Chapter Six

"It's been a long time, Blake. I am glad that you have been well," says Mark and, he examines Blake.

He tries to find some clues on his face, but to his dismay, his face gives away nothing. Blake, with his blue eyes, simply looks at him rigidly, nods his head mildly, then he returns to eating his breakfast. From his bland reaction, it looks as if everything from last night was just a fragment of his imagination.

Seeing his expression filled with indifference, Mark feels a bit disappointed. But isn't this exactly what he wanted? Shouldn't he be happy? So, why does he care about Blake's opinion so much, and what is this suffocating feeling in his heart?

All of a sudden, Mark feels a pang of remorse in his heart. Indeed, this is retribution. This is what he designed, after all. He is the one who abandoned Blake in the first place. He is also the one who's hurt him the most. He doesn't even know if he might be hurt, even if Blake chooses to abandon him, let alone complain!

Mark's drowned in guilt and sorrow. He almost jumps up from his chair when he hears a screeching sound suddenly. He looks up and sees Blake's lonely figure slowly receding up into his room. Guilt builds up in him even more.

He forcefully finishes his food, even though he's no appetite at all. After eating everything, he cleans the plates, organizes everything neatly, and then leaves the kitchen.

He wanders around the entire house aimlessly, looking vacantly at things that I've been on his way. After that, he unknowingly heads towards the garden but is completely lost in his thoughts. While walking carelessly without looking anywhere, in particular, he forcefully bumps into a tree.

Despite feeling the pain, he doesn't react much. He simply stands there, looking vacantly at the tree and then the empty walls in front of him, lost in thoughts once again. After fixating his eyes on the dull walls for a long time, he slowly moves his eyes towards the blue sky over his head. A few minutes pass by just like that. Finally, he reacts.

He urgently dashes into the house. He runs through the living room, passes by the library and then the office before making his way up the stairs towards Blake's room. *Screeeechhh*, he halts in front of the door. Out of impulse, he came running here. Now that he is finally here, he doesn't know what he wanted to say exactly. He just stands there, neither knocking on the door nor leaving that spot.

°°Flashback°°

Mark was making his way down the street. The night's cold air was seeping through his body and into his bones, but he didn't feel cold at all. Instead, he felt pain all over his body. His whole body was full of cuts and bruises, still in process repairing itself at a rapid pace.

He stopped as it snowed. The Christmas lights of different kinds were glowing everywhere. The surrounding people were returning to their homes, their hands were occupied with shopping bags and smiles on their faces. Quickly, he was the only one left in the street, making him look cold and lonely. But in the depth of his eyes, there was a kind of longingness still lingering.

"Psst…what are you even wishing for, Mark? Isn't this what you chose yourself! Are you regretting everything now?" but then he hurriedly shook his head and said to himself "No, no… how can I! My life is not my own. So, I can never abandon the responsibilities I have towards my clan. Yes, I cannot be selfish. I must avenge their death. I cannot let them die in vain."

He continued walking once again, this time more determined than before. He kept on walking until he reached the end of the street where his ears picked up a familiar voice, one that always haunted him in the dead of the nights. Blake's heart started beating faster and faster until he, he...

"Why are you standing in front of my bedroom like a statue?"

Blake's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. He immediately tries to push down the anger and hatred that memory has brought in him. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath to cool himself down. After suppressing his emotions, he opens his eyes, looks straight at Blake's and then he speaks "Listen here, I cannot ignore this anymore, okay! No matter what, we need to talk now. Unlike you, I cannot keep on pretending like nothing ever happened between us last night!" After quickly saying everything in a single breath, he looks at Blake.

Blake's silent. He could feel the anger in Mark's tone. He says nothing. He simply gives him a slight nod and signals him to enter his room by moving his body away from the door.

Looking at his face filled with indifference, Mark's anger rises to its peak. "So, he doesn't care at all!". He glares at Blake openly, then he angrily stomps his feet and marches into the bedroom without looking at his feet and he trips on something. He loses his control and his body falls forward. Blake has been just behind him. He sees Mark, who is about to fall. Reflexively, he tries to hold him. Alas! too late. They both flop on the bed, on top of one another.

