One night...

“What are you reading?” Bella asked in curiosity after appearing behind the sofa as I lay there while reading a book.

“Only a book full of trivia,” I answered as I skim the contents.

“You read a lot compared to me alright,” Bella commented with a smile and sat down near me. She didn’t open the television. Instead, she opened a novel, a book I bought but didn’t read yet so it got stored in our house’s library.

I always read inside my room so we don’t talk that much unless it turns into a natural conversation. Should I try to start a conversation as a change of pace? Yeah. After all, she’s a princess. I might as well get along with her as much as possible.

“Are you familiar with the term ‘raining cats and dogs’?” I asked with my eyes still glued on the book.

“Isn’t that the idiom used if it’s raining heavily?” she answered with a tilt of her head.

“Yeah. But there’s a meteorological phenomenon called ‘rain of animals’. It's a phenomenon where flightless animals fall from the sky for real,” I continued with a serious face.

“Really?” Pixie reacted with a surprised expression as she sits on the coffee table near the sofa.

“I heard of it. It’s a very rare case, right? There are some records throughout the history of raining animals such as fishes, frogs, and even snakes. Scary isn’t it?” she asked with a smile.

Your expression and words are contradicting, you know.

“But did you know how did that happen?” I asked after looking at her.

“Hmm...” she mumbled after making a thinking pose. “If I remember it right, it got something to do with tornadoes, right? Like getting carried by the wind.”

“Well, it’s not a considered fact because of its rare occurrence. But one hypothesis is that waterspouts sometimes pick up those animals. Then, it carries them for up to several kilometers away, making them fall down the sky later.”

“Science is amazing, right?” she asked with a smile and closed her book.

Seeing that, I blushed and looked at my book once again.

Isn't this the first time I’ve talked to her about the topics of the book I’m reading?

“I guess it’s not that bad,” I whispered to myself with a smile.

“Did you say something?” Bella asked with a puzzled look.

I lifted my upper body upright to sit and looked at Bella.

“Then, are you familiar with the term ‘Blood Rain’?” I asked after closing my book.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

More than a week passed since Bella stayed over at my place. The day was Friday. As I prepare for school, Bella approached me as usual.

“Your hair is on the longer side now,” Bella commented as I tie my shoes while sitting on the sofa in the living room.

“Really? Then, I'll visit the barbershop on the weekend,” I replied with a serious face and stood up.

“Anyway, here’s your lunch for today,” Bella said with a smile and brought out a cloth bag.

“Thanks as usual,” I responded with a smile and took it.

“Look at your tie. It’s loose, you know,” she followed and started fixing my necktie. She tightened it and smiled at me after she finished. “There.”

Is it only me or we look like newly-weds or something?

“Prince?” Bella called with a puzzled look after cutely tilting her head.

“I-It’s nothing. Anyway, I’m off,” I said as I try my best to return to my serious face.

“Take care,” she replied with a warm smile.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

As I walked towards the school while Pixie was beside me, she muttered about something.

“Earlier, the two of you look like husband and wife, you know,” Pixie commented with a smile.

“O-Of course not!” I retorted, surprised.

Well, we did get closer these past few days because we’re living together in the same roof. Bella is kind and approachable so it’s not that hard to deal with her. It’s even fun to talk to her from time to time because of her vast knowledge of different topics. As expected to an avid reader like me.

“But to think that we couldn’t identify her curse yet for more than a week. Is she cursed for real?” I whispered to myself as I walk.

After the class, I received a message from Bella with the content being ‘I’m gonna go shopping right now. Want to come so you can choose the dinner for today?’

“So will you come to the shopping district?” Pixie asked while sitting on my left shoulder.

“Well, I’ve been craving for beef these past few days so I guess I’ll go so I could make a request.”

With that decided, I stood up from my seat. After that, I left school and went to the shopping district.

“Prince! Pixie! Here!” Bella waved happily after seeing us, her hair tied at the side like usual. She was wearing a white frilled blouse partnered with a yellow flared skirt. She was also wearing doll shoes.

“Sorry for the wait,” I said after arriving before her.

“Don’t worry, I only got here too,” she followed with a smile. “Let’s go?”

“Yeah,” I answered and both Pixie and I followed her lead.

We walked around the shopping district as Bella buys different raw ingredients. I requested roast beef for today’s dinner. But because she decided to shop for food worth for a week, we ended up buying different ingredients.

