Pandora

Chapter IV:

Suspicion? Wanting to believe that it's not true!

I've decided to put original version of Pandora (chapter 1-18) on Dropbox (as PDF). Dropbox has two options you can choose from: with reviews replies or without.

Dropbox links are in my TUMBLR ACCOUNT: sunset-wishes-upon-hill

On my Tumblr, simply search 'PDF'.

Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020

Returning to consciousness, she awoke in her bed on top of her messy sheets. For a moment she believed God took pity on her and allowed her in. The image of heaven took after a place she found comfortable and relaxing like her hotel room although she would have preferred it to be her family home. At least, the heaven wasn't some strange, random people coming up to you with a grin, a welcome cake and balloon with 'Welcome to Heaven, Jessica!'. The comfortable, familiar scenery made it easier for her to come to terms with her death.

It's not as painful as I thought.. getting killed by a vampire that is. Jessica thought.

Her phone buzzed again, uh…this is very..Matrix.

Picking up the phone, it flashed 'Bella' much to Jessica's confusion. Hesitantly pressing accept and holding it to her ear, she waited for the caller to speak.

"Jessica…?" Bella sounded as if she had been crying.

"I-is this real?"

"What?"

"I'm dead. Why are you calling me? Are you even real? Is anything real?"

"Dead? What are you talking about?! What did you do, Jessica?! You don't just go up to vampires like him and say you know he's a vampire!"

She blinked, dazed, "Wait, what? I'm not dead? I'm alive?"

"I can't believe you! UGH! You're supposed to be the sensible one!"

"That's Angela's role!"

"Do you know what you've done?! I can't even––"

"I know. I'm so fucking stupid. Yeah call me that." Jessica buried her head in her laps, biting back the threat of tears edging to fall, "I prayed it was some sick joke. Vampires? Yeah right. So how come I'm still alive? I woke up thinking I was dead! I mean you can't really wake up dead.."

"…I'm sorry, Jessica, but we had no choice. It was for you. It was for your own good."

"No choice? What do you mean?"

"He gave me two choices. Either he kills you or…"

"He kills me or what?"

"…Or turn you into…"

Jessica nervously laughed, "Bella, turn me into what? A bear? A cat? What?"

They both knew the answers but neither was willing to say.

"No, no fucking way! I'm not–NO FREAKIN WAY! NO! There's no way I'm going to be a vampire, ever!" Jessica angrily hung up, breaths laboured with exertion.

The sun was setting by the time Jessica composed herself as much as she could. The phone screen dark and unresponsive. She regretted drowning Bella with the blame. It had been her fault that this happened and Bella only did what she could do to save her from the imminent death.

Few minutes later, Jessica left the room with only her phone and the room key in hand, running back to the hidden tunnel, ignoring bystanders' inquisitive staring. The sun was completely gone when she arrived at the place.

"Alec, come out! I know you can hear me and I freakin' hate the cold so come out!" She yelled to the surrounding air.

"I'm here." The voice said from behind her.

Jessica twirled around, jumping back to gain a distance from the close proximity he gained in such a short time and in absolute dead silence. How he managed to do so without alerting her struck a string of terror, reminding her of her utter moral weakness compared to this powerful immortal.

This time, he did not hide his face, she noted. The crimson glistened under the moon; the perfect epitome of a dangerous vampire under the moonlight and his helpless prey finally backed into corner.

Her tongue went dry, painfully rubbing against the roof of her mouth. Not looking away from those frightening eyes, she said, "Kill me."

A frown marred his flawless face, the dynamic of a hunter and prey shifting.

"What?" For the first time ever since their encounter, he sounded uncertain and puzzled.

"Kill me." She said once more, louder and confident this time, "Take my blood whatever, j-just kill me."

"Have you gone mad?" He asked her.

"Bella told me. I'm not gonna become a vampire, never. Ever. So you might as well just kill me now."

Her mind flashed back to her parents, her friends and her pets, waiting for her return in Forks. Even Mark's face made its way past her defense, back to the thousands of fights they had and she'd run away every time, it would have been nice to resolve that but how could she if she becomes a vampire. How could she face her parents and trust herself to not kill them accidentally? She wanted them to preserve Jessica Stanley in a loving memory of the daughter they knew than the undead, red-eyed bloodthirsty monster taking a form of their daughter and any traces of who she was obliterated.

