CHAPTER 16 "Impossible."
When the message ended, Ken ejected the tape and held it tight as he continued weeping along with his parents.
"Guess this message's really special after all," Yolei apologized, "Sorry, Mariana."
Mariana couldn't stand their weeping, so she got up and gotten a box of tissues from the kitchen for anyone who needed it. As she handed it over to Ken, she encouraged, "Please stop crying, I just can't stand people when they're crying. Besides today's your birthday, there's no need to be crying in grief. Everyone needs to be happy."
"Maybe this is the same Mariana after all, Davis," Tai said softly to the group as he realized that she has a soft spot for those who cry.
"I'm not sure. I don't remember Maria telling me that she's referred as Starlight Kamari. And I don't think that she has met Ken's brother before," Davis murmured as he continued wondering.
"What did you say, Davis?" Mariana asked him as she seated back on the same step.
"Nothing really," he answered her.
Ken grabbed another present. Although it was similar to a shoe box in size, shape and lack of gift wraps, no writings (beside Ken's name on the lid) could be found on any of the exterior faces. Whoever sent it must have been in a hurry to have done such a sloppy job, but at least there might be a big surprise gift inside the box. It made everyone curious to know what's inside and who it's from.
"Who's this from?" Ken asked as he scanned around for a reply of a nod. Everyone including the Digimon shook their heads.
"Maybe you should open it to see if there's any name inside with your present, Ken," T.K. suggested.
"Great idea! Thanks!" Ken agreed and nodded in approval. Everyone except Wishmon and Mariana nodded with him.
"I don't think it's such a good idea opening a present that doesn't give any information of whom the sender is on the outside," Mariana opposed.
"No one asked you," Davis stated coldly.
"Davis!" his team yelled angrily.
"No one has to ask me, I was just stating my opinion," Mariana answered.
"It's the inside that counts," Izzy defended Davis. "Even if the outside looks dreadful."
"Izzy's right. Appearances can be deceiving, Mariana," Matt rationalized. "Go ahead and open it, Ken."
"Suit yourself," Mariana said as she glimpsed at Ken and headed up the stairs "I'm going to check on Ange upstairs."
Before Ken could open the present and before Mariana could reach halfway up the stairs, the doorbell rang twice. "I'll get it!" Matt shouted and darted towards the front door to open it.
"I wonder who that could be," Mariana thought and stopped heading up the stairs. Instead, she headed back down.
Matt quickly opened the door, revealing a handsome young man holding perhaps a large present and his black motorcycle. He had short violet hair hanging to almost his shoulders and hair style like the Ken's and T.K.'s mixed together. "Who is this? Who invited you?"
"Who're you?" the drop-dead gorgeous stranger asked in reply.
"I asked you first," Matt protested, seeing that he would be foolish enough to open the door to complete strangers. Then again, how would Matt know if this guy was a complete stranger? An unnecessary argument erupted between them.
"What's this commotion?" Mariana asked just in time to stop Matt from closing the door on the stranger. "Oh, it's only you, Aurora."
"Aurora? But isn't that a girl's name?" Matt teased and giggled.
"It's a guy's name now," he justified boldly and Matt stopped giggling. "Can I come in now?"
"Sure," Matt and Mariana answered and allowed Aurora to enter into the living room.
"Hey, Mariana, who's the cute guy with you?" Mimi asked.
"Matt," Matt answered.
"Really?" Sora asked and Matt nodded. "Then, there are two Matts."
"What's your name?" Yolei asked when she dashed and grabbed hold of the stranger's hands when he placed the wrapped box onto the coffee table. The others, except Ken's parents, shook their heads and sighed.
"What's your name?" Aurora asked.
"Yolei," she answered dreamily as she let go of his hands to stare at his cute face.
"Well, Yolei, please to meet you. I'm Aurora Boreala," he introduced himself to everyone as he took a small bow.
"Aurora Boreala? The leader of the Northern Lights?" Mimi asked. "Nice to meet you." The others introduced themselves.
"Think you could remember their names?" Mariana asked in rudeness as she sat back down on the same step.
"There's something fishy about this," Gatomon whispered to Kari.
"You think so?" Kari asked.
"Definitely. It would appear that Mariana has something against him," Yolei expressed to Kari and Gatomon, but some others heard as well.
"Actually, Yolei, Mariana seems to have something against all of us," Hawkmon whispered and everyone who heard nodded in agreement.
***
"What are you doing here, Aurora?" Mariana asked, giving the cold shoulders. "You're a little too early to accompany her to the airport."
"Actually, I'm also here to give Ken his birthday present," Aurora answered, "Now, who's Ken again?"
"Obviously the one who's about to open the rest of his presents until you arrived," Mariana answered, still giving him the cold shoulders. Surprisingly, Aurora did not buy into her rudeness, instead, he smiled as he handed the heavy present to Ken from the coffee table.
"Thanks. I wonder what's inside." Ken asked as he accepted it after he placed the mysterious gift back down.
"Two more bottles of hair spray?" Davis said sarcastically. "To spike your hair up like when you were still Emperor?" Davis guessed out loud in total sarcasm to Ken and all those who knows about the other world business. Yolei was about to strangle him, but she failed when some of them grabbed her.
