25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Laura

I sit at my desk, trying my best to focus on something that's not my phone.

Maybe it's a bad idea to message Gisett, even though he helped me. I think he still cares about me, right?

But maybe it is a bit too much for me to be the one wanting to get us back together when I'm also the one who pushed him away.

We are never together though. We may have thought about that, but that didn't happen after all. So maybe I'm not that wrong?

I thought he was here, but apparently, he isn't. I guess gargoyles don't hide under the bed after all and saying that to him is dumb.

What if he thinks that I'm mocking him or something? I'm not trying to do that. I just want to know how he's doing and... if he wants to, whether we can start fresh instead of how it is.

I stand and move to the window. Has he read my message? Did he choose not to respond?

I run my finger along the windowsill as I stare out of the window. The sky is clear and there's no sign of a gargoyle flying. Maybe he isn't coming after all, not even replying to my message.

It's my fault for pushing him away.

Normal is not for me, after all, sadly.

I let out a breath and get back to my desk. Maybe I should study for the exam that's coming in a few days. I don't have to keep thinking about someone else.

But...

I turn on my laptop, opening the files I need for the exam. It is what it is. I deserve it when I know in my gut that I should at least give Gisett a chance, or give myself a chance.

Gisett is a strong and pretty amazing gargoyle. He surely doesn't need me.

Meanwhile, I'm just a weirdo who can't seem to fit in, regardless.

Ryan has been nice to me, but I've never felt comfortable around him. It's not even his fault. I feel the same way when I'm with other classmates too. It's tiring to have to figure out the right thing to say. But with Gisett, somehow, I don't worry about that.

He—

"Looks like someone misses me."

Huh?

I turn around to the door, where the voice comes from.

There stands a big gargoyle guy with his arms folded and wings poised. "Are you the one looking for me?"

"Gisett!" I run to him and hug him before I can stop myself. I peel my hands off him and make myself take a step back. "Sorry, I haven't asked whether you'll let me hug you."

He leans over and lifts my chin. "You know you can always hug me. What happened?"

I hug him and bury my face in his chest. Maybe I'm only good for my "imaginary friends." "You're here, even though I told you to leave."

He wraps his arms around me, and also his wings. His big wings cover most of the light, but it is comfortable to be with him. "I'm always here for you."

"Why? I'm just a weird human who never fits in."

"With other humans. Maybe you fit in with gargoyles."

I tilt my head to the side. "Maybe you and I get along. I don't know about other gargoyles."

"Who cares about them?"

I stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"I don't care what the other gargoyles think, and I don't think you have to care about what others think either, whatever species they are."

I rest my face on his chest. "I was trying to fit in with others. But it feels like I can't get comfortable around them even though it has been a while."

"Maybe you need some more time. Everyone's different. Or you need more friends that are different."

I sigh. "I don't know. I thought it would be different in college."

He tilts his head to the side. "Are you different in college?"

"Well... Other than getting older, I don't think I'm any different." My throat tightens at the thought. "I'm fine with my studies, but I just don't have a lot of friends. Like, I got a few." I lift my fingers. "Not even a handful, I suppose."

"That's not bad."

"Is it?" Maybe I should keep in contact with them a bit more. We're all scattered in different colleges by now. Most of them are in their senior years compared to me due to... a mild delay in my academic life. We message one another at times, but a lot less compared to when we used to see one another daily in high school.

"It is. Think about it, you're going to have just one mate, after all."

"Is someone trying something here?"

He shrugs, pretending to be completely innocent. "What? I suppose you don't have to find a mate if you don't want to. Or... I suppose you can get more than one mate. Well, I'm not sure how that works, but I guess some do that. Not sure about humans, but someone out there may be doing that."

I close my eyes when nausea creeps up at me. "It... I don't know. Maybe I should wait until my mid-term is over before I think about that. I just want you to know that—"

"You're fine with dating a gargoyle?"

I poke his chest. "Stop jumping to the conclusion just yet. All I want to say is thank you. It must be challenging to try to hide your features to help me."

He smiles but doesn't look as happy as before. "You're welcome. It took some imagination to pull that off. I hope no one found me suspicious when they watched the security camera, at least not suspicious in terms of being a gargoyle among humans."

"Don't you have magic to make yourself invisible to other humans?"

He gives a wry smile. "It's not that easy. In theory, I can." He taps his temple. "But if I can't stay focused on that throughout, the magic may fade and it's going to be bad."

"Part of me thinks that you can just walk outside like this and no one will bat an eye. Do you know that people out there like to dress up as anime or characters from movies? People are going to think that you are pretending to be a gargoyle."

