Initial Encounter

While Dallas hides in the darkness, the two souls that stand in the light are about to cross paths.

Chapter 1: Initial Encounter

 

Seattle, Washington

September

Monday, 8am

 

“Ahhhh!” Lina Dawn cried when she saw the time on her alarm clock. 8am. Her class will start at 9am.

 

She’d been oversleeping. Again. And this stupid thing failed to alarm. Again. Quickly, she jumped off her bed, undressed, grabbed a towel and rushed to the bathroom. It didn’t take her much time to finish showering. Being accustomed of being always in a hurry made her developed a very convenient kind of skill.

 

Taking a bath in less than fifteen minutes, eat her breakfast in five, and ride her way to school as fast as she can handle.

 

In other words, she’s always in a hurry.

 

Searching her drawer, she took a ragged jeans and her favorite red long sleeve wool sweater. In the mirror, she tied up her long black hair into a ponytail, then done. No more additional ceremonies unlike other young women of her age. No lipstick, no make ups, not even an earring was added on her head. She grabbed her backpack and jacket and exits her bedroom. Half-running, she went down the stairs to the kitchen.

 

There, her nanny was just done cooking her breakfast. “Oversleeping again?” her Nanny asked as she sank to her seat. It was actually more a statement than a question.

 

“Yes, Kelly,” she groaned, rolling her eyes in irritation. “Again.”

 

Kelly is blonde woman at her mid-thirty, the goodhearted Nanny that her father Cairo commissioned to take care of her.

 

“You’ve been like this for months,” she moved the eggs and bacon from the frying pan to her plate. “Maybe you should see a doctor. You might be having some sleeping problems.”

 

“Nah,” she said, chomping on her breakfast. “It’s nothing grand. I’m just really a good sleeper.”

 

Both she and Kelly laughed.

 

She glanced on her watch. Whoa! It’s almost 9! “I have to go.” She devoured all that was remained in her plate and drink her milk.

 

Wearing her jacket, she rushed to the garage and took her bicycle. She hanged here backpack over her shoulder and starts paddling her way to school. Kelly waved her goodbye and she waved back.

 

She quickens her pedals hoping not to be late again and get humiliated by their terror biology teacher for being tardy again. Mr. Barry Hudson, the jerk Biology teacher who always bullied and scolds her in class. She doesn’t know what is it with him but he never liked her ever since day one.

 

Nerd, weird, and clumsy, that is how she’s being addressed at school. Not just by Hudson but also by her schoolmates. She’s a swot according to a Japanese transfer student. It’s the term used in Japan to describe a person who spends too much time studying which is something that she often do. She always read books and seldom socialite. She only had one friend who rarely hangs out with her. For her, her only true companions are her textbooks and pencils.

 

Reaching school which was just a few streets away from her house, the bell had just ringed for their first subject.

 

Excellent! She’s just in time. If she hurried up, she can make it. She dropped her bicycle beside the school wall. She didn’t mind locking it since no one will steal it anyway and rushed herself to the main hall. She was just merely passing the entrance when she crashed on someone and have both of them knocked down on the floor.

 

“Ohhhh,” Lina crawled herself away from the person she hammered, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to . . .” But before she could finish her apology, her throat went dry when she caught the sight of the guy she just assaulted.

 

Never in her life had she seen a man this good-looking, if the word “good-looking” will be enough to implicate the exquisite beauty of the man.

 

In just a single glance, every detail of his feature registered entirely in her mind, even the slightest of them.

 

Heavily layered hair, color black in general with bronze, auburn, and dark-brown shades all over. She had no idea how in the world that all those colors had mixed up but they suits him perfectly. His face is flawless attached with a pair of striking light golden brown eyes, a straight nose and a set of full and perfectly curved light red lips that looks smoother than rose petals. A pale skin complexion that almost leveled hers only rosier. And even though it is well covered with his blue t-shirt and white jacket, the curves, the curves of the muscles of his slender body were very visible even just under her sight.

 

But moreover, what greatly took her breathe away was the sharp and tough presence that she perceives from him, never in her life that she’d experienced to be near to someone with a presence so intimidating.

