Love and Beasts

Chapter 22

After they got to the car, Michael started the engine while Iza buckled her and Danny's seatbelts. After around 15 minutes, they finally reached Wolves house. The girl quickly reached to the door and clicked on the doorbell. After a short moment, she could hear giggling and then in the doorway appeared Mrs Wolf. She was smiling brightly and after seeing Izabela with Danny she was even brighter. "Oh Iza! It's so nice to see you again!" Iza looked at the lady bewildered by her behaviour. When Michael finally parked the car, he came to the women and stood next to Iza. He then smelled the air and felt a certain smell on the elderly woman. "Is there a reason to celebrate, Mrs Wolf?" "Welllll, Rebecca is pregnant so I have to celebrate! Afterall, I'm going to become a grandma again!" "Haha, is that so?" Iza listened to the conversation between Michael and Mary. Suddenly, she also leaned down a bit, over the woman and sniffed her.  "Mrs Wolf?" "Yes Iza~?" "Could it be that you were celebrating with liquor?" "Oh please, we just emptied a bottle of wine. Of course, Rebecca is a smart girl and she strongly opposes to join us." After this, the woman stumbled a little clumsily over the doorframe. Luckily, she managed to keep her balance and could still stand by herself. Then, Rebecca came from the inside of the house and smiled seeing her guests with her son back. "Oh, so you're already back?" She said, gesturing the boy to go inside and wash his hands. "Erm, Rebecca?" "Yeah?" "Do you know what time is it?" Rebecca took out her phone and checked the time. "It's nearly 8 pm." "Aren't you mad at me for bringing him so late back?" "Haha Iza don't worry. Actually, Lucian persuaded me to let you keep him with you for as long as you can, so we could have some bonding time with his mother. And now, I'm finally on some good terms with my mother-in-law thanks to you taking care of him!" "But weren't we supposed to bring him back around 6 or 7 pm?" "Yeah, but it doesn't matter since I trust you very much with my son. So don't worry, I'm not mad at either of you at all!" After that,  Iza let her breath out and smiled at her friend. "Do you guys want to join us?" Iza was about to refuse, but Michael did it before her. "Sorry Rebecca, but I already rented Izabela for the rest of the evening." After hearing this, Rebecca looked amused with a raised eyebrow at the man, and then smirked at Izabela. "I knew that there is something going on between you and one of them. So, how much did I miss?" "Nothing actually." Said Iza nonchalantly. "Ow come on, you have to tell me otherwise I won't know if I should ship you with him, or one of the other two." "Becky how many times have I told you that I feel nothing towards Ivan? Gee, I don't know him well enough to trust him." "Are you sure about it? Remember: never say never." Rebecca said, while sighing defeated. "Well, if you won't come inside then I won't force you. Have fun on your date, you two!" Iza wanted to say something, but Rebecca slammed the door before she could say anything. Iza then looked at Michael awkwardly, not knowing what to do. The man only shrugged, then took her hand in his, and started dragging her to his car. "May I know where are you taking me, Mr Garcia~?" "It depends on you, soon-to-be Mrs Garcia~." "Pfft, try harder 'cause I'm not one of those girls who think that you're some great modeling material. To me, you're a sly fox and a playboy, judging by the way you try to mellow me towards you." "I assure you Steinberg, that I've never played with any girl after meeting you." "So that means that you actually used to date someone before me? And here I thought: how come he kisses so well? He couldn't be a first timer?" The male then laughed a little at her remark. "Alright. You got me here. I used to have some girlfriends in the past. But when I say I like you, I mean it. Because, how come whenever I tried to flirt with you, you never fell for some sweet words and always had the last say in our quarrels? Even after I did a few silly pranks on you, you were never down or embarrassed by them. Heck, you always found me and always fumed at me for this." "Yeah. It always annoyed me the way you tried to trigger my anger on you. Momentarily, you were really annoying, you know?" "Was I? Then at least you will have some good memories about me and will always remember this handsome face." Saying this last thing, Michael pointed his finger at himself. Iza laughed at him, for his high self-esteem. "Nah, I've seen better." "Ouch, now that hurts, you know?" He said, nudging his elbow on Izabela's. Izabela returned it and they started to quarell, while laughing loudly. What they didn't notice, was some shadow that had probably a camera or something, because it suddenly flashed and you could hear a quiet 'click'. Then, the person was quickly gone. Iza didn't pay any mind to it since she didn't hear anything, but Michael heard some rustling and saw the quick flash of light. He looked around, but found nothing suspicious. Either way, he decided to keep his guard up and be alert to anything. He didn't tell Izabela about it, but he already saw a strange figure lurk in some shady corners, keeping a not so long distance between them, when they made their way towards the facility. The same happened in the park: the same figure if not the different one, was sitting on one of the trees in the park. Wherever they went, it followed them. At one point he wanted to lunge at the stalker and question him or her, but he didn't want to leave Izabela alone for a minute worried, that she won't be safe for a minute without him.