Just the Two of Us

Theeya was beside herself. Her heart was thumping so fast it threatened to pound out of her chest.

"OMG I am going to spend the next six months with Professor Everett!" She screamed into the phone.

Rachel, her bestie, laughed on the other end of the line.

"But I thought you said he doesn't like women," hinting at the suspicion that he had a different sexual preference.

"Oh, come on. At least he's an eye candy! I can at least look forward to ogling him from a close distance," said Theeya indignantly. She was not going to let her bestie bring her down from cloud nine.

Reality was how she chose to see it. The way she saw it was living in fantasy was the best resort for now. If she believed in her fantasy hard enough, perhaps she could turn fantasy into reality.

"Professor Jeff Everett, you are mine!!!" Theeya thought out loud in determination.

***********************************************

Two days later

"This is it! Here is to 6-months of adventure together. Cheers!"

Theeya raised her glass and clinked Prof Everett's glass. Raising the glass to her lips she gave a self conscious smile.

Prof Everett eyes her with smiling eyes before downing the yellow liquid down his throat.

Theeya found herself swallowing hard looking at him. "How can he make a simple action of gulping down his drink so sexy?" She thought inwardly.

"This is the best champagne onboard any fight I've been so far." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Agreed. Cheers again!" Theeya grinned.

Glasses clinked again.

"I feel giddy. *Hick*," the altitude they were travelling at made the alcohol rush to Theeya's head faster than usual.

"Your cheeks are as red as tomatoes, perhaps we should stop drinking so much," teased Prof Everett.

"Oh Prof Everett...," Theeya started to protest.

"Jeff, please call me Jeff. Now that we are going to be traveling companions for the next half a year I feel it's best we go on first name basis," he gave a warm smile that could melt the entire North Pole.

"Okay Jeff," Theeya was delighted at the sound of his name on her tongue. She nervously licked her lips and gave a nod to Jeff.

The dashing professor straightened a black curl that dropped down to his forehead, partly covering his right eye.

"Why are you so perfect?" Whispered Theeya.

"Excuse me?" Jeff raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, I said the timing is perfect. I mean I quit my job, the grant came through so we could be on this flight and have enough for our six-month quest to search for as many leads as possible. Do you think we will succeed to at least get to 10 of them?" Theeya changed the subject smoothly.

"Well it is worth a try. I do have 50 potential leads. Perhaps we aim for 5 for a start," he flashed his heart melting smile again at Theeya and she blushed. All she could do was nod and smile.

"We still have three hours to go. Would you want to take rest now? Here, have a glass of water. It is important to stay hydrated," he passed her a glass of sparkling water.

"Thank you Jeff," suddenly she felt that he was treating her like a child. Perhaps Rachel her bestie was right. He was her father's age afterall. Perhaps she was thinking too much into this. She let her fantasy twisted her reality.

"Would you like anything else, Miss?" the stewardess asked with a sweet smile.

Theeya shook her head that started to feel heavy.

"Can I help you with anything, Sir?" she turned to ask Jeff, smiling brightly.

"If I can have some ginger ale, chilled with a glass of ice, that would be great, love," he requested, flashing his signature smile.

"Right away Sir," the Stewardess served him and lingered awhile longer, her face expectantly looking at Jeff pouring the ginger ale into the glass, slowly taking a sip.

"Can I help you with anything else Sir?" she said.

"That would be all, Liz, thank you so much," he took note of her name on her lapel and nodded towards with his charming smile.

Theeya rolled her eyes inwardly. She was jealous that Liz, the stewardess , would linger longer than necessary just to speak to Jeff.

"Go away already, aren't there more passengers on the plane?" She grumbled inwardly.

With one last look, Liz left the aisle with a smile as the captain made an announcement for everyone to buckle up due to the turbulence.

With Liz out of the picture, Theeya relaxed and turned to Jeff.

She smiled as she remembered her phone call with her bestie, Rachel.

"He is like a Greek god. His features are perfectly sculpted. I think he mentioned he is part Egyptian, part Hawaiian, part Indian and part British White. How can any man be so perfect?" Theeya could just imagine Rachel rolling her eyes on the other end of the call.

"Careful, Theeya. Make sure you don't get your heart broken again," warned Rachel.

