I am not listening to his pathetic excuses. Something inside me breaks and I pick up the rest of his clothes and shout.
‘GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!’
‘But darling, where will I go? It’s late.’
‘I don’t care, George, just get out!’ I scream, throwing his clothes down the stairs. I’m shaking with anger. I push him out of my room and slam the door shut.
I don't even know when the tears started covering my cheeks. The noise of the door closing downstairs suggests that for the first time in his life, he has listened to me. How could I have been so stupid? Obviously, it wasn't his free will that brought him back to me but instead it was my interfering mother. How could she have known about us? The tears are streaming down my cheeks and I sit on the edge of the bed, humiliated. George felt sorry for me and that’s why he came back, pretending to be this new perfect boyfriend. My mother had caused all this by trying to sort my love life out for me. Why the hell did she have to get involved? I bury my head between my knees, wondering how much longer this could have gone on for. I lose control of my tears but I need to stop crying, feeling that I have brought all this on myself and deserve for it all to have blown up in my face.
‘I don't like to look at you when you are so sad.’
I instantly recognise this voice. I lift my head, making sure that I am not hallucinating and see Gabriel standing in front of me. The room is surrounded by darkness but I know it is him. My heart begins to race when he kneels by me, his blue eyes are shining. He is seeing all of me and I want to sink deep into the ground but I can’t take my eyes off him. For a long moment, we hold each other’s gaze. I feel myself getting breathless as he leans closer towards me and wipes my cheeks, clearing the tears. The wave of stimulating current passes down my spine.
‘You came here to humiliate me even more?’ I ask, hiding my face with my hands but he locks his hands onto mine and looks deep into my eyes.
‘Shush, I’m here because I can’t stay away from you,’ he whispers, and then he leans even closer. My whole body tenses when I notice that his deep-blue eyes are filled with lust. I shift to the side when he exhales; my blood begins to coarse through my veins. Then his lips touch mine gently, trying to test me again. This time I follow my heart and I return the kiss. He leans even closer to me, pressing his body to mine and pushing me against the door. I can't breathe when he kisses me more urgently, his lips are warm and sweet and my hands brush against his hair. My heart is hammering in my chest while his hand is stroking my naked back. I want to push him away to ask millions of questions, but I am locked underneath his body, unable to move. He stops kissing me and looks into my eyes.
‘I know you want this as much as I do. I can feel it in your heart,’ he whispers and playfully bites my ear.
I shiver, unable to respond. He can’t wait any longer as he lifts me and puts me onto the bed. My mind is blank, but I feel the heat spreading around my whole body when he starts to undress me. When I am naked, he begins kissing me again, touching every inch of my flesh, testing me again.
‘Sleep now,’ he whispers in my ear. I want to protest because I want him so badly that my whole body shivers under his touch but I can't open my eyes. My lids are heavy and soon I find that I am drifting off into a dream.
Gabriel doesn't come back the following night and for some reason, I am glad that I can have a night for myself. The thought about what may happen next is surreal but I don't want to dream too much in case I get too ahead of myself. I don’t care about George; he is never going to change.
Amy leaves Swansea tonight to go to her parents’ and Carl and Michael are leaving after me. My suitcase is packed and while I am packing everything in my car, I begin to wonder how I am going to challenge my mother. No one apart from Gosia knew about my relationship with George, so I can't understand how my mother found out about him. Seeing Gabriel outside just adds more frustration to my bitter mood today. I can't look at him and not blush.
An hour later, I am ready to leave Swansea and mentally prepare myself for the four weeks ahead of me to spend Christmas break in London with mum. During the three-hour drive, I am torn between being angry with her and being happy that she made George see me. If she hadn't, maybe what happened between Gabriel and me wouldn't have taken place. I hate that she always wants to interfere with my life; even being 300 miles away from me didn’t stop her with mixing with my personal space.
