Chapter 21 - The Immortal Goes Camping

The sunlight shines through the windows I had forgotten to close the curtains the night before. It's quiet, lest for the soft breathing of Jiminie next to me. Around us, the room was bathed in soft yellow light. It reminded me of dandelions swaying in the breeze, in the middle of a torturous war.

I blinked a couple of times, turned to my right - the sight of someone softer reaches me - making me temporarily forget the remnants of war. In the blissful moment, I watched the human. His hair has grown longer now and his fringe rested gently on his forehead, curling slightly upwards.

I brushed aside the hair from his eyes, noticing the way his lashes glinted against the soft sunlight. I marveled upon his beauty - the slight curve of his cheekbones and the strong jawline of his. His arm tightened around my waist and brought me closer to him.

"Liking it are we?" he asked gently, his voice was rough and dry from sleep.

"Of course," I replied.

He chuckled softly. "How are you feeling, Alice?" he asked gently, his eyes were still closed. "You came home late yesterday."

"I'm feeling better now that I'm with you."

He cracked open one eye - the light brown pupil shining brightly under the warm glow of the sun as he tried to focus on me. He has the galaxy in his eyes. He blinked and stretched, his arm tightening around my waist and I could feel his muscles bunching against me.

"Where do you get these one liners from, Alice?"

"Netflix."

He burst into laughter at my reply and squeezed me to him. I rested myself against his neck, and I felt his hand on my head. I simply enjoyed the sensation, feeling his fingers playing with my hair and I snuggled up to him, bringing my knees up to his body.

His warmth was satisfying.

"You're so cold, sometimes it terrifies me."

"Sorry, little one."

"No, it's not that. I'm just taken aback everytime that you're immortal and a powerful leader. And you're here with me in bed, with a normal human being."

"And I wouldn't have it in any other way."

"I still don't know what you see in me, Alice."

His statement made me look up and I pushed myself up, resting on my elbows as I looked at him closely. His hazel eyes were focused on me as I gave him a soft smile.

"You are everything that I want and need," I said firmly. "You deserve the galaxy and more. You shine in the darkest corner of my life, and you made a home in me. You made me into a better being, and you are loved."

"You … you're making me blush, Alice."

"Good," I replied. "You deserve to hear it."

He made a groaning sound as if he couldn't believe a word I had said, and it made me laugh. We cuddled for a few more hours, simply enjoying the bliss of being in each other's arms and when I finally glanced at the time, it was already nine-thirty in the morning.

Oh, shit.

Cursing, I got up from bed and began checking my mobile phone - to see if I had any messages from anyone. While I was scrolling through my notifications, I switched on my laptop. Jiminie got up as well and went downstairs - probably making breakfast for himself.

Hearing tinkering noises below, I knew I was right so I popped into the bathroom for a quick shower. After that, I went downstairs to find Jiminie at the living room - eating a scrumptious breakfast he had whipped up and enjoying some morning television programme.

"Don't you have school today, bub?" I asked as I headed to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. "Aren't you getting ready?"

"Class is postponed to another day, Alice," he said. "I'm free today."

"Oh, that's great."

"Are you going to work?"

"No, I'll be working at home today."

"Lucky you."

I laughed.

.

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

"Are you free this weekend?"

"I'm working this weekend, little one."

"How about after work?"

His intonation made me look up from my laptop and I looked at him curiously. Jiminie had taken residence on my bed and had taken my iPad. He was not looking at me but he had that look on his face which tells me that he was trying to do something and he has a plan to do something with me.

"What are you planning?" I asked. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"I have the weekend free," he said with a small pout, his voice was tiny. "I want to spend the weekend with you."

If my heart could lurch, it would. "Okay," I said.

"Okay?" His head perked up and he turned to look at me in surprise, not believing that I was agreeing to his plan so quickly.

"I'll get Sebastian to block out the weekend," I said. "Where are we going?"

"You don't have to do that!" he cried as he sat up quickly. "I don't want to get you into trouble."

"Why would I get in trouble?" I asked in confusion. "I'm the boss."

"But I don't want you to rearrange your work because of me," he said. "I'll feel bad."

I blinked at his thinking. "I'll get them done on Friday," I said.

"No! You don't have to do that!"

"Quit it, Jiminie," I said. I was getting annoyed at his requests. "I thought you want to spend the weekend together. Where are we going?"

