Wish Upon A Demon

38.

CHAPTER - THIRTY EIGHT

“Please, wake up.”

I pushing Zylen, but he doesn’t seem ready to wake up. Instead, he turns his face to the other side and resumes sleeping. Right, he was a heavy sleeper and I knew this for sure due to the last time I witnessed him sleep in his room in the palace. I would be ready to pour water over him again, but frankly, I didn’t have the time. “Faye? Are you awake?” I hear my father’s voice.

“Zylen, please, please wake up.” To my words, he only groans and shifts away. “Please, please, please...” I beg. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, and the worst of it all would be if my father were the one to see. However, if Zylen didn’t get up in a second, I had no doubt that my worst fear would come true. The footsteps get closer. “I... I’ll do anything you want....” I say, finally. His eyes open almost immediately. I narrow my eyes. “Anything?” He asks, rising up a bit. I take a deep breath, gritting my teeth, “Anything.” I confirm. “Okay then.” Zylen nods, grabbing the blanket. I stop him. “What are you doing...I’m naked underneath...” I tell him.

His eyebrow shoots up, “I don’t have a problem with that.” I slap his arm while saying, “You don’t but my father will.” Grabbing on the thin sheets that lay crumpled up beneath the mattress, I toss it to him. He picks up his clothes and within a flash he was gone. I smoothen my pillow and lay down on it, pulling up my blanket; I closed my eyes, praying my father wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

The footsteps get louder and louder and finally, the door to my room opens.

“I told you she was sleeping.” A woman’s voice says in a whisper. Was Alana here too? I gulp and stay still, breathing evenly. “Okay, let’s go.” I hear my father whisper back. And then the door closes. I don’t open my eyes though. I’m still keeping them closed in case one of them comes back to get something. “You can open your eyes now, Fred’s gone.” My eyes shoot open. Alana stands in front of my door, arms crossed, a smirk on her face. “Why did you stay back?” I ask her, sitting up, pulling the sheets up to my shoulders. “I wanted to confirm something. And considering your state right now, I’ve confirmed it.” She looks me up and down while speaking. “He’s not here,” I tell her when her eyes move around my room.

“I know, but seeing how his scent his strong, he’s not far off either,” Alana says, smirk growing when I shrug. “Leave, please,” I tell her and she nods a second later. “Come down for breakfast, once you’re... you know...done.... or don’t, we’ll leave food in the fridge for you...” She struggles with her words like she doesn’t know what to say, and then leaves the room muttering incoherent sentences under her breath. I sigh. I bend down to pick my shirt from the ground. Then I walk into the bathroom and turn the shower on.

Probably an hour later, I step out, drying my hair. And then I pause, recalling the events of last night. He’d been so different – so gentle and sweet and caring. And I’d liked – loved it so much. It was like I could still feel his calming touch on my body, his fingers running down my skin, his lips… And then the balcony doors open and Zylen walks in. Pressing my lips together, I resume drying my hair. And then, I look him in the eye. He smirks. “Now, let’s continue our talk from before...” Zylen says as I hang my towel to dry. “What talk?” I ask nonchalantly.

“That talk where you promised you’d do anything...” Zylen continues, walking closer. “Honestly, I don’t remember when we had a talk like that...” I say. Then slowly, he backs me up against a wall. And I smile, simply because I can’t control it anymore. “Fine, what do you want?” I ask. “I want...I want...” He looks around and I roll my eyes. “Call me when you’re done deciding,” I tell, stepping away and opening the door to my room. Zylen pulls me back, closing the door at the same time. I raise an eyebrow and he inhales, entangling his fingers with my own.

“I want you to go on a date with me,” Zylen says finally.

I stifle a laugh. “You want me to what?” I question again because I’m growing quite fond of that blush that involuntarily creeps up on his cheeks. “Go on a date with me,” Zylen says again. I narrow my eyes, “Wait, isn’t it first date then se-” Zylen cuts me off. “Yes or no?” He questions. “Well, I did promise to do anything so yes, I guess...” I tell him, shrugging. He shakes his head, “Forget the promise, yes or no?” He questions and I lay my back against the door. His eyes search mine for an answer before I verbally answer him, “Yes.” I say, squeezing his hand.

He smiles, exhaling. I loop my arms around his neck. His arms come around my waist as he buries his head in my neck. “You know that I agreed only for a date right? Don’t misunderstand that I’ll suddenly marry you or anything...” I say. He laughs, “I won’t.” He says.

“Good, because when I’m ready, I’ll be the one asking you to marry me.”

“This is expensive.”

“And I’m a demon.” Alana responds, rolling her eyes, “What other facts do you want to establish?” She questions, sarcastically. “Why am I even doing this?” I ask myself. “Because if you didn’t, Fred would be gloomy the entire day and also because you’ll need a good dress if you’re going on that date tonight...” She says, looking at a violet gown. “Wait, what?” I ask out loud. She scurries away and I follow her, pulling her back by the arm. “How did you know I had a date tonight?” I question her and Alana is suddenly looking anywhere else but me. “Did you eavesdrop?” I fold my arms and raise an eyebrow. “I might’ve heard a little bit...” Alana shrugs and then turns around, eyes and hands skimming through the many dresses displayed.