I get to London in the early evening, the weather is even worse than in Swansea. It's snowing and being stuck in traffic for two hours doesn’t help to my already sour mood. When I get to my house in Kingsway, I smile, knowing that I am home. Mum is outside and I notice that she looks so different. She changed the colour of her hair and she is wearing makeup. Her clothes are more defined and elegant.
‘Finally home,’ she says, hugging me tight. She smells differently and I recall that she never used to wear any perfume before.
‘Hi Mum, You look great!’ I start looking at her from top to bottom and she giggles like a little girl as I take in the new and improved look. She has dyed her short black hair to a shiny light brown that makes her look younger. I’m not sure if she lost any weight but she looks better in her new clothes.
‘Thank you, darling,’ she beams. ‘I am so glad that you're here. I have so much to tell you,’ she continues, helping me with my luggage from the car. My anger somehow fades away when I see her so happy and realise that I had missed her a lot. I decide not the ruin the moment by talking about George and instead, put the conversation to the back of my mind as we make our way inside from the cold.
‘I need to know everything about this guy that you have been seeing?’ I ask staring at my mother that has changed so much already.
‘He is from Russia, but there isn’t much to talk about,’ she says, waving it off as if it isn’t such a big deal.
‘Are you kidding me, I am not going to sit here and pretend that nothing happened. C’mon tell me now!’
‘What do you want to know?’
‘What does he do for a living?’
‘He runs his own business; he does something with property development. I am not sure we don’t talk about work much.’
‘So how many times did you go out?’ I ask barley restraining my excitement. My mother blushes again and I can tell that she likes him; maybe that’s why she stopped nagging me all the time.
‘I don’t want to talk about me, I am more interested to hear about you?’ she chuckles.
‘No news,’ I snap, ‘C’mon you got to tell me everything. What’s he like and do you think that you are going to see him again?’
‘Oh I don’t know Ania, it’s just been a few dates, but I feel that he is looking for something serious,’ she finally says looking slightly irritated.
‘So when am I going to meet him?’
‘Will you stop it!’ she says raising her voice. I laugh; she never was very straightforward about men.
‘Ok fine’ I say giving up ‘Let’s talk about me then’
‘Good, but before you start you have to eat something, you probably haven’t had a proper meal since you left!’
I roll my eyes and start talking about University avoiding recent rendezvous with George. I don’t want to ruin her good mood and get into another argument. My mother starts preparing food.
Later on as I eat the traditional Russian supper Mum made for us, I wonder if I will ever be as happy as her. I have a few weeks where I can stop thinking about coursework and University and enjoy the Christmas festivities the month has to bring. Tradition being valued on our household, I invite Gosia over for the Christmas feast. When I mentioned the differences of traditional Russian Christmas to my housemates, they didn't understand why we have to wait until the seventh of January to open presents and why we don’t have a turkey for Christmas dinner. They were surprised with the way Russians celebrate Christmas. Later that evening, I go to bed happy that I am at home and that Mum is adapting well to the fact that I am no long
er living with her.
When I get upstairs, I have a shower and go to bed straightaway. I soon feel myself falling into a hazy sleep when Gabriel slides into my warm bed, awakening me by kissing my lips. I open my eyes, smiling.
‘Morning,’ I say as he wraps his body around mine.
‘I shouldn't have come here today but I wanted to talk to you.’ He starts kissing my neck gently and the familiar electric current connects us.
‘I know you belong to someone else, but you can feel the connection between us,’ I say, looking at him. His blue eyes are shining.
‘These feelings that I have started to have when I am around you,’ he begins, still looking at me, ‘They scared me at first, but then I realised that’s how humans feel about each other when they have chosen the one they want to be with. You influenced me.’
I don't want to help him to label how he feels.
‘I am sorry, Gabriel, that no other Sprite ever experienced it. It's sad to be pushed to live with someone that you don't love,’
‘We are here to influence humans and our feelings are not important,’ he says, and he kisses me again more urgently.
