Having The Upper Hand

After 5 hours of airplane journey from Toronto to Los Angeles, Theodore straight came to Annabelle's apartment building and found himself outside of her apartment door. He didn't even inform Kiera that he's back. He didn't even bother to think about why he is in Los Angeles in the first place, which is the total opposite location of his current plan.

The person who never even bothered to visit his own family for 10 years or so, came twice this year to the same city for a girl. A certain girl who lives inside this apartment. He doesn't know if he has gone crazy or something. But all he knew was that he left something unfinished here. He has to finish it this time properly, no matter what.

After visiting his sick professor at Ottawa, Theodore went to Toronto where he actually lived, settled down some necessary things, and then straight flew back to here. Though he tried to act totally casual, doing those works slowly, he knew he was already very thrilled on a single thought of coming back here. There was not a single day he didn't think to see her surprised face to find him here at her place again. So, although his plan was to travel to China this time, he totally changed his whole schedule and came back here.

Pressing the doorbell several times, he got a little impatient. Is she not home? For a brief second, he thought about calling Kiera for Anna's apartment door password, but then, he totally rejected the idea as he knew she would not take it casually when he is seeking the door password of her best friend's apartment. He thought about waiting for a while, as he was slowly getting more impatient, but when he realized she was taking so much time to come back though she is not even that kind of a person to go out somewhere in the first place for this long time, made him a little restless.

Finally, Theodore reached his limit as he was standing there waiting for her for more than 2 hours, the person who never bothered to wait for anyone even for 5 minutes in his life. He dwelled on the thought of calling her, thinking if she had removed the block on his number, and then called her at last.

"Hellewww?"

Theodore twitched his brows in confusion as he checked if he dialed the wrong number. No, it was her number actually. But who is this woman answering him with this drowsy voice? Her voice sounded like Annabelle though it somehow didn't seem the same as her.

"Where are you? You are not home."

A long time passed, but he still didn't get any answer.

"Where are you, Annabelle?" Theodore was still holding onto his last limit though he traveled for 5 hours and was waiting for her for more than 2 hours and here she is, not even answering him properly.

"Me? I dount knowww….. Ask Jaemin Ge~ he knows everything! Hehe!" Theodore's mind filled with suspicion when he heard her again. Why does she sound like she is drunk? And who is this Jaemin Ge supposed to be?

"Are you drunk?"

But again, there was silence from the other side. All of sudden he heard a faint male voice from that side. Who is she with right now at this hour? It was already past 10, and she is here wandering here and there drunk with a male companion?

"What's the password, Annabelle?"

Theodore didn't know why he felt mad all of a sudden, maybe because he was waiting for her here for so long, but the whole idea of being her with a guy made him more aggrieved for no reason that he forgot to bother about anything else.

In the next moment, Anna blurted out her own apartment password and cut the call. Did she trick him or something? Or else who would make this easy combination as a password? But to his surprise, when he tapped the password on the screen, the door was clicked open. Is she always this careless about herself? Making this kind of easy password, sharing it with anyone just because they wanted it? Looks like she needs someone to pour some common sense on her head.

Theodore sighed a bit as he went inside and turned the lights on. He found the insights just like he saw the things kept a month ago. But somehow it looked as if it wasn't used for several days. There was a small layer of dust on every piece of furniture in the living room. Did she become lazier these days or something to even clean the furniture? Why doesn't she keep a housekeeper then?

Although Theodore tried his best to think about other things, his mind was full of her thoughts. Who the heck was that guy? As far as he knows she doesn't have that many friends, to begin with, let alone having a guy friend. Then again, he knows nothing about her, how can he guess that she doesn't have one? Also, why is he so curious about her personal life? It was a first for him to think this much about a single girl, so it made him feel a little uncomfortable. What made him act like this out of the blue when he was not supposed to give any damn about her or something related to her?

Theodore was jumbled up in his own thoughts sitting on Anna's sofa when he heard the beeping sound along with someone's giggling outside the door. Sure enough, it was Annabelle, so prepared to stand up as he was sitting exactly opposite from the door, but stopped on his track when his eyes caught something that shouldn't be.

Annabelle entered her apartment accompanied by a tall, sturdy, and sharp-looking guy, who was supporting her by wrapping his hands around her shoulder intimately. That's what he saw in his vision. Theodore was okay until now, but after this, he totally lost his cool.

Anna still was in her fairyland when she realized she was feeling cold all of a sudden and the cold air was coming out actually inside from her apartment. What happened? Did the temperature go down or the AC was turned on in the living room? Or maybe the whole universe lost its control in weather and her apartment turned out to be one of the one parts of the Himalayas? Though somehow it felt like it was not for the weather but for someone being terribly mad. But when her eyes fell over her sofa, she forgot about the whole thing focussing her fairyland directly on the person sitting there. So, her imagination of seeing him in person again really was going on, huh?

Though she dreamed about him multiple times before, those visions weren't that clear. It was as if he was really here sitting in front of her. As Anna thought it was her drunk imagination, she tried something very daring. Annabelle released herself from the shocked Jaemin who still couldn't get who the person was sitting there on the sofa having a majestic aura around him as if it was his own apartment, and jumped into Theodore's arm taking him by surprise. Jaemin had to admit that the person was extremely handsome and cold at the same time and somehow he didn't look like just a mere anybody to him witnessing his overbearing aura.

Theodore was super irritated to see someone hold Anna this intimately a while ago, but somehow his anger subsided right at the moment when Anna jumped onto him, taking him off-guard. Then again, he was still throwing the soul-knacking piercing gazes at the person standing by the door as if he wanted to burn him with his eyes right at the moment.

Jaemin already got the idea that the person whom he met a minute ago didn't like him even a single bit as his hostile stares were enough to make him understand that. It made him more curious about this person somehow. Who is he to make Anna jump onto him the moment she saw him? Suddenly his trail of thought got interrupted when Annabelle started to talk with her drowsy voice.

"You...you are hereeeeeee? Hehhe….hmm…. I missed you," Anna said, not bothering to release him but squeezed him in her tight embrace more.

"Yes, I am here," Theodore said, giving a triumphant smile to Jaemin, maybe to make Jaemin understand that he has the upper hand here. He hugged her back this time showing off the person in front of him.

Jaemin felt a little awkward as he really didn't know what to say anymore. He was really jealous, to know Annabelle has someone to hug this tightly except him, though back then she would always keep at least ten feet of distance from a guy when she spotted one near her except him and two others. They were always an exception to her. Her now being this close to some guy he doesn't even know made him feel like a fool somehow. He didn't realize until now that how time was able to make their relationship this distance.

Though Jaemin was a bit worried not knowing who exactly Annabelle was as she mentioned someone like her ex calling her though it sounded like gibberish talk to him a while ago. But somehow that man didn't look like some kind of weirdo when he clearly has the right to have her apartment door password.