Date

Alanis keeps on staring at the wall clock of their room, waiting for her last class to end. Her seatmates were getting annoyed with how much she stomps her feet on the floor. Thankfully, the professor didn't hear it.

A series of collective groans resonated across the four corners of the room when they heard the alarm of their professor, indicating that her class had ended. 

The professor raises an eyebrow after hearing the groans of the students. She chose to ignore it, bidding goodbye instead. 

Alanis hurriedly gathered her things inside her bag and then she sprinted out of the room while taking out her phone to message someone.

[Alanis: Max, I'm on my way to the gate.]

[Max: Take your time, pretty.]

If Alanis cringes at the pet name, she doesn't show it. She just hid the phone back in the pocket of her denim blazer before speed walking on the crowded hallway.

She pushed her way inside the elevator, not minding how packed it was. She'd rather endure it than to climb down three flights of stairs.

As they reached the ground floor, she could already hear the loud murmurs of the people hanging out in the lounge. She can clearly hear it even from afar. So she slowed down her pace to eavesdrop since their topic piqued her interest.

"Do you think he's waiting for someone? They've been out there for almost an hour!" One of the four girls sitting on the lounge says.

"Obviously. Why else would they stay there? It's not an ideal place to hangout after all," the other one replies.

"I've actually seen them roaming this building on their first day here. I think they have friends here?" The third girl says.

"Or they're seeing someone here? I heard from a friend of mine that they saw Heldrix making out with someone at the club!" The last girl says.

Alanis almost stops on her track after hearing the familiar name.

"That's a club. Not because they're making out means they're seeing each other."

Alanis nodded in agreement. She decided to leave before she could hear more of what they were talking about.

She walked straight out of the building, completely unaware of the people waiting for her outside. She only stopped on her track once she heard someone calling her name.

"Alanis."

Her forehead creased when she saw Heli approaching her.

It's been two days since she last saw him. It's weekends that's why, but she didn't expect to see him on campus when her department is far from where he is.

"Heli? What are you doing here?" She asks, turning her whole body around to face him. That's when she noticed Heli's friends a few meters away behind him. They waved at her in which she returned with a smile.

"Are you free?" Heli asks her.

She raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"I wanted to ask you out," he bluntly responds, which had her taken a back for a moment.

"Ask me out? As in a date?" She tries to confirm.

Heli nodded.

It made Alanis chuckle, "Why are you asking me out all of a sudden? Did you go here and wait for me just to ask me out?"

"Can't I ask you out? I heard that's what humans do if they—"

"Heli!"

Alanis' brows furrowed in confusion while Heli turned around to face his friend who called him. They were shaking their heads, as if telling him not to say whatever he was about to say. Heli seemed to realize what he did and so he quickly turned to face a confused Alanis.

"I mean, I wanted to ask you out because I find you interesting," Heli says, almos stumbling on his words.

She finds it weird but she decided to dismiss it when her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and Max's name flashed on the screen.

She didn't answer. Instead, she showed it to Heli who was already looking at it with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Sorry. I already have a date to catch up. Maybe next time?" She smiled before turning around and leaving, completely missing the way Heli's jaw clenched tightly and his eyes turning blue for a moment.

His friends quickly went to his aid once Alanis was already far.

"She has a date? Really? After kissing you like that last time?" Shine uttered in disbelief, eyes trained on Alanis' disappearing figure.

"Doesn't she know how you didn't sleep well for the past two days— ouch!" Blake clutched his arms that Shine had pinched.

"Shut your mouth, Blake," Kier hissed at him.

But Heli paid no attention to them as he just remained staring at where Alanis was standing a while ago. 

'Why... why is she like this? This is not the same girl my parents described to me.' He thought to himself. 'And why does it seem like she can't feel the spark and connection between us? Am I the only one who can feel it? Or I got the wrong girl?'

He had so many questions in mind, yet he's aware he won't be able to answer it. 

"I need to talk to uncle," Heli mumbles, and then he walks away, leaving his friends confused.

-

"Thanks for today, Max. I enjoyed it," Alanis says, flashing a smile that can get men down on their knees.

She lied. She didn't enjoy their date. Not even the slightest bit.

Max smiled back at her, "I enjoyed it too, Alanis. Next time again?"

"Let's see," she responds.

She lied again. 'Nope, not a chance. No more next time for you," her mind says.

The guy leaned close to her and captured her lips for a kiss. Alanis responded to it, almost grimacing. 'Geez, not even a good kisser.'

"Goodnight, pretty," he said once they pulled away.

"Bye, Max. Drive safely," she waves her hand on him as he enters the car.

Once he was already far, Alanis rolled her eyes before turning around to enter their house.

"Gosh, had I known he was that boring, I should've just ditched him and accepted Heli's offer instead," she grumbled in annoyance.

Alanis is beyond annoyed. She thinks she just wasted four hours of her life for that boring date. She looked forward to it because Max is handsome and hot, but she didn't know he was no fun to date. She would have enjoyed the rest of her day if she decided to just go with Heli. At least, she can go all day just kissing the guy and she wouldn't mind.

She shakes her head to shrug all the thoughts inside her mind. She's tired and all she wants is to shower and sleep.

