Pov, William
I enter the hotel with him, excited to give him what is inside the paper bag I'm holding.
As soon as he's done taking off his shoes, I put out my hand holding the bag. He looks at it with raised eyebrows, then looks up at me. I smile and say, "Here, open it."
He grabs the bag from my hand and pulls out this glass ball that caught his eye in the store. I can't help but smile, eager to see his reaction, but he just holds it in both hands, staring at it with a slight smile.I take it from his hand and shake it, and the fake snowflakes inside it start moving.
"That's how people make their own magic." I bring it closer to his face, and he slowly takes it out of my hand, shaking it and enjoying the view again.
He smiles big when he looks at me, and then he comes into my arms. "Thank you."
"Think of it as your birthday gift," I say, and he just stares at me.
I'm surprised by how lost he looks, and it's just like when I ask students questions for exams.
"My birthday?" He says.
Don't goblins celebrate their birthdays?
Don't you know anything about entertainment? Gifts? Warm feelings? Family?
I'm not sure why, but I feel bad for him.
Could it be because I wasn't there for him as a father?
I let out a little sigh, look away from him, and think, and put my jacket back on. I'm about to head out.
I'll do my best to make up for all the time I wasn't there for you.
He follows me with his eyes, and I smile and ruffle his hair. " Wait here, I won't be late."
About fifteen minutes later, I open the door and go into the hotel, looking excited. I have a box in my hands, and I put it on the kitchen table. Then I call out to the blue-eyed boy sitting on the sofa.
But then I see him, and he kind of flinches. He hides a little card in his pants pocket real quick, and then he comes up to me.
I'm hoping it's not some crazy plan, so I'm just ignoring it.
He looks at the cake with a smile, admiring the cake I bought for him.
He says, "Chocolate."
I nod and smile, and I start putting the candles on the cake. I say, "We're going to celebrate your birthday."
"What?" He blinks twice, looking silently at the candles. You can see the glow reflected in his eyes.
Then He looks up at me with an open mouth, listening intently to the lyrics of the birthday song I start to sing for him.
"Blow out the candles, Evander, but before that you have to make a wish and not tell me." I say.
He keeps giving me those raised eyebrows, so I blow in the air to show him how to do it. He closes his eyes for a bit, then opens them and blows on the candles, and they go out.
His body shakes with fear as I start clapping. I laugh at his reaction, and here he is, laughing at himself, clapping enthusiastically.
How cute!
...
"Yummy?" I ask the boy sitting in the kitchen chair in front of me, who's busy eating what's on his plate, and he nods lightly with a smile.
I put the spoon down and rest my elbow on the table, leaning my chin on my hand, watching him silently.
I've got a lot of questions running through my head. I don't want to bother him by asking too many, but I'm really curious.
"Evander, I want to ask you something."
He stops eating and looks at me, then says, "Of course."
I rest my back in the chair with my arms crossed and say, "You told me that Cynthia's curse affected all the goblins without exception, so why not you and your mother?"
He puts the spoon down and stares at his plate for a moment, and I get nervous and wish I hadn't asked.
He surprises me when he looks back at me and says, "It all started because of my mom's strange behavior and her suspicious disappearance from the kingdom every time. So one day I decided to follow her without her noticing me, and I discovered the world of humans through her. I was surprised at first, but I never had the courage to ask her who the man she visited every day was."
He smiles a little and says, "Then I found out that the mysterious man was my father."
I smile, she kept visiting me even after she left. She was close to me, but I had no idea.
I swallow and look away from him, and I suddenly feel the warmth of his hand holding mine.
I get it.
They weren't affected by the curse simply because they were in the human world at the time.
"You kept us safe from Cynthia without even realizing it, dad." He says this, and I just stare at him. I'm not sure what to say. It's a weird feeling.
I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife.
Rose didn't know that I hadn't signed the divorce papers when she signed hers.
...
Pov, Evander
I wait until daybreak and sneak out at an early hour without raising any eyebrows.
So I left my dad asleep in the hotel and didn't say a word to him.
I take the card out of my jacket pocket and try to read it. I exhale helplessly, having no idea what the address is.
The only thing I can think to do is to ask people passing by.
...
"What is this place?"
I just stand there and look at the place. This is strange.
It's a pretty creepy spot, like an old abandoned house, and the walls are pretty much all torn down and collapsed.
What kind of person in their right mind would risk living under the roof of such a house?
And didn't he say he owned a gallery?
Is this the gallery he was talking about?
I swallow, and then I knock on the door after being a bit hesitant.
"Hello? Are you Mr. Logan Martinez?"
The door opens and I ask in a calm voice, trying to peek inside, but I don't receive an answer. Then, a hand reaches out to pull me by my wrist, and I end up inside against my will. After that, I hear the sound of the door being slammed shut, and my body shakes in reaction.
I am shocked to see him.
"Marcelo? It was you!" I yell in annoyance, and he covers my mouth with his hand, pushing my back against the wall and treating me like a hostage.
My eyes widen when he gets really close to me and says in a low voice, "Shh, you annoying goblin."
I roll my eyes and pull his hand away from my mouth. Marcelo is one of those magicians I can't stand to be around.
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him." When are you going to stop following me around like a shadow, Marcelo? I've told you countless times that I won't help you get close to my mom! No way!"
He even made a magic potion to make her fall in love with him, but luckily, those potions only work for a little while.I narrow my eyes at his indifferent expression and say, "What do you want? You follow me, being like my dad to pique my curiosity, and then come up with a dumb name like you, Logan Martinez? Are you serious?"
He grins a little as he taps his forefinger on my forehead, "You believed my lie, which proves you're dumber than I am, Your Highness."
He starts laughing sarcastically, and I lose it. I jump on him, trying to choke him, and spitting the words in his face. "Get away from us, you stupid, ugly bastard!"
He keeps resisting me, pulling off his strangely shaped hat and shoving his hand inside, revealing a black, skinny creature whose height is really shocking.
I'm having a hard time letting go of the monster that's about to take my life.
At the same time, I can hear the evil magician laughing. He's sitting on the floor, and it seems like he's enjoying watching me suffer.
"Get that thing away from me!" I say in a strangled voice, and I feel like I'm about to pass out, until the creature that's wrapped around my neck loosens its grip.
After he leaves, I try to catch my breath as I lay on the floor, screaming as loud as I can.
"You're dead, Marcelo!"
...