 

Good gracious! The guy is so gorgeous beyond any possible measure.

 

Shivers instantly sent down her spine.

 

Stunned, Lina remained kneeled down in front of him. She didn’t even notice that the guy had risen to his feet and was offering her a hand. “Miss, are you okay?” he asked.

 

Good gracious again! He has the deepest and the most masculine voice she had ever heard. His accent was cold, yet pleasing and naturally irresistible.

 

Through an act of her reflex, she accepted his hand and let him help her to her feet. And she was amaze that he possessed such a soft hand regardless from the fact that he’s a member of the male species. Once on her straightened, she inclined her head up on him.

 

He’s astonishingly tall. About six foot five to seven, another one that mock her five feet three inches. She stared on his body. Overall, he’s slender but well muscled.

 

Suddenly, a strong scent starts burning her nose. She took a sniff from him.

 

Good gracious again and again! He has the sweetest scent she had ever smelled. And she doesn’t even scent any trace of alcohol that are used in perfumes from him. So it means that it’s entirely his natural scent.

 

Man! The guy has a lot of assets.

 

“Miss, are you okay?” he asked again.

 

On the second call, Lina snapped out, “Yeah, I’m okay.” She gulped and took a deep sigh, “Thanks.”

 

But the guy doesn’t look convince, “Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah,” she gasped, half of her mind is still numbed. “You?”

 

“Fine,” he said coolly

 

“I didn’t hurt you, right?” she asked nervously. The last thing she wants is to leave a bad impression to him. She doesn’t know why but since her guts that never fail her say so, she has to.

 

He smiled on the concern, “No, I’m okay. You should be careful next time.”

 

Good gracious again and again and again! He’s even hotter when he smiles. She nodded meekly. “I will, thanks for the advice.”

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

Lina attempted to open her mouth again to introduce herself and ask for his name. But before she could breathe another word, he moved pass her and paced directly towards the exit. Lina followed him by gaze, never wanting to remove her eyes from the most gorgeous guy she’d ever seen in her entire life. She continued locking her gaze on him until he was completely out of sight.

 

She stayed unmoving, stunned of what had just happened. Was she dreaming? That kind of guy was too good to be real. She pinched her own cheek just to be certain that she’s awake and not dreaming. “Ouch!” It hurts! So she’s awake and she wasn’t dreaming.

 

And she just met the most beautiful being in the entire world.

 

 

Making his way through the parking lot, Cast Myne is still pinched by an unfathomable feeling of whirling back and return to where he’d been. A kind of feeling that tells him that he needed to do something, to accomplish something, something very vital that might mean something significant to him.

 

But the question is what? What could it be that he needed to do? Questions currently left unanswered. And better left dumped. New problems being stocked in his head is the last thing he wanted. At the first place it was the reason why he is here.

 

To escape them.

 

His only purpose of going into the place was to check the school and decide whether it would be appropriate for him to enroll in or not. But unexpectedly when he was about to exit the building’s perimeter, a petite girl knocked him down while he was on his way out.

 

Knocked down. Hard.

 

It was very vague on his part, but he remembered exactly every details of her feature. Starting from her porcelain like skin, to her small and cutely curved plump and pinkish lips, to her raven hair tied in ponytail, and her wide bubbly golden eyes that sparkle like the sun in the upcoming dawn.

 

Yeah, she’s beautiful if he will just disregard her clumsiness.

 

Cast scowled. Was that just a compliment he’d just mention? And more importantly, it was towards a woman? Jeez! He must be really tired.

 

He pulled the keys from his pocket to unlock the door of his silver Maybach 62 Sedan, the car that his elder brother Luch had given to him as a 17^th birthday gift. Expensive cars are just one of the many things that his elder loves to spoil on him. It’s irritating at some points, but somehow he can still manage to tolerate the exaggerated behavior of Luch.

 

Starting the engine, he decided to go home early to have some rest. He’d been having difficulty of sleeping for the past days summed up with weird dreams haunting his slumber every night. Damn! God knows how he hates dreaming.

