"Oh, hello?" I sang happily answering the phone, chewing my delicious dinner. "Ah, Nana."

"Where are you, Taylor?" She asked me on the phone, sounding slightly worried.

I exchanged glances with Asher whom was sitting across from me, he gave me a confused look. I answered her, "I'm out eating dinner with a friend, what's wrong?"

I earned a muffled snicker from Asher, I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I was just wondering about your whereabouts, I haven't seen you all day." She let out a deep sigh of relief. "Enjoy your dinner with your friend, then."

"Okay, see you!" I sang back, ending the phone call.

I set my phone aside and went back eyeing my delicious Italian food, a classic spaghetti with tomato sauce. I spun my fancy fork around, gathering all the spaghetti strands and swallowed it all mouthful. "Oh, delicious."

"Yes, I know." He answered me bemusedly. "You don't need to tell me, you're already showing it."

I knew I was chewing the heavenly delicacy in a whole mouthful, I had probably smeared some of the tomato sauce on my lower lip. I felt it and licked it off clean with a slurping sound. I knew I looked lowly amongst all the customers in this Italian restaurant, I didn't attempt to not acknowledge it at all.

I stared back at Asher whom was also enjoying his food, exactly the same as mine. We had gone shopping earlier for new clothes, for him mostly of course. He wore a black sweater outside a white shirt, showing off the collars of the shirt, and a pair of denim jeans with a pair of black sneakers. He did a good job hiding away the price tags.

He looked cute in that sweater, under the golden lighting of mini chandeliers.

I smirked commenting, "You look adorable in those clothes, Asher."

"I know, you didn't mention sexy though." He made a cocky remark, bursting into chuckles.

Why did I even bother complimenting him?

I rolled my eyes and murmured, "Whatever."

"You know I said that because I love you, right?" He said. "I don't appreciate other people's compliments like yours."

I was flustered pink, I could see the reflection of my flustered self on a French window right beside our table, reaching the marble floor. Don't ask me why a French window existed in a Italian restaurant.

He smirked slightly and lowered his jade gaze towards the spaghetti, eating it. I rolled my eyes and asked him, "How did you find this place anyways?"

I had never known that a restaurant like this existed in our town, a pure Italian restaurant which portrayed the exact taste of Italian food. He smiled and said, "I had my ninth birthday here with Peter, we defied our parents and headed out here on our own."

I nodded my head in understanding.

"It was fortunate that one of the chefs here had previously been one of the home chefs in my house." He told me, probably reminiscing his good memories. "He only gave us a plate of spaghetti, but we really appreciated him for even giving us a plate for free."

"Oh...so you went with the Lady and the Tramp style?" I teased, picturing young Peter and Asher doing that.

He merely smirked and said, "Yeah, we did. I didn't mind really, thankfully we didn't have that moment."

I laughed slightly and said, "The sharing of a single strand of spaghetti, the indirect kiss."

"For your information, they really kissed." He corrected me, earning a glare from me.

"Whatever." I said again with a roll of my eyes. He chuckled slightly and took another mouthful of spaghetti.

I took the time to inspect the restaurant's interior. The walls were a combination of fancy red and yellow, embellished with a faint golden lighting. A soft jazz song was playing, I didn't recognize the language though. I was still bedazzled by the existence of French windows in an Italian restaurant. It was a lonely atmosphere, there weren't much people dining here. But, it was peaceful and lovely.

"Ah..." Asher's voice cut my thoughts, alerting my instincts immediately.

I widened my eyes at him and said, "What?"

He let out a deep sigh and said, "The wine is good."

I bit back an urge to slap him, but his smirk calmed my nerves down. I sighed and took a sip of my wine as well, red wine. I tasted the crispness of the wine, leaving my mouth dry. It was soft, yet tannic. I tasted the oaky flavor, it was probably stored in oak barrels for a long time. It was a fine glass of wine.

"Indeed." I added my opinion to his statement, releasing a sigh of pleasure.

"I'm guessing that this isn't your first glass of red wine." He suddenly said.

I nodded and answered, "Yes, it's my third."

I remembered the exact taste of red wine, even if it's from years ago. "I had my first wine when I was ten years old, it was just a sip though."

"What made you addicted to wine at such a young age?" He joked, laughing.

I merely gave him a faint smile and said, "I wasn't addicted, idiot. My...dad gave me a small sip."

"Your dad?" He said in a questioning tone of voice.

I felt tears welling up in my grey orbs, my eyes probably looked like a haze of dark clouds. But, I blinked back my tears and showed him another faint smile. I said, "It was my deceased mother's eleventh anniversary, he got himself drunk. But, he wasn't dangerous or anything like that. He was drinking a glass of wine, but he probably had more than that because I still remembered that the bottle was almost empty."

