Chapter 3
The next day was a slow one for Serena. She couldn't stand waiting, wishing the Guardian of Time would show a little mercy. Excitedly, she anticipated her meeting with Darien and felt almost light-headed.
She passed her half-day in the university; sitting through all her classes with her mind drifting towards Darien. She could barely concentrate during any of her classes. All she could only contribute only fifty percent of her concentration on what her lecturers were saying.
At noon, she quickly ran towards the kindergarten that was not too far from the university. Again, daydreaming of her up-coming meeting with Darien. These thoughts made her job far less painful to bear. Usually the kids playing with her beautiful long hair and making it look messy and make her want to scream in frustration.
Her supervisor noticed how much better Serena was coping. Usually, she would scream and yell at one particular child who continuously pulled her hair. But today, she looked different. Her entire being, radiant with the cheerfulness that saturated the air around her, making her appear more beautiful, and the children were less boistrous -- though they continued to scream and run around, now and then the children who gave Serena the most trouble would stop and stare at Serena's sudden change in awe.
When it reached four o'clock, she went into the staff room, gathered her belongings, and checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror and brushing her hair. Quickly, she rushed out of kindergarten where she worked part-time, and headed for Darien's place.
Serena slowed to a walk one block away from his house and stopped for a few minutes to regain her composure, she gulped in a few deep breaths of fresh air so he wouldn't see how anxious and excited she was to see him.
Eventually, finding herself standing at the front door, hesitating before reaching for the doorbell, but Darien opened the door before she could press it. Serena looked at the god standing before her, and blushed, because Darien wore nothing except his boxers. Stunned, she turned her gaze elsewhere.
It took him a second to realize why she was blushing. He glanced down, and the color rushed from his face. He slammed the door in her face, to find something to cover himself, leaving Serena dumbstruck.
Serena could hear him running about the house and stumbling over something. She giggled at the thought -- so not like Darien the librarian – her mind remembering the image of pure perfection that had stood before her moments before made her blush. His body held her spellbound, from his abdomen, to his over-all appearance – a perfect vision of masculinity, as if Darien were Apollo himself. This thought made her want to run her fingertips over his skin, down to his abs, and…
Luckily, the door opened before she could continue with this line of thought, and end up somewhere else, adding to her feelings of embarrassment.
There he stood. Darien, in his black shirt and black pants, looking so gorgeous without having to try, "Hi… Sorry about before. I thought you wouldn't get here this early," he said, madly blushing at the thought of his little 'unexpected appearance' and his slamming of the door on Serena, "Please come in," he added, gesturing for Serena to step inside, "I'm sorry for my rudeness earlier. I thought I heard a bell, and didn't expect it to be you."
"I hadn't rung the bell, Darien…" she said with a smile as she followed him down the hall into the living room. Serena's eyes quickly took in her surroundings, "…yet," she continued, dumbfounded at the mess that met her eyes.
"Sorry, I know it's chaotic in here, but I've tried to organize myself today. I never knew I had so much stuff," Darien said apologetically, as if he could see the thoughts running through Serena's mind.
Her hands were just itching to clean up the domestic commotion, "I think I can help you with that," she offered.
"Oh, don't do that! I'll do it later. Sit down first; I'll get the book for you. It's upstairs," Darien told her, gesturing for her to sit on the chair amidst the disarray that passed for the living room. He left a stunned Serena as he went to retrieve the book.
Serena took a good look around. There were boxes everywhere -- open and unopened -- some already empty while others were only half-full. It looked like Darien was trying to arrange things back there. On the wall, she saw a calendar, and today's date -- August 3 -- was circled. She moved quietly pass the boxes to examine the calendar, but then she heard Darien running downstairs and she turned quickly to face him as he handed her the book that looked brand-new, "Here's the book I promised you."
"Darien, why did you circle today's date? Is there some special occasion?"
He looked at the calendar and was startled, "Today is August 3rd…? Wow, I hadn't noticed that until you mentioned it! Now I'm one year older," he said, sighing.
"So, today is your birthday?" she asked, giving him a warm smile, "Well, all I can say is…happy birthday, Darien," Serena congratulated him, "Sorry, but I don't have anything to give you, since I just found out…"
"It's OK. Even I forget my own birthday," Darien exclaimed as he tried to cheer Serena up, "You don't have to give me a present, just hearing you saying it's my birthday is present enough."
"But…" Serena stopped before continuing, "I know… I can make myself useful if I help you organize this house!"
Darien frowned at the idea, "Oh, no…no… no…don't do that," he protested, shaking his head, "Let me do it later. I can't let you do that…"
Serena gave him a-hundred-watt smile. "It's okay. It's just that guys are so disorganized and you need a girl like me to help you out… bachelor pride… I can't stand it, and I can't stand here without doing something about it…" she explained, her resolve unshakable, "So where should I put those things?"
Darien let out a sigh of resignation, "Guess I can't hold you back. Well… I'm planning to put the contents of that box in the living room…" He said pointing to a large box near Serena's left foot.
"OK!" She began moving the box towards the living room and set to work.