He rubs his chin. "You want me to be around you all the time, huh? So eager to show me off."

I look him up and down. "Well, maybe you have to get dressed. Put on something more than trousers. Geez... now that I actually take a look, what's that? Summer beach shorts with flowers on them?"

He looks at himself. The bright color goes well with his darker skin tone, but... that's a bit too... out of place with the college campus that prides itself on its history. He makes this place look like a beach resort.

He chuckles. "So, you want me to take these off, huh?"

I roll my eyes. "You know what I mean. I don't mean to cut our chat short, but I really have to study."

"Oh... I can understand that. But have you eaten?"

I blink. Right... I didn't remember that part. I was planning to grab something from the vending machine downstairs, but with my backpack getting stuck and Gisett coming out of nowhere, I forgot about that. "No, but I'm fine."

He taps the tip of my nose. "You should eat something. I'll cook you something." He heads to the kitchen as if this is his house. "You do have something in the cupboard and fridge, right?"

"You don't have to do that. We can order takeaway or something."

"Nah, I can cook. You've tried my cooking skills already."

"Then... Thank you." Watching his back as he wanders into the kitchen, looking for ingredients, makes my heartbeat race. Maybe I should have agreed to be his mate earlier. But... Does he consider himself my mate already? I think I want that, but for him, is that official?

Even though studying is important, figuring things out is important too. Maybe clearing things up will help my focus, which will be essential.

It doesn't take long before he puts a pot of water onto the stove. I go to him. "Hey, cooking gargoyle, are you going to set the kitchen on fire?"

He turns and glances at me as he gets spaghetti from the cupboard. "Because I'm too hot? That's a possibility."

"I... It feels like we are both weird. Or say, something's wrong with both of us."

"Why's that?"

"I told you that we could never have a future and upset you, but you're here cooking for me."

He watches me for a moment before he lets out a breath. "Weird, right?" He opens the pack and pulls out some spaghetti. "I've never been like this. But you make me feel like... Um..." He wraps up the package and puts it back into the cupboard. "Like a marshmallow. I don't get it, either. But it is what it is. It's hard for me to stay upset or mad at you. Good news, huh?"

"So... What are we? Friends? Mates? Dating? Something else?"

"Well, gargoyle and human." He laughs while I sneer at him. He knows what I'm asking about, and his answer is just silly. Silly like him.

He nudges me closer to him with his wing. "You know that I want you. I could have taken you to my place and locked you up until you changed your mind."

"Is that a threat?"

He shakes his head. "No. Why would I do that? I want you to like me back and that's not achievable with capturing you."

I lean into him as he chops sausages. "Are you going to keep cooking for me?"

"Yes, if that's what works for us."

"Tempting. But when I think about gargoyles, I don't think of them cooking."

"Then what do you think of?" He puts the sausages into the water and gets started with the sauces.

"Well... It feels like gargoyles just sit there at gates and doors. Legend is that they guard places and drive away evil spirits. Is that what you do?"

He nods. "Yes, I'm tasked with that."

I stare at him for another moment. He is focused on checking the water in the pot, oblivious to my stare. He looks so serious that he can't be lying. There's no reason for him to lie to me. I ask, "So, do you manage that?"

"Yeah, I do. Actually, it was before I was tasked to guard this place. I fought with my fellow gargoyles. I think that they fought as hard as I did, but they decided that I get to guard this place and be at the gate."

The way he says it makes it sound real, even though... It's a bit too much for me to believe. "There are other gargoyles."

"That's for sure. We'd been homeless for the longest time until I got to stay here. Now, they can stay nearby safely."

"Sounds like gargoyles live in territories."

"We are special ones. Most without a place to guard roam and get shooed from place to place. My gargoyles have been with me, and we fought together to safeguard this campus, so they are staying with me."

I suck in a breath. Now, it seems a bit clearer to me. "You're the leader of your... pack, group, family. What do gargoyles call that?"

"Maybe a group. There's no name for that because we aren't supposed to stay together. There's a gathering spot for all the gargoyles in the city, but that's all the community we got, except my group."

"Are you going to show me around to the other gargoyles?"

"Yes, but only if you're my mate. Our gathering spot is for gargoyles only, but I think they will agree that a gargoyle's mate should get access, too." He puts the spaghetti into the pot and starts the timer. "Here we go. Food will be ready soon." He moves away from the stove before he leans onto it, giving enough room so that his wings won't get hot.

He gestures for me to get closer to him. "What's holding you back? Still thinking about showing me off to others?"

My heartbeat spikes, and I look away from him. "I... It sounds like you're such a strong gargoyle, but somehow, you care about me that much. I can't do a thing, let alone fight something that I can't even see."

