Chapter 1

Aurea Jaeger's POV

I woke up from the sound of my alarm clock. I stood up from my bed and folded it. I looked outside the window of my apartment room. It's so peaceful. The sound of the distant honking of vehicles, the chattering of the people walking by, and the smell of the food my neighbor's cooking. Or so I thought.

"Aurea, why didn't you wake me up?! Now we're late for work." My best friend and roommate Leah said while shaking me vigorously.

"Leah, stop shaking me. Do you want me to die?" I asked holding her arms to stop.

"Yes. I want you to die because you didn't wake me up!" She said and started running around the room getting ready.

I ignored her and went to the kitchen to make myself a nice cup of coffee. After that, I went to the living room and read some newspaper. As I read the newspaper, Leah dashed through the living room wearing her uniform. She looked at me with disbelief.

"Aurea, are you freaking serious? We're late yet you're sitting in the couch with a cup of coffee and a newspaper?! Are you insane?!"

I finished my coffee and looked at her smiling. "First, I'm serious. Second, I'm not insane. Third, today's a Saturday so relax." I said and went to the kitchen to wash my cup and make breakfast.

"Huh? Saturday? What do you mean Saturday? It's Friday and it's payday!" She screamed again now walking to the kitchen.

"If you don't believe me, look at you're phone and see the date." I said while opening the fridge and looking for things to cook. She complied and she look so shocked. "See? I told you it's Saturday. The payday was yesterday and you spent half of yours drinking. See the table?" She looked at the table with cans of beers all over it.

"Then why didn't you told me it's Saturday?! I look like an idiot rushing around the house while you just sat there relaxed! Damn my head hurts." She said and sat at the table. While I was making a tea to help her with her hangover, I saw her glaring at me while pouting.

"Stop it you look like an angry puppy who didn't took a walk at the park. Here drink this." I handed her the tea and cooked the porridge for her. "There's no poison in it right?" She asked eyeing the tea suspiciously. That's why I don't like her getting drunk and having a hangover. "If I want to poison you, I would put it in your favorite food or drink so you won't be suspicious." I said sarcastically while stirring the porridge. I heard her scoff and just drinked the tea. After a few minutes, I gave her the porridge.

"After you finish eating this, change your clothes and get some rest. I'm going out to get some groceries and some new dresses for me. Oh, and don't forget to wash it after okay?" I said with a wink as I went out of the kitchen and went to my room. I took a bath and changed into jeans and a cropped top paired with a high cut white sneakers. I also wore a beige coat. After I changed I went out of my room.

"Hey, buy me a milktea." She said while standing by the door. "Whatever." I said with a smirk.

I went out of the apartment and rode a cab to the mall. I went to the grocery section and started looking for the things we needed. When I found all of it, I went directly to the counter to pay it cause I'm sooo excited to buy new clothes.

While I was waiting on the line, I noticed a man around my age standing by the carts. He looks bothered and keeps glancing at his watch. He looked at my direction and stared at me. I looked back at the cashier.

'Ahh, did he noticed that I'm staring at him that's why he looked at me? It's so embarrassing!'

After I payed for it, I went directly to my favorite boutique owned by my cousin. And they have new arrivals! They're so pretty. I then proceeded to pick all the dresses to my liking. One thing I like here, is that I always have a 50% discount. Perks of being the favorite nieceWhen I'm done, I went to the cashier to pay it.

"That would be $650 ma'am." The cashier said. That's unusual. I normally have a 50% discount whenever I come here. Maybe she forgot?

"Uhm miss, I think you're wrong. I always have a 50% discount whenever I shop here."

"Pardon me ma'am? But we don't give any discount in this time of the year." She answered while rolling her eyes. Then she whispered something really annoying. I was about to lose my cool when Carl arrived, my cousin. The employees greeted him.

"What seems to be the problem here?" He asked smiling sweetly. If I don't know him, I wouldn't think that he's already laughing at my face in his mind.

"Sir, this woman here is saying that she have a 50% discount here even if we don't give a discount in this time of the year. She's just fooling us, we should call the security sir." She said while batting her eyes. Urghh so f*cking flirty.

"Really? Well, it's okay really. She's my cousin and also the model of our brand." He said while wrapping his arm around me and leaning on my shoulder.

The cashier looks dumbfounded. Haha, serves her right. She wrapped the clothes and I payed. I looked at Carl and he signalled me to follow him to the office inside the boutique. We sat a the sofa inside.

"So what was that all about?" I asked crossing my arms.

"That? She's new that's why she didn't recognized you." He answered with a smug face.

"Tch. Well you could have told her about me in her interview."

"Well I forgot. And it's not really necessary since I know you'll deal with it." He said with a taunting tone.

"Shut up. You're so annoying. I'm going home. I still have to take care of Leah." I said standing up from my seat. I was walking to the door when he suddenly stopped me.

"Why? What's wrong with Leah?!" He asked. Well, more like shouted.

