7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Laura

My head hurts. I hate this.

I open my eyes to... the ceiling of my room, which... I don't remember heading home on my own after I apparently got smacked on the road by someone trying to take my bag.

Wait...

Does that mean whoever kidnapped me got their way?

I sit up despite the throbbing headache.

The ceiling is familiar, but it doesn't mean I'm in the dorm room just like that.

In front of me, at the other side of the room sits...

A black guy who's not exactly black, more like the black from bronze, like... the color of a statue. The kind of black that shines.

More importantly, he has wings... he also has pointy ears. And... he's staring at his phone, seemingly unaware of me.

I pinch my cheeks. It hurts, so... am I not dreaming?

Maybe this is another dream about a gargoyle.

This guy looks exactly like that. The gargoyle statue coming alive.

I let out a breath. "So, you're in my dream again."

He looks up from his phone and grins at me. He shoves his phone into his pocket. "Except this time, it's not a dream."

"What? Not a dream?"

He comes over to my bed. He's a lot taller and stronger than he looks when he's at a distance. He waves his hand in front of me. "Not a dream."

"Is this some kind of gargoyle prank?" Maybe this is one of my classmates. Those people love messing around, which I don't mind most of the time. But for them to dress like a gargoyle and paint all over their body... "This is quite some effort put into this costume."

He spreads his arms to the side, as well as his wings. "This isn't a costume."

I lift my brows at him. "Are you a real gargoyle?"

"Yes, I am."

Is this a joke?

But he looks to be serious about that.

"Somehow, you look exactly like the gargoyle statue at the gate."

"Because I'm that gargoyle."

Now, I stare at him harder. "No way..."

I head to the window. I can see the statue's back from here.

At the far end of the gate, there's no gargoyle.

What the fuck...

I spin around to stare at this man, no, this gargoyle. "Geez, are you real?"

He smirks. "I'm as real as you."

I point at the window when I have no idea where else to put my arms. "Everyone can see the statue's missing."

He shakes his head. "No, you are the only one who can see me missing."

"Are you going to tell me that it's some kind of magic? And that I'm the only one who can see you?"

He frowns as if he is confused. "What do you mean by that? Everyone knows that magic exists, no?"

He either means exactly what he said, or this is the most elaborate prank ever pulled in history and he is the best actor ever.

I say, "Just explain everything, please."

"Okay, I saw that the robber tried to attack you, so I jumped in to help. It's my job to make sure everyone is safe on the campus."

"Ah, so you run around helping everyone."

He clears his throat. "I do that at times, I can't let everyone see me."

"Can everyone see you?"

"Yes, they walk by me every day. But like this, see me walking around and talking, hell no."

"There are some kind of rules for gargoyles."

"Do you also know about that?"

The more I talk to him, the more confusing it gets. "Not really. I'm not a gargoyle after all."

"I'm tasked to look after this campus by other magical beings. So, helping you is something extra. But I'm grateful that you cleaned me."

I suck in an abrupt breath. Now he really sounds like that gargoyle who helped me. I heard him when he told me to stop struggling.

Wait... If he is the gargoyle and sits like a statue, it means that he can feel it when people touch his body. And if that's the case, when I cleaned him, he'd feel me rubbing his crotch...

Fuck... That's not what I expected, or could even imagine.

I point at him even though that's going to be rude. "And you're here half-naked."

He stares at himself, seemingly unaware until I mentioned it. "Is this wrong? I think I shouldn't show up naked, so I put pants on. I've seen humans, especially men, walking around with only pants." He tugs on the band of his pants. "Is this wrong?"

I lift my brows at him. "Are you serious?"

"I am. I said I'd look for you tonight, but apparently, you needed me earlier than that."

I swallow and stare harder at him. What does that mean? That I'd... need him later? And it just so happened that I got attacked by a robber, so I needed him earlier?

He spreads his wings and his arms as if he's showing off his physique. He is chiseled and muscular, which makes for a good scene for sure. But...

He smirks at me. "It has been years, if not decades, since a human saw me walking around."

"As a statue, countless sees you."

"That doesn't count."

"I still don't understand. Somehow, you decided to show up in front of me, among all people."

He leans closer. My cheeks are burning. His spicy scent wraps around me, almost choking me, for good. He lifts my cheek with a finger. "Because you're special."

"Like... What's so special about me? I'm just another freshman. Is that because I cleaned you despite the fact that you can move and should have washed yourself instead?"

He laughs. When his face is that close to mine, his heated breath lands on me, setting my inside on fire. Not to mention when he is mere inches from me, I can almost feel his warmth. Now... My dream last night flashes in my mind again, which...

He says, "Look, I'm only here because you said I could visit you tonight. I can leave if I'm making you uncomfortable."

"That was a dream. I had a dream last night, no?"

"It's not exactly a dream. I tried to talk to you, but you were asleep."

I lift my hand between us to put some distance between us, except there was no distance between us from the beginning, so my hand ends up on his chest as if I set out to pat him. He is a heavy dude to push against and I don't even know whether he feels the push. He doesn't move a tiny bit.

I push harder and he finally takes a step back with a frown as if he's confused. I say, "I don't understand. It is a dream, right? How can you be talking to me like that?" And... hugged me like that. Did he actually hug me? Or did I imagine that?

