Despite my inherent fear of a returning wizard, things were going great. I found myself escaping from my room in the middle of the night for the next couple days to see if I would spot something strange... but there was nothing.

Maybe I was just seeing things the entire time.

So after five days of double and triple checking my living room at midnight, I dropped it.

I dropped it and moved on.

There was no wizard.

He was dead.

Atem was right. Only the gods could bring people back to life, and if they weren't willing to bring Aunty Maya back to life then they sure as hell wouldn't need to bring a douchebag of a wizard back to life.

Am I right?

Anyways, since after our first kiss I had basically gotten permission to kiss him whenever I wanted, that was exactly what I started doing.

I liked kissing him.

And after having a long conversation with Ro on the phone, I realized that this was normal.

I've mentioned before that I had never dated a guy before, let alone kissed one... so I didn't really understand what was normal and what wasn't.

As little girls, we always think that movies and books and those sorts of stuff would help us understand but that was never really the case. You never really get it until it happens for real.

I mean, for starters, Atem and I weren't technically dating yet. Neither of us had formally said: "let's be a couple."

In my mind, prior to ever meeting Atem, I imagined that getting a boyfriend would involve a lengthy process of getting to know one another, going on multiple dates, flirting and texting and lots and lots of attraction and then finally, him asking me to be his girlfriend.

With Atem... that wasn't the case at all. I mean, yeah, I liked him. But we fought a lot. We never went on any real dates. There was no flirting, nor any outward display of attraction. And definitely no him asking me to be his girlfriend.

But in the equation of our potential romance I did have to factor in the fact that he was an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh.

I guess, to be fair, this fact threw all the conventions of romance out the window from the very beginning.

Gosh, was this complicated.

But long story short, I liked kissing him.

And I liked him.

He may have been a douchebag here and there but at other times, he was incredibly sweet.

Like today.

I was studying for yet another test when Atem walked into my room. He sat down on my bed and just stared at me while I stared back.

"What?" I finally said when he didn't speak up.

"Are you busy?" he asked. His eyes looked a little tired, like he hadn't been getting any proper sleep. But they also looked like he was on some sort of mission. Goal oriented.

"Well... not really."

"Good, well then get ready. We have to go."

My eyebrows rose, "go? Go where?"

"Aurora told me that it is customary in your culture to take the person you are dating out on dates," he said. "She recommended going out for dinner."

I rolled my eyes, oh Ro.

But I had to admit, I liked the idea of that and I was hungry.

"She also said that I'm supposed to be polite and pay for you."

"True," I smiled, "but you sure you're okay with that?"

He shrugged, "if I'm going to do something, I might as well do it properly."

I liked that way of thinking.

We didn't go anywhere special, mostly because the both of us weren't really in the mood to walk really far off but also because Atem was in fact going to pay and I didn't want him to have to pay too much.

So we picked my favourite Japanese place and had a grand meal filled with sushi, rice, miso soup and a bunch of other fantastic things.

When we were done, Atem paid as planned and we left the restaurant.

It was only fifteen minutes away from my apartment, but we were walking rather slowly since the night was relatively warmer than usual, and neither of us seemed to mind.

"Your customs are strange."

"I was waiting for you to say that," I chuckled.

"It's quite different in Egypt."

"I can imagine," I said, "but really... what was it like in Egypt?"

"Are you asking for the equivalent of 'dating?'"

I nodded.

"There is none," he said. "If you like someone, you spend time with them, make your feelings clear, and if they like you back then perfect. You are a couple."

I laughed, "I think that's an oversimplification."

"Of course it is. But it's not as complex of a situation as it is here," he continued. "There are much too many rules here. The man has to pay. The man has to hold the door open. No sex on the first date. The man has to buy the woman flowers. The woman has to laugh. The man–"

"Okay, okay," I kept laughing, "I get it."

"In Egypt, there were no rules. You be yourself and do what you like. That's how you fall in love with someone," he said. "How can you really love someone if they are just following a set of rules? That's not being yourself."

There he goes again, continuing to make me wonder why on earth he was cursed for being evil. "That's a good point," I said, meaning it. "Maybe that's why the divorce rates here are so high."

"And do you want to know what baffles me the most?" he continued. And though he was asking me a question, he didn't wait for my answer, "this concept of virginity equaling purity. "

Okay.

I was kind of guilty of this.

Ro was a sort of feminist and she would have agreed with Atem.

"Why is it that that's the case in this society?" he asked me.

I had no answer, so I shrugged.

"I mean it's understandable to avoid pregnancy prior to marriage for the obvious reason of providing a child with a comfortable household, but to forbid sex altogether? Absolutely ridiculous."

I chuckled, "well, to be fair... that idea is kind of changing."

He crossed his arms. "I think it's ridiculous that it was there to begin with."

"You sound like you feel strongly about this."

"I do," Atem said, firmly. "Myself and my people believe sex to be a beautiful thing. It not only brings true pleasure to those involved but it is also the mechanism that is necessary for childbirth. For life."

I let out a breath.

"To call it a sin..." he scoffed. "It truly baffles me."

"Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion."

"So you believe this too?" He sounded shocked and looked at me with disapproval.

