Chapter 5 My Mate

• Aileen
• I went back to join Mom. And the cake arrived in front of me brought by the maids. It was a three-layered cake with a Barbie girl standing next to Prince on top of it.
• I was watching in amazement.
• Mom lit up the candles, and I stood in front of the cake with Mom and Dave on both sides.
• “Make a wish,” Dave said, patting my shoulder and smiling at me.
• I nodded and blew on the candles.
• I wish….I could be together with you, if not in this life, in the next life.
• The gathered crowd clapped and yelled “Happy Birthday, Aileen.”
• This may be the first time, I’m attending such a big birthday of my own. Usually, it used to be me and my mom only with a small cake that she would sometimes bake for me.
• I’m getting to experience things that I never experienced before because of Dave.
• “Cut the cake,” Mom whispered.
• “Will you two do it together with me?” I pleaded.
• Dave joined in without hesitation, grabbing onto my arm.
• Mom joined next. “Sure.”
• I had cut up two slices, and held the two pieces of cake in both hands, holding it in front of Mom and Dave.
• They ate it and fed me some.
• Out of nowhere, Dave held out a box towards me. “Here you go.”
• I became puzzled, blinking at him several times.
• “He’s giving you a gift!” Mom said, patting my head. “Take it.”
• A gift? For me?
• Is that what he had brought from outside?
• I reached out my hand hesitantly to take it.
• He smiled at me when I took it.
• “Open it and see if you like it or not.”
• I opened the box and saw white stoned earrings and a beautiful petal-shaped necklace matching it.
• It was shining under the light from the chandelier.
• “It’s pretty,” I mumbled out loud.
• “Glad you liked it,” he added.
• “But, this seems too expensive. There was no need to buy it for me!”.
• “You are underestimating him, Princess,” a voice remarks drawing our attention.
• Everyone looks at the person only.
• It was Marshall. He came over to our side, standing next to Mom.
• “Our Alpha can gift you diamonds. Why do you think this is too expensive for him?” he asserted.
• “Right?”. He pointed to Dave when he did that.
• Dave narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes, I can do that.”
• The situation became heated at that moment.
• Mom broke the silence by pinching Marshall on the cheeks.
• “Hey, I have to show my gift as well.”
• “Ouch….hey, stop it.”
• Mom turned to me with a gift box.
• “Here you go.”
• “Open it.”
• I took it and opened it. They were shoes, red shoes with bows which I had been wanting to buy for a while.
• “Mom! How did you-“.
• “Yes, you kept it wishlist for a while, you were telling me about them.”
• “Thanks,” I gave her a quick hug.
• After that, the other guests gave me gifts one by one.
• I was having dinner with Mom and Dave after the guests left.
• Marshall stayed behind. But, he was eating on his own.
• “You loved the steak?” Mom asked, eating right next to me.
• “Hm…yeah.”
• “The mac and cheese is the best.”
• “Have some tart, Dave ordered peaches for you.”
• I glanced at the tart, then looked at Dave.
• He avoided my gaze when Mom said that.
• Does he know I love peaches?
• That’s nice.
• We talked a lot after that and finished dinner.
• “Marshall, will you be staying here tonight?” Mom asked Marshall who was standing in a corner of the room.
• “Uh, no. I’m staying in the outer house.”
• “Thanks for asking.”
• “I see, goodnight then.”
• “Aileen, you are heading to bed as well, right?”.
• “Um…let’s see, I don’t feel tired yet so can we-“.
• Mom’s phone rang in her purse the next second on the table.
• Dave finished eating first and headed towards the kitchen to get something.
• She picked it up and answered, “Yes?”
• “An emergency? But, I’m on my day off.”
• “How can I-“ she looked at me with a saddened expression.
• “Hm…I understand.”
• “Yes, alright then.”
• “I’ll come over right away. Give me 20 minutes.”
• She hung up the call and turned to me.
• “Um….Aileen, I have something to say-“.
• “Did something happen at your workplace?” I asked, standing up from my chair.
• “Um….yeah…”.
• “one of the nurses fainted because of cardiac arrest, and they need someone to take care of a patient who’s refusing to take her meds as I had been taking care of her all these while.”
• “And they are short-staffed also.”
• “But, it’s your birthday today and I was supposed to spend the whole day with you.”
