Rejected By My Mate

The chilly wind brushes my skin gently. But my heart was racing, that made my hands sweaty and beads of sweat formed on my forehead in anxiousness. I couldn't utter a word because I don't know how to explain everything to Azrael. If I told him, he wouldn't let me go. The look in his eyes told me everything he felt as of the moment.

“Alice... Please tell me I'm wrong. You won't leave me behind, right?” he asked desperately.

I bit my lips hard and looked at Darius. He sighed and said, “It's up to you, Alice.” Then he entered back into my wrist and turned into a tattoo again. Now, it's only Azrael and me on the top of the castle with the light of the two moons illuminating us. I could see his face clearly, and his reaction made my eyes well up.

How could I tell him everything? Would he understand my choices? What if he won't wait for my return?

“Alice...” he begged, now tears streamed down his handsome face.

“Everything you heard was true. Azrael... I am leaving—"

I got cut off by his tight embrace. His shoulder shook momentarily. “NO! I'd rather be with you, Alice. Let me come with you. Please... I can't live without you by my side.” he choked on his tears and I couldn't stop the tears anymore from rolling down my face. “Wherever you go, I will follow you. Not even destiny can tear us apart.”

“Azrael...” I cried and sobbed loudly. He held me tight like his life depends on me. This is harder than I thought it would be. How can I leave if he was like this?

“Tell me... why?" he whispered in agony. I clenched my fist tightly into his shirt, afraid to let him go. I feel like I will lose him. Because of overwhelming emotion, my body shook immensely. I can feel his body trembling too and his heart was beating fast with all the emotion he felt.

It's a simple question, but it's hard to answer. “Azrael... I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my promise with you.” my tears streamed down my face like a river. He cried harder and even hugged me tight like there's no tomorrow.

“You promise me... You promise to be with me until eternity. I'm looking forward to your promise, Alice.”

I tried to pull away to look at his face, but he didn't let me. I nuzzled in his neck instead and murmured, “Azrael, I love you so much that it hurts seeing you like this. But please remember that you are the only man I will always love. No matter what time, no matter what world, no matter what the circumstances are... I will always choose you. I may not be with you physically, but my heart will always be with you wherever you go.” I paused and hugged him tight.

“If I can just bring you with me, I will do it. But... it's impossible, Azrael. I can't bring you with me.” more tears streamed down my face nonstop. I sniffled and held his face gently, then pressed our forehead against each other. “My love, I know I promise you eternity and I meant it at the bottom of my heart. I'm doing this because I want to fulfill that promise. Although, it's a risk I have to take.”

It pained me more when I saw his pained expression. I released a deep breath and cupped his face. “From the moment I decided to stay with you, I have already taken a step to risk everything—even my time with you and the others. It pains me every time I lie to myself that everything will be alright.”

I wipe off his tears with my thumb. “But don't worry, I will watch you from up there.”

“Alice...” he hugged me tight while crying harder. “I can't really change your mind, huh?”

"Well then, I will wait for you, Alice. No matter how long it will take you to come back, I will never get tired of waiting for you. Alice, you are my life and my everything. Without you, my life is meaningless. So I'm willing to wait for you, be it a hundred years or thousands of years. I love you so much, Alice.” he said and brushed his lips against mine tenderly. Our kiss deepened as tears streamed down our faces. It's salty because of the tears, but we didn't let go of each other.

We pulled away when we were almost out of breath and pressed our forehead against each other. “Hm, it's a promise?” I uttered.

"Yes, it's a promise. Because I believe in us.” he paused and smiled. “And I believe in our love.” He held my hand and put it over his chest. I could feel his heart beating faster, which was in synchronization with mine.

Our love?

I smiled and closed my eyes. Although tears streamed down my face.

The next morning, I woke up without Azrael by my side. He must've attended to the triplets already. Today, I planned to spend time with everyone. I got off of the bed and went to the bathroom. After doing my daily routine, I went out of my room and I immediately heard laughter coming from downstairs.

I stopped walking when the door beside me opened. It's Willow.

