~The Shattering (Part 2)~

Drake arrived at the Anderson residence ten minutes before 6 pm with his black and white printed shirt and a denim jacket paired with denim shorts and gray sneakers. The lady came out later had her hair done with her dazzling light blue crinkly strapless maxi dress with a stretchy smocked bodice, halter neck tie, and low strappy back paired with yellow sandals as an outfit that made her look irresistibly unique and oh so gorgeous. He made a quick greeting to her parents and off he went together with his girlfriend. They arrived at the venue at exactly 6 pm, the same time when they first shook hands for their first meeting three days ago. The moment that Drake felt something weird.

“Dinner at a restaurant near the beach; this is the most romantic dinner date I’ve ever had. Except because this is my first dinner date with my first ever boyfriend, that is.” Lez laughed at her joke. But Drake wasn’t hearing her for the moment.

“Drake, are you alright?” Lez asked as she saw her boyfriend, not in his senses.

“Did you feel that?” Drake asked his girlfriend if she felt something unusual as the barrier became thinner and weaker.

“Feel what?” but Lez hasn’t felt anything from the barrier.

Drake just held her hand gently, and rested it in his chest right by his heart, then said, “My heart is pounding just for you.”

“That is so corny, Mr. Scott, HAHA.” Lez sarcastically replied, teasing him for his corny quotes.

Drake did a semi-angry face while tickling his girlfriend on her waist with both hands in reaction to her reply. The lady just giggled away, but Drake pulled her back by wrapping his left hand to her waist.

“This way, your highness.” Drake swayed his hand in the direction of their table.

“Thank you, your majesty,” Lez replied with an embrace as they walked together to their table spot.

The band suddenly plays – ~ (BGM) Say You Won’t Let Go by James Arthur in an acoustic version with a voice like Boyce Avenue ~.

“Oh, I love this song.” Lez suddenly said as she smiled while watching the band plays the music.

Drake looked at her lovely face and started to ask her, “Can I have this dance?” Drake asked Lez smiling while placing his hand in front of her and placing her hand over his.

Lez placed her hand over his as they walked in the middle and started to dance. Having their sweetest moment as they gracefully dance together, never mind all the people that surrounds them. For them, they are the only ones who exist inside that place—smiling and laughing at each other. Twisting and turning, Lez leaned back at Drake as he was behind her, looking at each other’s eyes. Each smile they gave at each other made their heartfelt tranquility as they smoothly danced the night away in a piece of lovely music.

They took their seat after that and talked for a while.

“So, how’s your day going?” Drake made a quick question to start as the waiter gave them the menu and two glasses of water.

“My day goin’? Hmmm… Let’s see. Nothing much, actually. Helped mom with the groceries, daily chores, and that’s it. I was just waiting for the day to go by and for the night to come. And how about yours? How’s your impending investigation going, Detective Scott?” Lez replied with a question teasing her boyfriend for being so eager to find information while Drake read the menu.

Lez took a glass of water and gently had a sip.

“Detective, huh? Really?” Drake had a soft laugh for what his girlfriend called him while Lez quickly stood up as she burst the water she was drinking, having a gentle laugh at her joke.

“Hey, take it, easy young lady. You don’t want to ruin your nice lovely outfit with that oh-so-ever hot body of yours,” Drake said while looking slowly, using his ability, at her girlfriend's face laughing. He looked down to her slender, smooth neck moving to her flawless busty chest down to her sexy gorgeous waistline.

“Did I say hot? I mean, um… delicious. No, no, no, no! I want to mean… um.” Drake doesn’t know what to say every time he's in front of his girlfriend. Felt like his mojo was being doubled and negated to its extent.

“Hey, if what you mean is that I look pretty tonight? Then, thank your majesty.” Lez said, showing her lovely smile to Drake.

“You’re welcome, your highness. And that makes me wanna eat some meat tonight.” Drake unintentionally said as her girlfriend sharply looked at him pouting her lips. “No pun intended!” Drake quickly revoked as she recognized the look that his girlfriend was making.

“I just want to eat some steak. You know, steak? Meat?” Drake is trying to explain, but Lez didn’t buy it.

“Okay.” He whispered to himself while having an awkward smile looking at his girlfriend still looking at him sharply.

Drake called for the waiter to erase the mean look of his girlfriend’s face and ordered a Classic Grilled Steak Dinner for himself.

“How about you Lez? You want some meat too?” he said unintentionally, AGAIN, to his girlfriend, who is AGAIN looking at him very sharply that could cut him into pieces.

“Ahem. Maybe my girlfriend's on a diet and likes to eat some salad or something?” Drake made an audible whisper to the waiter while looking at her girlfriend with a mean look at him.

“Nope!” Lez quickly answered as she heard what her boyfriend whispered to the waiter. “I shall have a Creamy Shrimp Pasta and A Delicious Apple Salad, please.” Lez quickly replied.

“Well, that settles it! You heard the lady. And oh! A bottle of your finest wine. Thank you.” Drake took a gasp of fresh air as finally, the intense moment of order taking is over.

“So you are really on a diet, I presume?” Drake asked as he wanted to take the romantic moment back in the ambiance with an awkward feeling.

“Yeah! But not that much. Just a little less, for I have eaten much food lately ever since from the mansion.” Lez replied as Drake felt the tension returning to normal.

