Waiting for Damian to start talking because I wait to get to know him better. I can't be with him, I have to accept it but I need to know what's going on with him. The real reason why he can't be with me. I already know the answer to it but it will do me good hearing it from him again with more clearance.

He takes a deep breath and relax, getting comfortable on the tree before he starts talking. "There's something we call Bycom on Di Hipsodat. It literally translates combine but Bycom is a festival. A knife festival."

I raise my eyebrows in question. "A knife festival? What the hell is that?"

"It's this festival we do every two blastio–" he cut himself off before giving me the language, "months, every two months to pick our mate," he begins.

Say what now.

"Wait, you only pick mates like that?" I have a feeling this topic is going to be interesting. "Definitely tell me more, sounds punishing," I say with a chuckle as I shift towards him.

He chuckles. "It's not, it's fun actually."

"Tell me everything." I smile, my eyes widen in curiosity.

"Well, there's nothing much to tell. It happens every two months. All advanced Dihipians are–"

"Advanced?"

"Adults. All adults are eligible to participate in the festival while others go there to watch and congratulate. That's how we find our mates."

That's a very weird way to find a partner.

"How do you even find them? I'm confused to how you just pick a stranger to be your mate." I say with a mocking laughter. Who says mate in this century?

He clears his throat, moving his hands to rest on his side. "It's a game we play with knives. The alph– men, the men stand in the middle of an enclosed circle of females. Once the drum start beating, the women would start dancing around the circle while the men throw out their knives. Any female lucky to be hit by a knife goes with the person that threw it."

Okay, so that's literally the most stupid and obnoxious story I've ever heard. "That's a tradition? Who started that stupid festival?"

His body tenses up as he turns his head to glare at me. "Choose your next words carefully, Camille. The festival might not mean anything to you but it means everything to us!" He scolds me like I'm a child.

"Fine!" I raise my hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry for calling your stupid festival a stupid festival, there's no need to go rampage on me." I deliver the apology with pure venom but I'm feeling generous at the moment, so I'll let him have it. "So women just dance around, waiting for you to stab them. Wow, that's some tradition." I shift on the tree and stare ahead again. That bird is still flying solo, it looks so lonely. In a way, it reminds me of myself.

"So..." I break the awkward silence after some moment. "How many women have you stabbed?" I ask the question that has been bugging me since he rejected me. I might not say it out loud but I would like to know if part of the reason he doesn't want to be with me is because he already has someone.

Turning my head, my eyes connects with his and I can't read his expression. I've never been able to read him because he knows how to shield himself. He doesn't show any emotions and it's not every time I have to touch him to know what he's thinking. It'll be nice to be able to read him.

"Smile." He orders, ignoring my question. Does that means he has someone? Damn it, Damian! Why can't you just answer me?

"What?" I don't quite understand what he means by 'smile' or is that name on Di Hipsodat.

He watches me for a while before talking. It's like he's studying me like he can't figure me out. "You don't smile anymore." He says in a low tone. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's unhappy that I'm not smiling.

I hate smiling and I had enough reasons not to smile. My time on the island with Damian was actually the first time I felt at ease. There was no one after me. The place was peaceful and amazing. It's just weird how I left the place and everything turned out bad.

"I guess there's nothing to smile about," I answer with a shrug. The world is collapsing and I'm in its center, so yeah I've got nothing to smile about.

Damian reaches to tuck the loose strands of my hair behind my ear before moving the back of his fingers to caress my cheek. The feeling seems foreign because it's something I didn't know Damian could do.

"You don't need a reason to smile, Camille." He whispers.

I'm thinking about holding his hand but I know he'll break the connect immediately. And I don't want to lose this, even if it's just for a moment.

"I do actually and you never smile, Damian." I remind him. The only reaction I've gotten out him is a chuckle and I was surprised when he did that. What we had on the island doesn't count. I was with a different Damian.

He takes a deep breath before removing his hand from my cheek. I want to stop him but it's no use. He's building back the wall around himself and it's annoying.

