BOUND OF LOVE - Season 4 Episode 22

“This is such a beautiful place. Do witches really live here?” Abi asked. She was simply awed. It was just too beautiful, it could be called paradise.

She couldn’t believe that a witch was actually living in a place like this. Of course, from all the books she had read, she had imagined a dull, eerie place in the woods or something akin to that when she found out that they were heading to the northernmost village of the country! So seeing this village, which was as far from her imagination as it could be, she was completely awestruck by the natural beauty and this feeling of peacefulness coming from the place.

“Yes. The witches like to stay in places like this, close to the black forest, where they can run to escape from danger. They know the dark forest well so they have a high chance of escaping when vampires spot them.” Alex replied.

“So you’re saying that they are living and roaming around as one of the villagers?”

“Yes. This village in particular is composed of only humans.”

“Really? All of them?” Abi looked at him with wide eyes, surprised.

“Yes. These people are the descendants of one family who came to live here hundreds of years ago. The first family who settled here were the royal family of an overthrown kingdom. The exiled king happened to be this country’s king’s friend so he had allowed them to settle here in peace. They vowed to keep the country’s secret and never leave the place in exchange for the protection from vampires. Now, that family grew into a village.”

“That’s a very interesting story,” she uttered, still gushing at the sight before her eyes. “They must’ve been so thankful to be living in this paradise peacefully.”

“Probably.”

“What’s the name of this village?”

“White Falls Village.”

“White falls… It’s a nice name.”

The car idled in front of a small hotel. It looked picturesque. It was made of wood and there were flowers hanging all over the bricks.

“You two will stay here for the day,” Zeke, who was a mute the entire trip, finally spoke.

Alex stepped out and took their luggage out and placed them by the stairs.

Abi watched Zeke’s car leave with a slight frown. He was supposed to stay close to them, right?

“What? You want Zeke to stay with us in the hotel?” Alex leaned behind her. “Too bad for you but Zeke isn’t interested in becoming a third wheel.”

A smirk played on his face before he turned and walked up the stairs towards the door. Abi could only follow him in silence as an old lady welcomed them.

She led them upstairs and showed them their room.

Once the lady left, Alex walked out the door towards the small terrace. Abi got attracted by the beauty outside as well and she followed him. They could now see the village, the huge rock mountain in the background and the majestic falls.

Ah, this was so refreshing…

Abi closed her eyes to savor the cool, fresh air. There was no pollution in the village. There were cars parked up around the place but there were only a few of them. It looked like these were only used for long trips outside the village as she could see that all the people were mostly going about their business on foot or on bicycles.

The greenery was just too breathtaking to ignore. She just couldn’t believe it! She breathed in deeply to take in this unpolluted air into her lungs. Again, she felt a very keen sense of something extraordinary in the air, as if magic surrounded the entire place.

She never thought that this was the kind of place they were going to. She almost felt like she was off on a vacation, and not on a witch hunt.

When she opened her eyes, Alex was observing her face closely.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

Abi blinked. Well, Alex had been very well behaved since this morning and it seemed that he really was taking their deal seriously because he was actually maintaining a safe distance between them. It also seemed to her that he was abstaining from teasing her.

“I was wondering if we were allowed to go out.” she said. Well, she really wanted to explore the place. She didn’t know how long they would be staying there so she wanted to at least look around while she still could. She thought it might be okay for them to look around since Zeke still hadn’t given her any instruction at all. He didn’t even say anything before he left them.

That was why she could only deduce that they were not going witch hunting just yet. Maybe he was giving her time to rest? Or maybe, he was waiting for night time to come? If that was so, then going exploring might be alright while they waited for Zeke’s signal.

“So you want to go on a date with me, huh? Sure…” he smiled and Abi was once again speechless. Just when she thought he was behaving himself, he then went and threw this her way. She could only shake her head as she headed towards the door.

They left the hotel and Abi skipped on the narrow street made of bricks, with flowers hanging from the walls.

‘This place was really unique,’ she thought, and for a long while she lost herself, too engrossed from enjoying their exploration. Well, it had been too long since she went out for anything like this. The past three months were like a whole season of gloomy weather. Those past three months felt like the sun never rose and she couldn’t see the beauty in anything. That was why she felt really revitalized at being able to at least see these things now because Alex was with her now, despite the fact that he had forgotten her.

Stopping in her tracks, Abi turned around with a wide smile but what she saw was Alex standing far behind her.

Abi immediately jogged back to him. She couldn’t go too far away from him. Who knew if there were witches in disguise lurking around?

Seeing his face as she approached him, Abi suddenly remembered how Alex looked when she had forced him to help her to sell those cakes from their booth. Somehow, this bored expression looked exactly like the expression he wore at that time.

“If you want to go back we can –”

“Aren’t you supposed to be holding my hand, huh? Little lamb? What if someone takes this stunning creature away?” He pointed to himself cheekily.

Abi could only gape at him. But without any more ado, she took his hand, causing Alex’s lips to curve up. His bored face literally brightened up as he intertwined their hands.

This feeling made Abi’s heart flutter. It was like they really were on a date and it made her feel nice.

Time passed and they arrived at a café in an old house made of bricks. The front door had flowers draped over it like a curtain and it looked very inviting.

The sun looked to have hidden behind some dark clouds and when she looked up, she felt a few small drops of rain land on her face so she pulled Alex inside.

They sat by the glass window, overlooking the street as they waited for the coffees they had ordered. A waitress soon brought over their order and placed the mugs on the table.

Abi was all smiles and Alex had been watching her bright smile since the moment they stepped out of the car. He felt something different whenever she smiled like that and he liked it.

“This place is really romantic,” Abi told him as she sighed.

“Hmm? It’s romantic because the one you’re with is me, Abigail. The place is only 10% of it,” he smirked.

Oh God, why was he getting cheekier by the day?

Abi glanced at him through her mug. He wasn’t wrong. She probably wouldn’t have enjoyed this without him, well, at least not as much as she did now. She was happy. She was so happy to be able to spend moments like this with him again. But she couldn’t say that to him.

Clearing her throat, Abi looked away and stared through the glass window. The sky was becoming more gray now. Gone was the blue sky. The village was still beautiful but seeing the sky right then made Abi finally feel like they were there for something else, and not for a vacation. She wondered why Zeke didn’t tell them what the next plan was. What were they supposed to do now? She was still in the dark as to the details of this witch hunt. She wondered where he was because at that moment, she really wanted to know it too.

“What are you thinking?” Alex’s voice pulled her out her thoughts.

“Uhm… I was wondering where Zeke is.” she answered and Alex’s face immediately darkened with displeasure.

Abi looked down, sensing how he seemed to really dislike her mentioning Zeke’s name. “Uhm… I…” she tried to think of another distraction but as she tried to say something, her ears suddenly picked up a familiar type of heartbeat and her eyes widened.