Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Once again, Al disappeared. Tyrelle and I have no idea where he went, but every night, he would leave a note on my bedside table that was too skin-crawling for me to even say out loud or even read. But, at least it’s an assurance that he is alive.

It’s been over a month since Al’s absence, and with that, the attacks of the other packs have stopped. My witchly lessons continued, but at a very slow pace since none of the witches could really teach me how to use my type of magic.

Mine and Tyrelle’s fake dating seems to continue and we would usually go on fake dates to further convince his father. We get along well, but somehow, I always have this guilty sort of feeling that whenever I am with Tyrelle, I somehow imagine Aelfric popping out of nowhere to ruin the date.

He never did, but the night after hanging out with Tyrelle, he would write a three-page love letter, detailing how he planned to murder him once he was no longer busy. I know I should be concerned, but it is also a relief that he is still writing to me.

“Gabriella,” Tyrelle calls my name. Right now, we’re at a coffee shop having a snack after watching a movie. He noticed me stirring my coffee using my mind. “Gabriella,” When I did not respond to him the first time, he reached out and held my hand.

“Huh?” I was surprised, making me lose my concentration. I slightly spilled some coffee that landed on top of his hand. He winces. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” I grabbed his hand that got hurt.

“Gabriella, it’s fine.” Tyrelle assures me and tries to lightly pull his hand away.

“Hold on. It’ll just be a second.” I take in a deep breath and gently blow on the red spot on his hand. Then, with a light brush of my thumb over his skin, the red mark from the hot coffee suddenly disappears.

I hear Tyrelle taking a breath, making me look at him. His surprise suddenly turns into a soft smile. “You’re really starting to get the hang of your powers.” He says.

I blush at the compliment. “Maybe a little. I still think I need more practice if I want to get rid of my killer’s smile, you know?”

“Speaking of which,” Tyrelle leans back so he can clearly see my expression. “Have you tried smiling? Did you see any difference?”

“I-...I don’t know.” I lowered my gaze and placed my hands consciously on my lap. “I-I haven’t tried smiling.”

“Why not? You have gotten used to your powers so well. I even hear Doctor Kusher complimenting you from time-to-time.” He says. I can feel his gaze trying to read any slight changes in my expression. “Aren’t you curious if you still have your killer smile or not?”

“I am.” I admitted. There’s a long pause that follows.

“I am guessing there is a but?”

I nod and carefully raise my head to meet his gaze. “I just…I don’t remember how…or I forgot the feeling of smiling, if that makes any sense…?” It comes out as a question because I wasn't sure how to describe the feeling.

Tyrelle has his arms cross when he listens to me. “You can’t smile like you do during emergencies?”

“I…I don’t want to force it. I’m afraid that it might not be the same as when I smile genuinely.”

Tyrelle nods like he somehow understands what I am talking about. He grabs his cup of coffee and drinks it all before setting it down on the table. Suddenly, he gets up. “Finish your coffee and let’s go.”

“Go? Go where?” I suddenly panicked a bit because I barely made it half through with my coffee.

At my question, Tyrelle grins. “We’re going to try and do something fun to bring out your smile.”

***

When Tyrelle mentioned fun, I thought that he’d suggest eating or going on a road trip. Never did I expect him to take me to an arcade, nor did I know him as the type to go into one. Between him and Al, he is always the serious one.

But come to think of it, he is smiling lately. He has become less uptight.

The strong blaring of the game music from different machines and the screams of kids and teenagers are enough to make me cover my ears as we enter. I turned to Tyrelle to see if he was having trouble like me with the noise, but he didn’t seem bothered by it in the least. In fact, his eyes seemed a little excited.

“This really takes me back,” He mumbles, but I can’t be sure if that is what he says because of all the background noises. He suddenly turns to me with a smile. “Let’s go. I’ll buy us some tickets.” He grabs my hand and suddenly leads me to the counter, where he spends a lot of money buying tokens. There were so many that the cashier offered him a pouch to carry them all.