He lets out a whine. "I want to go camping," he said as he wiggled shyly. His eyes were focused on the ipad. "I've never done it before and my friend suggested we head to the beach this weekend. She said the view is beautiful and it's best to bring someone you like."

Someone you like? I stared at him.

"Don't we need to get some stuff?" I asked. "Like camping stuff?"

He visibly brightened. "Yeah!" he answered. He was jumping on the bed, the iPad forgotten. I guess he was excited to go for this camping trip. "I'll research the things that we need to set up camp and we can go buy them tomorrow. We can buy food for the barbecue too!"

I pulled out my handphone and started dialing.

"What are you doing?" he asked quickly.

"I am calling Sebastian to get the items that we need -"

He grabbed my mobile phone and cut the call immediately. "You are not going to do that!" he exclaimed, making me stunned at his sudden burst. "We are doing this together!"

I blinked twice at him. "We … we don't know anything about barbecuing, Jiminie," I pointed out. "Or camping. Sebastian knows this very well."

"No," he whined. "I want to do this with you!"

"Okay, how about this?" I compromised. "Sebastian will help book the campsite, get the camping stuff and we'll go and get the barbecue food together on Saturday morning."

Jiminie was thoughtful at my suggestion and he nods in agreement.

.

Saturday morning -

Upon his suggestion, I arrived at his apartment at eleven in the morning and I didn't have to wait long till I saw him running out of the lobby towards the car. Seeing him there made me smile, and his excitement to go on a camping trip soon made me excited as well.

I had swapped my usual car for a bigger one, a Hyundai Tucson - the Santa Fe model and I was glad that I did because there was a lot of stuff at the boot of the car. Sebastian had managed to purchase all of the items that were needed and they helped load everything yesterday night.

"Did you buy another car, Alice?" Jiminie asked as he entered the car and clipped the seatbelt on. "I thought I was seeing things when I didn't recognise the car."

"Huh?" His question made me pause from messing around with the navigation built into the car. I tilted my head as I tried to recall the purchase of the Santa Fe. "I don't think so. I don't remember."

"What? How can you not remember?"

I hesitated.

"Please don't tell me you have ten cars sitting in a big basement carpark somewhere," he said.

I laughed weakly, taken aback at his random question and sobered up quickly when I noticed Jiminie's expression. He was being serious about this, I mulled in surprise. I had never seen him glare at me before. Is he gonna be mad at me about cars? This is the first time.

"How many cars do you have?"

"Twenty," I answered.

"What?" he cried out in surprise. "You don't need that many cars, Alice."

I smiled at him. "It's not just for me, bub," I answered as I started the car, switching on the signals - checking my mirrors before I eased out of the parking lot. "Half of them are being used by the company staff, and we have to purchase expensive cars or the banks would get suspicious of our unnaturally high profits."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"You'll understand soon enough," I answered.

I could feel his strong gaze at me and seemed to drop the conversation entirely. I was relieved that he stopped asking, because I wasn't ready to answer his questions yet. We fell into comfortable silence as I drove to the hypermarket, with radio music playing in the background.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled up into the hypermarket's parking and got a spot. Putting the car to park, I pulled up the brakes and shut off the engine. I grabbed my bag and we left the car, shutting the doors as we made our way inside the hypermarket.

"Do you know what you want to buy?" I asked as I watched him pull the trolley out after inserting a one dollar coin into the lock.

"Yup! I asked my friends, and I did the research!" he answered excitedly. "I already have a list of what to buy. Let's go, Alice!"

"Okay."

I followed Jiminie down the aisle, pushing the trolley along as he filled it up with the items necessary for a barbecue. He was referring to his mobile phone, checking the list that he had and soon enough, the trolley was filled with various items. We lingered quite a while at the barbecue aisle, marvelling at the things that we needed for a camping trip.

After we purchased the items, we loaded everything into the cart and headed back towards the car - loaded the bags inside the boot and returned the cart. I got the car started as I waited for Jiminie to return and once he was inside, we left the hypermarket.

The ride to the camping site took us twenty minutes, and since the parking lot to the camping ground was a distance away, we loaded the items into a trolley (courtesy of Sebastian) and made our way towards it. We were next to the sea, and the breeze was cooling against my skin as we walked leisurely.

