Alice's expression turned serious. "Well, you have to be careful, Diana. Ryder's a daddy's boy, and he'll probably report this to his father. You know how influential his family is."
Yuli shrugged, a hint of a smile on her lips. "I don't mind. Let him bring his father. I'm not intimidated. A fruit doesn't fall far from its tree, right? I'm sure his father will be just as...enlightening."
Alice's eyes widened in surprise, but she couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. This new Diana was confident, fearless, and unapologetic. She liked it.
As they walked to Alice's car, she asked, "So, what's your plan? Are you heading home?"
Yuli nodded, and Alice opened the car door for her. As Yuli settled into the passenger seat, she asked, "What's this?" looking around at the car's interior.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "What's what?"
Yuli hesitated, realizing her mistake. "This...car," she said, trying to sound casual lest she give off the fact that she is a stranger and isn't familiar with modernization.
Alice laughed. "Of course, it's a car! What did you think it was, a bicycle?" She chuckled and helped Yuli fasten her seatbelt.
As they drove, Yuli couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder. She had observed cars before, but this was her first time riding in one. Alice glanced at her, noticing her fascination.
When they arrived at Yuli's house, Alice turned to her and said, "Don't worry, Diana. If Ryder or anyone else tries to bother you, I've got your back. And if needed, I'll ask my brother Jess to help out."
Yuli smiled, appreciative of Alice's concern. "Thanks, Alice. I appreciate the offer, but I can take care of myself."
Alice nodded, smiling. "I know you can, Diana. But it's always good to have friends watching your back."
With that, Yuli stepped out of the car and walked into her house, feeling a sense of gratitude toward Alice and a newfound confidence in herself.
...
The next few days passed quickly and peacefully, with Yuli growing closer to Alice and even asking her to teach her how to drive.
Yuli had spotted a car in their compound at home and decided to start driving it to school, but she needed Alice's help to learn. With Alice's guidance, Yuli quickly picked up driving and began coming to school in her new ride.
She also mentioned to Alice that she was looking for her brother, Alice was quite shocked to know that she had another brother apart from Derrick but nevertheless, she promised to ask her brother, Jess help her look for him.
Meanwhile, Ryder had been absent from school for several days, and Yuli suspected he was probably recovering from his injured teeth.
Xavier, on the other hand, had been trying to strike up a conversation with Yuli, but she had been ignoring him completely.
The principal, still unaware of the recent drama, was on a Valentine's vacation with his wife.
However, Francine had already poisoned the principal's mind against Yuli, painting her as the villain.
As soon as the principal returned, he would likely address the issue, thanks to Francine's influence.
Yuli's family, including her mother, Kimberly, her father, and brother, were still on their wedding vacation and hadn't bothered to call her to check in. Yuli, however, wasn't concerned about their absence; in fact, she wished they would stay away for as long as possible.
********
Adapting to the human world wasn't as stressful and bad as Zeke thought it was going to be.
Judging from the previous huddle of crazy people he met initially, trying to trip over him, he had expected chaos.
But his routine had consisted only of eating, going out, and sightseeing - not actually moving too far from the house.
And he actually loved humans food.
He spent his days moving around, joining his brother Jess on random business meetings, and spending more time at the office at the company.
Girls who knew Damion and his reputation as a flirt tried to get closer to him, but Zeke couldn't be bothered.
They didn't know that the Damion they knew before was no longer the existing Damion.
He hadn't even bothered to go back to reshoot his movie cover or anything concerning his career.
He just wanted to stay away from everything that would have people involved in his life.
Even though he found the human world quite intriguing and nice, with an interesting way of life, he couldn't also deny the fact that he missed home.
He missed Winter Universe. And even though he didn't want to admit it, he actually missed his sister Yuli and Abel. He missed their banters and just when they freed Abel, this had to happen.
The king and queen must be so worried about them, and to make things worse, his supposed brother Jess just had to be an exact replica of Abel, was it some kind of compensation for separating him from Abel?.
Well now that they were already here, he just wanted to see Yuli again and hoped that he would find her soon, so that finally, he could meet someone that understands him in this world.
The loneliness was starting to get to him a little, and he longed for the familiarity of his own world. He yearned for the comfort of having someone who knew him, truly knew him, by his side.
Little did he know, his wish was about to come true, but in a way he least expected.
Zeke was in his room as usual, deep in concentration, to heighten his senses to locate his sister Yuli. But then he heard Jess's voice calling out to him.
"Damion..? Damion..??" Jess called as he was almost close to the room with Flynn leading him.
Zeke ignored him at first, but sensing Jess drawing closer, he immediately retracted his powers and dispersed the ice mist around him so that Jess wouldn't suspect anything.
Jess's voice was laced with concern as he finally pushed the door open with a little creaking sound.
"Damion, what's going on? You've been home for days, and you're not your usual self."
Zeke shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "I'm just tired, Jess. I need some rest."
Jess's eyes narrowed. "Rest? You've been sleeping all day, every day. That's not like you."
Zeke forced a lazy grin. "Hey, I'm just trying something new, okay? I'm exploring my lazy side."
Jess raised an eyebrow. "You know how absurd you sound now?"
"And I heard you also dyed your hair back to black. Are you sure you're okay?"
Zeke paused for a few seconds before replying, "Do I look like I'm not okay?"
He folded his arms and creased his brows, a hint of amusement on his face.
Jess's expression turned wistful. "You know, that's actually one thing I regret now - the fact that I can't actually see you to know if you're okay or not. I wish I could see for real, because knowing you, even from dyeing your hair black... you always had that light, that flair to dye your hair green all the time, and I've grown so accustomed to seeing you with green hair that I just want any miracle to happen right now so that I can see how you look with black hair."
Zeke chuckled, a low, throaty sound. "You know, your wish can actually come true..." He paused "it depends if you believe it or not.. who knows?" He shrugged "I might actually make it happen" he said in a voice that didn't sound anything like a joke.
This statement caused Flynn's gaze to linger on him more than usual and Zeke stared straight at him with a very dangerous and cold smirk that unnerved him before turning to Jess.
Jess looked at him like he was saying something funny, but he didn't sound like he was funny, his eyes squinting as if he was trying to see right through Zeke. For a moment, Zeke forgot that Jess was blind - the way he stared at him, it was as if he could see right into his soul.
Jess was quite surprised because Damion didn't speak this way and his voice currently carried this aura, elegance and seriousness unlike before.