Chapter 4 - I met a wolf today

After explaining about Anna's situation to Luke last night, he unexpectedly agreed to help but with the condition that I stay in the house. It was not a hard thing to do so I quickly agreed to his condition. Besides, I couldn't really go back to the house even if I needed to get Anna out of there. It will basically be like a suicide plan for me.

"Violet, are you awake?" I heard a man asked outside the door.

"Yes," I replied.

"Can I come in?" he asked politely.

I opened the door to let the man standing in front of my room inside. Luke smiled and came in while holding a tray of food.

"Let's eat breakfast."

I didn't know why he wanted to eat breakfast with me but I complied anyway. He has been oddly nice to me and I didn't really know how to react to his kindness. Should I be wary of him or should I trust him?

"Do you want me to show you around the house?" he asked after finishing his food, "You must be bored staying in the room all day."

My head perked up after hearing his question. I have been curious to see what kind of house I was staying at but not sure whether I could go out of this room or not.

"Can I?" I asked with a small voice that sounded big in this quiet room.

"Of course," he smiled, "Let's go."

...

As I expected, this house was enormous. I have never seen a house this big. It looked more like a castle than a normal house.

"There isn't anyone around here besides some servants so you can do anything you want," I heard him say.

Luke followed my gaze and stared at the same view I was looking at, "Uhh, my family always liked to live in the woods because it's a lot more peaceful here than in the city," he explained with a slightly awkward voice while scratching the back of his neck.

I nodded and continued to walk down the long corridor with him. At the end of the corridor, I saw a tall blonde man with his eyes fixed on me.

"Andrew," said Luke, "What are you doing here?" he asked with a seemingly irritated voice.

The man walked in my direction, "You must be Violet. My name is Andrew and I'm his bet– I mean, best friend," he said to me without answering Luke's question.

"What are you doing here?" he asked again.

"Just wanted to see your m–" before he could finish his sentence, Luke glared at him causing him to stop.

"To see your condition," he smiled, "You looked like you were in a pretty bad shape when you came here so I'm a little worried," he gazed at me after blurting his words as if waiting for me to answer.

"....I'm better now," I shortly replied just because he was expecting an answer from me.

Why are they so nice to me? They didn't even know me. It felt weird to be treated this nicely after all this time. All the people that I met here treated me nicely that it's weird. Are people usually this nice? The people I knew before were all cold to me and looked at me like I was a piece of dirt. They all treated me as if I was worthless and not worth their time.

"Now that you see her you can leave," Luke bossed, furrowing his brows together.

"I want to but sadly there's something that I need to tell you," Luke let out a heavy sigh as they looked at each other as if they were talking with their eyes.

"Seems like there is a certain someone who doesn't like me interrupting your walk so I will leave first," said Andrew, courteously bowing to me before leaving.

Andrew walked away from us leaving only me and Luke in this empty house. I walked awkwardly beside Luke not sure what should I say to him. I was not used to talking to other people as I never really interacted with others. I always kept my thoughts to myself that now it has become hard for me to open up to someone else or to start a conversation with others.

"Are you uncomfortable around me?" Luke inquired, breaking the heavy silence between us.

I glanced at him and saw him looking down at me with a sad face, "It's not that... I'm just not used to being with others," I replied as I fiddled with my fingers.

"Then maybe I can help you to be more comfortable interacting with others," he said, "Will you hate it if I come to meet you every day?"

It's not like I hate being around him, but truthfully, I'm more comfortable alone. What should I say?

"...No," I decided to lie, after a couple of seconds thinking about my answer. I guess it would be rude to say that I hate being around him when he just saved my life last night.

"Great," he grinned widely after hearing my answer, "Then I will come to see you every day."

"Do you like to read?" I nodded at his question and he smiled, "I can recommend you some of my favorite books some time later if you like," he said, "All the books here are mine so you can read them all to your likings."

"Thank you," I said as walked along the bookshelves, looking for any books that piqued my interest.

He glanced at his wristwatch and frowned, "I need to go to work. You can stay here if you want."

I nodded, and the man soon left the library. I looked around the place and finally found some books I was interested in so I took them to the table and read for the rest of the afternoon. Being too immersed in reading the books, I didn't realize that a lot of time had passed by. I glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed that it's been about five hours since I stayed here. I decided to walk outside of the house because I felt a bit stuffy.

I stepped out of the house, feeling the cool breeze hit me. I was walking around the field when I noticed some kind of light coming from the forest. I didn't know why, but I have this kind of weird feeling that attracted me to the forest. It was like pulling me to go inside.

I walked towards the forest and something caught my eyes. A blue flower. The strange light that I saw before came from this flower. I didn't know what kind of flower it is but I have a strong urge to touch it. I reached out my hand to touch the flower but a loud growl startled me, stopping me from touching the blue flower.

I glanced to my left to find a huge wolf glaring at me. I was surprised to see a wolf here. It has black fur and red eyes. It looked so much like the wolf that helped me when I was little except the wolf that helped me before had a more greyish fur than this one. The wolf's big body towered over me but didn't really give out a scary feeling like the wolf I met nine years ago.

I didn't know from where this courage came from that made me step closer to him and said, "You look so much like him."

The wolf also stepped closer to me but I didn't move away. He suddenly started to rub his head to my hand as if asking me to stroke his head. I stroked his head and he started to howl a little to show his contentment. The wolf that was supposed to look scary before now looked as cute as a puppy.