"Oh! Good morning, Alice!” She happily greeted me and walked towards me with a gentle smile. "Good morning, Willow!” I hugged her tightly while closing my eyes.

"Alice? Is something wrong?”

I pulled away with a smile, then I saw her frowning while intently staring at me. Her smile had faded and her brows knitted together. I shook my head. “It's nothing. I just miss hugging you like that!” But she didn’t smile and continued staring at me. “Alice, I don't like this feeling,” she uttered while her hand was clenching over her chest. I saw her free hand was trembling. Did I cause that?

I sighed and held her trembling hand. I have a lot of things to tell her, but I don't have the courage right now. “Willow, just relax and take a deep breath. Stop overthinking. Do you remember what happened when you overthink?” she gasped and nodded. When Willow overthinks, she can't move her body and talk for a week.

“I'm sorry, Alice. I'm just being paranoid.” She gave me a small smile, then did what I told her to do. "Are you okay now?” I asked, and she hummed. “Then let's go downstairs.”

“Okay,” she smiled and clung to my arm like a koala, but I didn't mind because that's how she acts whenever we were alone. Actually, Willow depends on me more than my other sister. That's why it worries me so much when I leave. I don't know how she will take it.

When we arrived in the dining room, everyone greeted us with a smile on their faces. The sight of them made my chest tighten. I will miss this. However, when my eyes landed on Azrael, he was faking a smile. He's pretending that everything will be alright. I frowned because I hated that smile. I sat beside him and looked at him, but he wasn't looking at me.

Last night, it overwhelmed my heart with all the emotions mixed and I know it's the same with Azrael. He is probably still processing what happened last night. Did he regret it?

“Alice, are you okay?” I looked up and saw everyone looking at me. I smile. “Of course! Why wouldn't I be?” They smiled and nodded.

"Okay, let's eat!” Mother uttered, and then we ate happily. Sometimes, we chatted a little. Our breakfast became lively.

The entire day, I spent time with the triplets and played with them, and chatted with my sisters and friends.

"Ah! I can't wait for tomorrow!” Val exclaimed and my other sisters seconded.

"Yes! I really love festivals!” Xandra said with a beaming smile.

“Festivals?” Giga asked with a confused expression.

"Ah, right! Listen Giga, a festival is an event when people gather to celebrate something.” Demonise explained. Giga put her hand on her chin.

"Hm. What are we going to celebrate?” she asked.

"Oh, because tomorrow is the start of the Full Moon! The Blue Moon will turn into a Green Moon. So the festival is called Green Moon Festival! And the next day is the Orange Moon Festival. It's the Red Moon that turns into an Orange Moon. It only happens once a year so we celebrate it.” Willow also explained, while showing Giga a hologram of a moon. Giga's eyes sparkled with excitement. “Ah, it will be so much fun!” Damona said.

Our chat continued with my sisters, doing almost all the talking. I just contented listening to their voices while imprinting them in my memory. Their cheery tone made me smile. I felt my hand being squeezed tightly. I look at Azrael with a smile.

When night came, I dragged Azrael out of the castle and teleported somewhere. It's a high cliff with only one tree in the middle, which shines with the moon's glow.

"Wow, it's beautiful...” Azrael uttered, and I smiled. I held his hand while we stood together and looked up at the beautiful, starry night sky. The colorful dancing lights in the beautiful night sky made the place more magical, as it also illuminates the magical tree.

“I wish this moment would never last...” I heard Azrael whisper and grip my hand tightly. I stared at his face with a gentle smile. Whenever he held my hand, I felt safer and calm. Those negative thoughts vanished in an instant, and now I'm more determined to fight my future with him and our child.

“I love you, Azrael...” he smiled and caressed my face.

“I love you more, Alice...”

I closed my eyes and leaned on to his touch while rubbing my small tummy.

“Alice?” I hummed and opened my eyes. Then he slowly kneeled in front of me, which made my eyes widen in surprise. What's going on? Is... he proposing to me?

Oh my!