During this delightful night, I lose myself to his touch, wanting him to seduce me. His body is so firm as he moves on top of me. He begins to kiss my neck, moving down to my collarbone. He wants to taste me slowly; like a delicious dessert that he doesn't want to finish. As my mind is hesitating to give in and climax, my heart wins instead and my body slowly subjects itself to his gentle movements. He takes off his cotton shirt, revealing a strong chest and I inhale the air filled with lust, trying to lock in to my memory his perfect body; his skin is so soft and I can no longer fight with my pleasure. The room is dark but I still notice his light smile when he removes my night T-shirt and stares at my half-naked body underneath. My mind is blank when he begins to kiss my breasts, his soft tongue tantalising my nipples, caressing them gently. I close my eyes, unable to take this any longer as my breathing quickens and I know that I am ready to taste him. When he breathes through my underwear I moan, feeling the heat that rises inside me. His hands caressing my thighs venture down between my legs, teasing me to the point that I want to beg him to take me. Suddenly he stops and I open my eyes, wondering what's happened.
‘I need to get rid of this,’ he says smoothly and stands up to take off his trousers; my heart pumps the blood quickly round my body, the pulsating feeling in between my legs deepens in anticipation of seeing him, all of him.
He looks at me with his eyes full of lust; in the darkness his eyes are more intense. As he removes the rest of his clothes, I open my mouth, unable to take my eyes of his naked body but he doesn’t allow me to stare any longer and begins kissing the side of my thighs, exploring me further.
‘Are you going to take off the rest of your clothes?’ he asks as he continues to tease me with his fingers. My hands shake when as I take off my underwear and within seconds I am lying naked underneath him. He eases his fingers inside me and I groan with pleasure. His touch is incredible, gentle, stimulating and desire bursts throughout my body. My body isn’t perfect but he treats it as if it is. He doesn't stop and he continues to caress my body as the blood pumps through me.
‘Are you ready?’ he whispers, but I am unable to respond, lost in heavenly thoughts.
‘Mmm.’
He laughs and then enters me slowly, with his blue eyes piercing into mine. He groans loudly, saying something in a language that I don't understand. I try to keep up with his fast movements but I am slowly losing my mind in the joy and bliss. His hands guide my hips as he picks up the pace; I feel like my heart will tear my chest apart but I don't want him to stop. Ecstasy fills my body and I am trying not to scream, wondering if my Mother would hear me. I cover my mouth with the pillow and my breathing becomes harsher. Within seconds, a blissful orgasm fills both our bodies and I explode underneath him. I open my eyes to look at him. His eye colour is the most intense that I have ever seen. The sight of perfect sapphire blue.
When I open my eyes a few hours later it’s dark outside and Gabriel is still lying next to me. My body feels sore but I don’t mind feeling this way when he is beside me. He isn't sleeping and I begin to wonder if he needs to rest at all. It's been so long since I slept with a man but I have never experienced this exhilarating lovemaking with an extraordinary creature.
‘Thank you,’ he says, noticing that I am not asleep. I smile.
‘What are you thanking me for? I think that I should be thanking you,’ He doesn't respond and just leans in to kiss me gently.
‘You make me so happy,’ he responds. ‘I have never felt this way about anyone. Sex was always just sex before, but now, I finally realise how much I could enjoy it when getting so much pleasure from it. You are the first human that I have shared a bed with,’ he continues.
‘Lucky me?’ I say, amused.
‘You are very lucky, actually, to enjoy the body of a Sprite,’ he says. ‘Most women would kill for me.’
He is as arrogant as usual but it doesn't matter. That’s his character and I can't change it; I don’t want to change it.
‘Tell me more about your life,’ I ask, changing the subject. Gabriel is probably not used to small talk. He smiles lightly.
‘I think I said enough. The council amongst us makes a decision about assigning a particular Sprite to a human, and I feel lucky that I have you. All my life I felt that something was missing. I told my father that I didn’t want to marry Rose but he didn’t want to listen. He said that this is just the way it is.’
