Hellbound With You

Hours passed and Iryz finally finished going through all the books that were piled up like a mountain on her desk. r

She stretched her back to work out the kinks and took a deep breath of relief. Her head whipped towards the beauty by the window, excitement filling her eyes now. The past few days since this beautiful man appeared in her room had been a bit torturous. She had always felt exhausted after burying herself into endless books for hours but now, she was still so energetic and not even surprised about it. r

"Alright I'm…" Iryz swallowed the rest of her words. The big and excited smile plastered over her face faded slowly at the sight of Zeres' sitting there on the floor, asleep. An open book was sitting on his lap, and he was still holding onto it. r

Iryz could not help but stare at his mesmerizing face. He looked like a wax doll when he was not moving and talking. However, for some reason, it was hard for Iryz to stare at him for a long period of time because every time she did so, she always felt as though she was watching some breathtakingly beautiful but sad movie. r

In the past days, she did not even know if this man had been sleeping at all. The reason why she had helped him without complaints for five consecutive days was because she saw and felt how desperate he was. He did not even take any breaks if she did not disturb him. At night, she would leave him still flipping pages and then she would find him still doing the same thing when she wakes up the next morning. r

His dedication was just… it never ceased to make Iryz speechless. It was like he did not care about anything else in this world but this book that he was looking for. r

And what was haunting Iryz the most was that this man just looked so lonesome. He was like the pale and shimmery moon. Beautiful and far away and… so alone. r

At first, she could not help but wonder what had happened to make him end up being this way. But she could somewhat understand him already without him telling her anything. Her storyteller's mind just kicked in and she thought that he must have lost a love one, maybe a lover, and could not bear to let her go. That was why he was here… to look for the book with that spell which he believes will be able to bring her back. And from what he had said just a few hours ago, it seems that she was right. r

Sighing, Iryz quietly approached him with a blanket in her hands. She squatted before him as silently as she could and then she placed the blanket on his lap. r

She stared at his beautiful face and she could not believe that even in his sleep, he could still look so bruised. Like a wounded little wolf that was left out to bleed. The saddest thing was that he always acts as though he was fine, and nothing was wrong with him at all. Did he really think that others would not notice it? r

Perhaps, she would not notice it too if she had not been with him like this for nearly every minute within these past five days. Being so near and with her naturally curious disposition, it was impossible for her to miss all the signs displayed. It was clear to her that he was in no way fine or anywhere near okay.r

Looking at him, Iryz hugged her knees as she stayed crouching there just next to his sleeping form. She was sorry for him knowing that he was in a so much desperation and pain right now. If she could, she would want to help ease his pain but… she knew that was not possible. She thought that the only one who would ever be able to make him feel better would be that precious person that he holds so dear to him. r

'Ah… love… huh…' Iryz whispered to herself. 'Seems that what they say is true… love really seems to hurt so much. To think that an ancient and powerful witch, and a freaking gorgeous one at that, wasn't even spared from it…' r

She shook her head and sighed. Somehow, looking at him made her think that love seems horrible and truly not worth the effort. Before this man came, Iryz had been quite eager in wanting to fall in love. She had wanted to experience the things she had read in the books, watched in those romance movies, and even drawn out from her own vivid imagination. It was funny how she was spinning out romance stories when she had never actually ever fallen in love with anyone before in her life. r

Another sigh escaped her lips. r

"What is it?" his voice jolted her out of her reverie, and she lost her balance and stumbled back on the floor. She winced as she fell heavily on her behind, wanting to rub it but embarrassed to do so in front of this vision of a man.r

"S-since when did you wake up?!" Iryz stammered out the first thing that came to mind.r

"Just now." he finally opened his eyes. r

Iryz cleared her throat. r

"It's time for me to take a break." She said energetically.r

His gaze fell onto her desk, and she saw the flash of disappointment in his eyes as he realized that she had already gone through that mountain of books and still have yet to find what they were looking for. r

"You go and eat first." He told her as he cracked his neck. r

"How about you? Do you even eat at all?" she was truly curious about this.r

"I eat when I'm hungry. Now go. I don't think you want to waste any more time." r

Iryz could only obey and leave the room at the sound of his dismissive tone. r

Once the door was closed, Zeres let out a deep breath. He looked outside the window and it was night again. When will this freaking book show up? Would it ever be found?r

He was about to clench his fists when he realized that he was still holding onto a book. His gaze fell to his lap and saw a blanket draped over his legs. r