"Oh?" He raised one of his delicate brows, "A human that doesn't want to live forever." He accentuated the phrase as if it were strange to put them in a same sentence. It did sound strange. An oxymoron; a lock and a key forcibly clicked together.

"I don't want to live forever." She affirmed, "I don't want to be a vampire."

His face contorted into something she couldn't clearly identify. Was it anger? Irritation? Or something else entirely?

"Why? Most humans given the chance would gladly take this opportunity." He said with a streak of pride; vampirism was the reaching of the very fundamental limits of physiological evolution.

"I don't think you know many humans." She countered, insulted, "I don't know about the others but becoming a vampire isn't what I want."

"Because we're monsters."

Jessica flinched as he exposed the reason behind her adamant refusal. Monster. Such a cruel word degrading someone into a mere beast with little control of their actions reigned by their barbaric gratification. There was a look of hurt in his eyes formidably hidden away that others may not register. He was used to being detached. Numb.

She thought of the Cullens; they weren't the most social students but they never bullied nor acted rudely to anyone. They kept to themselves, for a reason she now understood and she could still remember her short, brief interaction with Alice who, despite her eccentric personality, was kind and understanding. Even Rosalie, cold and haughty, treated others fairly and equally. Then Dr. Carlisle and Mrs. Esme who was the most charitable, warm and caring people she ever met.

Were they monsters? They were vampires after all.

But they weren't. They were just like her; trying to live good with the life they were given. Perhaps they didn't have a choice. But they do have a choice to whether they let it define them and they proved to her and Bella, they were not the blood thirsty, murderous vampires.

"I don't think vampires are monsters." She said, reminding herself the Cullens and the charitable works Carlisle and Esme does, "If you have to question whether you're a monster or not simply because you're a vampire then you might want to think back on what actions and choices you took for people to assume you are. I just want to live my life, grow old and die. That's all I want, Alec."

"Unfortunately, you don't always get what you want." He said after a moment of silence with sagacity, "You lost that privilege the moment you revealed you knew I was a vampire."

"So kill me." She said with the fool's courage.

"No." He smirked, "You shall live with the decision that you have made and you will pay for it."

Great, Jessica. Well done. You can force him to kill you. Threaten to tell people that the vampire is real.

And who's going to believe it? They'll just chuck you into a crazy house. Alec's right. You made your decision and you have to pay for it.

He left her as she wept and mourned on the cold night floor.

For the rest of that night until the sun came up, both minds were occupied with each others words. That night was longer than any other nights they've had.

The five stages of grief indicate that one go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It could take months and years to get to the acceptance stage or never. But Jessica felt like she went through all five stages within a night. Albeit no one had died, in a sense, but she will. Sooner or later.

Jessica: Bella, I'm really really sorry I was such a bitch last night. It's all my fault, I shouldn't have said those words. I'm safe, don't worry. I'll…call you when I just, you know get to terms with it. I'm safe. Please don't worry about me too much. And thanks for everything. Please give me some time, please.

She pressed send to the message before turning off the phone. She should really learn to confront reality. Ever since that incident, she'd find herself dazing away while doing her daily rituals. She'd wake up and sit up on her bed, staring at the walls for hours. She would be eating and just stare at her food until it became cold and unappetizing. She would be walking back to her home only to find herself wandering off to a nowhere. What was she searching for?

To distract herself, Jessica began going out more frequently and exploring more of Italy. She became so much aware and appreciative of time. How fast it seemed to tick away. How much she and other people take their time for granted. She'd experience the feeling of panic when she couldn't do as much as she wanted each day.

Another change was her meeting with Alec wasn't much of passive one-sided, suspect-guess dynamic anymore. Bizarrely enough, the two seemed to seek out each other for the solace to their confusion and questions. She wanted to know more about the vampires; he wanted to know why she didn't want to become a vampire.

"If you become a vampire, do you have to drink human blood?" She asked him one day, as they sat beside each other on the bench. Her legs were brought up to her chest, body slightly angled toward him. She often studied his side profile like an artist admiring one's muse while waiting for his answers. He never said anything without thinking.

"I do." He said, delighted when she shuddered at his answer, "The Cullens don't."

She frowned, "Wait, you drink human blood but they don't? What do they drink? Vitamin water?"