I laughed at his behavior and stroked his head harder. He slumped his body to the ground and I sat beside him. "You are not as scary as you look," I said while staring at him. His red eyes stared back at me affectionately just like a puppy staring at its owner. He moved his head towards mine and stopped a few inches away from me.

He stared at me for a certain amount of time then touched my lips with his own. I was taken aback by it but soon laughed at him, "It's my first time being kissed by a wolf," I confessed to the wolf.

Hearing that, he stood up abruptly and turned away from me. "What's wrong?" I asked, confused by his sudden movement. I moved towards the wolf to look at his face but he moved his head away from me again. It went on for a few times before I finally quizzed the wolf, "Are you shy because you kissed me?"

The wolf looked at me sheepishly and nodded his head. A burst of laughter escaped my lips after I saw his response, "You are so cute," I said while laughing. He growled softly after hearing my words as if telling me 'I'm not cute' but it made him even cuter than before.

The wolf then looked up to the sky, noticing that it was getting darker. He nudged his head to my back softly, pushing my body for me to walk, "Do you want me to go back?"

He nodded his head and I followed his lead. He led me back to the house and stopped at the edge of the forest. I looked back at him before asking, "Can I see you again?"

He stared at me then nodded his head, placing a smile on my face. "See you tomorrow," I nodded in approval, then went inside the house– I mean, castle.

The little encounter that I had before lifted up my mood and I couldn't wait to see the wolf again tomorrow. I was supposed to be scared of wolves because of the incident involving my mom but I didn't know why I'm attracted to the wolf from before. I wonder who that wolf is? How will he look like when he shifted back to his human form?

I knew there are werewolves living alongside humans. They live together with humans but hides their true form. We couldn't really differentiate the difference between humans and werewolves so that was why not many humans know about them. Only werewolves could recognize their own kind.

I ambled to my room and prepared hot water for me to bathe in. I opened the closet to see that it was now filled with a bunch of new clothes. There was a different kind of clothing ranging from party dresses to sleepwear. Is this supposed to be mine? I looked around and noticed there were also a bunch of jewelries in the rack. I did ask for some clothes to wear but I didn't ask for this many of them. I think all the clothing here could be used to dress a whole village.

It was making me felt a little uncomfortable as I was staying here for free and received such great service from them. And it's not like I'm going to stay here forever. I need to leave eventually.

I chose a simple sleepwear and quickly showered my self. After I finished, I ate dinner that was already served for me in my room and tried to sleep after but I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I turned my body around the bed a few times and just decided to walk around the house. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice someone behind me.

"Can't sleep?" I heard a man's voice behind me. His sudden presence surprised me and I let out a little yelp. I turned around and saw Luke behind me, "Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you," he chuckled.

"It's fine," I ȧssured, glancing at the man. He stared at me for a few seconds before moving his gaze away. His cheeks suddenly turned a bit reddish as if he had just remembered something embarrassing. "Are you sick, sir? Your face is a little red," I was not really if I could call him by his name because everyone here called him 'Master Luke'.

"Huh? N-no. I'm just a bit hot," he said while walking a step ahead of me. What is he talking about? The night air was very chilly that it made me regret not wearing thicker clothes out. He stopped in his tracks and turned his body to me, wrapping the jacket he was wearing around my body, "You shouldn't dress thinly at this time of the day. You will catch a cold."

His actions took me by surprise but I thanked him for his kind gesture as I was feeling cold.

"Violet?" he called out, to which I replied, "Yes?"

"If you went to the forest, make sure to stay away from the blue flower that emitted strange light. It's poisonous. It attracts people to touch it and the moment you touch it," He stopped for a few seconds then added, "You could die of poisoning. Everyone who lives here knows about it so we stay away from it. You know, just in case you got bored and decided to take a walk to the surrounding forest."

I was surprised to hear his explanation about the blue flower that I encountered before. So I almost died? Was that why the wolf growled at me, to stop me from touching the flower as it was poisonous? "Why are there such flowers around here?" I inquired, curious as to why such dangerous plants were not uprooted.

"A witch planted it here," he replied after staying quiet for a few seconds, giving me the answer to the question but ultimately rising a new one. Witch? I thought witches were gone from this world. They were hunted down a few centuries ago and no witch was seen after. At least that was what my mom told me.

"I thought they were gone?" I asked, and the man looked at me as if I just breathe fire from my mouth.

"You know about witches?" he queried, and I nodded to answer. "Most of them are gone, but there are still a few of them in this world. Witches are immune to the flower's poison so my family asked a witch to plant the flower to protect us from intruders. Only the people who live here know about them so it's pretty effective to get rid of unwanted people," he explained calmly.

"Am I allowed to enter the forest?"

"Why do you want to go there?"

"I want to meet a friend," I smiled, reminiscing the memory of meeting the wolf from this evening.

"Do you... like your friend?" he asked, asking as if he knew who I was talking about.

"Of course, he's a very cute friend. I'm excited to see him again."

"He likes you too," I heard him mumble with a small voice but I couldn't really hear what he was saying.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," he smiled, "But promise me to only go to the forest when you are meeting your friend, okay? You never know what's waiting for you inside the forest. It can be very dangerous," he said in a serious tone.

"Okay."

He nodded his head, satisfied by my answer, "Let's go back to your room. It's getting late," he then escorted me back to my room while humming to a song, bouncing in his every step like an overjoyed kid.