• I placed my hand on her shoulder in assurance. “It’s alright. They need me more than I need you.”
• “Go to them. I have no problem.”
• She seemed to be a bit shocked but smiled at me warmly.
• “Thanks, Aileen. I know you are a lot kinder than I know you are.”
• “I’ll probably be back in the morning. See you tomorrow. Goodnight.”
• “Goodnight, Mom.”
• “And tell Dave to head to bed after that as well.”
• She picked up her coat and rushed out through the front gate.
• Marshall watched her go.
• “I bought strawberry-flavored ice cream for us all. Who wants some?” Dave asked, coming out of the kitchen.
• I gave a glance at him. He bought a tray with four bowls of ice cream.
• He looked around and saw mom wasn’t there.
• “Where’s she? Did she go to bed already?”.
• I picked up one bowl and stared at him.
• “The hospital called her in for an emergency.”
• “She had to go.”
• He seemed unfazed. “Uh…Oh….”.
• “I see….”.
• “Then, shall I put one back in the fridge for her?”.
• I nod at him.
• “Marshall, do you want ice cream?” Dave yelled, giving a blank gaze.
• “No, I’m leaving,” he grunted. “Goodnight.” As he walked out of the door.
• The maids had left for their quarters as well, leaving the house for the two of us only.
• Both of us were silent, so I spoke up first, “Want to watch something in the living room?”.
• “I’m not feeling sleepy yet.”
• He placed down the tray and gave a puzzled yet surprised look.
• “Uh….sure…I wasn’t feeling sleepy too.”
• We both went to the couch and turned off the lights as the light from the T.V. was too bright.
• I sat right next to Dave, with each of our ice cream bowls in our hands.
• This isn’t exactly what I expected all of this to turn out as. But, this isn’t bad either.
• “Do you want to watch something romantic?” Dave asked, trying his best to avoid his gaze as he was flipping through the channels with the remote.
• “Um….sure….”.
• Yes, just put on something hot that’ll make me feel crazy!
• The movie started playing and the start scene was so inappropriate that I felt like digging a hole and just putting my face in it so he couldn’t see how flustered I was.
• He was staring at the ceiling the whole time the scene played.
• It was a wrong decision to watch this with him.
• A few minutes passed, and I started feeling comfortable around him.
• I wanted to talk with Mom for a while, but she had to leave.
• I do understand her work is important, but I’m as important as her work too.
• I feel bad getting jealous of a patient. Jack was right. My jealousy is too much.
• Out of nowhere, A warm hand was placed on top of mine.
• I jumped out of my seat out of shock.
• Only to see Dave looking at me with a concerned face.
• “Are you alright?”.
• “I had been calling you for a while.”
• “W-were you? I didn’t hear.” I replied, laughing nervously.
• “I’ll go and grab a can of juice. I’m thirsty,” I said walking out of there feeling nervous.
• He knew that I wasn’t feeling good.
• That’s why he asked this question in the first place.
• I took a detour around the kitchen and came back empty-handed.
• Before I walked past the living room, I saw the moonlight entering through an open window in the middle of the corridor.
• The lights were off, making the sight look more mysterious and memorable.
• I just stood there, basking in the moonlight, lost in my thoughts.
• “Did you find your drink?” a voice whispered from behind making me a jerk.
• I turned around to see Dave standing, crossing his arms.
• “You?”.
• He came and stood next to me.
• “Are you watching the moon?” he asked, staring out at the window.
• I nod in response. “Yes.”
• “It’s a full moon on my 18th birthday.”
• “Guess, I’m lucky.”
• He went silent, giving no response.
• When took a closer look, I noticed that he looks more mysterious whenever he’s not talking.
• He almost looks like a different individual when he does that.
• Usually, he has a warm, parent-like aura around him. But, other times he looks like a wolf who can bite you at any moment.
• I’m all alone with him in this house. I’m feeling kind of excited and scared at the same time.
• There’s no one….but us…..
• Hey, this is romantic. My heart is throbbing as well. Can he hear it?
• He relaxed his arms and placed them in his pockets.
• “If you are turning 18 then,” he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.
• “Aren’t you supposed to find you-“.
• My body tensed up and my wolf howled, “Mate!”.
• And I heard his wolf do the same.
• His jaw dropped the next second as he looked at me in disbelief.
• He’s my mate? My stepfather?