The Shadow Within Me

Chapter Thirty One - Cookies

Crystal Raine Meadows

It was the longest dragon ride I've been on, I was so afraid that I had to hold on to him again. Luckily, he doesn't mind.

After we landed, I got down on my own but I didn't realize that my feet were tied on the foot department of the saddle and almost fell because of my rash actions.

"E-Eep!" I squealed and was ready to face the ground again when someone grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"Can't you be more careful? It would be a headache to be around you, I wonder how your friends deal with your clumsiness," he sounded like he's complaining, but I didn't mind it.

The smell of mint and woods lingered on my nose and it somehow felt so really familiar, we're both trapped in that time zone as I looked at him from above.

His red glinting eyes were filled with emotions I still couldn't read, why is it so hard to read a human dragon being?

"Hey, you two!" I flinched and moved away from him after hearing Ate Kathy, "Oh, am I interrupting something?" she teased, so I grumpily paced towards her while shaking my head.

"N-No, it's not like that, I just fell and he helped me," I nervously explained, so Ate Kathy just laughed at me.

"Why are you so nervous? I'm not interrogating you," she sneered, so I just sighed because she's going to tease me for life.

She glanced at Calyx, "Sorry about that Calyx, she's the epitome of clumsiness," Ate Kathy explained.

"Ate Kathy! Stop teasing me please!" I complained, but she just laughed at me while sticking out her tongue.

"It's payback for not telling me a thing that's going on about you," she whispered, so I just sighed before glancing at Calyx.

Calyx surprisingly slowly nodded at her, "That explains a lot," he replied before tying Flash on some tree, which made me glare at Ate Kathy as she laughed.

We all went inside while Ate Kathy was eagerly teasing me in front of this man that's with us right now. The smell of burnt cookies embraced my nose, so we coughed and ran to the kitchen, we saw Kuya Draven looked really apologetic.

"W-What happened?!" Ate Kathy exclaimed while staring at the burnt cookies on the metallic tray.

"I-I'm sorry, I thought Kath forgot to level up the fire a while ago, so I added more and didn't realize she set it to lower fire because we'll leave and come back," Kuya Draven scratched the back of his head while Ate Kathy was starting to turn red.

"Draven! I told you not to mess with my kitchen!" she sounded like she was about to attack him.

"But I also told you not to leave the kitchen stove open or even the oven open while we leave, it's dangerous!" Kuya Draven argued, Ate Kathy looked like she was about to throw something, so I stepped in and exhaled a lungful of air.

It would be a mess and embarrassing if they started throwing kitchen utensils against each other with a visitor here watching us from behind.

"F-First off, calm down Ate Kathy because we have a visitor here," I explained before glancing at Kuya Draven, "And you should've asked about it first, Kuya Draven," I scolded him, so he just scratched the back of his head.

"B-But the cookies aren't edible now! How is he going to make it up for it?!" Ate Kathy's loud voice almost destroyed my ears, but I just reached out to her hands and grip them.

"You can make it together again, it's still early and Kuya Draven has to help you to make everything faster," I suggested, so they both just stared at each other before sighing.

"Fine," they both said in unison, so I sighed in relief when they started working together to make a new batch of cookies.

"I-Is it alright if I invite you upstairs first?" I glanced at Calyx because I'm afraid he'll witness more that could be his nightmare.

"T-There's a terrace there where we could stay while waiting for the cookies," I suggested, so he just nodded as I told Ate Kathy that we'll go upstairs.

After I escorted him upstairs, I immediately opened the door through the terrace and noticed that it was raining.

"O-Oh um, it's raining and the floors are wet, I don't think we could stay here," I glanced at him, but he wasn't looking at me as he stared from the outside. He took a whiff from the air before staring at the dark gray clouds. He looks like he's bothered about something, what's going on in his head?

"The weather, it's strange," he whispered, so I tilted my head at him before sighing. Why do I feel so nervous around him?!

"U-Um, do you want to stay in my room first?" I asked, but he just looked at me intently. I don't know if he's worried about something because of his red glinting eyes.

"U-Um, don't worry, I won't do anything to you, my room is big," I firmly stated, so he looked at me as he gave me a small chuckle.

My eyes were literally widened because of what just happened, did I just hear this freaking blizzard guy chuckling?!

"Interesting, but I think you should worry more about what I'll do with you inside that room," he slowly paced away from me.

W-What the hell did he just say? My thoughts were too clouded for me to hear what he just said because of his chuckle. I glanced at his back and he stopped when he noticed that I wasn't following him.

"Well? Where's your room?" he coldly asked, so I flinched before nodding as I escorted him there.

Luckily, I'm confident enough to let him enter because I left my room clean a while ago before I left for school.

I glanced at him before gesturing my hands inside of my room, "U-Uh my room will probably bore you," I invited him in, so he bowed before letting himself inside and stared around our surroundings.

"You're a fan of blue," he claimed, so I smiled before nodding at him even though he couldn't see me.