"I forgot. And it's not really necessary since you know I'll deal with it." I said copying his taunting tone a while ago.

"Aurea, I'm serious. If something bad happens to her, I won't forgive you or myself." Now he's talking to me with an autorative tone? Who does he think he is?!

"Geez, relax you carrot. And don't blame me, blame the beer and the money." I said while peeling his hand from my arms.

"She's hangover? And carrot? You dare call me a carrot?!" He shouted at my face. He dare shout at my face?!

"Yes she's hangover and I tried stopping her last night! And don't you dare shout at my face! I'm still older than you!" I also shouted at his face. "If that's all, I'm going." I walked outside the office. When I came out, the costumers and employees was all looking at me. I glared at them and they all flinched and went back to what they were doing.

"Aurea!" I was about to go out when he called me. I stopped on my tracks and waited for him to say something. "I'm sorry for shouting at you but please take care of Leah for me. Also, Mom wants you to model again for her."

I looked back and saw him looking down, clearly regretting what he had done. Well I understand him, since he really loves Leah even if he got dumped for who knows why. And Leah is so stupid for lying to herself that she doesn't love Carl anymore. They're both stupid for hurting themselves like that. I approached him and gave him a hug. He was clearly shocked but nonetheless returned the hug.

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. I'm sorry too. Don't worry about Leah, and tell Auntie that I'll consider her request. Just call me if she wants to discuss it further." I broke the hug and smiled. He returned the smile and I went out of their boutique.

I went out of the mall and went straight to the park where you can find all kinds of food stalls. In short, it's like a wet market. There are many stalls here that sells milktea and they all look delicious. But I went to that one stall on the back part of the park near an alley. People who buy there are rare since you can't see the stall clearly due to it being on the back. I went there and ordered a black forest milktea, Leah's favorite.

We accidentally found this stall, well more like it's a café, when we were in college. Since then, we always came here to relax whenever we have an exam or such. Even the owner became our friend. He always gives us discount.

"Aurea, here you go. By the way, where's Leah?" He asked. We call each other by our first names and even nicknames.

"Leah? She has a hangover from drinking beer last night. I went to buy groceries and she asked me to get her some milktea." I said while smiling sweetly. I remembered something that I have to give him something. "Oh by the way, Grandpa Walter, I bought you something. Here you go." I gave him a beautiful tea set. He looked at it in awe then looked at me.

"Are you sure it's for me? This looks expensive." He said giving it back to me.

"It's not expensive at all. Actually it's from the bargains in the mall. When I saw it, it reminded me of you, that's why."

He sighed. "Okay, if you insist." He said taking the set away and putting it in the shelf. "Also don't add grandpa to my name. It makes me feel old." He said to me with a wink. I giggled and bid my goodbye to him.

One of the things we like about this café, is that it has a shortcut to our apartment. Which is the alley near it. Not many people from our neighborhood knows about this shortcut since it's quite hidden. As I walked through the alley, I noticed someone standing in the middle part of the alley, since it's pretty long. When I was near him, I recognized that it was the man from the grocery store.He looks like he was in pain, so I approached him.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" I asked him. Instead of answering me he gave me sharp glare. Then, he collapsed.

"H-hey, are you okay?! Do I need to call an ambulance?!" I asked as I started panicking.

"G-go away." He managed to say as he struggled to take my grip from him which was successful. Damn, how can he have so much strength in this state?

"What do you mean go away? I'm not leaving you here. It's not like me to leave someone alone who clearly needs some help." I retorted sassily. Instead of giving me a thankful look, he gave me a very, very sharp glare.

"I said, go away. I don't need help from someone like you." He said. After he said that, a jade colored light suddenly engulfed us. It was so bright that my teacher's forehead would be a shame.

It took a few seconds before the light submerged. It was rather unusual for a bright jade colored light to appear out of nowhere, well except for those movies. But what surprised me the most was what I saw after it. Instead of a man, it was a lizard?

'Is it a lizard. No, I think it's a gecko. But, a gecko don't have gold colored scale. And it has horns? What if it's a dragon? Well I think it's a dragon. A small dragon. Isn't dragon supposed to be gigantic? Oh my god! It's moving! What do I do?!'

The 'dragon' moved and it stared at me intently and I also stared at it. In short, we had a staring contest. Then suddenly, a white cloud emerged. Like, 'poof!' Then it has the face of the man? It's like a dragoman. Wait, does it even exist? Well whatever, but it's like the chibi version of the man from earlier. The difference is that he has the parts of a dragon. It's also standing on its hind legs. So weird.

"*F*ck, why does it always happens in unexpected times*?!" He said clearly annoyed. His voice is quite cute now that I heard it clearly.

"Always?" I asked? Is this even normal? Shall I go to an eye specialist or an exorcist?

"You... can understand me? But... how?"

"Uhm yeah? I'm not illiterate you know."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

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