“I guess that’s all we need to buy,” Bella said with a smile as we carry plastic bags in both our hands. Excluding Pixie of course.

“So we now go home?” I asked and looked at the bags I was carrying.

“Yes,” Bella replied with a smile.

“But can I go to the comfort room first? I can’t hold it until we get back to the house,” I followed.

“Uhmm...sure,” Bella responded.

“Then, I’ll be quick,” I said and went towards the nearest public toilet.

“I’m gonna follow Prince so wait for us,” Pixie said with a smile and followed me.

“Take care,” Bella said with a smile as she watches us disappear from her sight. “Wait. Isn’t Pixie a girl? But she’s only an A.I. so I guess that’s fine.”

♦ Bella’s Point-of-View ♦

As I wait for Prince and Pixie in the area near the bus stop, I looked at the people that passed before me. Then, a buffed guy wearing red sleeves and black jeans stopped walking and went before me.

“Bella? Is that...you?” he asked with a surprised smile.

“Gust?” I reacted, surprised. Then, I stepped back a little.

What the f*ck is this guy doing here?

“Are you living in this town?” Gust asked with an excited smile.

Gust was my boyfriend back in my college days. We met at a party and he started to hit on me. Seeing how popular he was to my schoolmates, I decided to try dating him but it didn’t go well between us. He started pushing his ideals to me, hoping for me to become her dream girl so I got fed up and broke up with him. Since then we haven’t had contact with each other.

“Well...” I muttered and averted my gaze with a troubled expression. Then, I answered, “Yes.”

“Really? Well, me too. What a coincidence. Where are you working now?” he continued in enthusiasm.

“Uhmm...” I whispered, not knowing how to reply.

Gosh. This guy is very irritating as always. He hasn't changed a bit!

“Sorry but I’ve got somewhere to go,” I continued and forced a smile and started to walk away.

Then, after I took a step, Gust grabbed me in the arm, making me let go of the plastic bag I was holding.

“Hey, hey. Don’t run away so suddenly,” Gust said with a sudden imposing glare.

Is this guy f*cking serious? He’s grabbing me at a place like this?

“Let go of me,” I said with furrowed eyebrows.

“Can you at least talk to me?” Gust followed, not budging a bit.

Then, someone grabbed his arm and looked at him with a serious expression.

“Can’t you see that she doesn’t like what you’re doing?” Prince asked in a strong tone after arriving at the scene.

Prince...

“Heh~ Is something wrong about that, kid?” Gust asked him with a sudden amused look.

“You know this guy?” Prince asked to me without changing expressions.

“Well...he’s...Gust...” I answered with an anxious expression. “...my ex-boyfriend.”

“I see...” he whispered and looked at Gust. “So what are you doing grabbing your ex-girlfriend’s arm in public?”

“I don’t have a reason to tell you my answer,” Gust replied with a glare.

Then, Prince grabbed his arm hard.

“Ouch!” Gust reacted and let go of my arm. Then, I ran behind Prince in a hurry.

“I didn’t expect you to have a strong grip for a bean sprout,” Gust said to Prince with a mocking smile.

“Sorry about that. The truth is I don’t want any trouble for the day so can you leave now Zephyr?” Prince asked with a serious look.

“It’s Gust!” he retorted, somehow offended with Prince calling him Zephyr.

“Well, pardon me. The only thing I could remember was something wind-related,” Prince said with a smile.

“You’re one rude bean sprout. But I’m not leaving until I get a proper talk with Bella,” Gust responded. After that, he made an intimidating glare towards Prince. “Who are you anyway? Her boyfriend?”

“I’m not gonna say that cliché’ line, don’t worry. We’re only living together, that’s all,” Prince replied with a smirk.

That's... Well...it’s not like he’s lying though.

“You what?” Gust reacted with widened eyes and looked at me.

Guess it’s time for my acting skills once again.

I averted my eyes from Gust with a blushed face to confirm what Prince had said.

“So can you leave us now? A bean sprout like me doesn’t want to go up against a gust of wind as much as possible,” Prince said with a grin. Then, he glimpsed at the far left. Gust followed Prince’s vision and saw some policemen walking towards us.

“Tch,” Gust clicked his tongue in irritation and started walking away.

Nice but I need to do something so he won’t do this to me again.

“Wait!” I called Gust with a serious look.

He faced me and asked, “Why?”

