Chapter 8

• It was already 4 in the afternoon, and Noe had already regained her confidence. She had never felt it ever since she escaped, thinking that she was exposed to danger all the time.
• “I'd like to know more about you,” Finn whispered. They were sitting on the couch, with Noe leaning her back on his chest.
• “My story is not even beautiful to tell! I have such a painful past—at least from what I know.” She knew that she had more to learn about herself, and if she told him about her life as a princess, she could only tell her what she had been limited to know.
• “Why did you run away?” he asked, with his arms tightly wrapped around her body.
• “I told you about it,” she murmured and then she swallowed a lump in her throat.
• “Did they hurt you?” he asked again.
• “No, anybody who would hurt me would surely be killed,” she replied.
• “Was your father a terrible one?”
• “He was a great father, at least for my siblings,” she mumbled, tears already surfacing in her eyes. “He treated me differently, though. He never hurts me, but he never allows me to live the kind of life that I want.”
• “Did you hate him?”
• “Never, but I hated his decisions,” she quickly answered.
• “What if he finds you here?” Finn gently put his chin on her left shoulder, and then gently pressed his lips on her neck.
• “He'll drag me home, and no one could ever stand against him. He would surely imprison me and eventually force me to marry Harun,” she explained while her tears fell from the corners of her eyes.
• “I won't let him take you,” he uttered.
• “My father is a very powerful person, and I am sure that once he found me, he would use all his connections to bring me home,” she sadly narrated.
• “I will use all my might to protect you, Noe!”
• “Thank you, but why are you doing that?” she curiously asked, feeling unsure about his sincerity.
• “I just feel like it, my heart orders my mind to do it! I feel very protective of you,” he replied.
• “I am scared,” she declared. “What if I wake up tomorrow and you are no longer here?”
• “As long as the sun still sets in Central Park, I will be here. Unless, of course, you ask me to leave.”
• “Finn,” he murmured. “There are some strange things in me that I am really bothered about.”
• “Like what?”
• “I can see the people clearly even from way up here,” she uttered, moving her back away from his chest. “I can see the woman that is waving for a cab over there, her expression is hopeless and she is feeling tired already. I can also see the man that sells hotdogs, he is struggling to change a hundred bucks.”
• Finn moved his eyes to the direction that Noe was talking about, and he could also clearly see what Noe was seeing.
• “That is interesting, but indeed strange,” he muttered. “Some people are really blessed with good eyesight, I can say.”
• “I can hear them too! I don't think it's normal,” she responded.
• “Maybe you have a very beautiful gift, you should be very happy about it,” he replied. “When did you realize those abilities?”
• “Just when I came here. I barely realized so many things back home because I was totally blinded by fears and frustrations.”
• “At least you will be alarmed if your father is getting near you,” he replied, trying to sound as if he was not enthralled by her revelations. It made him feel like reading her thoughts, but he didn't want to invade her out of respect. He was having a hunch that she may be just like him, possessing such traits that were normal to his kind. However, he could not totally agree with his thought, admitting that his knowledge about humans was barely limited.
• “Yeah, I agree with you on that,” she uttered. “Or maybe, my body realized it's ability after I got my freedom.”
• “I have to ask you something,” he said.
• “What is it?”
• “Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here? Your friend seems to be against it,” he said, pulling her back to his chest again.
• “I don't need her permission,” she quickly replied to him. “If she does not understand, she knows that I am willing to move away from her, with you.”
• Noe could not explain how she felt about Finn, and why she felt like she needed him around her. She found comfort in his presence, and she felt very secure whenever he was around.
• “Aren't you going to ask about me?” Although hesitant, Finn knew that he needed to reveal the truth to her if she asked him to. “I mean, you barely know me,” he added.
• “My heart trusts you completely, and if you feel like telling me more about you, then I would be very glad. If you are not yet ready, it doesn't matter to me.”
• Her reassurance had made Finn feel more comfortable around her. The only thing that bothered him was the upcoming full moon, and he could not think of an excuse yet to convince her to let him go out.
• “Tomorrow, I am going to look for a job,’’ he told her.
• “Mirae told me she found a job for me already and I think I will start tomorrow afternoon,” she uttered.
• “That's good news, if I don't get a job by tomorrow, I will just wait for you outside your workplace to make sure that you are safe.”
• “No, I am not letting you do that, you are not a dog to just keep following me,” she insisted.
• “That's funny, but you can't stop me.”
• “I am being serious here,” she irritably replied.
• Finn smiled, took a deep breath and said, “Either do I.”
• “You are being so obsessed with me,” she quipped, raising her arm and reaching for his head.
• “Is that a bad thing?”
• “For now, it's not!” She quickly responded with a sweet smile on her face. “But don't be so obsessed! You know that too much is not good.”
• “Honestly, I can't control my obsession! Look how I feel so attached to you already. I am sorry, but until you ask me to, I won't stop.”
• “Look at the sun, I don't think it agrees with you,” she murmured.
• “Look how beautiful that sunset is, it surely agrees with me if I tell you that you are as beautiful as it is.”
• Finn's words had a way to fill Noe's heart all the time, but she never complained about it. She enjoyed every moment with him, and she never felt that kind of happiness before
• “I have never felt so sure about anything before, but now I am very sure that I like you, Finn.”
• “You don't have to try and win me with those flattering words, Noe!” He complained sarcastically. “You have already won me since the first time I laid my eyes on you.”
• “I am not saying those just to impress you. I really felt that way.”
• Finn kissed her gently on her head and he kept his lips there for a few more seconds. “Imagine a beggar like me, meeting someone like you, and then my life started again. How can I easily believe that?”
• “Imagine a princess being in love with someone she found on a street,” she snarled, trying to make her statement sound more interesting than his.
• “Yeah, I am really sorry your majesty!” He quipped, trying to change the mood of the situation.
• “What if I am a real-life princess?”
• “No, you are not just a princess, you are my queen,” he stated. He then gently pulled her face towards him and started kissing her passionately.