“Tyrelle? That’s a lot. Are you sure that-”

“Of course. We have the whole day here to make you smile.” He tells me. When he meets my gaze, that’s when I start to realize that he’s being serious with his words. “What kind of guy will I be if I can’t make my girlfriend smile?” He says.

Though his words seem genuine, it suddenly made me a little conscious that I started looking around. He called me his girlfriend, so does that mean that there are spies around us? Before I can even look around us to check, Tyrelle is already pulling my hand to lead me to the nearest game station.

The first stop is a shooting game, which I was surprised to find that I was actually quite good at. And I am even more surprised when Tyrelle sucks at it. It's hilarious how he keeps cursing every time he dies, but I guess I'm still holding back my laughter because Tyrelle is looking at me with concern. He must have noticed my expression as I resisted. I started to apologize, but Tyrelle just smiled patiently at me and shook his head.

“It’s alright. All the more reason to keep on playing.” He says.

Tyrelle and I spent the entire time playing different games. We played a bunch of them, including cranes, rhythms, arcades, and even those VR games. I can’t remember what kind of game I was playing because all I remember is that I kept on screaming. It wasn’t until the photoshoot part that I could not help but laugh. It’s our first time going to a photobooth and we have no idea where the camera is. The end result is that we were looking at the screen instead of the small dot of the camera right above it. Then, when Tyrelle thought that it was over, he stands up and trips, kissing the camera in the end.

I insisted on keeping that one specific photo. It wasn’t until we reached his car that I burst out laughing, especially when he offered to pay me so he could take the photo.

Tyrelle looked shocked when he saw me laughing. At first, I thought that I might have frightened him again until I saw the genuine smile on his face. “Gabriella,” He whispers. His eyes brimming with happy and unshed tears as he chuckles. “You’re smile…You’re laughing normally.”

I pause like I am trying to process his words. Suddenly, I pulled my phone and turned on the front camera so I could see myself better and smiled. It’s not completely normal like Tyrelle says. I can still see trails of magic that scream a little bit of intimidation compared to the old one. But compared to before, I can already see a drastic improvement. Tears started to trail down my cheek and I could not control it.

“Gabriella? What’s wrong?” Tyrelle sounds worried.

With blurry eyes, I turn to Tyrelle. “I-I never thought I’d…I’d see my smile again.” I will admit. I feel a little silly and embarrassed that I am crying hysterically in front of Tyrelle. I even felt bad that he seemed to be in a state of panic because he doesn’t know how to calm me down.

“Thank you, Tyrelle.” I didn’t even think about it. I moved and hugged him while we were inside the car. It’s an awkward embrace, but at least I feel comfortable that I can express my gratitude towards him.

Tyrelle seems to stiffen for a bit, but he soon pats my back gently in a comforting way. “You’re welcome, Gabriella.”

***Aelfric***

There’s never a day when he doesn’t visit Gabriella, and there’s never a day when he wishes that he could spend time with her the way that the mutt is doing right now. The image of another guy getting close to his mate is making him mad, but at least he has something that drives his anger so he can release it on his enemies.

Normally, he wouldn’t have thought badly about it since Gabriella doesn’t seem to have anything special with the wolf. But can he say the same with the other party? Lately, he’s been growing suspicious of the young werewolf. He’s been smiling and showing more and more emotions, and it's making him more uncomfortable. He appreciated his help on keeping Gabriella safe and helping her with her magic, but with the way that Tyrelle is looking at her?

Nope. He doesn’t like it one bit.

“Soon.” He whispers in the night as he watches the two from a distance, laughing inside the werewolf’s car at a joke that he could not hear. He stood up and longingly gaze at Gabriella’s bright smile that was so contagious that he couldn't help but smile as well. But his smile isn’t the same as hers. It is full of longing. “I need to clean up soon before I can be with you.”