"Animal blood."

Her brows shot up in surprise, glimmer of hope, "Animal blood? So like what, they're your kind's version of…vegan? Wait no, vegetarian? Or pescatarian?"

"St. Carlisle prefers it vegetarian." He said.

"St. Carlisle?"

"A..jest of sort among other vampires with his unwillingness to drink human blood."

Jessica smiled. It sounded like what Dr. Cullen would do.

"Does that mean Mrs. Cullen and their children drink animal blood too?"

"Yes."

The answer was an unexpected one. Like being given a surprise gift from someone you didn't anticipate. She always thought they were spoiled, shallow immature rich kids that didn't really care for anyone other than themselves. After all, that's what they seemed to exude to others and seemed fine with it. But maybe that's what they wanted. They'd live forever and their classmates would die one day.

"Tell me," He began, "Why are you not afraid of death?"

Jessica hummed in deep thought. There was not much reason, to her at least, to fear death. She shrugged, "I don't know, I just don't. It's futile to live in fear. I mean, everyone is going to die sometime, so is there any point in pretending not to see it for the present? But I am afraid of the future, afraid to lose something or someone so I guess living means you should be afraid. If you aren't afraid, what can you feel? Although dying painfully would be shitty. I'm hoping for a 'die in your sleep' kinda goodbye." Jessica stretched out her arms, arched her back and rolled out the stiffness of her neck, "I bet you didn't think I was this philosophical did you? I do philosophy you know. It's something I want to do in university."

"I can do that." He suddenly said, "If you want."

"Huh?"

"Give you your 'peaceful' death."

"You can?" She frowned, and then narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "How? It's not..painful right?"

"I have a gift."

Right! Jessica remembered, Giada said some vampires had gifts.

"Really?!" Her face brightened up with a grin, "What kind of gift?"

"Sensory deprivation." He seemed to enjoy her awe to his power. Even though it was very subtle, the ghost of a smile was there.

"Senses? As in like taste, sound, sight that kind of thing?"

He nodded.

"No freakin' way! What? Like how the hell is that even possible? Is it painful?"

"Not so much." Then he brought his hand toward her face and with a challenging smug look in his eyes, he dared, "Would you like to try? Death I mean."

He was toying with her. She knew. Alec wanted her to pay the price for her foolish choice and he would not let her escape so easily. More so, he was challenging her.

'Are you foolish enough? Brave enough?' the gesture seemed to almost say, 'Enough to allow a vampire to put your life at its hand?" Would it be courage or idiocy if she did? What price would she pay for this decision?

Minutes went by and the pressure to say either 'yes' or 'no' was bubbling underneath the surface. She couldn't decipher the cryptic expression in his face as he patiently waited for her answer.

"You know, I don't really know you." She began, attentively studying for any changes, "I only found out like a few days ago that you're a vampire –– who is fifteen but actually isn't; you tried to kill me but for whatever reason, you let me live, you seemed a bit pessimistic but I guess if someone lives as long as you, they're not really going to be excited about life or it might be just that you're stuck in that teenage emo period forever, and you saved me from that weirdo."

Based on her little, vague summary, she came to conclude he wasn't that bad though neither truly good. Jessica had a long, heartfelt conversation with her mum the night before about life in general. Her mum knew something had happened although she did not quizzed it further, but listened to her constructed white lies and gave her words of comforts.

'Don't look for answers.' She said, 'Right and wrong answers co-exist in every decision. Wise people make a choice and make it the right answer. Foolish people regret the decision and make it the wrong decision. There is no right answer in life. There is only the process to make it the right answer.'

Would she make the choice she'd be proud of or drown in regret?

Can she trust him? Trust this vampire? His actions reminded her vagary of the flowing water; unpredictable. It felt like looking at him through a mist, hazy and blurry. Sometimes, she thinks she can make him out but it might just be a cast of illusion, a ghostly shape of something that's not actually there.

"Hey Alec…" Leery reaching out to meet his stretched fingers with hers'; their skin stark contrast with his pale, long fingers tingling like a spark of a match against her warm, chubby appendage, "I trust you." The simple three words were the heaviest it ever been. And there was no greater love confession than I trust you. Love changes. Love is simple. Trust wasn't.