 

He put the car into gear and headed to the street. He hasn’t gone far yet when his phone rings. He took the phone but instead of answering it, he pressed the power button to shut it off. It was the fifteenth call for this morning. It could either be Luch or anyone from the CEOR who had been trying to contact him for the past two weeks. Probably to convince him to come back since the day he’d flee from them and headed up in Seattle.

 

How hard it is for them to understand the word privacy. He complained inside his mind. “I just want to be alone for a while.”

 

He had always been living a very tiring life and now he’s only asking for a few months or luckily a year out of it. He just hoped they would be considerate to give him that.

 

As he drove to his destination, the image of the brunette girl with beautiful eyes keeps flashing in his mind. He wagged his head.

 

What is wrong with me? Why can’t I forget her?

 

As far as Cast remembered, since he’d reached puberty, he’d never been attracted to any woman. Not even a simple crush or admiration, not even an insincere remark of ‘She is beautiful’ to anyone. He never even looks twice into any woman whom he encountered in the street and any places, no matter how attractive and beautiful they are.

 

But that girl, that girl who knocked him down earlier, even though he’d just saw her face for a couple of minutes. Her entire features were already printed inside his head. Her hair, her lips, her pinkish cheeks, and her golden eyes. And the more he strives to remove her inside his head, the clearer she’s becoming in his memory.

 

“What’s wrong with me!?”

 

And then, something unexpected happen. Cast stumped heavily on the break. His body starts to bead cold sweats and his right hand instantly fisted to his aching chest, to his left chest, to his heart. His breathings grown heavier as his muscle strained.

 

“It can’t be,” he unbelievingly said between panting breaths. After all those years, why now?

 

“You will never know that something will happen until it happens.” Luch had once told him. “Because fate has its own way on messing up on people’s lives, and you, on the other hand, is no longer an exemption.”

 

Damn you, Luch! His brother probably knew that this will happen. No wonder that he didn’t stop him when he decided to leave. Knowing Luch’s influence, he could easily track him if he wants to.

 

And now, Cast is in a very crucial situation. Everything in his life is about to change.

 

Permanently.

 

 

Lina stared blankly on the board as their Professor discusses about the French Revolution. She always loved History subject, but for the moment, her mind can’t just occupy anything else other than that gorgeous guy that she’d just met earlier.

 

Will I see him again? That question keeps on haunting her in every minute that passes by.

 

Until now she can’t still forget his godlike features. She’d seen many beauties in her lifetime, in televisions, magazines, and even in there school she can find a lot of them. But that guy, that guy was totally out of the box. He was so dazzling that even the most beautiful male celebrity will surely envy him.

 

Man! I want a bite of him!

 

Ouch! Lina’s daydreaming snapped when she feel a pointy object poking her back.

 

“Hey Lina,” a feminine voice called on her.

 

Spinning her head around, she met the puzzled face of her friend Annabelle Braun. “What?” A trace of irritation went out of her throat. She ruined her dreaming.

 

Anna is an attractive girl, standing at 5’7 with a honey blonde hair and a striking set of blue eyes. She had been her friend since first year, and her primary interest when bored, take note, when bored is Lina’s life. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah. Why would you think I’m not?”

 

“Lina, you’ve been unfocused for the last �"” she paused and looked at her wristwatch, “let me see. Three hours.”

 

“I’m just thinking on something. There’s nothing to worry about.”

 

Anna is not the type of person who easily get convinced by a lame excuses, “You sure?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

She shrugged it off, for the moment, perhaps. “Okay.”

 

Lina turned her head back to the blackboard. With a deep sigh, she tried to focus on the lecture rather than to her mystery man. Few more minutes passes by the bell finally rang indicating the end of their subject.

 

“Let’s go to the cafeteria.” Anna suggested.

 

Lina’s brain clicked and instantly grabbed the opportunity mess up with her. “Are you going to treat me?” she grinned, showing her flashing white teeth. “If not, I’m not going.”

 

“Wow, talking about free-loading. Since when did you learn to arrange things into your benefit?”