"If you are talking about George and Maria I am over that already!" Theeya dismissed her bestie's worries.

"George made Maria pregnant while he was still with you, remember? You can be too trusting and gullible," said Rachel as kindly as she could.

"Touché. I know you care about me, Rachel. I will take care of myself okay?" It hurt a lot when Theeya found out that no sooner had she rejected her ex boyfriend George's proposal, he broke off their 5-year-relationship and the following month he married Maria. Six months later they welcome a baby boy. One need not be a Math genius to work out the numbers that the child was conceived while George was still with Theeya.

"Perhaps nothing will come out of my infatuation with Jeff, the handsome Prof Jeff Everett, but a girl can dream and fantasize, right?" Theeya thought to herself as she glanced at the hunk beside her, lowering her heavy eyelids, falling into a deep slumber.

It was all dark.

"Prove your worth!"

Theeya's heart skipped a beat.

It is that voice again. It was deep and shrill at the same time, sounded neither male nor female. It definitely was not human. Then she heard that evil laughter again.

Theeya screamed when she saw the two intense red eyes.

"Leave me alone!"

She felt her right shoulder being tapped upon and she jerked her eyes open.

Her heartbeat went off the charts and with her wide open eyes she glanced to her right and saw the most handsome face ever, Prof Jeff Everett and she burst out crying in his arms.

He held her while his right hand soothed her by patting her head.

"He is treating me like a child, I can never be his woman," she thought in despair.

"Do you want to talk about your dream?" asked Jeff.

Theeya wiped her tears and blew her nose into a tissue. She did not care now of how she appeared since she stood no chance to be this man's lover anyway.

"I had a nightmare. I just didn't know it would crept even into my nap. It was just at night when I would have it," Theeya explained and went into the details of how the nightmare started more than two weeks ago when she sought Jeff's help to fulfill her father's wish to locate the secret cave.

Jeff's perfectly arched brows furrowed together as he listened intently.

"It is the beginning of your initiation, Theeya. The red eyes belong to the spirit guarding the cave and the treasures, including the Holy Grail. Just think of it like the cave has a database the spirit could access like the computer linked to the Internet. Since your ancestor had proven his worth as one of the 40 Thieves, his name was logged in the memory of the cave, energetically speaking his descendants would carry the same energy too," Jeff explained to a dazed Theeya.

"Everything on Earth is made up of energy," he explained further.

"That is why I took up Quantum Physics and Metaphysics studies as my additional double major as it was the only way to explain how the Ancient Egyptians built those pyramids with the primitive tools they had back then. Energy is all there is. Once one can manipulate the energy, anything is possible and one can even transcend time and space," he looked up to Theeya's face, her mouth was agape in amazement.

He was just too smart. Theeya read up on Jeff Everett and he was a child prodigy, holding seven degrees under his belt by the time he was 21 and five doctorate degrees before he turned 30. His entire life was dedicated to the academic research. No wives or kids. No family. He was the only surviving member of his lineage. His ancestor from his mother's side was also one of the 40 Thieves.

"Did you have those dreams too, Jeff?" Asked the wide-eyed Theeya.

"Every night, love. Every night. After awhile I anticipate it every time I close my eyes, like a familiar old friend. It bugged me every time without fail since I turned 25, after my grandfather's passing. I have a theory it is sort of a family curse that passes on to the next in the lineage, my mother died when I was 10, she was the only child, so the next in line was me, my other sister was my half sister from my father, from another mother, so the curse was fully inherited by me alone," he said matter-of-factly.

"Did it say "Prove your worth" too?" asked Theeya.

"Yes. The same format like a computer programme. The same variations like what you describe. It should have felt like a rerun of old TV series but each time it still manages to make my heart beat a little faster and break some sweat, so even with more than 30 years of practice it still gets to me," he turned to look at Theeya and smiled in encouragement.

"What can we do to stop this?" Theeya did not want the moment to end as his arms were still around her, she felt so safe in his embrace.

"Gather as many descendants as possible and find that bloody cave." There was a resolute determination in his voice.

Then the unexpected happened. He bent down and kissed her forehead gently. Her heart burst into joy and she looked up at him expectantly.

"You are very beautiful Theeya. Anyone could easily love you," he stared right into her soul as he held her gaze.