Trust. A noble act without a doubt. A blind trust however was giving up on trying to understand others and that had nothing to do with 'trust' but is rather 'apathy'. There are countless people out there who fail to realize that apathy was a far more devastating act than doubting others.

Trust was not something that fell from the sky one day. Trust was something one build through time and relationships.

She and Alec certainly did not spend enough time for her to have blind faith he will uphold his promise.

She was challenging and doubting him just as he was with her. If you are not a monster, then prove it. Show me you are something more than a blood-drinking vampire.

Show me you're not afraid of death, he provoked.

Something in Alec's expression did change but it was too fleeting for her to catch it. She wasn't sure she'd know what it meant even if she did.

"You shouldn't." He said and before she could react, the shimmering hazy vapour seeped out of the tip of his fingers to wrap around hers' then snaking up her arms, splitting open and up her shoulders and neck, down her waist and legs until she was consumed.

Her body reacted instinctively with panic as her survival tools were robbed away from her. The sight of Alec and his smoke were the last thing she saw before cataract of darkness clouded over her eyes, smell of salty air becoming absent like the time she had cold and her nose was blocked, the cool sensation of the bench and Alec's fingers seemed to evaporate beneath her until she was floating in a numbing abyss; sunk into the bottom of the ocean and ceased to exist beyond that. It was horribly frightening. And… lonely.

Her mind was aware her arms frantically searched for something to feel, yet there was no sense of directions or sensations. She felt her mouth open to say something, dialogue in her head yet there was no sound nor a sign indicating her lips were smacking together to form those words. 'Enough, Alec', she felt herself say. Vocally or in thought, she didn't know.

'Alec.' She wasn't aware how long she was under the influence, but without her senses, sense of time was gone. It was driving her crazy. It could have been a mere minute. Hours. Or it could have been days.

The mist sucked back into his fingers, undoing his power. Immediately senses overwhelmed her like a crushing wave; working overtime filtering and processing alien stimulus what was, for a while, nothing. Absolute sensory deprivation, even for a few minutes, seemed fatal to the mind and body.

When her sight came back, Jessica noticed her hands tightly grasping Alec's coat, her skin coated with sweat and panting heavily like she exerted herself.

"How did it feel? Death."

"I was about to go crazy." She said truthfully, letting his coat go. "Does every vampire have..like these kind of powers?"

"Not everyone." He replied.

"Oh, so you're like special even for a vampire?" Jessica grinned teasingly.

"I am special." He smiled, showing his perfect pearly teeth.

"Yeah, well still doesn't change the fact you can be jerk sometimes." She retorted, although her tone was that of jest. "How long has Bella knew about vampires anyway?"

"Far longer than we would have liked." He carefully replied after much consideration.

"How come she's still..human?"

He looked at her with confidence, "She won't be for too long."

Jessica wasn't sure how she should feel about Bella becoming a vampire. Did she want it? Or was it like her, an unfortunate case of coincidence?

"Hey Alec…why didn't you kill me?" She asked. The question had been on her mind ever since she woke up in her bed, unharmed and still human, despite him intending to suck her dry.

"We don't kill the dwellers here."

"But I know you're a vampire. You said I don't count." She repeated back his words.

"The risk of killing you was much greater than letting you live. I know you won't tell. Just like the other human."

"Her name's Bella."

"Her name is of no concern to me."

"That's rude."

"Indifference." He corrected her like a parent to a child. She suspected he often forgot his own physical age that was frozen forever. Alec oozed decade-old maturity that seemed to imply he had been living for much longer than he looked. Unsuspecting humans would blame it on the concealment of his childish side, his less self-absorbed and substantial sense of self-awareness many kids his age would lack. Oh, if they knew.

Alec's crimson eyes were always an alluring feature of his that Jessica seemed to get captured by so often. The red reminded her of blood when it spilled out of its host and hit the air, and she'd often notice the colour varied in vividness. It was fascinating to see his eyes go from rose red to the deepest black.

"Why do the color of a vampire's eyes changes so often?"

"It depends on our thirst."

Jessica gaped, brows gradually rising up her forehead, "Well…uh..your eyes are completely black now. Last time it was red."

"It means I haven't fed as of recent."

That was all she needed to hear for her to shuffle away to create a safe proximity between her and Alec. Shooting a glance at Alec, on guard, a glimmer of playfulness showed that she was simply teasing him by acting out her role as 'prey'.