"The color of the sky is really beautiful," I commented, so he remained quiet while pacing around my room.

"But you have something more breathtaking than the sky," he replied, so I tilted my head at him. What the hell is he talking about? I just shook my head.

"How are you feeling?" he coldly asked, so I flinched before slowly nodding at him. My heart is pounding inside of my chest like it wants to get out.

"I-I'm fine now, I already moved on and will probably be not staying in tight places for the meantime," I almost stuttered, but he didn't say anything anymore.

"Thank you again for saving me back there, it means a lot to me, and sorry that we didn't get to train again," I sincerely apologize, so he stopped before looking at me.

"Incidents happen, you should not thank and apologize to me often, I may be one of the reasons why they're after you," he claimed.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "You're acting nice, this is so weird," I shook my head as I stared at him intently.

He looked a bit confused at what I said, "I'm not nice, I'm just saying words that are appropriate and might be a fact," he mumbled, so I just sighed.

"Right," I commented and checked my things inside of my bath as he continued to pace around my room.

"You're reading the dragon languages?" he raised his voice, so I looked at him and he's looking at that big red book on my study table.

"Y-Yeah, I borrowed it from Mr. Ash," I informed him, he didn't reply as he continued looking at that book.

"Why are you studying this?" he coldly asked, so I stared at him again as I paced over there towards him.

"Nothing, knowledge excites me," I smiled before caressing that book intently, "It's the only thing that I have that I can gloat about," I didn't realize that I was talking out loud while saying those words in my mind.

"Are you sure about that? You have the blood of your parents, there's a possibility that you might inherit their strengths, you're just not growing yet or even training well," he firmly said, so I just sighed.

"You don't know everything about me and I'm not comfortable talking about this," I bit my lower lip, so he remained quiet for a moment.

I just sighed before sitting on my chair, "I-I just don't think I'll be able to surpass them or make them realize that they were wrong about me," I admitted, so he looked at me before he averted his gaze at me.

"Then train harder, prove them wrong and prove me wrong that you're not just a smart ass nerd and the epitome of clumsiness," he coldly commented, my eyes were literally widened at what he said as I laughed heartily.

"I-I didn't know you have a sense of humor," I chuckled while hugging my stomach, it feels strange to hear that from him.

He looked oddly surprised at what I did, but I didn't mind that as our eyes met and it felt like time stopped once more.

Why does this always happen? Am I hallucinating? Or this is how I feel towards him? Why does my heart pound so rapidly? Our eyes continued to stare at each other until we both flinched at a continuous knocking on my door.

"Crystal, are you two in there? The cookies are almost ready, you may come down now," Ate Kathy shouted from the outside, so I stood up and opened the door for her.

"Y-Yes, we're coming down," I answered, so Ate Kathy hummed from the outside and I'm sure she's thinking absurd thoughts.

"Take your time you two," she giggled from the outside, so I complained and was about to open the door to tell her that we were not doing anything when I lost my balance when I tripped over some books that were scattered on the floor.

Calyx immediately ran to catch me, but I was too low enough that we both landed on my bed with him on top of me as he used his arms to support my back.

I grunted because he was so heavy and didn't realize that something so warm just landed on my innocent lips.

The lids of my eyes slowly opened and it widened after seeing Calyx so close to me with his red glinting eyes staring at me intently.

I don't know how widened my eyes became after I realized that our lips match each other's, our heavy breathing was the only thing that I could hear inside of my room, I don't even know how to react.

Our lips are still matching each other's and I'm still not freaking out! Calyx's eyes changed into something I haven't seen before, it was like he was being possessed by something.

What happened next really surprised me as he closed his eyes and deepened the accidental kiss that we had started.

His lips were moving like it was asking me to do the same thing with him, he's telling me that he was thirsty for this.

It felt like I was in a trance when I started responding to his warm passionate kisses, my arms slowly raised on the back of his nape to pull him closer to me.

He grunted as his big warm hands roamed around my body and I don't know why am I not stopping this, why does it feel so right to have him doing these kinds of things to me?

I let out a small whimper after I felt that he put his hands underneath my shirt, his hands felt so really cold and warm at the same time.

We both stopped when his hands cupped my valleys, it feels strange being held by a man like this. Our lips finally left each other as we both gasped for air.

He blinked for a moment like he's trying to calculate what just happened. When he finally realized it, he stepped away from me.

"I-I didn't mean to do that, a weird feeling came over me and did things that are inappropriate," he sounded like he's apologizing to me.

He paced towards the door and left me inside of my room. I was still too surprised that I didn't have time to react to everything that had happened.

When I finally came back to my senses, I stood up and went to the terrace to see if he was leaving. 

There I saw Ate Kathy stopping him from leaving because it was still raining, though he already had the box of cookies in his hands that were covered in paper bags and plastic.

He looked like he felt my presence as he stared at me from above and immediately avoided his gaze. He bowed at Ate Kathy as he mounted Flash and left.

W-What just happened?!

To be continued…