‘What would happen if your father would find out about me?’ I ask, subconsciously knowing the answer. His eyes narrow and he looks out the window, silent for long while.
‘My father was matched with my mother so she could give birth to more Sprites; Rose was chosen for me so she could give birth to our Sprites. Our population depends on the decision of the higher class and no one from my community knows that I can really feel. If they did, they would do all in their power to make sure I suffer for it and that others don’t end up like me,’ he explains in an uneasy tone, ‘I don’t know what my father would do, he was always difficult to read.’
‘Who are the council?’
‘The oldest Sprites that have been living for thousands of years, one of them is particularly important. Lord Alcott. The rules they adhere to aren’t new. It's been that way since anyone can remember so no one can really question them.’
‘That’s so sad,’ I say, looking at him and wondering why no one has ever rebelled against this convention.
‘When are you supposed to marry Rose?’ I ask, trying to sound normal but I know that this conversation will hurt me. He sighs.
‘The time is not settled yet, but she is expected to have a child before next winter,’ he explains.
‘What if that doesn't happen?’
‘There is nothing that I can do to stop it; it's been predicted and we are expected to follow the rules, even if we don't agree with them.’
I don't say anything else. What happened between us tonight was so magical and overpowering, and continuing the conversation about him and Rose makes me feel guilty about our actions tonight. Despite the feeling between us, it’s too dangerous for us to repeat it; Gabriel is risking his own life to be with me. I’m allowing myself to become attached to him. I am doubtful that he will ever be able to leave Rose and follow his heart. He leaves in the morning and I am not sure if I want to see him again. We are not meant to be together; we live in two different worlds that are not supposed to meet
9
My routine has been completely disrupted after the passionate night I spent with Gabriel. Days later I am still smiling, remembering his smooth touch on my skin. I know that he is still engaged and belongs to someone else, but that doesn’t stop me daydreaming about the night we were together. I am afraid of the consequences and the feelings that I developed for him but my mind, body and soul has been forever engraved by his touch.
Mum arranged a dinner with Dmitry and I am finally going to meet this man who stole her heart. He suggested it, so he might be thinking seriously about Mum. Despite the festive period Mum still has a few shifts in the hospital, so I tried to keep myself occupied with Christmas shopping.
Later on in the evening my Mother comes back looking shattered; she had a long day in the hospital. The dinner date is today, so she has to get some sleep beforehand. I read and make lunch, trying not to think about Gabriel until we are rushing to leave the house on time.
‘I am nervous,’ I say, getting into the taxi.
I breathe deeply, trying to think about meeting my Mother's new man. I think it might be too soon but it's too late to change my mind now.
‘He is very polite, you don't have to be nervous around him,’ she replies, after telling the taxi driver the directions. ‘What about Swansea, any boys that you met while you have been there?’ she asks and I shift uncomfortably, trying to think of how to approach this subject. I am tempted to tell her about George but I don't want to ruin her night.
‘No, I haven't met anyone yet, Mum. I’ve got too much coursework to concentrate on,’ I smile awkwardly. She doesn't say anything else until we get to the restaurant and I wonder if George has mentioned anything to her about what happened when he came to see me in Swansea; I have a suspicion that they talk behind my back but I can't deal with this right now.
The restaurant that Dmitry has chosen is Russian, which doesn't surprise me at all. I can’t help but notice a few Sprites outside. We walk inside and the young, dark-haired waiter escorts us to the right table. Dmitry is already there and he stands as we approach him. He is short man, about mid-forties and is wearing a grey suit. He isn’t terribly good looking but I decide he seems pleasant enough.
‘Oh, darling,’ he says in a thick Russian accent. He kisses my Mother gently on the cheek and smiles as he looks at me. He has light brown eyes and a long nose with typical Eastern European features. ‘You must be Ania.’