"Well, why didn't you…you know, drink?"

"I will." He gently said, "I'm waiting."

She followed the direction of his gaze, "Waiting for what? No one comes here except if they get lost and somehow end up here like I did…"

No one except…

"Heidi."

His smile was all it took to confirm her suspicion, "Those tourists that Heidi brings…they're…" She trailed off with shaky breath. She felt sick. Her stomach did a full twist and turns inside and threatened to disgorge her stomach content. Turning toward the door – the door that she could have walked in when she knew no better, had it not been for Bella's intervening call, Jessica Stanley would have been another nameless face among the other oblivious tourists.

"A wise choice you made on that day, no?" He smiled at her in an almost mocking gesture, "Now, tell me and say you don't think vampires are monsters."

She was glad to bring a water bottle along. Unscrewing the cap and taking a big gulp of the soothing liquid, she put the bottle back inside the bag. The movements were deliberately slow, methodical. Buying time.

Now that she knew why the tourists were here for, it meant that the tourists were killed and disposed of. Like the inedible leftovers you throwaway. Humans were food to them; to the human blood drinkers. She was food to them.

Angela went vegan at the start of this year, citing unnecessary cruelty to the animals. Angela often tries to sway her from eating too much meat and dairy products, reminding her that a mother cow was taken away from its offspring for its milk, a pig that was as intelligent and sentient as dogs were killed for that bacon. People didn't care. To them, they were just food. Just a pig and a cow. She could have been that pig had she gone in. Jessica Stanley is just a pig to the vampires. Humans were the food in their chain. They were simply doing what the nature had revolutionized them to do. They were the apex predator just like humans were on top of animals in their nature's chain.

She didn't have the right to be critical of their killing of humans. Angela might be able to but not her. The feeling of nausea seemed to calm down slightly by the disturbingly perverted condolence borne from dispassionate rationale.

"I don't have the right to call you a monster, Alec." She said, meeting his now dark, deep eyes, "You drink blood to survive like how I eat food to survive. What's so monstrous about that?" The words were difficult to say. Almost sick and twisted. After all, it was her kind that was being butchered in there but that was the truth.

She gathered her bag, slipped it over her shoulder and stood up. "I should go…uh have a nice…umm," She checked her watch. It read 6.50PM. "..Have a nice dinner, Alec."

Jessica left the clearing without glancing back at Alec. If she had, she'd see mix of emotions flashing past his eyes. Not long after she had gone, Heidi arrived with the group of tourists that would not be seen after that day.

A part of her wanted to turn on the phone. Another part didn't want to check what Bella had replied. Lots of angry emojis, she bet. And capital lettered words and exclamations. She sent her parents a long message on how she won't be able to call for a while and they shouldn't worry because she had Bella and how much she loved them and that she was definitely doing fine and needed some time for her to think about her future.

She also thought they had become somewhat of a friend. Alec and her. Jessica liked to consider him as a friend although she didn't know how he felt about her. Maybe he saw her as a pig with a name and a personality, a pet of sort. She hoped he did. That was better than seeing her as another faceless cow next to a whole lot of others.

She'd often dream about him. Alec hovering over her while she slept to the sound of the pitter patter of rain and thunderstorm against her window. Sometimes she thinks he's contemplating to eat her or not; was she worth more dead or alive? One day, she found a two volume book by her bedside. The book was rare, considered to be among the most valuable books in the world, and her philosophy teacher had promised anyone who found that book and bring it to him would award all the students an A for a quiz of their choosing (as long as they were not a major part of the grade) and a very sparkly recommendation letter for the said student. It was called Gutenberg Bible. And it was sitting by her bedside like a forgotten late night read.

Jessica didn't know how valuable, rare and expensive the book was until she Googled the book cover and realized what she had in her hands, the most revered text in the world. It was worth at least a million dollars. The books condition was in marvellous condition, almost in a timeless warp like its owner. She had mentioned it to Alec in passing by conversation about her hunt for the book without breaking into the New York library and risking prison. Her teacher always made bet for impossible things every year and it'd be her lifetime wish to see the look on the teacher's face when one of the students actually succeeded what he deemed impossible.

Carefully wrapping the books with her scarf and gently placing it inside her bag, she headed to their usual meeting point.

