"You've been staring at me for a long time. What do you want to say?" Kai said without looking at me.
I stood up and walked to the dining table. I felt embarrassed. I didn't think he'd notice. I just couldn't help it. I grabbed a mug and started pouring coffee from the thermos with my back to him. I didn't want him to see my face looking so flushed. I took a deep breath.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" He sounded confused by my question.
"You've been acting strange lately." I fought back the tears that were forming in my eyes.
"Strange? How?"
"You've been so distant." I paused for a while. My heart was hurting. "It's just that I feel like you've been so cold to me these past days. It's like we were back to how we were before we became friends. Sometimes it felt like you're even colder than before."
He didn't say anything, and I didn't have the courage to turn around and look at him. "Did I do something wrong?" I went on. "Are you tired of being friends with me?"
He still didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't care anymore. I finally let the tears fall. "I'm not being clingy or anything; I just want you to tell me if you don't want me around anymore. I mean, we're past all the lying, right? I just hope you'd be honest with me." I sobbed at the end of my sentence and hoped he never heard it. I thought he left the cabin without a word because it was too quiet, but suddenly he wrapped his arms around me from behind. It caught me by surprise. I tried to break free but he wrapped them tighter and buried his face on my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" It was all I could think of asking.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I could feel his breath on my shoulder. It was making me feel all kinds of weird.
"Then, why? What happened?" I wanted to know the truth.
"I was… jealous." That was surprising. I never knew the word was even in his vocabulary.
"Jealous? Of what? Of my boring life?" I tried to sound sarcastic.
"No. I mean, your life is hardly boring, what with all those near-death experiences." Then he laughed lightly. "I just hated how you were so close with him."
"Who? Philip? He's my childhood friend. Just because I've been spending time with him doesn't mean we're not friends anymore. It's okay to be friends with more than one person, right?"
He didn't say anything for a while. Then he let me go and spun me around to face him. The next words he spoke left me speechless.
"I wasn't jealous as a friend. I was jealous as a man."
The next thing I knew, he was kissing me. And I was kissing him back. His kiss was soft and gentle. His lips were caressing mine. It was warm and comforting, like the warm rays of the sun. The weather outside was tumultuous, but my mind and my feelings were calm and relaxed. I knew it was wrong. I knew we shouldn't be doing what we were doing, but I wanted to follow my heart. Our feelings for each other were clear. There was no stopping them.
That night, we crossed the bridge….
The next morning, something was different. The wild storm the night before had passed, and it was quiet outside aside from the sound of the birds chirping and the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew. I looked at my face in the mirror and saw myself glowing. It was more than just the sunlight hitting my face. I was happy. The smile plastered on my face was proof of it. I got back to bed to stare at the breathtaking sight beside me. He looked so peaceful. He looked like an innocent boy with no fears and worries. I traced his eyebrows with my fingers, down his nose to his lips. He slowly opened his eyes and stared back at me, looking deeply at my soul. We smiled at each other until I remembered something. "Amelia."
We ran back to the cabin where Amelia was staying, hoping she had miraculously found her way back. The door was ajar. I ran up the steps and burst the door open. To my relief, Amelia was there. She was sitting on the couch, munching on the snacks I brought the other day. I took a few swift strides and knelt beside her.
"Where have you been? We've been looking for you. We were so worried."
"Sorry. I was chasing a bunny and I got lost."
"A bunny? Why?" I asked, confused.
"I was thirsty." She said nonchalantly.
"Thirsty? What do you—" I stopped midsentence and noticed the poor little creature lying under the dining table. It wasn't moving. I stood up and looked at Kai. He looked back at me, his eyes filled with concern.
Kai parked his car a few meters away from our front gate. It would not look good to be seen together, especially on a school day, in dirty clothes in which we obviously slept in. We were quiet in the car. We were both thinking about the situation. Things were more complicated than we thought.
"At least now we know Amelia isn't… vegetarian." I said jokingly.
"It's not funny. It means there's a possibility of her becoming more dangerous every day."
"But I thought you said she isn't turning into a vampire. What's going on?"
"I don't know. Since we don't know what's going on yet, I need you to promise me something." He looked serious.
"What is it?"
"Promise me you won't ever go visit Amelia on your own. I don't want you alone with her in case she loses control. Please promise me?" That gentle tone of his made my heart leap bounds.
"I promise." Then I gave him a peck on the side of his lips. "I should go now. I just hope my father isn't there."
"No. He's not there. I heard there's a joint meeting today. Some of our elites found out about an underground alliance between the rebels." I must have looked anxious because he went on. "Don't worry about it. They'll be discussing what to do to prevent future rebels from springing up. They'll be looking for a peaceful solution for everyone."
Kai talked to the others and they agreed to help. Philip knew something was wrong and I didn't want to lie to him. I told him everything. Anita came for a surprise visit and heard us talking so I had to tell her everything, too. After listening to it, she thought it was exciting and agreed to help. Philip was worried about our safety and said he wouldn't let us do things on our own.
"It's odd. The orphanage has very high security, especially at night." Christian stated.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We went there last night on a stakeout and the property was filled with motion detectors and cameras. There were also a few guards patrolling the area. It was weird that an orphanage has such high-level security." Jeremy explained.
"It's just proof that Krista's right. There's something going on there." Anita said.
"Then what do we do now, Krista?" Philip asked. "It would be impossible to sneak in at the orphanage without getting caught. That would be a suicide mission."
"Since it'll be hard to break in at night, then we go during the day."