s using.”
“You’re pushing my patience!”
Aldrich moved swiftly, arriving at Alisa’s side, grabbing her wrist firmly. They both fell behind the sofa, with his large hand covering Alisa’s mouth as she tried to protest.
At the same time, footsteps echoed from upstairs, and Aldrich immediately recognized them as Maggie’s footsteps.
He pulled Alisa close to his chest, and his heart pounded intensely. He had never been this nervous in his life. He silently prayed to Selene, begging that Maggie would not come to the back of the sofa.
“Over here…”
Maggie eventually found the parenting book she was looking for on a different bookshelf. She softly made her way to it, picked up the book, and returned to her room. While walking, she spoke softly to her babies, “Babies, tonight, Mommy will continue reading stories for you…”
Her gentle voice grew faint, and Aldrich sighed with relief. As Maggie’s voice and footsteps moved away, he let go of Alisa and whispered to her, “Don’t make a sound.”
Aldrich had no more time to waste; Charlie and Jolie were still waiting in the treacherous Moonlit Forest. He got up from the floor and brushed himself off; he hadn’t picked up any dust. With determined strides, he left the room.
Alisa sat on the floor, watching Aldrich’s retreating figure. She said to herself in self-mockery, “This guy can’t stand my touch…”
After a while, Alisa buried her head in her knees, hugging herself tightly, and muttered softly, “He will leave Maggie, he will…”
Having collected herself, Alisa headed upstairs to Maggie’s room. Maggie opened the door, surprised to see Alisa. “Sweetie, you’re not sleeping yet?”
“In such a luxurious place, I can’t sleep. Will I disturb you?”
“No, Aldrich left for something.”
“The big boss is always busy.”
“He’s wonderful, to me, our babies, and even you.”
Alisa smiled, “It seems like tonight you belong to me.”
“Why not? Let’s go to the next room; it’s mine.”
Maggie led Alisa to the room prepared for her by Aldrich, a room with the same layout as the master bedroom but decorated with a more feminine touch. Since moving to Aldrich’s bedroom, Maggie had rarely used this room.
After closing the door, Alisa relaxed completely, sprawling herself across the large bed. She sighed, “Everything in Barrett Manor feels like a dream, something we couldn’t have achieved no matter how hard we worked and saved before.”
Maggie lay beside her, “It won’t get worse in the future.”
“Like going back to the past, to our days in the rented house,” Alisa said.
“It’s still the same, Alisa, nothing has changed between us.”
Alisa didn’t respond to Maggie’s comment. Instead, she looked at Maggie’s protruding baby bump. “Are the babies active?”
“They’re well-behaved. Aldrich often establishes a mind link with them and tells them to be good.”
“They are clever little ones, aren’t they? They’ll be arriving in this world in about three to four months, right?”
Maggie’s smile radiated maternal warmth. “Yes, the doctor said that.”
“I’m really looking forward to it.”
“We’ll have two babies, and they’ll be following you and calling you ‘Auntie.'”
Alisa playfully shifted closer to Maggie, her eyes sparkling. “Do you remember our childhood?”
“You mean at the orphanage, where I used to follow you around and call you ‘sister’?”
The memories of their childhood brightened up, and Alisa’s face broke into a cheerful smile. “You were so clingy back then, you drove me crazy!”
Maggie hugged one of Alisa’s arms, laughing. “But you never left me.”
“Except once, but you’ve forgotten it.”
Maggie raised her head to look at Alisa. “I forgot?”
Alisa continued her story. “Once, during Christmas, we were far from the orphanage, and a group of kidnappers emerged from the woods. I pulled you into the forest, but you were too slow…”
As Alisa spoke, vivid images filled Maggie’s mind. In a sparse forest, a young, helpless Maggie ran alone. A group of people pursued her with sticks, and she cried out for help, hoping someone would hear her. Her energy drained as she ran, and she was about to be struck in the head by one of the kidnappers. The scene faded to white.
Alisa said, “We got separated. I hid in a pile of grass. The forest echoed with the voices of those people, and fear prevented me from making a sound. My body stiffened, and I couldn’t move. My hearing became acute as I cautiously observed everything around me. Those people gloated about finding a young girl, and they closed in on you. Tears streamed down my face.”
Maggie tried to recall the rest of the events, but her memories had gaps, and she couldn’t piece anything together. “But I’m still here in front of you, unharmed.”
“No, someone saved you.”
“Who was it?”
“You still don’t remember. Your savior seems to have disappeared from your memories.”
Maggie attempted to remember, but something was blocking her. “I rarely think about that incident.”
“He was a young man with a crescent moon tattoo on his wrist.”
Alisa closed her eyes, and her eyelashes trembled rapidly. “He took care of those people and brought you to me, leading us out of the forest.”
“I have no recollection of… One person took care of those kidnappers?”
“Yes, he was very mysterious.”
“Could he also not be human?”
“Perhaps. In a world where beings like Aldrich, the lycanthropes, exist, this young man’s existence could be explained. That’s why I brought up this story now.”
Maggie reflected and said, “I owe him a thank you.”
“Yes, remembering is enough,” Alisa replied.
Her voice was gentle and lighter than a feather, more delicate than a wisp of cloud, but it was sustained by her very life and eventually dissipated into the peace shared with Maggie on this night.
It was a long, long time later when Maggie, in a distant land in the southern continent, encountered the cold man with the crescent moon tattoo on his wrist. The brilliant sunlight sent shivers down her spine, and she realized that love wasn’t purely unchanging. People might remain the same, but time could alter everything.