I was in a trance - looking at him being so concentrated reading the book. I wanted to get a better view so I peeked in more. I did not realise that I was actually opening the wooden cottage door wider for a better view. All of a sudden, the door let out a tiny creak. I was so nervous that I quickly hid myself against the wall that was beside the door. I was very afraid, afraid that I was trespassing a private estate. Though my very first thoughts were to run away, but my decisions were made. I had chosen to face my fears. I put on a gallant emotion and peeked into the cottage once more. However, Alexander was the same, sitting as still as ever. As I have concluded before, he doesn't seemed to behave like any other average people do. It is like as though this is his own particular idiosyncrasy.


I opened the door wide enough for me to go through. I walked slowly and carefully towards him. The closer I was to him, my heart beats raced. One beat after another, the speed kept increasing. With every step I take, the floor too, creaked. Though I was about two meters away from him but to no avail. Decisively, I took one last big step and, at the same time, squat on the floor at the area where I believed, his eyes could have seen me.


Alexander suddenly got startled after seeing me. I thought his first reactions were to stand up and hit my head with the book, but he just remained seated and he smiled at me. His actions were like how a real gentleman would have reacted after getting startled. What really made me wonder was why didn't he react long ago while I was making all those noise.


Then I finally realised that he has his MP3 player plugged onto his ears. How silly of me to think that he actually knew I was here for quite some time already. Alexander stood up and at that same moment I stood up too.


"I am sorry for being rude and not officially introducing myself, I am Alexander Dreyken and you are?" His voice, the voice that dreamt of had spoken. The sweet melodic voice that rang in my dreams had become all so clear now.


I cleared my throat, preventing myself from speaking off pitch. "Rosabella Cordelia." I paused for a moment and I began to speak again.


"What are you doing here?" I am sure of myself that this time the question sounded a little demanding.

"I would like to ask the same." He smiled.

"I was wandering aimlessly by myself and I somehow got lost." I lied, I meant to get lost on purpose. "I saw this breathtaking beautiful garden that surrounded the cottage, just that I would like to know who is the person responsible for it."

"Well, you are looking at him." Placing the book back onto the shelve, he looked at me and smiled once more.


I flushed. At the same time I was shocked to learn that he was the one, that person who took care of the delicate yet lovely red roses. He began to walk towards the door and further out, so I followed. I stared at his every move, his hair glisten under the horizon round. Invested with bright rays. His eyes locked onto one particular rose, the rose that was standing in front of him.


"You have beautiful eyes, they are like emeralds that glistens under a spotlight." He slowly reached his hand for the rose shrub and pluck one stalk of rose. He held the rose up to chest-level and using the other free-hand to gesture me to come closer.

"For you, a rose for the Rose." He smiled again. I knew I had to say something. I had been keeping quiet the whole time. I was so speechless, I couldn't explain to myself, the Alexander Dreyken that I had misunderstood from the beginning, about his weird gestures and character, was in fact a very nice person.

"Thank you." I reached for the rose and at this moment our hands touched. His warmth was exactly the same compared with the shadow that appeared in my dreams. Could he be..

"Are you feeling cold? Your hands are as cold as ice. Here, take my coat. Though it's summer, but well you know, Boult is known for it's cold temperature and high precipitations. It's not such a big deal here feeling cold during summer." He put his coat over my shoulders and took one step back.

"Black matches your skin." He smiled again.


I was still stunned and it was like as though I was paralyzed temporary. Again, Premonitions. I wasn't cold at all. I place my palm on my neck to feel was my hands really that cold. They were not ice cold at all but the fact that they were at the right temperature, warm. I couldn't care less, all I wanted was to know more about him. To know why was he treating me differently. It was like as though he can read my thoughts and he knows what I want. I know for sure curiosity kills the cat, that's what a lot of people say, but I want to know. It wouldn't be polite to shoot a bunch of questions to him all of a sudden. When I was about to open my mouth to speak, I got cut off by him.


"Why don't we go some place else suitable for a nice chat. I would like to know more about you."


I nodded in agreement. He suddenly grabbed my wrist and started walking.


His grip weren't painful at all, it was more like a vine wrapped around a rose - like a necessity to protect such a fragile flower. We walked a short distance, not very far from the cottage, and reached the top of a cliff. The ocean view was magnificent. As far as I can see, the ocean stretched across the horizon with the sun half-dipped into the ocean. With no islands blocking, the blue ocean was crystal clear. The smell of the ocean, mixed with the aromatic plants was like once in a lifetime short-term perfume that filled the atmosphere. That moment was definitely a breathtaking one, I was too astonished to actually believe that this was real. It felt like any moment, I would wake up from it and it will all just be a dream. Another once upon a dream.


We sat down on a rock that was shaped like a bed and started our 'questions and answers' talk.

Bitten At 2:57 PM