I couldn't help but gasp and covered my mouth as a response because he caught me off guard. Inside, I was panicking and my heart was beating faster. He pulled out something in his pocket and showed me a small box. I gulped and bit my inner cheeks, trying to suppress my tears. He opened the small box slowly and the thing inside shone brightly because of the lights illuminating us. My tears poured down the moment my eyes lay on the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. It's a goddess ring with a moonstone gemstone in the center. The gemstone appears to be pure white, but it flashes an iridescent blue rainbow across the surface when moving slightly. It's so beautiful He was also crying while staring at me. He smiled and uttered, “I spend all my free time making this ring and it signifies my eternal love to you. I called this Alice Ring. So Alice... w-when you come back, will you marry me?” He was trembling and looked at me with anticipation.

More and more tears streamed down my face nonstop, and it made my vision blurry. I nodded my head repeatedly at him with a smile only for him. “Yes, Azrael... I will marry you!”

With tears of joy rolling down his face, he took the ring in the small box and held my left hand gently, then inserted the beautiful ring on my fourth finger. He smiled and kissed the back of my hand while closing his eyes. He stood up and wrapped his arms around my waist, and I also wrapped my arms around his nape. We smiled at each other and then he cupped my face gently while enjoying each moment. His lips crashed into mine but our lips just pressed for seconds, feeling each other for a while until we both moved our lips in sync and became more passionate. We poured all our emotion into the kiss like it's our last.

Today is the day of my departure. The council members and my mother only know that I will meet up with Yael to negotiate. The only person who knew I'm leaving was Azrael, but he didn't know it's today. I didn’t tell him because I don’t want him to see me leave.

The first thing I did the moment I woke up was staring at the beautiful ring on my finger. I felt like I was dreaming last night. Azrael proposed to me, and it's the happiest day of my life, yet also the saddest night. Parting ways with the love of my life was so excruciating. However, I have no choice but to accept this pain to make me stronger. It's a fight that I have to take — a fight defying gravity and the cursed chains of fate. It's a gamble, but I'm willing to risk everything because I believe in myself that I can do this. Because I have reasons to fight.

As usual, we were all having breakfast together. And my sisters squealed when they saw my ring. It moved my mother and father to tears while congratulating us. Everyone at the table congratulates us and they look so happy for us. I smiled at them genuinely as a response and said my thanks. After breakfast, I sneak off into my room and go to my desk. I continued writing letters to everyone that I haven't finished writing because I felt so sleepy last night. I couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. While writing, I couldn't help being so emotional. I wrote all the words that I couldn't tell them in person.

“Ah, this is so hard!"

After two hours, I'm done writing the letters and sealed them in a small envelope. I'm planning to put this letter in their room later when they go to the plaza to celebrate the festival.

I sighed deeply. My sisters are expecting me at the festival tonight to watch the Blue Moon turn to Green Moon together. I don't want to disappoint them, but it's wrong timing. “I'm sorry, sisters...” I whispered sadly.

Since I'm done with my task today, I trotted out of my room and went outside the castle. The half- fox triplets, Blue, and Azrael were playing in the garden, so I joined them. We were having a good time when my sisters and their mates arrived. In the end, we were having a picnic in the garden. Everyone was happy. But I'm afraid I'll ruin that happiness on their faces.

"Yah, sis! It's your turn!”

"Huh?" I look at them with a startle expression on my face. Suddenly, they burst out into laughter. “Bwahaha! Why do you look so surprised?” Val let out while suppressing a laugh.

"Hm, what are you thinking just now, sis?” Xandra nudged my side playfully. I just laughed it off and then we all laughed. However, my eyes caught someone staring at me with an indescribable expression.

That someone is Blue. He slowly approached me and sat on my lap, facing me while observing my expression. The others didn't notice us because they started talking while laughing.

“Blue?” I whispered with a surprised look on my face. He narrowed his eyes at me and then jumped on my shoulder while wagging his tails back and forth. He was staring at me suspiciously. I couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. What a precocious little fox.