"It doesn't matter. You don't need to do anything. You don't need to be good at anything."

"So... What do you even see in me?"

He pulls me into his arms. "Something about you. Even though you don't have to, you always want to make sure everyone's feeling good around you."

Did I even do that? All I've been doing is just to make sure I fit in and won't get bullied. "That's wild. It can't be like that."

"What do you mean? You are nice. You cleaned me when no one ever cared. I've been on the campus for a long time, no one has ever done something remotely the same."

"I... I suppose I did. But it wasn't planned."

"I don't care about that. You did it regardless. I'd never force you to do anything. All I care about is for you to be happy regardless of what happens."

"You make me sound better than I actually am."

"You just have to gain some confidence. Maybe someday, something will come up and you'll get to know yourself more."

"I..."

I want him to be right, but I'm not sure about that.

He pats my shoulder. "You'd never know until then. Let me join your journey."

"But..." I still don't understand why he cares about me and wants me as his mate. There's no reason to. It feels right to be with him, but... "I just want to make sure—"

"Yes, I care about you and want a chance with you. For us to be mates."

I open my mouth. It is tempting to agree to that, yet—

The timer goes off and he groans, moving to turn off the stove. "Think about that. Maybe you've been too stressed about your studies. It shouldn't be like that. You've spent so much effort to get into this college. You should be enjoying your time."

I roll my eyes. "Easy for you to say when you have no exams and no lessons to attend."

He finishes making the spaghetti and lifts the plates. "Get a fork and let's have dinner first."

I do as he says. Maybe all my unlucky times led to meeting him, which has to have taken up a lot of luck.

We move on to the food. He doesn't say anything. Maybe I'm annoying him for not making up my mind. I swallow a forkful of spaghetti. He makes decent food, given the limited selection of ingredients in my kitchen. "What if it doesn't work out?"

He shrugs and slurps down his food. "No one knows about the future. Maybe it will work out well." He winks. "Things we can do together and the fun we can have..."

"Or more like things you can do to me."

"Hey, you enjoy our time together."

A surge of heat reaches my cheek. He has been the annoying one who lingered in my head even when we weren't seeing each other at all. Under the table, I rub my legs together. Now that he mentions that, it's hard to forget about the times we did spend together.

He seems to see me squirming. "You know what I mean."

"I do. You're a horny gargoyle."

"Horny for you, yes." He smirks and sends my heart beating even harder. He seems to always know what to do to rile me up. "You miss me."

"It... It has been a while."

"Yes, you want a good fuck, huh?"

"Hey! That's not what I mean. I'm saying it has been a while since we fucked each other and I'm—"

"Wanting."

"No! I've been fine."

"Until..."

"That really isn't what I mean. You just want to get things your way."

He chuckles and finishes his food. "Don't we all? If you want something, just go ahead and get it."

"It can't be that easy."

"Says who?" The smirk falls off his face and... He has a stone face now.

I swallow as I try to find a good answer to that. Says...

Probably me. Which doesn't sound like the right answer. But...

He says, "Maybe it is meant to be easy."

"Says who?"

He shrugs. "No one."

I frown at him.

He rolls his eyes. "No one has said or known whether it's going to be easy or hard. You just have to do it and figure it out for yourself. Who cares whether it'll be easy or not? You just have to want it, then you figure it out."

"Sounds like a battle plan, huh?"

He grins. "I won the war with that." He flexes his wings. "And now, I'm asking you, do you want to be my mate? I can cook for you. I can also show you more than you can ever imagine."

I clench the fork. I want to agree. But it feels like something's going to go wrong.

His intense gaze remains on me. It seems like he's going to wait for an answer before he'll say a word and let me leave.

"Gisett."

"Yes, I'm here."

"So... You're certain that you want someone like me as your mate?"

"You're perfect the way you are. Yes."

Now that doesn't sound too encouraging, but... "And you don't mind if I just want to curl up and cry? Or when I'm a ball of nervous energy? Or when I'm the unluckiest person ever exists?"

"I'm the luckiest gargoyle, though, with you." He takes my hands, clasping them together. "Give us a chance, please?"

There goes nothing. I nod. "Yes. Let's try this."

He stands and yanks me from my chair into the air in no time. "Yes! I've been waiting."

He grabs me in his arms and rushes to the window. I squeal. At least I finished my food, but that may be the reason he decided to do something stupid. "Where are we going?"

"The sky. I better start showing you what we can be doing together right now!"

A hot stream of blood rushes through my whole body. Is he... going to fly me into the sky with him?

Geez!