He clears his throat. "I hate how humans don't learn magic anymore, then we wouldn't have to be stuck in this talk. Say, I prompted the dream. So that happened when you were sleeping, so it qualified as a dream, but at the same time, it happened. I asked you, and you said I could come."

"So... Was I fully conscious when that happened?" That I actually let him hug me and enjoyed that?

He nods. "Yes, you were. But I suppose you may have thought it was a dream like you thought we were in your dream a bit earlier."

"Were you in the room last night?"

"No, I was outside, enjoying the wind and my clean wings."

It... Doesn't feel comfortable when I didn't know what happened. It wasn't that fair. If I knew that was real, I wouldn't have let him hug me. Even though he is pretty handsome and can hug me well, we just met, if that.

He says, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that when I did it, I kept forgetting humans nowadays don't know about magic and gargoyles like me anymore. I didn't mean to take advantage of you with the hug and stuff. I thought you were fine with that."

"Did you... read my mind? That's creepy."

He stares at me. "Is that not meant for me? I'm sorry..."

Did I say my thoughts out loud? "Did you read my mind, or did I say something?"

"You can't be thinking about me when you think your private thoughts. Otherwise, it'd feel like it's meant for me."

"So... You can hear my thoughts as if I speak them."

"Yes, but only if you want me to know about that."

"I didn't want you to know about that though. Like... I didn't expect to tell you that."

He scratches his head and rubs his pointy ear. "I think we have work to do with that. I don't hear every thought, but if people think about me hard enough alongside their thoughts, I can hear that. You'll have to guard your thoughts to stay safe from other beings."

He goes to the window, looking out of it as if he's trying to make sure we're alone. He can't be watching out for another human, no human will be peeking or trying to get in through the window. "It's a dangerous world out there."

"With the robber, that's for sure."

"Also with all the beings outside. I'm not the only one who humans don't think exists. Um… To be simple, I mean there are other beings out there even though you've never heard about them before."

I take a breath. "So... Other monsters, or say, mythical beings exist out there and are alive?"

His frown grows deeper. "Indeed. Be careful out there. Some of them lurk among humans like me, some hide and wait to strike."

I still can't accept that it's the truth. All the mythical beings? "Like... Even unicorns exist out there?"

"They do. Why are you that surprised?"

I swallow. "That's wild."

"Is that? It feels normal to me."

"Why don't I know about that?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I think you should, humans should, but somehow... I'm only allowed to show up for humans who will keep a secret and who are important to me, so..."

Am I that important to him? Because I may be the only one who cleaned him in decades?

He comes closer to me again, almost as if he is sniffing me. "You're the special one."

"Like, special for you to hug and take as your own?"

He blinks and his eyes darken. "Do you also feel that?"

I flinch. Is that what he feels and what I should feel too? "Well, maybe you took how I cleaned you a bit too seriously. I just don't like how they defaced a statue, and I didn't know you are alive."

He blinks, but the sparks in his eyes fade. "I see. It's okay. I understand."

Now, I kind of feel sorry for him. "I suppose you can hug me if you want."

He gives a wry smile. "I'm only going to do things that you are comfortable with and want."

"You hugged me last night."

"I did. Did you never want that and only agreed because you thought it was a dream?"

I go up to him. He is a lot taller than me, and with his wide wings and strong arms, he can smash me without a problem. But at the same time, it feels right to be with him. If last night's hugs were real, he did give good hugs.

He spreads his arms. "A hug?"

I invite myself into his arms. My inside is burning, when he wraps his arms around me, the fire grows even stronger. "You're the gargoyle who specifically came looking for me."

He wraps his wings around me, too, having me safely with him. "I do. You feel special."

"Yeah? Or maybe you haven't been getting hugs a ton."

His body is hot, making it comfortable to stay with him. He chuckles as he strokes my back. "You may have a point, but it's not like that. I'm a gargoyle who has been alive for a long time. I've seen a lot of things."

"But all you do is sit there and play statue."

"Well, that's part of the job. Trust me, just by being a statue, you can see a lot."

"Doesn't sound too fun when freshman always mess with you."

"Indeed." There seems to be a low hum coming from his chest to me, echoing through my body. "This year, a freshman decided that she's going to clean my wings and... my whole body."

I snort a laugh. "Now, you're crazy for her, huh?"

His cock twitches, at this proximity, there's no way I'll miss that. His size is... impressive. He lets out a soft moan. "I feel like an animal."

"Is gargoyle an animal?"

He flexes an arm. "We're beasts."

I run my hand over his back. His muscles pulse with heat, warm like how it felt when I rubbed him and cleaned him. His skin is rough, almost the same as how he felt as a statue.

"Are you the beast that will devour me?" My heart almost jumps out of my throat as I say the words. I've never asked for something like that. Most of the time, I just want to be on my own and I can't wait to get out of social situations, let alone asking a gargoyle to be here with me. "Or am I supposed to be scared of you?"

He lifts my chin. "I can devour you and make it feel good."

Do I move my hand to his cock? I've never done something like this, so...

Am I that tempting to a gargoyle? Special, or so he said about me.

He sucks in a breath with his eyes closed when I run my hand over his hard cock. "I suppose that's a yes and I suppose you want me to hug you and do something more."

Is this a bad idea?

I may have touched myself in the morning as I thought about gargoyles, but when he's here in front of me…