Chapter 50 Welcome to paradise
Lilian POV:
One month later:
I dragged my bag down my house hall since Jonah was already throwing the remaining stuff into the car I was traveling with. Earlier this morning, I got a message from the elders that they would send a driver to come pick me up.
I’m kind of excited, low-key actually, and nervous at the same time right now.
You can call me selfish if you want, but right now, I don’t miss anybody.
I already took my resignation letter to Mr. Rourke, telling him Jonah would keep working till I was back. Of course, I told him that I just wanted to take a little trip back to my hometown.
The old fella’s tears almost made me stay back, but whatever, that’s not happening. I walked out with my bag and saw Jonah throwing my stuff into the car boot with force like he wanted it to break.
Anger rushed to my throat, and I let it out. “Jonah?! The fuck is wrong with you? Keep my things properly.”
He just turned in my direction and nodded, then started arranging it back. Jonah had been weird since yesterday, and I actually knew why.
I already met up with Seraphine since she was going to be visiting the place frequently. It wouldn’t be of much use to miss her; that would actually be wasting emotion.
I already Face Timed Mia, and she acted normal throughout the call, but I knew she was hiding her emotions. It was okay, though. Mia had always been like that, pretending everything was fine even when it wasn’t.
“Jeez,” I breathed out and rubbed my forehead. “Man, my muscles could have gone sour if I used normal human strength to pack these stuff.”
Jonah scoffed lightly at that but didn’t say anything. His silence was louder than any argument we could have had.
When I threw the last luggage in, the driver opened the back door for me to enter immediately. But before he shut it, Jonah held the door, and I shot him a glare. Then he muttered something to the driver, who just nodded and gave us space.
Jonah breathed out, but it came out shallow, like he wanted to cry or something. “Look, um… Lilian, I don’t care whether you’re a blood-sucking monster, but just know that you’re my friend, and I love you so much, and I really appreciate all you’ve done for me. I can’t just—”
I tapped his shoulder to stop him from crying and said, “Hey, stop this shit. You’re embarrassing me.”
That made him snort while he wiped his nose, and I smiled. “I will come back, okay? It’s not like I’m staying up to a year there. It’s just…”
I paused, not knowing how to finish that sentence. Just what? Just training? Just learning how to survive? Just becoming something I didn’t ask to be?
But I was interrupted by the driver coming close and saying, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but your time is up, miss.”
Trust me when I say if eyes could kill, I could have murdered this vampire idiot. I bit into my cheek in order not to retort back with something insulting.
I watched him shut the door, and Jonah just stood there, staring as the wheels of our car rolled off. I watched him till we were about to turn the next street and off to the road.
My chest tightened, but I swallowed it down.
Then I faced my front when I was sure that I couldn’t see him again, and the driver looked at me from the rear mirror and said, “Miss, you forgot to put on your seat belt.”
I gasped and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Where are my manners?” and hurriedly put on my seat belt. God, I’m not even inside the place yet, and I’m already forgetting to put seat belts on.
It seemed like the driver noticed how embarrassed I was. He smiled and said, “Hey, it’s okay. I get that you have a lot of emotions running through you right now, but trust me, you’re going to love it when you get there and adapt, of course.”
I nodded my head at what he said and turned to my side mirror, looking out and watching the place I once knew blurring off with the speed of our car. Streets I’d walked a hundred times, corners that held memories, all fading like they were never really mine to begin with.
“My name is Jacob, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Oh,” I said, blinking out of my thoughts. “I’m Lilian.”
He stared at me from the rear mirror and smiled, and his fangs were actually visible but just normal. Wait, isn’t it weird that of all things to stare at right now… fangs? Seriously.
“Nice to meet you, Lilian.”
There was silence for a few minutes, and I placed my head on the glass in quietness. The hum of the engine was oddly soothing. Then I heard him mutter something, and I raised my head up.
“Pardon?”
“I said, would you like me to play you some music?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, if there’s any. Go on.”
He grinned, and his cheek moved upright like those animes in cartoons, and I breathed out a laugh. It was inaudible, though.
“Are you laughing at me?”
My eyes shot wide in panic immediately. “No… no, I was just—”
I watched his face turn from serious to a funny expression immediately before he burst out laughing. “Jeez, girl, chill. I was just kidding.”
I rolled my eyes and folded my hands across my chest, slumping back into my seat. “That wasn’t funny at all.”
He was still laughing lowly. “Look, I was just playing. Are you that scared of our kind, though?”
I puffed out some air and pointed to my chest while he looked at me from the rear mirror. “You mean me… scared of my own kind?”
“Yeah?”
“Of course not. I mean, why would I be scared of what I am? It just doesn’t make sense. But I do respect superior boundaries.”
He nodded and continued to drive. “So how did you turn? I mean, into our kind.”
Then he watched my reaction and immediately made to talk, but I beat him to it.
“Your kind bit me. Actually, scratch that. The idiot fed on me when I was human and left me to bleed to death. It was Seraphine that saved me. I don’t know the shit she pulled, but here I am, alive and so… beast-like.”
He snorted at my last statement and looked forward before he started to slow the car down. I looked ahead in anticipation.
“Why are you slowing down?”
He cleared his throat and took a left turn before he honked, and the gate we were facing opened with a low hiss like it was being controlled.
Jacob drove into the place, and my eyes widened at what I saw before I heard him say,
“Welcome to paradise.”