I scowl at her. “Even if I wanted a dress, I wouldn’t buy it from here.” I tell her, “I’ll just pick something out.” I continue. “Why not? Look at the dresses here, they’re fab.” Alana shows me a sky blue dress and widens her eyes. “They are, but their price tags aren’t,” I say, shoving her away. She groans. “Whatever,” I hear her mutter. “It’s finally the night we’ll announce our engagement to the world so I want to look fabulous.” Alana continues, biting her lip and continuing to go through the dresses.

“It’s not the world, only a bunch of middle-aged workers who probably don’t have any other work to tend to and decided it was better spending a Saturday night outside with people they don’t know and champagne instead of watching reality shows and eating pizza,” I say to her in a single breath, crossing my arms. “Oh my, is that what you usually do on a Saturday night? Watch reality shows and eat pizza?” Alana questions me, uninterested. “No, because sometimes, I’ll wake up in kingdoms I don’t recognize, but that’s not the point,” I tell her. She nods, though her eyes don’t leave the hanging dresses.

“What I’m saying is-” I get cut off by her. “This one’s gorgeous isn’t it?” She asks, holding a sequined dress. We arrived here an hour ago and spent more than forty-five minutes in pure silence. She showed me dresses and I commented on them. It was only now we started speaking and from the time we arrived here, this was the only dress that I approved of. “This is the one isn’t it?” Alana asks, excitedly. “If you don’t buy the dress, I will,” I tell her. Even if it was expensive, it was too beautiful for me to hold back. “Okay, then, I’m not even going to trial this one,” Alana says. I pick out a dress for myself too and we leave quickly after paying. ”Looks like taking half an hour ride was worth it, huh?” Alana says as we head towards the car. I nod before speaking.

“I guess so.”

“Where are we going?”

“Look, I don’t how to do this whole date thing, so just bear with me,” Zylen says stumbling a bit making me stumble as well. “I’ll bear with you when you take your hands off my eyes so I can see what’s going on,” I say. “Apparently, this was supposed to be romantic...” Zylen mutters and I can imagine a scowl on his face. “It is, it is...I’m sorry...” I say, touching the hands that are on my eyes. He sighs behind me. “No, it isn’t...” Zylen says and the hands on my eyes are gone. I immediately look behind me, so see Zylen sitting on the floor and like I imagined, he had a scowl on his face.

“Zylen...” I crouch down, hands reaching out to grasp his arms. “It’s really nice that you wanted to take me out on a date...and believe me, I haven’t been on a lot of dates but I think this will be the best one...” I say. “No, it won’t, and shit, I even took my hands off your eyes...” He mutters. It was then that I looked around. My mouth dropped open. I stood up. With fairy lights attached to the walls, soft music playing in the background and a table in the middle of the room, which was there to serve the purpose of a candlelight dinner, it was beautiful.

I felt Zylen behind me and I turned around almost instantly, pressing my lips to his. He seemed surprised at first considering his lack of reaction but then I felt him respond. I threw my arms around his neck as we broke away from the kiss and pressed my forehead to his. “Thank you...thank you so much...” I say. “So...you...like it?” Zylen asks hesitantly. “No,” I say sharply. I see his features dim a little but then I smile, giving him another quick kiss before speaking, “I love it.” The demon king brightens up again, his hand grasping mine as he leads me to the table.

And I laugh. I laugh a lot. We enjoy ourselves as we talk about the silliest of things. We enjoy ourselves while stealing kisses between dinner. And most of all, we enjoy each other’s company. I love watching him be free. I love watching this other side of him that opens up to me completely.

I love him.

Zylen freezes. And along with him, I freeze. Did he hear my thoughts? Is that why he froze? Does he not feel the same? I’m interrupted by my thoughts when someone rushes inside. Zylen looks me in the eye, the purple emerging in them, taking over the hazel. The man hurries to Zylen’s side, whispering something in his ear. I try to hear what he’s saying but before I can concentrate, the man bows to Zylen and then surprisingly, to me as well before waiting by Zylen. Zylen remains calm, taking my hand and then he looks to the man. The man nods, holding out his hand. Zylen hands me over to him, before whispering in my ear. I’m afraid the man will hear what Zylen’s about to say, but the man looks ahead like he’s blocking out all sound.

“Faye, go with him. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Zylen says and then he looks at me as the man leads me away. I keep looking back at Zylen as I’m taken away from him. He looks me in the eye each time, those violet orbs holding a secret that he’s hesitant to share. I look in front after I realize that I can’t see him anymore.

And so, I’m led away from the man I love.