"Damn it!" Mark curses out loud in anger and irritation. He fails to realize the weirdness in the current situation. He curses a few more times to let his steam off a bit. "Wait, why does my body feel so heavy?" Irritatingly, he moves his head a bit and in front of his eyes, he suddenly sees the enlarged face of Blake looking at him with the same obsessed eyes that he saw in the morning. Earlier he thought it was simply his imagination but now he's quite sure. Through his eyes, he can feel the crazy obsession that Blake has for him. Seeing this, Mark feels a bit scared. His whole body stiffens. Unconsciously, he tries to free himself from Blake's grip. Seeing his resistance, Blake's anger rises almost instantly and he holds Mark more tightly.

Due to pain, Mark opens his mouth to say something "You…mmmph…" He feels Blake's lips on top of his. Slowly their kiss deepens. Of course, here Blake is the one who is taking the lead the entire time. Mark is yet to recover from the shock and so he could only allow Blake to take the lead. After kissing for a long time, Blakes finally separates himself from Mark by half an inch. In his eyes, there is still the trace of desire from their passionate kiss which is yet to fade away.

On the other hand, Mark, after recovering from his shock, looks at Blake. But then he sees the eyes of Blake which are glowing red. Before he can confirm it more, he suddenly feels his hands shaking, and gradually his entire body starts to shake, and then he feels the world fading away before his eyes and finally his vision darkens.

Glinda takes her hand away from Mark's face as she watches his expression relax slowly and his body stops shaking finally. She sighs softly, "You're not ready for this just yet. I must erase whatever happened today from your memory. This is the only way for both of you to live well". She softly brushes his hair away from his forehead and kisses it and with that, she takes away his last memory with Blake and the passionate kiss that they had.

*******

°°Flash Back°°

Mark was walking down a fair road, one that led to a bar he visited often before. Also, this is the only place he could see Blake often.

After he heard Blake's voice, he finally made his way back towards that same bar that he often visited. The bar was a bit run-down in appearance. With boring wall paints and a broken signboard with only the remaining letter B on it, the bar looked pretty old. This place seemed quite mismatched compared to all the high-end stores in that New York Street.

Mark entered the bar and walked up to the counter and ordered a scotch before making his way to his regular seat. Three hours passed; he was feeling drunk. At some point, he heard the door open once again, but this time he could sense a familiarity in this person. From his strong heartbeat, Mark felt as if he'd known this person for a very long time. But in his drunken state, he couldn't think much, neither cared at the moment.

After that, everything that had happened was a blur and then, in bits and pieces, he remembered himself kissing someone hungrily. And then he lost himself in the pleasure. In between his drunken state, he vaguely heard the moans of his companion. And then suddenly he felt his teeth itching, and he sunk them into the soft skin of his partner. After that, everything was a blur for him.

°°°

Mark quickly sits up on the bed, gasping hard. He blinks and then he looks at his surroundings. Right now, he cannot think clearly. Suddenly, he feels someone gawking at him. Abruptly, he turns sideways and sees Glinda staring at him while leisurely sitting on the sofa. Seeing her invading his privacy once again, he frowns a bit. "Why are you here again? Isn't it time for you now to be riding off to your home on your broomstick?" Glinda simply rolled her eyes and casually said, "I am not a witch. For your kind information, I am a spirit. Besides, the question is what are you going to do?" with that, her gaze slowly moves towards his lower body.

Mark follows her line of sight and finally notices where she is eyeing at. He yelps loudly, "you shameless old witch…" and he quickly tries to cover it with the blanket. Glinda, on the other hand, has been laughing her head off in the background, offering commentary. "That is doing nothing other than making it more prominent. I wonder how Blake is walking now at all… no wonder he is your mate, Haha hahaha…!!!"

"You, you, …. shameless...Shut up! Shut up! Get lost!"

"Hahaha…!!!"

Glinda's playful laughter fading in the distance slowly...