We've reached the barbecue pit, though I preferred to have more privacy, Jiminie assured me that these people who had their mats out would usually be gone by the evening, as they needed a permit to stay overnight. Together, we got the tent up and secured it into the ground with hooks.

Though it took time to figure out how to set it up, we were having fun giggling over the other as we tried to get the cross frames up. After we covered it with the rain cover in case of heavy rain, we moved on to start setting up the chairs. I sat down on the chair while Jiminie entered the tent. I was staring off into space, admiring the view and taking in the peaceful moment.

The sea breeze was cooling and calming, despite the crowd around us, I could feel the stress on my shoulders retreating. The palm trees were swaying gently, and I let out a soft sigh of bliss.

Ten minutes or so later, Jiminie got out of the tent in a different outfit and he took the other chair to put it in front of me. He sat down, uncapped a bottle of SPF and started applying it on my skin for me. I looked at him working, watching his veiny hands run across the length of my arm and noticing just how large his hands were.

My throat tightened. Despite knowing that he was already a twenty-one year old man, I still get taken aback at how much he's grown. After both arms were done, he started on my face and neck. Any exposed skin was covered with a layer of SPF, and the more I stared at him, the redder his ears became.

The little one was adorable.

"Did you put SPF on yourself?" I asked after he was done.

He was patting my face, trying to get the SPF to absorb into the skin when he got up without answering me and pressed a kiss on my forehead. The kiss came as a shock, and I froze for a split second as my mind tried to register it. He discarded the tank top, throwing it on me before heading out to the beach for a swim.

What does that mean?

I touched my forehead and a pout formed. Jiminie being sneaky. I didn't think he'd do this. Shaking my head to dispel sneaky thoughts, I let out a sigh and focused on a more important matter. I could see Jiminie clearly from here. He was swimming laps for some reason.

I went inside the tent to put on a windbreaker and a cap. Despite the SPF, I didn't want to roast under the sun rays and it can get pretty intense out here. I didn't want to end up being a burnt crab either.

Jiminie ended up swimming for an hour or so, with me watching him do a varying amount of strokes. After a while, he started floating on his back and looking up at the sky. Five minutes later, he swam back to shore which revealed more than I wanted to see.

I thanked silently for my shades that I had worn earlier, as I could see the seawater glistening on his abs and how low he was wearing his swimming shorts. This is not good for my dead heart. He walked back up to me, smirked when he noticed that I had covered up and wore his top back.

"Was the water cold?" I asked as I handed a water bottle to him.

"It's refreshing," he said. "You should try swimming in it, Alice."

"Not a fan of salt water, baby."

He chuckled softly. "What are we going to do for lunch?" he asked.

I lowered my shades to peek at him. "Are you hungry already?" I asked in return.

"Swimming in open waters makes you hungry fast," he answered.

"There's some fast food restaurant nearby," I said.

"Okay, let's go."

"Now?"

"Yeah."

I grabbed my mobile and wallet, zipped up the tent before we made our way down the path towards the fast food restaurant. It was a distance away, and we walked hand-in-hand. There were many humans around; some were with family while others were with their significant other.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Does your skin hurt or something?"

"No, I just don't want to turn into a lobster after this," I answered.

His head snapped back to me quickly, as if surprised to hear it. "I thought you'd be perfectly fine under the hot sun," he admitted. "With SPF of course."

"I may be powerful but I ain't that powerful, bub," I replied.

He let out a laugh and pulled me to him, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walked on. It wasn't a joke though. I was being serious. Despite the fact that we do not burn under the sunlight, we are still vulnerable under extreme sun rays especially at the beach.

We arrived at the fast food restaurant and I was surprised to find it different. They had renovated and turned it into a bigger establishment; to accommodate the sheer amount of customers coming here. Though I missed the old design, I was glad that they had decided to renovate.

"Let's find a seat."

.

After lunch, Jiminie decided to rent bicycles and have a leisure yet scenic ride around the beach. We were able to rent for two hours from the bike shops, and we could go as far as we could, granted we returned the bike on the time stated. It seemed that he had things planned out, and I merely followed along. Seeing him smile was my number one priority, and I loved making him happy.

Cycling around the beach was a whole new experience for me.

They had cycling and jogging paths side by side and they circled around the length of the beach; meant for cyclists to enjoy the day out. The path we took brought us towards a man-made lake where we saw people trying out surfing - being pulled by a mechanical pulley built across the lake.