I swallowed a lump in my throat, gulping. I continued, "As the innocent child I was, he asked me if I wanted a sip and I accepted it. That was my first wine, the wine that distracted my dad from my mother's death. Since then, wine was a close friend of mine."

He looked at me with a pair of pitiful jade orbs which was flooded with guilt. He said, "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine, it's a sensitive topic but it's nice letting it out." I told him, reassuring that I was fine. "How about your story as a seven-year-old kid?"

"Well, it was a whole glass for my seven-year-old self." He admitted, chuckling on his own—probably reminiscing his own past. "It was a funny incident actually."

"Go on." I told him with a grin.

He smiled and explained, "It was a country house party, there were adults everywhere and we know that those kinds of stuff are boring."

I nodded beckoning him to continue.

"So...I decided to pull a prank." He finally said, grinning goofily—a rare sight. "There was a guest who had a glass full of wine, but she didn't even bother to drink it. I quietly took the glass and crawled away, but a girl screamed pointing fingers at me."

I laughed. It was kind of silly, but memorable.

"I was about to make my grand escape, but that girl had to scream. Therefore, people chased me around because I was a kid with wine in my hands." He explained, laughing along with me. "When they caught me in a dead end, I drank it all."

"All?" I asked in awe, hiding my snickers.

"Every single drop of it, I still remember their faces. They went like this-" He said, imitating what seemed to be the faces of the people who chased him. I giggled in response. "-but luckily, I fell asleep instantly. I mean I collapsed on the floor and I was asleep, as they told me."

After he told me this, I remembered that I had a quite similar situation. "I think I had an experience screaming out loud at a kid who did exactly the same thing as you."

"Really?" He asked me in wonder, probably weirded out by the coincidence. "But I'm cooler, aren't I?"

"Whatever, my memory isn't that clear anymore." I said, shaking off the thought of the incident.

He paused for a moment, eyeing me weirdly. I reluctantly stared back at him and murmured, "What?"

He drummed his fingers on the table and said, "Hazel hair, grey eyes, pale skin...hmm."

I choked myself on air and sputtered out in disbelief, "Are you checking me out?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "You're the girl, aren't you?"

"Huh?" I mumbled out in confusion.

"You're the girl indeed." He bursted into laughters. "Oh my god, your scream was a very high-pitched one, I thought that all the glasses in the country club could've cracked from that scream of yours."

"What?! I'm not even the girl!" I argued in response, a bit too loudly. I received glances from the other customers and nodded my head in apology.

He chuckled more and said, "It's you, alright? I remember your eyes, now."

"So...that kid was you?" I asked him back, hoping to annoy him.

"The one and only, Asher Drakewood." He said cockily, not knowing my intention.

He was quite a quirky kid, infesting a bipolar personality. I knew I said "infest" but he really did. He was much chubbier when he was a kid, I mean his cheeks were very round and puffy. He had his hair slicked up in a funny way, not to mention he had freckles.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked me in confusion.

I didn't notice I was already laughing from just thinking that kid was Asher. I said still laughing, "Aww, you're that chubby kid. You even had freckles."

His smug expression changed into a shocked face, in utter disbelief. He probably didn't expect that, I was proud of myself for once. "I find your expression very amusing, Asher."

He grunted something under his breath, but I chose to ignore it. He said, "Let's just eat."

I hurt his ego, but someone really needed to do that to him. I bit back a prideful smirk and finished eating my spaghetti. I wiped my lips with a napkin and drank another sip of the wine.

He offered to pay for our dinner, I was glad enough to know that he cared. It was heartwarming, even though he didn't pull the chair for me and he didn't let me order the food first. I guess 'save the best for the last' proved itself right in this dinner.

We found ourselves walking in the night, leaving our footsteps in the layers of snow that covered the streets. It was slightly cold, but his presence made me a fool for warmth.

He said, "This has been the most exciting day, with you."

"Of course it was." I told him with a forced smile.

I didn't force a smile because I wasn't happy with him, I couldn't shake off a weird feeling. An eerie chill ran down my spine, I felt as if I were being stared at. Forgive me for being paranoid, I read too much mystery books.

***

"Um...I haven't told Nana that you're staying in our house." I felt the need to tell him, a bit concerned.

He smirked and said, "It's fine, leave that to me."

We both were standing in the house's doorstep, right in front of the front door. I didn't think that anyone heard us, but I felt this eerie feeling again.

"What's wrong?" Asher asked me, my fear didn't go unnoticed.

"Do you feel it?" I asked him, being frank.

"What?" He asked me back in total confusion, raising his eyebrow.

It was just me, I was just being paranoid. "Nevermind then, I'm just being paranoid."

It turned out...I wasn't being paranoid. The bushes nearby rustled.

End to this chapter, to be continued in the next. Forgive me for making a little creepy scene here.