“I’m sorry but I don’t want to talk to you anymore. It was nice meeting you again but I don’t think we could hang out anymore like the one you’re expecting to happen.”

“I see,” Gust muttered and left in silence.

“Did something happen here?” the policemen asked after arriving before us. We explained what happened and we immediately left afterward. Then, as we walk in silence towards the house, I decided to start the conversation.

“I met him back in my college days,” I started, looking down on the road with a sad smile while walking. Of course, a deliberate expression from me.

Hearing that, Prince gave me a glimpse with a serious face.

“As you can infer, he is the controlling type so we didn’t even last that long, only around a month,” I followed with sad eyes.

“...”

“And he expected too much from me. He saw me like I’m a perfect girl...and that’s not the real me...so I broke up with him.”

He looked at the road and said, “Well...nobody is perfect after all. Always fulfilling everybody’s expectation is impossible. So if you expect something from someone and feeling betrayed after that, it's your fault.”

Hearing that, I became surprised a little.

Hah! This guy is f*cking cheeky for a kid.

“So you know how to say the proper words at times like this,” I followed and smiled at him. “But we humans strive for perfection, right? So doesn’t that mean that the one who failed the expectation of others is also at fault?”

“But if humans became perfect, we can no longer call ourselves humans. I mean, being the perfect one is an existence that everybody can only look up to, you know. So as humans, failing is an option too...even though it sucks. We can fail continuously and if we became lucky enough, we can be closer to our ideals. And that’s what being a human is...for me at least,” Prince followed with a serious face and looked at me.

“Are you a realist?”

“I’m not though. I still prefer ideals over reality after all.”

Hearing that, I chuckled and followed, “You’re interesting, aren’t you?”

“Does that mean that I got a chance on you?” he asked as a joke.

“Well...” I muttered with a smile and looked at the orange sky. “Leaving aside the fact that I’m a teacher and you’re a student...I think you do have a chance.”

“Glad to hear that then,” he replied with a smile.

“But I doubt you can handle me though,” I continued with a mischievous smile.

After all...I have two faces. The one I'm showing to everyone...and the one inside me, governing my thoughts.

“Well, handling a kind and cute girl can become my motivation itself to do that, you know,” he followed smoothly.

“If you’re thinking that this is my real self already, then, you’re completely mistaken,” I replied with a sly smile.

“And here I thought I already know you well enough,” he responded, trying to look surprised.

“Listen, you can only know the real self of a girl if you started dating her. Remember that,” I lectured, trying to sound like I was teaching him in class.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he nonchalantly responded and both of us started laughing.

Even though I’m not an expert in dating, I can say for sure that this guy knows how to hit on a girl if he wants to. I guess I’ll ask him this question.

“Do you...have a girlfriend?” I muttered with a deliberate shy smile while not looking at him.

For a couple of seconds, he got speechless.

“Well...I don’t have any,” he answered, trying to make a serious face while blushing.

At least he understood the subtext of that question. Looking at it, his blush doesn't seem fake. So if he can't help blushing in topics like this, I guess he’s not yet in the level of real players.

“I see...” I responded and smiled for real after.

But at least I’ll give him 90 points for saving me earlier...and for still being a kid at heart.

After that, we continued walking towards the house in silence.

♕Prince’s Point-of-View♕

The day was Saturday and I woke up late like a usual weekend.

“My body is heavier today. Am I sick?” I whispered and got out of my bed. Then, I went to the full-length mirror near my cabinet and got shocked by what I saw. A monster was there, staring at me.

“What the heck?!” I shouted and jumped away. For some reason, the monster mirrored my movement with a similar scared expression as me. “Wait...”

Realizing something, I walked back in front of the mirror and became even more surprised.

Standing in front of me was a long-haired guy with a buffed torso. He also had sharp teeth, long pointed nails on both his hands and feet, and hairy arms and legs.

“You’re kidding me...” I whispered and immediately ran towards the bathroom. Then, I grabbed the electric razor and tried to shave off the hair on my arm. I succeeded but after a couple of seconds, all hair grew back with a poof. Desperate, I threw the razor and grabbed the nail cutter instead. I tried to cut my nails like earlier, it only returned to its previous length. “I...turned into a beast...”

“Prince? Did something happen?” Bella called as she walks towards my room after hearing my shout from earlier. She opened the door and went towards my bathroom. Then, she found me standing there as I looked at her with a confused face.

“Good morning?” I greeted with a forced smile.

After that, a scream got heard throughout the house.