Next, we passed by a large food court with red slanted roofs and an opened concept facing the beach. A large carpark was situated next to the food court.We rode past the carpark, and circled around the foot of a forest - enjoying the cooling shade before the path diverged into two.

Jiminie took a right, and I followed suit - the path diving down steeply accelerating our speed abruptly. Hearing him laugh at the sudden speed, I couldn't help grin at his happiness. Though I lived longer than he did, he teaches me to look at the simpler things in life and to enjoy the simplicity.

I loved him enough to do that.

After we completed one round, we circled back to our campsite and took a rest. There were more people on the beach when we came back, and I was taken aback at how crowded it was. Music was being played from the others, and though Jiminie told me not to fret, I couldn't help the worry.

He must've noticed my worry as he went up to me and held my face in his hands, squeezing my cheeks playfully. "You're covered up fine, Alice," he said softly and flashed me a grin. "Nobody will recognise you."

I pouted.

He chuckled as he squeezed and played some more. "I'm gonna go buy some ice-cream, be right back."

"Okay."

I made myself comfortable on the chair, and crossed my legs as I pulled out my mobile to check if I received any messages that are important. Seeing no notifications, I kept the phone aside and slumped down on the chair - staring out at the beach peacefully.

I knew Sebastian wouldn't disturb me as he knew what I was doing, and he would only disturb me if it was highly important.

Despite the crowd around me, being here was peaceful.

Jiminie came back with two ice-cream cones and handed one to me, dragging the chair close before he sat down. He looked like he had his tail ruffled, and though I could guess what's happening, I decided to ask as I peeled open the ice-cream packaging.

"Did something happen, bub?"

He shook his head as he bit into his ice-cream cone. "It's nothing to worry about, Alice," he answered and he turned over to look at me. "How's the ice-cream? Is it nice? The cashier recommended it to me."

"Whatever that you buy for me is nice, bub."

He made a face at my reply. "No," he whined. "Give me your truthful answer."

I hid a smirk as I continued licking the ice-cream, resting against the chair as I chuckled and I happened to notice a few humans making their way next to us. More humans huh, I mulled thoughtfully before I turned towards the pouting baby next to me.

"Have a taste," I offered, handing the ice-cream over him.

He grasped my hand and took a tentative lick, made a face at the questionable taste before the pout was back on his lips. "I'm not going to buy whatever the cashier suggests," he said firmly after that.

I laughed.

He was so adorable.

We ate and we chatted; giggling over the other as we joked and Jiminie was mimicking one of his professor's speech styles when a beach ball came rolling over towards us. We both turned towards the ball and simultaneously turned towards the person who was jogging towards us while apologising furiously.

I tilted my head upon her sudden entrance and Jiminie - being himself - got up to grab the ball to pass it over to her. I looked at the mortal, noting her attire and then to the group she was with; a smile spread across my lips as I understood what was happening.

Trying to hide a grin was difficult.

I watched as they chatted, the girl trying to flirt her way with oblivious Jiminie and her trying her best to capture him with her prettiness. Granted, she was pretty for a mortal. Beautiful brunette so soft it looked like marshmallows, paired with honey skin and a curvy body. The bikini she wore was cute too.

But alas, Jiminie was oblivious.

Is this how he is during high school and university?

It was my first time seeing him interact with the opposite sex. It was refreshing, and as they parted, the girl looked over at me - her radiant expression turned sour immediately as soon as we locked gazes. Oh? What was that? Is that resentment I see? This is inspiring.

"Why are you smiling, Alice?"

"Oh nothing, humans are very interesting creatures."

"Are you referring to me?"

"No."

He cocked his head to the left in confusion, and I let out a bright laugh as I ruffled his hair. "You're so oblivious little one," I said. Jiminie pouted at me, took one look around at the crowd and it finally dawned upon him. I watched as his expression changed, from confusion to annoyance before he squatted in front of me, bringing my hands to cover the sides of his face.

"What are you doing, bub?"

"I'm embarrassed."

"Why?"

"I just am."

I chuckled. "How long are you going to keep doing this?" I asked earnestly.

He didn't answer me but peeked over my hands to look around once he deemed it clear, he looked up at me again. "Let's start with the fire," he said.

"Okay."

