Chapter twelve

**Two months later**

"Hey, what are you doing!!??"

I was startled and turned around quickly, shushing Nicole. Instead of quieting down, she giggled, which made me smile. She took that as encouragement, and the next minute, she was laughing. She looked so cheeky that I started laughing with her, forgetting what I had been doing.

Someone cleared their throat, and I sobered up quickly, remembering my purpose.

Well, that was short-lived, since Mason was standing before us, arms folded in front of him. I looked into his eyes for a millisecond, then averted my gaze. I couldn't hold his gaze for even a second.

Nicole jumped up and squealed,

"Maseeeyy!"

Mason laughed and lifted her up, twirling her around. She laughed with glee, and for a second, I remembered the first vision I had when I first came here. As quickly as that thought came, I dismissed it. I wasn't thinking about such things.

I watched Mason and Nicole, who were busy laughing, and quickly darted away, running out of the room as fast as I could. There was no way I was going to be in the same room as him. I could hear Nicole shout my name as I exited.

Nicole, my baby sister and twin to Nicolas, loved following me around since she knew me well. Nicolas, on the other hand, was not a fan of following "girls" around, because according to him, a man shouldn't follow a woman like a lost puppy. Instead, he basked in the act of following Mason around since, as he put it, Mason was "man enough."

**(Flashback)**

"Hmmm. Very handsome. I can’t even breathe properly in your presence. Mmmm. You’re the guy of my dreams. You’re it for me. I can't function properly without you around. I need you. I can't help it. Oooh, Mason, what do I do? How do I help those sparks after we touch? How can I not relish that touch? Ooh, how do I stop thinking about the almost kiss? Mmmmm. You're the one for me."

**End of flashback.**

That had been a phone recording Mason showed me one day after I woke up from an afternoon nap! Apparently, I had been sleep talking, and to make matters worse, it had been about him!

I had been so mortified that I had avoided him ever since. It was now almost a month since the incident, and I couldn't even look him in the eye, let alone stay in the same room with him. He always wore a smug smile, which I wanted to wipe off, but didn’t know how to.

I had tried so many times to get Nicole and Nicolas to steal his phone so I could delete the recording, but I was never successful. He always beat me to it, and he even put a password on his phone, which he changed frequently, so there was no way to know what it was.

He had that as a weapon against me. I knew he would use it to his advantage whenever he could. I winced at the thought of how many times he had blackmailed me. I always had to do his bidding if I wanted peace. I had to get that phone and get rid of the recording once and for all.

On my way to my room, I met Gabriella. She was not very fond of me. She was always slightly cold toward me, trying to subtly insult my presence. But I always saw through her tactics.

My presence in their life had robbed her of the spotlight, according to her. I had taken everyone’s attention, and she disliked me for that. There was one person who especially made her bitter toward me: Mason. Nicole had told me that Gabriella had harbored a massive crush on him since they were kids.

I didn’t know how Nicole knew this since she was only ten, but I thought she was probably right. To make matters more complicated, Gabriella and Mason had been about to enter a relationship before I came into the picture. But Mason had made no advances toward her. The reason behind that, according to Gabriella, was *me*, and no one could convince her otherwise.

The past two months had been smooth, at least after the occurrences in the beginning of my stay. Justin had explained to me about my dreams and strange visions. He said they were prophetic, likely foretelling events to come.

That had left me shaken, but he reassured me that I had nothing to worry about since they could be messages or warnings from the family’s ancestry. So, I had to wait and find out, as there was nothing to be done.

I hadn’t had any trouble since then, and Justin believed that my earlier encounters symbolized my initiation into my real form of life.

This place housed a maximum of twenty people, and each of them had some special talent or gift. That was why they didn’t seem quite like normal humans — it was because of their gifts.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, looking away from me. I always tried not to let her actions rile me up, but they always got to me, and I always ended up feeling hurt. She was twenty-two, the same age as Mason. Both of them were in university.

I had always hoped she could listen to me and hear my side of the story. I had never wanted to make her jealous or anything. I had even decided to avoid Mason for her sake, but Mason had his own mind.

"Gabriella, hi?"

She replied with a curt "hi" and then proceeded to inform me that our parents were looking for me. She told me they were in the patio area. I was about to thank her, but she flipped her hair and left dramatically. Sometimes, I even wondered whether she was really twenty-two! She always acted so childish.

Sighing, I left to go see my parents.

"Mom, Dad."

"Hi, Andrea, we have some news for you," my mother said with a smile. I had bonded with them, and over time, I had accepted them into my life. They were really good people and great parents.

My father spoke next.

"Andrea, we’ve secured a place for you at the university."

I smiled broadly, excitement bubbling inside me. But that wasn’t all.

"We’ve also planned a trip back to The Home so you can see your people."

I cried out in happiness. I couldn’t believe it! First, I was going to join school, which had always been my dream, and then I was going to see my friends and family back at The Home. I couldn’t wait to meet Sandra. I had so much to share with her. I hugged my parents tightly and thanked them profusely.

I was to visit The Home in the next three days, so I decided to go look for gifts to take with me. I would carry as many as possible. I had missed everyone, and I hoped they hadn’t forgotten me. It would be heartbreaking if they had.

I skipped to my room. I was so engrossed in my plans that I didn’t see Mason standing in front of me until it was too late. He cornered me, and I had no escape route.

"Running away from the guy in your dreams?"

I didn’t dare look up, praying fervently for some sort of intervention. And as if on cue, Gabriella called Mason in a highly nasal manner. She then proceeded to hug him tightly and finally dragged him away for a "surprise."

Well, not *this* sort of intervention! I thought to myself, watching them disappear around the corner.

Sighing, I started dragging myself to my room, but when I remembered the task ahead, energy returned to me tenfold, and Gabriella and Mason were forgotten.

I went to Nicole’s room and took her with me to help pack things. She even offered to give away some of her things. I was really glad to have her around. She balanced my dramatic life.

With a strong resolution to pack as much as I could, I set to the task, imagining my friends’ reactions when we met again.

To say I was excited was an understatement...