She Belongs To The Devil

Damien turned his head and saw Ramon standing there at the entrance of the alley while facing them.

Ariel, on the other hand, was too stunned and she was frozen for a few seconds after hearing Ramon's voice.

"It's you, isn't it?" Ramon shouted again. And this time, he entered the alley thinking some weird man was trying to mess with his cousin. And that's why she was hitting him.

Both Ariel and Damien were thinking that they were busted. They forgot that Ramon's eyesight wasn't as superior as their eyesight. And they thought that as he had already seen Damien, there was no way they could hide him anymore.

Damien was ready to walk towards Ramon and meet his friend.

However, Ariel had something else in her mind. She had hidden the fact that Damien was with them throughout their trip. She didn't want her cousins to think of her as a traitor.

And in her panic, Ariel lifted her leg and gave a roundhouse kick on Damien's butt.

Damien flew a few meters and crashed face down on the ground. "Ow!!" He grunted in pain and massaged his butt while still lying down on the ground.

And to his surprise, he heard Ariel shouting at him, "How dare you come here to show your face after all these years?"

"What?" he lifted his head and turned to see Ariel walking away from him rather angrily.

Ramon was on high alert. He wasn't sure who Ariel was talking to. But he ran towards Ariel anyway.

Ramon felt a little sting in his heart and he widened his eyes when he saw something shiny on that man's legs. And a sudden realization hit him.

He held Ariel by her arm and reprimanded her, "It's Damien, isn't it? Why would you kick him like that?"

Ariel was still in her character. So she angrily swatted Ramon's hand away and shouted, "Be thankful that I didn't kill him on the spot."

And without waiting for a second, she began to walk away while silently apologizing to Damien for doing whatever she did in her panic.

Ramon, on the other hand, ran towards Damien at his greatest speed. He knelt down beside Damien and tilted his head. "Damien? Is it really you?" he asked in a sorrowful tone.

Damien grunted and turned to rest on his back. He gave a wide smile to Ramon and whispered, "Hey, buddy!"

"Oh my goodness! It's really you!" Ramon's eyes were instantly filled with tears. And he rested his head on Damien's chest, and laughed and cried at the same time.

Damien's eyes were also filled with tears. He stroked Ramon's back and said what he couldn't say a few days ago, "I missed you, Ray. I missed everyone so much!"

Ramon pushed himself up and looked at Damien's face. He punched Damien on his chest and complained, "Then you should have come back sooner, you idiot!"

"Ouch!" Damien rubbed his chest and said while laughing, "Come on, buddy! I think Ariel fractured a few of my bones already. You shouldn't add to that."

Ramon also laughed and replied, "Hey, you deserved that, alright."

"I know…" Damien gave a mirthless smile. "Help me up, will you?"

Damien held out his hand, and Ramon grabbed and pulled Damien up on his feet.

And Ramon pulled his friend into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you are back, Damien." Ramon's happiness knew no bounds.

Damien patted Ramon's back and said in an equally happy tone, "And so am I, Ray. So am I."

After pulling away from the hug, Ramon gave an apologetic look to him and said sorry on behalf of his cousin. "I hope you didn't mind Ariel earlier. She was really devastated when you didn't come back. It might take her some time to open up to you again."

Damien tried not to spill the truth saying that she had already opened up to him. He just gave a nod and said, "I don't blame her. She has the right to get mad at me."

Ramon then excitedly put his arms around Damien's shoulder even though Damien was a bit taller than him. And he said, "Come, you have to meet Zach and Niylah as well. They are both here."

And to make Ariel's burst out earlier believable, Damien looked around as though he was seeing that castle for the first time and asked, "And where is 'here' anyway? I don't recall Wyverndale Palace looking this way."

Ramon laughed and then made Damien aware of the surrounding, "We are actually in a Kingdom called Brenalia. The Crown Prince of this Kingdom had invited us. We just arrived here today, just a few hours ago."

"Oh!" Damien glanced at Ramon and asked, "I didn't ruin your tour, did I?"

"No, don't think like that." Ramon gave him a huge smile and said, "You came here at the perfect time. Oh! I know… Why don't you join us? I will ask the Crown Prince to let you stay. We can travel around together and catch up while having fun."

Damien wasn't planning to leave anyway. But he asked as if he was hesitating a little, "Is it okay to come here uninvited like this and join all of you?"

Ramon simply tightened his hold around Damien's neck and said, "You came to meet us after ages, Damien. There's no way I am going to let you leave that easily."

"Hey, who's that?"

They both heard Zach's voice when they walked out of the alley. He was standing a little further away from them.

Damien smiled and asked, "Can you guess who I could be?"

"Oh hell!" Zach covered his mouth with his palm and shouted excitedly, "No way!"

And suddenly, they all heard Niylah's voice as well, "Damien! It was you!"

"Zach, Niylah… I missed you both," Damien spread out his arms while flashing a wide grin to them.

Both Zach and Niylah ran into Damien's arms. Ramon also joined the group hug. And the four of them had their little happy and teary-eyed reunion.

After a while, they broke off from the hug.

And Zach gazed at Damien's face and said while playing with his reddish brown hair, "Wow! You grew up to be such a handsome man! Can I marry you?"

Everyone burst into laughter at that stupid and random question from Zach.

Damien shook his head while laughing, "I'm flattered but no."

He swiftly turned his head to look at Ariel. She was standing beside Kenneth, a little further away from the group. And without showing any hesitation, he said, "I have someone else in my mind."

At first, they laughed it off thinking that Damien was just joking. However, Damien actually looked dead serious. Those three then suddenly turned silent. They always used to tease Damien and Ariel by calling them lovebirds. But they had never thought that Damien actually liked Ariel in a special way.

Zach looked at Ariel and Kenneth, and then back at Damien. And then he leaned closer to Damien's ear and whispered, "Look, Damien. I am not against the two of you. And I don't know how serious you are with the thing that you just said. But I have to warn you."

He pointed towards Kenneth and then further said, "You've got a little competition. Wait! I'd rather say, your biggest competition."