For the next twenty minutes, Jiminie was unsuccessful in getting the charcoal to catch fire. He has inserted the fire starter and used various methods he had googled. None of these methods worked. I sat behind to observe him, as he was excited to get the fire going.

Finally, after we hit the forty-five minute mark, he turned behind to look at me with eyes that were about to tear up. His face was smeared with charcoal, and though he looked adorable, I went up to console him.

"Hey, why don't we try another way?"

He sniffed and wiped his face with his arm. "I already tried everything, Alice," he mumbled with a pout. "It's not working."

"Come on," I said as I grabbed the tongs and laid aside the charcoal to reveal the fire starter that didn't stay lit. "The main thing is to keep this burning, can you pass me the lighter please?"

He took the lighter from the table and passed it over to me. I used the tong to grab the one of the fire starters and clicked the lighter, letting the flame lick onto the fire starter. We watched as the flames started to spread onto the fire starter till it was burning bright.

"Next is to spread it to the other fire starters," I said as I lowered the burning fire starter to the trio of fire starters on the pit, keeping the lit one close so the flames would spread to the others. Once all four were on fire, I arranged the charcoal so that they were around the fire starters.

After that, I started stacking the charcoal above - taking care not to snuff the flames out. "Get the fan out, and start fanning, baby," I said as I kept an eye on the flames. They were growing alright, they just needed the time to start spreading to the charcoal.

"How do you know how to do this, Alice?"

"I used to make camp fires," I said. "Back when I was in the military."

"You didn't tell me about that!" he cried out in surprise. "Since when were you a soldier?"

"Well, I had to join the military as a requirement to be the Emperor. It was a rule stated by the Council," I explained. "All seven of us were conscripted as soldiers, and we rose the ranks gradually."

I could feel his eyes on me. I bet he was shocked, I didn't tell him about this as I felt it wasn't an important matter to know but looking at him, it was indeed a serious matter to him. We didn't speak more about that as we focused on building the fire, and thanks to Jiminie's furious fanning, we managed to get the fire going.

After I stacked the last charcoal, we covered it with the wire mesh and while Jiminie continued fanning, I began to take out the food items from inside the ice box and set it next to the pit. Arranging them so that it was easy to take them out, I placed the plates in front of the food including the utensils.

After receiving a nod from me, Jiminie started putting meat onto the wire mesh and hearing it sizzle as it cooks. It was already hot enough to cook. While I was observing the meat, Jiminie appeared next to me holding onto a stick of marshmallows. He had a little grin on his face, as hovered the stick above the flames.

"My friend said I should cook this above the fire and get it to golden brown," he explained. "It'll taste amazing."

I nod. "Pass me the plate please."

We cooked a variety of food, and thanks to the blazing flames, it didn't take that long to cook them. While the food was cooking, I took out both the sweet potatoes and corn and began wrapping aluminium foil around them before stuffing them in together with the charcoal to let them cook.

"Black fluff of burnt marshmallows."

"Huh?" I turned around to see Jiminie staring at the blackened stick in silent surprise. His marshmallows were already burnt. They were already black. I tried hard not to laugh and since he looked so dejected, I offered to make a new batch of the marshmallows for him.

Jiminie set up a low plastic table in front of the tent, arranged the chairs and brought the plates of food to the table while I prepared his marshmallows. Fifteen minutes or so, I brought the stick back to where he was, offering it to him silently before I took a seat.

"Thank you for agreeing to go camping with me, Alice," he said softly as he ate the melting marshmallows with relish. "Can we do this next time?"

I looked over at the boy, the dying sunlight glowing on the side of his face - showing off his masculine features and his sharp jawline. I note his smile, the one that showed off his dimples and made his eyes sparkle.

"We can do this as many times as you want, bunny," I replied softly.

The smile on his face deepened and he held my hand, caressing with his thumb. If my dead heart could beat, it would jump at his touch. The warmth from his hand was comforting against my icy skin, and I marveled at the heat he was giving off as I could never get used to it.

"I love you, Alice."

I sucked in a sharp breath when I heard it.

This is the second time he said it.

He let out a laugh, a hand scratching the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed but I found it to be adorable instead. "Sorry it took me this long to let you know," he continued, a shy smile playing on his lips. "Thank you for loving me and being there for me."

Then, I remembered something.

"Hey, you confessed on the twenty-fifth!" I cried.

He giggled.

.