Timeless - Mark Tuan

Chapter 31

"Arnisa!" Jinyoung goes again. I turn towards the house, where his holler is coming from. 

"Over here." I yell back. I look back at the three, but all I see of them are their backs running towards the hills. 

"Hey!" He stops and catches his breath when he finally reaches me, bending down in front of me, his hands on his knees. He turns his head to his side, where the three had disappeared just seconds ago. He then stands straight and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You ok? I think I heard you talking to someone."

I raise a brow at him, battling with myself if I should tell him or not. I'm really not sure why I don't. "No." I shake my head. "I'm fine." Maybe it's because I'm still upset about him keeping secrets from me. "What's the matter?"

He eyes me curiously, knitting his brows then turning his head from side to side. "What are you doing here anyway?" He asks, finally letting go of the subject. "I thought you followed us in the house."

I shrug my shoulders and roll my eyes at him. "You don't want me to hear your little conversation, don't you?" I pout, turning my back on him and starting for the lake again. 

I'm just glad I've mastered how to conceal my thoughts from him. Since the time I learned how to share what I was thinking, I couldn't control it. But, one of the members of the coven taught me. I'm not sure Jinyoung was happy about it though. 

"Arnisa." He sighs, jogging behind me and pulling my arm so I could face him. He puts his hands on my cheeks and leans closer. "I'm not keeping anything from you." He says, sighing again. "There are just matters you don't need to know. It would just give you a headache. You told me before to keep you out of politics, right? That's what I'm doing. I just don't want to stress you, ok?"

I look straight into his eyes, trying to read what's on his mind, but, he's better at concealing his thoughts. "You sure?"

He smiles and it seems like the doubts I had on him earlier just disappeared. "I promise."

"Fine!" I bite my lip, stopping myself from smiling back, still pretending to be angry. "So, have you heard of Lady Ealasaid yet?" I ask him. Six months ago, I dreamed of her. She was angry at me for leaving her. I've felt guilty after that. We didn't even have a decent farewell when I left. I just disappeared. So, ever since then, I asked Jinyoung to send someone to find her for me. Just so I could tell her I know what she's planning and that I don't hold any grudge towards her ... that she's still an important part of my life. 

He shakes his head. "No." He walks slowly beside me, taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "You know how elusive she is. But, she's around, I know. I felt her once when Mark and I were in France."

Mark. Mark is one of the boys in the coven. But, that name. That boy just earlier. His name was Mark, too. 

"Jinyoung?" I stop just at the bank of the lake, sitting on one of the rocks placed there for that purpose. "Have you ever traveled through time?" I ask him, not knowing where it's coming from. I just noticed how different the three boys were clothed. It was very similar to what Jinyoung was wearing when I first met him. It's not from this time, I'm sure of that now. 

Time travel is something I've only heard about. It takes an experienced one to lead it, and I am not that experienced. 

I look up at Jinyoung who's standing beside me when he doesn't answer. "Have you? Can we try it?"

He looks out in the distance. "Why? Did something happen?"

I shake my head and look at the glimmering water of the lake. "No. I'm just curious. I heard it's not that dangerous to travel to the future." I turn to him again. "Can we?"