 

She laughed on her reaction. It was really priceless for Lina every time she see the bewildered expression of her friend. “I was kidding. Of course I’ll go. I’m starving.”

 

The cafeteria wasn’t loaded yet when they arrive. They took a seat at a table for two beside the cafeteria’s glass wall. “What do you want to eat?” Anna asked.

 

“A burger and a strawberry milk shake will do.”

 

“Large?”

 

“Large.” Lina confirmed. When Anna was about to head to the counter, she added, “And maybe you can add up 3 slices of pepperoni pizza and 2 plates of lasagna.”

 

Anna’s eyes popped. She’d known Lina for almost 3 years but she can’t still get accustomed to her huge appetite. And how can she? Lina is a petite girl standing at 5’3 and weighing more or less than 100 lbs. but can consume a large amount of food enough to placate two sumo wrestlers.

 

“Honestly if you still have adds-on, please don’t hesitate to do so because I’m not planning to go back and forth to that counter for your orders.”

 

“5 hotdogs, 7 chocolate muffins, and 4 packs of potato chips. If you don’t mind?”

 

Anna prevented her mouth to go slack. Making a face that next time she will refrain herself from asking. “You sure that’s all?” she asked for confirmation.

 

“Yeah, that’s all.”

 

Anna left, and Lina started to resume her daydreaming about her mystery man that Anna interrupted during their history class a while ago. Looking outside the glass wall, she was just about to recall his handsome face when she saw something that shocked her.

 

It was him.

 

He’s outside. Still dressed with blue t-shirt and white jacket, he was leaning on a silver car, posturing like a freaking supermodel shooting for a car commercial. Lina instantly shoot to her feet and move nearer to the transparent wall to get a better look and confirm if it was really him.

 

It was really him. No doubt about it. His feature is totally exceptional. And she bet that she can always recognize him even from a mile distance. And he was . . .

 

Holy Green Guacamole! His gaze was locked towards to where she is. Or probably she thinks he is.

 

“Lina!”

 

Lina was startled on the sound of Anna’s voice. Quickly turning her head back, she found her holding the tray full of foods that they’d ordered.

 

“I need some help with the other tray.”

 

But Lina didn’t comply. Some fragments of her mind are still floating in deep space. When she’d fully recovered, she’d looked back again outside. But she found him gone.

 

Damn it! Not again! She gritted her teeth.

 

She angrily dropped to her seat, covering her face with her hands. Seizing her self not to pull Anna’s blonde hair or strangle her to death due to irritation.

 

“Lina? What’s wrong with you?” Anna asked her with utter confusion.

 

Lina doesn’t want to answer her. But she is certain that she’d been acting weirdly since she arrived this morning. She’d been silent, unfocused on their lectures. She always stared into blank spaces, confining herself from reality. Very far from her bookworm, study-loving self and Anna with her strong radar had probably noticed that.

 

“You’ve been acting so… odd”

 

“Nothing,” Lina breathed. Her friend doesn’t have any idea what she had just taken from her. A dreamlike experience was within her grasp and thanks to Anna it flew away.

 

She looked at Anna between her fingers. Dropping the tray on their table, Anna’s face was still bewildered by her peculiar behavior. Taking also her seat, she had her eyes profoundly on her expression, trying to uncover what’s going on inside her head. Not the kind of thing that she needed at the moment. She prayed that Anna won’t entertain that possibility.

 

But a realization still struck on her, “Who is he?” she asked in a brisk. Her face was full of certainty.

 

She dropped her hands, facing Anna with a not so convincing bewildered face. “Huh?”

 

“Don’t give me that ‘huh’ look Lina. I know the signs.” Anna sometimes thinks she does. The problem is most of the time, she’s right. And it irritates her. “And I know you quite well too. And right now I can see that you’re thinking on someone.”

 

Lina tried to mask her astounded expression. But it’s probably too late now. The last thing that Lina wants to happen is Anna finding out about this. She knows what will be the outcome once Anna discovered it, a very long and bloody interrogation. She will surely squeeze her up until she surrender the very last drop of information from her. She doesn’t fall much on it. But it’s very annoying.

