Morana knows she's different from other people in more ways than one. Firstly, she's sixty-seven years old but stopped ageing in her twenties. Weird things have also happened around her right after she's wished for it. But most importantly, no matte...
As I left the apartment, I wasn't sure where I was walking to, but my legs seemed to know. They took me to the park and to the small pond in there. I sat down and watched the few ducks swim around. On the other side of the pond, a mother and child showed up. The mother took out some bread, and the ducks flocked towards them. They must have been so used to getting feed by people that they knew all signs of that food was coming. Before the child even had time to break off the first piece of bread, the birds circled them.
I had no real idea what caused my mood. I felt hurt and sad, but mainly I felt cheated. I thought it had to be because I wasn't his mate. Though I hadn't even known about the concept of mates until just moments before, it hurt a lot to know I wasn't Alejo's. To know that there was someone out there who he would care more for than he cared for me.
But I knew that wasn't all that upset me.
I watched the child ask for more bread and the mother rummaged around in her bag, only to not find any. The child instantly pouted and then began to cry.
Alejo had called me beautiful, perfect. He had said he didn't understand how I could not be his mate. He had said he loved me, though not directly, but that was what his words implied.
He loved me. He wanted a relationship with me. But he also didn't because what he felt for me would never be enough.
That was what upset me the most.
What he had told me about his feelings for me should have made me happy and excited. But it was rather as if he had given me a million dollars just to take it all back.
It wasn't fair. If he knew we could never be together like that, he should have told me ages ago. He should have told me when he realized he had those types of feelings for me.
It wasn't fair.
My mind was still in a slight mess as I walked back to the apartment, but I also doubted it would clear up any time soon and... I wanted Alejo's company. Mate or not or whatever, nor the fact that he had caused my messy emotions, would change that I knew he had a way of making me feel better no matter what.
He came into the hallway almost immediately when I opened the door and there was relief written all over his face.
"You're back!" he exclaimed and took half a step towards me before stopping himself. He seemed to shrink a little, as if insecurity swept over him.
"Yeah," I answered and wished he would have kept moving towards me. That he would have pulled me into a hug and made the storm in my mind calm. But since I didn't get that, I took my jacket off and went to hang it up. As I did, I noticed an unfamiliar bag thrown on the floor.
"A friend came to visit," he said, having followed my line of sight.
As if on cue, a man, who I recognized from the photo in Alejo's room, came to the hall from the living room. He had a wide and warm smile, bushy hair and beard, and just looked huggable. If a teddy bear would have been made human, it would look just like him.
"Hi! I'm Rick. You must be Morana," the man said in a rumbling voice that added to the teddy bear personification.
"Ehm, hi," I said and looked from him to Alejo, unsure about the situation.
"You remember him from the photo, right? He has the bad habit of showing up unannounced from time to time," Alejo quickly explained.
"Oh." I still didn't know what to say, especially because I was torn between annoyance and gratefulness. I wanted to sit down and talk with Alejo, or I just wanted to be alone with him. And if I was being honest with myself, I didn't want to talk.
I guessed I should have wanted that. Should have wanted to understand more about mate bonds and his feelings towards me. But as soon as I had seen him again, other things had floated around in my mind. The sight of his bare chest. His body pressed against mine. The taste of his lips.
I wanted to pick up where we stopped last night. There was no point in denying that. And because of that, Rick's presence was annoying, but also a good one. It meant me and Alejo couldn't do anything and maybe we needed that for a while. Until I managed to gain control over myself so we could act like only friends and nothing more. Like he wanted.
I needed to remember that. He wanted us to just be friends. He didn't want to love me.
"It's good to finally meet you," I smiled at Rick and decided to try to forget about all else.
"So he's told you about me? All good, I hope," he smiled back.
"Definitely all good. Like how you're basically the only other person the poster opens for." Alejo had told me about that while telling me stories about both Rick and Maya. Rick could apparently open the poster and reveal the altar behind it always, like I also seemed able to. At least it had never not worked when I had tried. Maya, on the other hand, only managed once in a while. That had been something I had gloated about for myself. Something that had calmed the waves of jealousy I felt.
Rick's eyebrows rose, and he looked back at Alejo. I turned to him as well and saw that he had a somewhat smug look on his face.
"Other person?" Rick then echoed. "You can open the poster?"
"Yeah," I said proudly.
"Always?"
"Yes." I started to feel that something was off with how Rick looked at me and his tone of voice. Almost as if he didn't believe me or as if he found a deeper meaning to my words.
"When did you try for the first time?"
I frowned, definitely not understanding what he was trying to figure out. "The first day me and Alejo met."
Rick turned to look at Alejo again, and I followed suit. The smugness was gone and instead Alejo glared at Rick.
"Well," Rick then said and changed the topic, as if the exchange had never taken place, "I had planned to stay here. But I'd honestly prefer paying for a room than sleeping on the couch."
"I could sleep on the couch if you want to stay here. I don't mind," I blurted out. I felt bad over having taken the room I assumed Rick would usually sleep in when he visited.
"No," Alejo answered in a firm tone. "Rick can just stay at a hotel."
Rick shot Alejo a look of amusement, but Alejo didn't seem to notice or he didn't care. His eyes were on me and they told me I could argue all I wanted, but Alejo would never allow me to sleep on the couch.
"I'll go get myself checked in somewhere," Rick said. Then added, "Drinks tonight?"
"You up for it?" Alejo asked me in turn.
Truthfully, no. But that was because I wanted to get to stay in and have Alejo all to myself. But that would definitely be rude considering that Rick maybe had to leave town soon again.
"Sure," I therefore answered.
"It's a date then!" Rick exclaimed.
He lifted up his bag from the floor and threw it over his shoulder. With his hand on the doorhandle, he turned back.
"Maya is in town also," he said to Alejo. "She wanted to surprise you tonight. But I thought it better that you know."
Alejo nodded. "Thanks."
"See you later then!" Rick smiled at me before disappearing.
As he left me and Alejo alone, the atmosphere changed and tension started to rise.
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