"Alec." Whisper of his name and few minutes later, he'd appear without a sound, as if he had been carried by the wind and dropped there. He'd make a sound, loud enough for her to hear and she would greet him first with a smile, he would acknowledge her, then she would talk while he listened to her mundane topic of the day. On occasions, he'd ask questions and she'd do her best to answer. Their quotidian routine resembled a small ordinary she craved.

"Holy, Alec, are you serious?" She held up the book, almost as if it was a frail toddler in her arms. "Like this book can buy a house. A nice house. In New York."

"You said you needed them, no?"

"I mean, Mr. T is gonna be shook, like shook shook when I bring this to him!" Jessica excitedly revealed, "Do you have any idea how many people are gonna lose their shit because of this book? We waited nearly FOUR years!" Jessica squealed in delight and threw her arms around Alec's neck. He flinched away. She moved back, realizing his discomfort.

"Sorry."

"Do not touch me without my permission." His words came out slowly, sounding soft on the outside but with a sharp edged threat at the centre.

"Right, sorry. How am I gonna bring this back to you? Please don't tell me I have to take another plane to Italy, a train and a bus to give this back; not sure if you know but economy these days isn't that good."

He seemed entertained by the idea, "Hand it to Edward. He'll bring it back. Or simply keep it."

"No, this–I can't keep this. I don't trust myself that I won't spill vodka on it or something stupid."

"I'm surprised you're aware of your own folly."

Jessica forced a smile, "Thanks, Alec, for that unnecessary comment. If I didn't read the definition of folly yesterday by coincidence, I wouldn't know."

"You're welcome." He replied cynically.

His dry, sardonic humour often reminded her of her auntie's gallows humour, who worked as a surgeon in a neighbouring town and liked to make off-putting medical jokes that would often have people confused, disgusted or shock or all three. She guessed it was survival mechanism in the job, dealing with life, death and sad stories every day; one had to be able to laugh at it.

"Wait…how did you get in my room?" Jessica's eyes widened, "And how the hell do you know where I live?"

"I followed your scent and you leave your windows open."

"But I stay in like the third floor." She reasoned, "Can vampires fly?"

"We jump." He corrected.

"Well…that's a bit creepy." Jessica couldn't help but wonder if her dreams of Alec, some if not all, really was just a dream. She hoped it was. There was no way she'd allow a vampire to see her weird, stupid sleeping habits or her snoring.

"I've always wondered but how come Heidi has purple eyes and you don't?" She asked after a brief beat.

"Contacts." He curtly said.

Jessica blinked at the implication, "So that means you can hide your real eye colour with contacts? It works?"

"For few hours," He revealed.

"Why just few hours? Does it dissolve or something?" Jessica suggested jokingly.

"Yes." The answer was unexpected but she wanted to know more.

"Wait, why?" She was genuinely curious. Alec noticed that.

"Our body has no need for blood anymore. When we turn into a vampire, our venom replaces all the processes and functions in the body; even the eyes. The venom burns through the contacts after only a few hours."

Jessica allowed a moment for the information to sink in before inquiring, "Does that mean you cry venom or…"

"We don't cry. We cannot."

"That's sad."

"What's so sad about not being able to cry? We still feel the same sadness just like humans, only much greater."

"What do you mean greater?"

"Our emotions are enhanced. More than you can imagine, more than you can feel."

"So if someone I loved die, I'd be really sad and if the same thing happened to you, your feeling of sadness would be much, much greater than the level of sadness that I feel?"

"Your theoretical example is correct."

"That's horrible. Is there an off switch like in Vampire Diaries? Do you even know Vampire Diaries?" She asked with a frown.

"We cannot shut down our emotions," He said, adding, "I do not know which you base your assumption on."

"Well, Vampire Diaries is basically like about vampires and humans fighting and stuff, it's for people my age, and vampires in there can decide to switch off their emotions when things become too difficult."

"How convenient." He commented dryly.

"That's so sad." She muttered, "Not being able to cry even when you want to…it's like not being able to get drunk when you want to get drunk. That must be so painful."

"I would not know about that."

"Luckily, me neither." Jessica said, "You know, I really don't think vampires are monsters now that I know they feel so much more than humans."

"You shouldn't say such things so easily."

"Well, I only have you to go on." She grinned as their eyes met, "And I think you're far from a monster.

Neither looked away for a long time.

Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020