“But, if you really want me to eat some meat, I think I could manage to do that. Besides, it’s you. I’ve been looking and waiting for a long time, remember?” Lez added, biting her lips like a woman in heat as she slowly brushes her hair over her right ear to reveal more of her luscious-looking jawline down to her neck and onto her chest, teasing her boyfriend's eyes to melt away.

Drake brightly smiled soon as he heard those words from her while his heart started to pound faster. His adrenaline pumped up like a rushing truck on a highway, beeping horn again and again while looking at Lez from the top, slowly moving down and halting at her chest. He paused and stared at that view, then slowly moved his eyes back up until he saw her pouting her lips while looking at him sharply again, which suddenly erased his gleaming smile.

“I’m just joking!” Lez said while having a mean look at Drake.

Drake is sincerely thinking about what’s going on inside her head. Thinking by himself if Lez is having her menstrual period or is she having menstrual cramps at the moment. It’s like solving a picture puzzle in pieces, blindfolded, in total darkness.

He tried to escape by changing the topic they were talking about.

“So… going back to what we talked about earlier. So you just basically stayed at home, waited for the night to come, and then I picked you up. Does that mean you were excited?” Drake asked.

“Not so being conceited of yourself, aren’t you, huh?” Lez replied so seriously.

Drake is now perplexed. Anything he does seems annoying to her girlfriend for a moment.

“I therefore conclude, Lez, my girlfriend, is having severe menstrual cramps happening right here, right now.” Drake’s energy slowly got drained down the pipe as his face began to show sadness.

“Hey!” Lez called as Drake just had a look on her face as a reply.

“I’m just kidding; why are you wearing that kind of face?” Lez began to laugh.

“Wha… What? Are you crazy? I thought I was going to have a bad evening tonight. Thinking you are mad at me.” Drake explained while Lez was still laughing at him.

“Oh, you really enjoyed that, huh?” Drake said as he also started to laugh.

“I got you didn’t I?” Lez said as she continued to laugh.

“Oh yeah, you got me in there, alright. Maybe you’d like to meet Mr. Tickle Fingers tonight?” Drake raised his hands, wriggling his fingers.

“No, please don’t. I really do have a weakness against tickles.” Lez replied as they both laughed and had their happy moment.

“Oh, you should have known better.” Drake was about to stand and tickle her girlfriend when the waiter arrived with their food.

“Saved by the bell,” Drake said to her laughing girlfriend.

“But you do look pretty cute, though, even wearing your sad face,” Lez said, flirting with her boyfriend.

“And you liked it that much, huh?” Drake replied with a smile.

“Yes! I did.” Lez replied and took a glass of water for a sip.

“You sadistic hot pretty woman you are.” Drake stared at her girlfriend sharply as she burst the water, AGAIN, as they both laughed.

………………………………………………………………………………..

After dinner, they went to the beach outside the restaurant to stroll in the ‘cool breeze of the ocean’. Later on, Drake removed his jacket and placed it on the sand for them to sit on.

Drake wrapped his left arm to her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the sea from afar and the stars in the sky.

“By the way, Alex and the others send their regards to you,” Drake said to open a conversation before deciding to reveal the truth to Lez.

“So you went back to the mansion?” Lez replied, asking.

“Yes, I came to the mansion knowing that the orphanage’s directress wasn’t there for the time being. And I was to collect information about the connection between you and the Seymour’s at the mansion, which I put Clem in charge about it.” Drake explained.

“And how did you do that?” she replied, asking.

“Well, I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you that I took a sample of your hair and gave it to the lab for DNA testing,” Drake replied.

“It’s okay, so, how did it go?” Lez replied with a question.

“Well, it turns out to be positive,” Drake replied with a solemn and mildly sad tone of his voice.

The lady quickly backed away from her boyfriend to look at his face and reaction, for she’s pretty unsure of what Drake possibly means.

“What do you mean, positive?” Lez having a curious face, asked her boyfriend for the second time to know what the result was.

Drake started to smile and said. “It’s positive; you are royal blood, and you are one of us, and you are one of Seymour's daughters,” Drake excitedly said as Lez screamed for joy as soon as she heard those words. She went to give a big hug to her boyfriend after seeing her boyfriend’s reaction.

Drake noticed something as he gently pushed her girlfriend a bit to see her face as he realized Lez was crying.

“Hey? Why are you crying?” Drake asked.

“No. I’m just fine. I’m just so glad to know that I am of royal blood and not the Key. I couldn’t bear to think what would happen if I were the Key. I don’t want to lose you, Drake. I don’t ever want to lose you.” Lez continued to cry, facing her boyfriend.

Drake had mixed emotions as both his conscious and subconscious minds worked together to perform a sweet, gentle kiss. Their - first kiss - that shattered the barrier spell, unknowingly, by both of them as they both savor the moment of their true love’s kiss. The kiss that they’ve been longing for, ever since they first met and now feeling every brush of their lips, colliding, forming their love from each other. And as they both opened their eyes, they knew, deep down inside, together they would surpass all the trials they will encounter as both of them face the future.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, a portal to another dimension - The Netherworld - appeared in a distant place they both knew and had been before. As it slowly opened, a silhouette of a horned woman making her way out of the portal emerged.

“I AM LUST,” and a sinister laugh echoes thru the space.

END OF CHAPTER 10