"Uncle! I'm home!" Alanis yelled. But her voice just echoed across the whole house. "Uncle? I'm home!" She repeats in hopes of earning a response.

But she gets none, as usual, and so she just shrugged it off and went upstairs to her room.

After taking a quick shower and drying her hair off, she jumps on her bed and turns off the lamp shade on her side table. But just as she was about to close her eyes, her phone vibrated. She took it from the table and saw a message from an unknown number.

[Unknown number: Are you free tomorrow?]

In normal cases that she receives a message from an unknown number, Alanis would just block it. But she doesn't know why the urge to reply to this is strong even though her mind tells her not to.

So instead of blocking it, she decided to reply.

[Alanis: Who is this?]

Not even a few seconds later when it replied back.

[Unknown number: This is Heli.]

Her brows furrowed in confusion but decided to save his contact first before replying.

[Alanis: How did you get my number?]

[Heli: So you forgot.]

[Alanis: Forgot what?]

[Heli: You literally gave me your number at the club.]

Her eyes narrowed at the screen as she recalled when she gave her number. Slowly, she remembered writing it down on his phone when she felt it in Heli's pocket.

[Alanis: Oh, right.]

[Alanis: Why didn't you just text me earlier, by the way? I heard from the other students you waited outside our department for almost an hour.]

[Heli: I figured it'd be better to ask you out personally. It will look insincere if I just messaged you.]

[Alanis: Then why are you asking me out here?]

[Heli: Because someone else might ask you out first again before I can even do so.]

Alanis chuckles.

[Heli: So?]

[Alanis: What?]

[Heli: You haven't answered my question earlier.]

[Alanis: What question?]

[Heli: If you're free tomorrow.]

[Alanis: Ah.]

[Alanis: Well, someone asked me first.]

Her brows furrowed when a minute had passed and she still hadn't received a reply. Did Heli sleep on her?

It was three minutes later that she finally got a reply from Heli.

[Heli: Is that so…]

[Heli: Next time then. Goodnight, Alanis.]

Alanis scoffed. He didn't even try! 

[Alanis: You're no fun.]

[Heli: What?]

[Alanis: Tomorrow, wait for me outside my department at four o'clock. If you're not there when my class ends, I'll leave.]

[Heli: I thought someone asked you already?]

[Heli: Are you coming with me then?]

[Heli: Alanis?]

[Heli: Hey, why aren't you replying?]

Alanis just laughed at the flood of messages coming from Heli, deciding to ignore it and let the guy on his own.

-

"Hey man, why are you typing furiously there? Did she refuse again?" Ro asks Heli.

"No. She's just not replying anymore after telling me the details about our date tomorrow," Heli responds without glancing at his friends, his attention on the small device in his hands.

"Oh? She agreed?" Shine asks.

"Yeah, fortunately," Heli says, then he puts down the phone with a sigh.

"By the way, what did you talk about with your uncle?" Kier asks. "Is it about your mate?"

Heli nodded, "I asked him something about my mate."

"Like...?" Shine asks.

Heli lets out a deep sigh. But instead of answering her question, he decided to just lay out what has been bothering him. His conversation with his uncle isn't much, but he decided to keep it to himself for the meantime.

"I just find it confusing how different she is in real life compared to how my parents and uncle described her in the prophecy," Heli says. "In their description, they said she's shy. But when I met her, she's... wild, daring and straightforward. Though I don't mind. I  just didn't expect it."

"But what confuses me more is that she doesn't seem to feel our connection. I don't even think she knows what we are."

"Maybe because she grew up in the human world?" Blake says.

"Probably. Does that mean she doesn't know what she is either?" Shine added.

"That's impossible. She probably knows," Ro replies. "Werewolves know when they are talking to werewolves. She must've known what we are but chose not to say something about it."

"I don't agree," Kier interjects. "I don't think she's aware. If her parents are keen on keeping her away from werewolves, they must've done something about it. Besides, mates are mates. She should've felt the same thing Heli can feel regardless if she's aware or not. But Heli says she seems like she doesn't feel it."

Heli remains silent as he listens to his friends exchange opinions about her mate. All of them have a point, but they can't form a conclusion by themselves since the subject of their argument isn't there with them.

Only Alanis can answer all the questions in their minds at the moment.

"Enough."

Almost immediately, all four of them stopped, their words hanging in the air as they turned to look at Heli, who was the one who said that using his authoritative tone, one that he rarely used.

"Let's not argue about this. We don't have enough basis to support whatever we are concluding about her," Heli says. "I'll find out more about her tomorrow, and the next time I'll hang out with her."

"Well, how sure are you that you can have a next time with her?" Shine asks him.

Heli's forehead creases at her implications, "What do you mean?"

Shine rolls her eyes, "Can't you see? Your mate is pretty and popular. She has date after date with different guys. I also heard from some students that she never date the same guy again. Do you think you're special or what to have another chance?"

Heli's jaw clenches at what Shine says. He's completely aware of it, he really is. But...

"When have I fucking back out over something that I want and that is mine?" He blurts out, emphasizing the last word.

It earned loud cheers from his friends. Shine grins.

"That's right. Claim what's yours, Alpha," she says.

Alanis is his mate, and he will find out what's happening in no time.

For now, he just needs to get closer and romance the shit out of her, until she won't entertain other guys anymore.