WHAT IS HIS NAME?

It had been 341 days since you came into my life.

Short for some, but a life time for me.

And I had been waiting with urgent anticipation for you to show me that I was your world just like you were mine.

From: In Short –By: Rachel Hadeli Lie-

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This was something that never happened before and Apple didn't have a word to describe this. How was such a thing even possible to happen…?

Apple knew that she was not normal since she was able to see those astral creatures, but she had never thought that she had such otherworldly things like this.

"What is this?" Apple murmured, she was mesmerized by this gold dust that swirled on the tip of her fingers and floated in the air, to reach the wounded man before her eyes.

This gold dust was like a living thing and had a mind on its own.

It suffused Drustan's wounds and gradually closed the small scratches that littered his skin, while in the most terrible wounds, it was starting to stop bleeding.

Both of them were silent during the process, no one was talking or even daring to breathe loudly. The gold dust was akin to a safe bubble for both of them, it glittering under the dimly lit alley, glistening among the droplet of rain, and enchanted the two different beings.

However, the most visible thing that happened was the fact that the black wings behind Drustan's body, slowly shrunk, grew smaller, and then disappeared behind his back, between his shoulder blades.

How could that be possible?

And those silver eyes…

Apple couldn't put into words how those silver eyes changed in color to be charcoal black and were staring at her deeply. She shuddered involuntarily because of the intensity.

What creature was this? Was he dangerous? No. He saved her five years ago, even though it wasn't his intention to do that, therefore, would he kill her now? What if he would? Would she be able to escape from his clutch, as now he seemed to heal very fast?

Apple wanted to facepalm herself for being so stupid. She was too ignorant of her own safety. Wasn't the incident that almost took her life five years ago, still haunted her in her dream? Yet she remembered the strong desire and longing that led her here…

She was happy, scared, and thrilled at the same time to finally meet him again, yet the situation seemed a little bit complicated.

Who had wounded him until like this?

"What is this?" Apple repeated her question again, wishing the beautiful creature before her eyes would answer her bewildered, yet he kept his mouth shut and only continued staring at her.

Now, Apple was not only captivated by the gold dust but also his eyes.

The way he looked at her…

The curiosity in his eyes…

And the way he furrowed his brows…

Apple felt a sharp wind brushed her cheek and in the next second, the curiosity in the man's eyes that she adored turned cold, filled with murderous intent.

What… is happening?

Apple glanced at Drustan and only then did she realize that he was holding a switchblade in his left hand, thrusting through her side face and scratching her cheek.

The pain came after the realization and it made the enchanting bubble pop.

Out of instinct, Apple tried to back away from Drustan, but before she could crawl her way back to her home and forget everything that was happening, including the gold dust and the wounded man with wings, the said man had pulled her toward him until she bumped onto his broad chest.

There was a low grunt that sounded very primal when Apple landed on his wound which was not yet healed, but he kept her and stayed close to him, despite her struggle.

"Stop," he said. The first word that he spoke and this presented back to her the old memories. He said the same thing at that time…

He told her to stop following him after he saved her life and then disappeared without any trace.

Apple swallowed hard, but then she followed his line of sight and found creepy creatures that she had seen since two days ago.

The hollow in his mouth looked like someone was screaming at the top of their lungs, but they were not human and no sound came out from that black-hole mouth.

"Stay," Drustan said, he then pushed Apple away from him before he stood up and pulled out the dagger from that creature's chest.

Apple listened to him. What else could she possibly do?

And the story repeated. The man that had saved Apple's life five years ago, saved her again today, from those weird creatures.

His movements were exactly the same as what she remembered; swift and precise. He moved with ease and swung his dagger without any hesitation, stabbing those creatures, as if they were his plaything.

This was a beautiful sight to see, despite the fear and horror that grasped Apple's heart.

The rain was still pouring down and the gold dust kept following him, floating around him like fireflies. Wasn't this a sight to behold?

Apple sat down there, watching as he saved her again and made her feel much better about her miserable life, as a stupid question appeared in her mind; how could she repay him?

She felt this urge to do something for him, but what was that?

Has the rain started to become cloudburst? Why was her vision starting to become obscure? The man's figure started to fade away and her breathing became heavy.

Apple tried to shake her head to clear her mind and keep her consciousness, but it was to no avail, as the last thing that she remembered was when the man came to her and held her head before hitting the concrete ground.

He said something, however couldn't hear what he said, her head was heavy, her vision was blurry…

What is his name?