"Typical. Clearly, it can't be that two bottles of hair spray are in there. This box is apparently more spacious to hold even more than two bottles," Mariana spoke.
"A box of hair spray?" Davis joked. Everyone giggled. The Digimon almost blew their cover, but luckily, everyone was too busy laughing to notice their sudden lively actions.
"No, Davis," Izzy stated. "Why don't you open it and see what's inside, Ken?"
"Right," Ken said and obeyed. He uncovered a pair of skis. "Thanks again, Aurora."
"You're welcome. Now, where's Ange?" Aurora beamed as Ken wondered about the snow skis, what was he going to do with them when he doesn't even know how to ski.
"She's upstairs. Why you ask?" Matt asked in skepticism.
"Just asking," Aurora answered, "So, Mariana, how's she doing?"
"Just fine without you," Mariana replied unmannerly.
A moment of silent and uneasiness spread around the living room until Joe asked, "Hey, Mariana, how come Ange's taking so long? She's been up there for almost an hour."
"You're right. What's taking her?" Matt replied.
"Something's wrong. I'll go check," Sora and Ken said coincidentally They nodded to each other and ran up the stairs.
***
"Hey, Ange, open the door," Sora commanded in a troubled way as she knocked on the door twice. When I didn't open it, Ken turned the doorknob and discovered that the door wasn't really locked. He opened it.
"Ange!" they both yelled when they saw my body on the floor next to the bed holding a small present for Mariana. They rushed next to me, checked my breathing and pulse, and found that I had both. They determined that I was just taking a nap. What they didn't determine was that I was having a nightmare. Then, they tried to wake me up by calling out my name and gently shaking me.
"No!" I screamed and woke up with sweat dripping from my forehead. Probably, I had caught the attention of everyone downstairs too when I heard approaching foot steps.
"Don't worry, Ange, it was only a dream," Sora reassured.
"Then, it must have been a really bad dream if it caused you to scream," Ken said as the others rushed in with their Digimon. Tai brought along Wishmon and Agumon while Matt brought along Biyomon, and Davis brought along Wormmon and Veemon.
"What happened?" Mrs. Ichijouji asked.
"Are you al right, Ange?" Aurora asked as he pushed through the crowd.
"Aurora? I'm okay now, but what are you doing here so early?" I asked as I got up from the floor. I handed Mariana her pre-birthday present. She thanked me with a smile. When I told her to open it, she said later.
"Just visiting you sooner. Wanna go for a ride?" he asked and all I could think about was my nightmare of a fatal accident. In the nightmare, I wasn't hurt but someone else was dying. Because my nightmare was so blurry, I couldn't figure out who the other person was.
"On your motorcycle?" I asked Aurora and he nodded. "But it's not time to leave for my flight yet. It's still some hours away."
"Which means we'll have more time to ourselves if we leave now," Aurora concluded.
"Wait a minute!" Matt exclaimed. "She can't go now, Ken still has to finish opening his presents!"
"What does that have to do with her?" Tai whispered to Izzy with narrow eyes.
"Actually, Matt, I can still open the rest of the presents without them," Ken stated.
"By the way, along with the skis, I've already registered you for ski lessons for a period of three months on me at the Borealas' Skis and Skates," Aurora uttered with a smile. Ken thanked him again while everyone awaited for my response.
They scanned for me and found that I was no more in my room. I had sneaked out when everyone cleared from the doorway without checking on me. They hurried one by one with or without their Digimon and found me in the living room. I just sat there, staring at the mysterious box. I bended down and lifted the entire box off the rug.
"What's the matter?" Mimi asked.
"T.K. On the bottom, it says T.K.," I answered, still holding the box.
"What?" all the Digidestines asked.
"You're sure," Mariana asked me, "that you don't need some fresh air?"
"Is from you, T.K.?" Ken asked as he took the box and checked the bottom of it.
"No way, it can't be from T.M., he already gave you a gift."
"Thanks, Davis," T.K. answered in an annoyed way.
"Then it must be for both of you," Mr. Ichijouji stated.
"Perhaps," Mariana replied in doubt. "But, I'm still curious to know who's it from."
"Hey! Here's an idea, why don't I go with Ange to get some fresh air while the rest of you continue with the party? Okay?" Matt blurted out.
"Maybe later, Matt. This time, I'm finally going to get Aurora to take me on his motorcycle," I approved, forgetting about the nightmare I had just some time ago. It was just a silly nightmare, wasn't it?
"As promised," Aurora added.
"And I'll tell you all a story," Mariana suggested, "before you finish unwrapping your presents, Ken."
"Okay," they all agreed with a smile, except for Matt.
And that's what we did. I followed Aurora onto his motorcycle so he can give me a ride for the first time as promised some years ago while the others stay in to finish the party without me. Mariana told her story, it was about me and Aurora when we were younger. She explained how we were next door neighbours and how we were no more door-to-door neighbours. She even gave hints that she was talking about us two. From the story, everyone realized who the characters were. And furthermore, Izzy realized that Aurora Boreala is part of the rich and powerful Boreala family in Canada and that I, Dawna (Ange) Chang, came from a rich family also. Mariana explained almost every detail of our childhood together until I left Canada. Now, Matt realized that he's actually not perfect for me. I'm somewhat glad that Mariana explained it, now, Matt can finally set out to realize the perfect wife for him is....