 

“Now, tell me everything.” Her blue eyes turned to tiger-like again. It only appears like that when she’s very interested on something. For three years, they only become friends because Anna is very curious about her. And among all her curiosities, her love life is the most focused of her interest.

 

Since Lina never date anyone or even show the slightest of interest on any guy in their school. Anna had been curious on her for the last years of what kind of man will ever she find appealing.

 

“Uhhm . . . well. . .” Lina trailed off, she can’t tell her. She must find a way to avoid this. “Let’s eat.” She picked up the burger and took a huge bite from it, making her mouth full. Hoping that it might save her, but Anna immediately swiped it away from her. “Hey, that’s mine!” Lina reached to take it back but her friend lifted it up highly where she can’t reach her.

 

“I’m not giving this back, not until you tell everything.”

 

“And I’m not telling you anything not until you give my food back.” She tried to reach it once more.

 

Lina wanted to curse Anna for using her weakness. She is a glutton. And she hates it when people took her food. “Not a chance, boo. I’d been waiting for three years for this moment to happen and I will stop on nothing to know everything. Now tell me. Who. Is. He?”

 

Loss some, win some. Take the gamble and leave the rest on fate. “I don’t know!”

 

Anna frowned, “You don’t know?”

 

“No. Yes. I mean no.” Her tongue twisted. “But actually yes,” she said after a deep breath. “Yes, I don’t know him.”

 

“You don’t know his name?”

 

“No.”

 

Anna smiled and handed the burger back to Lina. Lina swipe back it in a brisk. “That wasn’t so hard.”

 

Lina took a huge bite on her food while eyeing cautiously on Anna. “Easy for you to say,” she said in a mouthful, then she another huge bite.

 

“What does he looks like?”

 

Defining him will require an immense amount of effort. Even the words handsome, gorgeous, and good-looking combined are not enough to define his godly features. So Lina define him in the simplest way possible. “Dazzling,” she said in a dreamy tone.

 

“Dazzling huh.” Her eyes full of interest. Anna pushed the tray towards Lina. “Eat up,” she ordered. “And after this, we have a lot of things to discuss.”

 

Lina doesn’t like the sound of it. But she no longer had a choice. After eating, Anna asked her if she have her sketch book. “Yeah.” She opened her backpack and pulled it out.

 

“Perfect.”

 

Lina is one of the very few people that are gifted with both artistry and photographic memory. She always brings her sketch book along with her so that in case she saw something interesting, she can instantly draw it.

 

“I want to see his face. Can you draw him?”

 

She nodded, “Yeah.” That idea had completely slipped from her mind. Damn! She’d been more distracted than she thought.

 

“Well, dig in.”

 

As soon as she stops talking, Lina immediately sketch her mysterious man. When she was done, she stares at it first for a few heartbeats before half-heartedly passing it to Anna.

 

The face that Anna made was unexplainable. Her expression was a mixture of both shock and disbelief. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets while her jaws slacked in a way that Lina had never seen before. She knew that she will act this way. She didn’t just expect it to be this worse. “Lina, are you playing games with me?” she said, glancing from her back to the picture. “This kind of face doesn’t exist.”

 

“Unfortunately Ms. Braun, it does.”

 

“Or maybe you just knock your head so hard, so you thought that the guy you assaulted looks like this.”

 

She knows that there is a chance that she won’t believe her but she still stake on it. Of course it is hard to believe that there is man who is made out of perfection would actually exist. This is reality and a man with a face like that only exists in dreams, novels, and fairytales. If she didn’t saw him firsthand, there is also no way that she’ll think that he’s actually real.

 

“I wasn’t dreaming, he’s real and I met him.” Lina defended, convincing her friend that he was real and she wasn’t under the influence of slumber.

 

“Lina, we all want to meet a guy like him. But we have to accept the fact that �"” she trailed off and glanced at her neck. “Hey, did you remove your necklace?”

 

“No.” She traced her hand to her neck and found her necklace was no longer there.