Chapter 9 - A Little Laughter
Seeing the fear in her eyes, he seemed to snap right out of it.
"No." He thrust Arik into her open arms, and she grabbed him immediately. He took a couple of steps back as he dug into his pocket and pulled out that small box with a glowing surface.
A phone.
They called it a phone.
It was part of the things Grandpa Alfred had warned her about. Dangerous human technology, which they use to communicate with one another, get information, track and capture her kind, and attack them. Idalia had never seen it being used that way, but she believed Grandpa Alfred. He would never lie to her and all he had done was for—- was for—-
Her heart was starting to race again when Louie's voice yanked her out of her thoughts.
"No! My goodness, no!" He was swiping his fingers frantically across the phone's glowing surface.
A screen, Idalia!
She had learnt these things, Grandpa Alfred had made her. He said knowing them would make it better to blend in, but with little connection to humans and little or no use of the things he had tirelessly taught her about, the words were just so difficult for her to summon, and sometimes, she would mix it up.
These things didn't exist in her Park. Letters were sent through Messengers and birds. Within a shorter distance range, the Pack link was used. Each den had its own separate link, and the most intimate and closest of all was the mate link.
Mates.
She hated thinking about that.
The earlier-mentioned two links would work here, though; it was a sign that the prophecy was right, that the human territory wasn't for them to inhabit.
Idalia knew nothing about the complexities of the mate bond; she wouldn't even know if it could work here.
Some would argue that the mate bond was the link between one's wolf that was the closest link of all but Idalia, like many, didn't buy that. A wolf was a part of you, not a connection.
While this wall stood between her and her wolf, she knew that half of her was sealed away. She felt hollow, and wished to be free, to be whole again.
But she knew better.
"I used the wrong tone!" He was pacing around, and at this point, his hand had loosened his hair from the bun it was earlier packed in.
He stopped, and before she knew it, he was sitting right next to her. "My goodness, it was supposed to sound like a joke. I was supposed to make it sound like a joke. I'm sorry. My goodness, I'm sorry. I didn't—- I am so sorry, Julie, I didn't mean it."
She tensed up, not liking how much little space they had between them. Arik reached for him, and Louie leaned down to play with the baby, but then his little hand slammed across his face, and Louie jolted back, leaving some space in between them while Arik's high-pitched laughter filled.
Finally, something they could both enjoy.
"You're smiling. That's good to see."
Idalia frowned. She hadn't even known that she was smiling.
Louie cleared his throat and put more distance between them, sitting at the far end of the sofa, perhaps sensing that she was more comfortable with that.
"You know, I thought it was strange while I practiced this technique in front of the mirror yesterday, but you know, got to trust the internet that has more experience." He said the last part in a sing-song and then looked at her directly, the humor gone from his eyes, "I'm so sorry."
Reluctantly, Idalia nodded.
By Argon, he was good!
If she hadn't known that this was a form of manipulation from a mile away, and had she been so trusting, she would be absolutely on board with being his friend.
Genuinely.
But then, two could play this game, and maybe at the end she would win his trust so she could use him and find a way to make use of the human tech to get rid of Alpha Kalio.
Louie sighed in relief. "I wanted to have a fresh start after yesterday and it seems that I have just ruined it. Seeing as yesterday was such a flop, I went on different websites on how to make friends with a single mother, and they said to be nice to her son. Which is good for me as I already like Leo since we met…" his voice trailed to a stop, "oh, yesterday."
He rested his head against the sofa, sweeping his hands over his face, laughter bubbling from his throat. "I rushed. The whole beginning stage was supposed to take a week." His voice was muffled against his hands. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry.
He seemed embarrassed, and that made her smile. Not because he was embarrassed —- even though he might just be acting —- but because this was a different scenery from all the things she had been going through lately.
Maybe this was why Arik liked him, because he was different.
Manipulative? Maybe.
The silver-haired man's spy too? Yes.
But different, he certainly was. And that? It felt good.
"You know what?" He sat up straight. "Let us just put this behind us, how about that?" Then he leaned closer towards her. "Besides," he avoided her gaze, "it is my first time."
She leaned towards him too and whispered back, "With sex?"
He sprang to his feet. "What?! No! I meant friendship, friendship!"
Idalia burst out laughing, and Arik did laugh too, most likely because his mum was laughing.
Babies were copy cats.
Cute ones, though.
Cute, lovable ones.
Louie swept his hair back, tying it into a bun. "That's not fair."
Idalia tried hard to contain her laughter but when she looked at him, she couldn't help but burst into laughter again.
"Wow, you seemed to be really enjoying my embarrassment." He turned away to the kitchen. "For that, I'm going to pour a lot of salt in your breakfast."
Though he tried to sound angry, she could hear laughter in his voice as he left for the kitchen.
She kept laughing even though she tried to stop herself, but she didn't, not even when Arik stopped laughing and stared at her like she was crazy.
It was as if her body had been starved of happiness that it was trying to relinquish every bit of it that it could get.
If only every day could be like this.