~YULIA
‘Can’t wait to see you tonight.’ Leia’s text read and I groaned wearily.
I just could not catch a break with her. I exited my message app to see what class I was having next. I decided against it and texted Issa instead.
‘You were right, they don’t like you.’ I texted.
I looked up from my phone and stared at the ceiling, wondering how long it was going to take Issa to respond. And as if on cue, my phone buzzed.
‘Did they suspect anything?’ He texted back.
I smiled at the fact that I was truly important to him to have him answer this fast. I tried not to draw attention to myself as I slowly walked down the hall with no destination in mind.
Then I looked back at my phone and finally made sense of his words without putting my feelings for him forward. ‘No, we’re good, and I met the chancellor.’
‘Albus, that old fool.’ He replied.
‘Why do you have a problem with everyone?’ It baffled me how he was always at odds with almost everyone that I had come across lately.
‘It’s a long story, where are you right now?’
‘Just walking about, I don’t feel like sitting through any class right now, I have seen too much to pay attention.’ And every word I typed was true. I wondered how I was still sane.
‘On my way, stay still.’ And he went offline.
I found an empty bench by a tree and sat down to wait. I thought deeply about what Albus and Davina told me.
Well, they never really said much but I knew that they were only going to give me access to answers that I needed if I joined their little book club. What really caught my attention was the book of the dead in the show glass which Davina showed me.
I was still lost in my head when my phone began to vibrate again. I looked down at the caller and I gasped in shock.
It was Lana. I had been such a bad friend.
“What kind of best friend are you?” Lana demanded as soon as I answered her call.
I had totally forgotten that she existed.
“A very bad one,” I said as I felt the guilt crash through me. “I am so sorry Lana, I have no excuse.”
Lana was my human friend and it scared me so much to get her involved in my life. It was too dangerous for her to be around me and I realized that the hard way, when her apartment had been broken into and she had almost been killed. It was all because of me.
Lana sighed deeply. “Oh, who am I kidding, I can’t even stay angry at you.”
“I am not sure it’s safe for you to be around me right now, Lana,” I told her.
“Is that why you’ve been deliberately distant? That’s wrong, Yulia,” She replied and I could hear the sadness in her voice.
She was right, I could not let these dark forces control my life with the fear of missing out on a great friendship with Lana, even though she was not like us.
“You know what? You are right, let’s hang out this weekend,” I said. “We have so much to catch up on.” Excitement began to build at my core as I thought about it..
“That will be really great, Yulia, this place is boring, and I do not know when I will be able to get back to my apartment,” Lana said.
I frowned. “Wait, you have not returned to your apartment?”
“No, I have been lodged in this expensive hotel for weeks now, and going to school from there,” She explained. “Your uncle did not tell you?”
I felt him before I saw him. He was walking down towards me in his usual long black blazer that reached his calf, a white buttoned up long sleeved shirt, black pants and soft leather black shoes.
He wore his hair long as always but in a sexy, curly disarray.
I saw the way he garnered attention around him as he walked. I saw the way the jaws of several girls slackened as he passed them. He was really turning heads and he was all mine.
“Lana, I will see you on Saturday, I have to go,” I said and got up from the bench.
“Alright, it’s a date, love you,” Lana replied and I hung up the phone.
“You seem troubled,” he said as he stopped right in front of me.
“Yeah, I just spoke to Lana,” I told him.
“She is safe from harm,” he replied with a reassuring glance.
“I know, but why is she not back in her place?” I asked him.
“I kept her in a hotel because I still feel like someone will come for her,” Issa said.
“I did not know that you cared for her at all, after all, she is human,” I told him, amazed that he was worried about her safety.
“She is your friend, Yulia, regardless of whether she is not our kind, I saw how afraid you were for her when she was in danger,” he said as he looked me deep in the eyes. “It would have devastated you if something had happened to her.”
I wanted to hold him tight and kiss him till I ran out of breath but we were in public. I felt like he read my mood and a smile lit up his face.
“I know that I am a monster, but I am also a gentleman,” he boasted.
“Let us go see that dress you got me,” I said, reminding him of the dinner.
We walked towards the car enjoying each other’s silence.
“Leia texted me; I think she wants revenge,” I said as we both got into the car.
“Not tonight, she is going to be on her best behaviour, Deucalion will see to that,” Isaa replied. “But she will hold a grudge though.”
Issa drove me to a building with the Chanel symbol on it. It was a very high structure that demanded attention from all who gazed upon it..
“That’s a Chanel fashion house!” I screeched with disbelief. “How do you even have access?”
“I am wealthy, and I know one or two designers who owe me some favours,” He replied with a shrug as he drove to the underground parking lot. Even the security at the gate let us in without much of a glance. “They made the dress specifically for you.”
And I stared dreamily at Issa. He was my forbidden prince charming. We got down from the car and Issa led me to an elevator that took us to the fifteenth floor.
And the entire time, all I could think of was how the dress was going to look like. I was so deep and lost in my thoughts that my big expectations and imagination almost drowned.
Perhaps, I had already drowned…