Not like Us

Chapter 23

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"There is a place here in the forest that none of your kind have discovered."

Bella followed Lamang as he shove the big leaves that covered a certain area in the forest. The place was already so deep in the forest. No one would have dare to venture the place.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Bella asked.

The area was already dark since they were surrounded by trees with no gaps up in the air to allow the sunlight to pass through.

Bella held both of her arms, "It was getting chilling in here."

Lamang looked at her and smiled. He reached for her hand and directed her on where was the path. "You will not regret it. Trust me."

Bella sighed and let Lamang dragged her somewhere. "All right."

Lamang smiled wider. Lamang shove another leaves. "We are near," Lamang announced. Bella just looked at him contemplating whether she did right on easily trusting the man whom was very weird and was actually from another world.

Bella shook her head and just got to trust her guts. Lamang stopped the reason for Bella to bumped into his back. "Ouch," she reacted and massage her head.

"Why did you stop?" Bella asked.

Lamang looked at her with a smile. "Cover your eyes," he said. Bella raised her eyebrows and her forehead wrinkled. Did she really need to do that? She asked to herself. What if he pushed her into a cliff?

She closed her eyes. She felt that Lamang held her back and pushed her forward. When Bella realized that she was not stepping unto something. She opened her eyes and saw Lamang laughing like crazy as she fell from a cliff.

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Bella was panting as she sat up. It was just a dream. Maybe she was having such a nightmare because of what the old woman said last night. She sighed. She should get rid of it out of her head.

She felt a hard lump on her throat. She needed water. She check on her clock and saw that it was already five in the morning.

She stood up and wore her slippers. She went down and went to the kitchen. She drank a water and she felt that the hard lump of her throat went away. She sighed in relief.

She went out of the kitchen and looked at the living room but he did not see Lamang there. Where is he? She thought.

She checked the patio but Lamang was not there. She went back inside the house. Did he go somewhere?

He did not really took the old woman said right? She asked to herself.

What if he did? Would he have a place to go? Or what if he could now produce his portal back? Would he go without saying any good bye?

She sat on the couch and sighed. Does she need to do anything? Does she need to find him? She asked to herself.

Bella was so focus on what to do when suddenly her focus drifted off when she heard a car from the outside. She stood up and looked at the window. It was her grandmother’s car. She did not noticed it was gone. She went to the door and opened it. It was her grandmother and Lamang carrying something. They were buying some groceries. Bella sighed. She thought he really leave.

She went near them and helped them carry what they bought.

“You both went out early?” She asked.

Her grandmother nodded, “Yes, supposed to be, I would not want to bother both of you but he insisted so I brought him along. He was a great help, to be honest.”

“Oh,” Bella uttered. She looked at her grandmother in the eyes, “Better than me?”

Her mother thought for a second and nodded, “I have to admit but yeah, better than you.”

Bella pouted. “Do you prefer him now more than your own granddaughter?” Bella asked to her grandmother. Lamang just chuckled while looking at them both. He had fun looking at Bella being jealous by the answer that her grandmother gave to her.

Bella looked at him with a sharp stare. “What is funny?”

Lamang chuckled. “You are cute.”

Bella was taken aback by what he said. She did not expect that she would hear it from him. She just averted her attention back to her grandmother. She did not want him to notice. Her heart was pounding. The little things that he did always makes her heart flutter. She shook her head.

“Hurry,” we need to eat before seven There were still a lot of things to take care at the farm.

Bella nodded and hurriedly arrange the things that they bought to the refrigerator.

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“Why are you bringing me here?”

"There is a place here in the forest that none of your kind have discovered."

Bella stopped. She thought she heard of that sentences before. Bella followed Lamang as he shove the big leaves that covered a certain area in the forest. The place was already so deep in the forest. No one uld have dare to venture the place.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Bella asked. The feeling she had was like having a deja vu.

The area was already dark since they were surrounded by trees with no gaps up in the air to allow the sunlight to pass through.

She closed both of her eyes and tried to recall how did she get all of those deja vu feeling. Bella held both of her arms, "It was getting cold out here."

Lamang looked at her and smiled. He reached for her hand and directed her on where was the path. "You will not regret it. Trust me."

Bella sighed and let Lamang dragged her somewhere. "All right."

Lamang smiled wider. This was the first time he would be able to share this beautiful scenery to someone. Timpi did not want to try to step his foot in the human world so he was not able to bring him. Bella was the first human that he had befriended. She would be the second person who would be able to see the beauty of the nature. Lamang shove another leaves. "We are near," Lamang announced. Bella just looked at him contemplating whether she did right on easily trusting the man whom was very weird and was actually from another world.

As Bella assessed the area, she had a feeling that she really had a memory of it. The dream. She remembered that it was the dream. She was panting when she woke up.

“You would not going to push me on the cliff right?” Bella blatantly asked. He did that on her dream and he could possibly do that to her, too.

Lamang chuckled. “Hahaha, what are you talking about?”

Lamang shoved a big leaf and what greeted them was a place full of flowers. An area of the forest where the flowers were found. There were a lot of butterflies as well. She did not expect this. She was very vigilant towards Lamang because of what she saw in her dream. The light could penetrate as well. It was not like the part of the forest that they passed through earlier.

“You are the first person I ever brought here,” he admitted. Bella felt that her face felt hot and her stomach was moving all over. She did not understand what she was feeling.

“Thank you,” she sincerely said.

Lamang sat on a log and tap some space on it. He wanted Bella to sit beside him. He was smiling. Bella never really saw him smile genuinely.

“I heard you yesterday,” Lamang confessed. Bella’s forehead wrinkled. She did not know what he means.

“You were sobbing,” he continued. He looked at her. “What was wrong?”

Bella laughed. She thought she was being quiet. “I do not know you have super hearing,” she said jokingly. Lamang replied a chuckle.

“I got envy,” Bella confessed. She knew it was wrong to be envy but she could not control herself.

“I wish I have a complete family like Lucas has but, the more I wished to have one, the more I became disappointed because it will never happen.” She brought her legs up and hugged them and rested her chin on her knee caps.

Lamang looked down. He plucked a flower one of the most beautiful flower he had ever seen. He heard the flower that it wanted to make Bella smile. He handed it to her. “I heard something wanted to make you smile.”

Bella looked at the flower. It was white. the purest of the color. She smelled it. It smelled beautiful. She smiled. No one had ever gave her a flower with an overflowing sincere intent. “Thank you. It really made me smile.”