I shrugged, putting my hands behind my back. "I don't think having sex is a sin. Ro and Alec enjoy premarital sex all the time, and I don't judge." I felt my cheeks warm up, kind of surprised that I was talking to him about my feelings of sex. "I'm just not particularly sure what it means to me. I don't think it's wrong to have sex before marriage. I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of letting myself have that kind of interaction until I am entirely comfortable with the man I'm with... and I just imagine that to be once I'm married."

"Well..." Atem started. "I guess that's fair."

"And if you want me to be completely honest... I prefer to only ever have sex with one guy. Not because messing around is bad or anything like that... but because I do agree that it's a pretty beautiful thing. A beautiful and intimate and personal thing. I'd rather share such an experience with the one. You know?"

"The one," Atem let out a small laugh. "An interesting concept, if you ask me."

"Well, I'm not surprised," I responded. "You're a Pharaoh who was probably intending on marrying a bunch of women if you weren't cursed and sent here."

He looked at me with an expression that seemed to show that he had taken offense to what I had just said. So I nudged him, "kidding."

"You misinterpret my culture," he said. "As do many of your so called scholars who study my people."

I listened.

"It is true that it's not uncommon for a Pharaoh to marry many times and have multiple wives. But that does not mean that he was simply collecting wives for the sake of collecting wives," Atem said. "My father is an example. He married my mother, his primary wife, because he loved her. The other two were political. Pharaoh's have multiple wives for political reasons. Not because they disregard or disrespect women."

"Okay," I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"Our society is a largely monogamous society aside from the case with royalty. That being said," Atem continued, "I will not deny that there has been a couple Pharaoh's here and there who used such a right to their advantage. Just as you have your cheating and uncivilized men in your society, we have ours. Ramesses the Second being one of them."

I laughed, knowing full well that he added that last part because he knew Ramesses the Great was my favourite Pharaoh. "Tsk, tsk," I shook my head. "Insulting your godly, royal ancestors, now I see why you were cursed for being evil."

He smirked. "He was a good king. And a good father, so I heard," Atem clarified. "A husband, not so much."

I smiled and then reached for his hand, "well, if it'll make you feel better, Ramesses II used to be my favourite Pharaoh. But after getting to know you, it changed."

He seemed pleased.

"Now my favourite Pharaoh is Ahmenmose III," Atem's father. "He seemed cool."

Atem rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away from mine.

But then I laughed and grabbed it again, "kidding, kidding!" I laughed, a little happy to see that my preference meant something to him. "It's you, really!"

He let me hold his hand once I admitted it.

"You're the coolest," I added. "How many other Pharaohs vanished mysteriously and got to travel to the future?"

Atem simply smirked at that, but didn't say anything.

"I mean, on top of that, I don't actually know any of the other Pharaoh's. They might have been assholes for all I know."

"Well, if you find the assholes to be least likable... I'm sure you would have loved all of my ancestors. After all, I might as well have been the biggest asshole of them all."

I laughed.

Well, at least he was being honest.

When we got home after our little 'date,' I really sat down and thought about what he said.

Despite being pretty judgmental of our society... he was kind of right?

What is up with all these 'rules?'

Why was it so hard for people to just be polite?

He was right. Why couldn't we just be ourselves and find love that way? It shouldn't be weird for the girl to pay. It shouldn't be necessary for the guy to be always buying gifts. Or for the girl to cook all the time. Or for the guy to be the one who brings home the money.

I guess I couldn't argue against the fact that our society was changing. I mean, it was. We were getting better at this in some ways... but not in all.

And in terms of Atem and I... I guess I really didn't have to worry about these label. I didn't need to stop myself from opening up completely simply because I couldn't yet put a label on our relationship.

I would be myself.

I would do what I wanted and if it worked out, then it worked out.

Like now.

I left my bedroom and walked into the kitchen where Atem was crouched down on the floor while filling Neferkiti's cat bowl with food so she could eat. "Hey," I called.

He looked up at me, revealing his rather tired eyes. "What?"

"You're right."

He looked confused. "About?" he asked as he stood back up.

"Let's do this the Egyptian way."

"What?"

Neferkiti purred for some reason, rubbed herself against my legs, then Atem's legs and then went for the food. I kind of felt like she was cheering me on.

Proud of me for being a woman.

"You said that back at home, if you like someone, you spend time with them and make your feelings clear and if the other person feels the same way then that's it. I'll keep it simple. No more need to be complex."

"Okay," he tossed the cat food tin into the garbage and then looked back at me. "So?"

"I like you," I said with a smile, "a lot. And from now on, I'm just gonna be honest with you and give it to you straight, okay?"

He stared at me for a moment, not really getting it. But then I wrapped my arms around his necks, got on my toes and kissed his lips.

He kissed me back, hugging me tighter than usual.

It was getting a lot easier. Kissing him, I mean. I wasn't so embarrassed to do it anymore and that made it all even better.

When I pulled my lips away, he surprised me by resting his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed. This was the first time he'd ever done this so I was a little confused, but seeing him so close to me... looking so calm and relaxed was nice. Really, really nice.

A smile then formed on his face, "I like you too."

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