"I'm different." He simply says.

Sometimes I don't understand this guy. He switches from cold to sub zero and it's nerve-wracking.

"You're not. Your father smiles," I remind him. The headmaster is like a mini god and he smiles and laughs. He is almost human but Damian acts more like his father's title than himself.

"I'm not father!" He snaps.

I want to ask why he's so defensive about it but I guess it's something between him and his Dad. And I for one am not ready for that.

"I know." I answer with a breath, dropping the topic by starting another interesting conversation. "What's she like?"

"Who?"

"My grandmother duh."

I've always wanted to meet her but I don't know what to expect if I do meet her. She's powerful and everyone fear her. I don't know.

Damian turns his body away from me, mimicking my gesture. "You never wanted to know her. Why now?"

I never talked about her because the woman is a psychotic maniac, I blame her for all this. If she hadn't sent my father away, then he wouldn't have met my mom and I wouldn't be alive right now. According to the stories I heard, she is a killing machine and ruthless ruler. She rules by fear, and that's not the type of person I want to talk about or get to know.

"She bosses you around like she owns you," I mutter, hoping he wouldn't hear because Damian worships the ground she walks on. That is exactly why I don't want to know anything about her. What's so special?

"She does."

What did I just say?

"And that's why you don't want to be with me," I say before stopping myself. I know I said I would accept that he doesn't feels the same way and let it go but my heart doesn't get the gist.

"I'm with you all the time," he replies.

Rolling my eyes, I say. "You know what I mean."

I hear him sigh before he snaps. "Your life is in danger and all you care about is being in a relationship!"

Okay, so what exactly is going on with him? I could have sworn we were making progress but now I'm convinced that he clearly doesn't want anything to do with me except shadow my every move.

"Wow, just when I thought you'd–" I cut myself off before I come off too harsh. "Nevermind. I'm done." I shake my head before jumping off the tree, I land on my feet and start to walk away but stop when I hear his voice.

"You do this all the fucking time!"

My feet literally freeze. Did Damian just say fucking? And here I thought I wasn't rubbing off on him.

I turn around to face him but he's already on the ground in front of me. "You just cussed." I don't know why that surprises me but Damian is the type of guy that follows rules without breaking then. He is a cold guy with a innocent look that would never say fuck.

"Yes because that's all you do!"

He's angry. Why is he angry at me? I should be the one yelling at him.

"I don't know what that means," I reply, crossing my arms above my chest. "Humor me."

"You run every time things gets hard," he says.

Now we're having this conversation. "Exactly! You like me but you don't want to like me. What is the point of spending time with you?"

"Camille–" he takes a step closer to me but I take a step back.

"No! Damian, don't call me. I'm done with this conversation and with you. Do yourself a favor and stop behaving like my bodyguard, nobody asked you to!" I snap back and turn my heels, walking away but I don't get far as I feel his finger wrap around my wrist.

"What the–"

Damian cut me off by slamming his lips to mine. I freeze as his lips move against mine and the feel of his other hand around my waist. He must have notice that I'm not kissing him back as he pulls his mouth away without removing himself, staring down at me.

"I... I am–I didn't... I–" And then he starts to pull away.

Oh hell fucking no, you are not taking that back. I grab him by his collar and pull him to me, slamming my lips against his. I take the advantage of his shocked expression as I slide my tongue into his mouth.

He removes my hands from his collar and wraps it around his neck before wrapping his hands around my waist, finally kissing me back.

Is this really happening?

Is Damian really kissing me?

I move my hand to his hair, dragging my fingers in his hair. He squeezes my waist in return, deepen the kiss as our tongue fight for dominants. Of course he wins.

I pull away slowly to breath. Damian's arms is still around me. I keep my eyes closed as I inhale his earthly masculine smell. I don't want to look at him because I don't know what he'll say after.

"Look at me." He demands and I do as he says because there's a warning with the tone he used that I do not want to fuck with.

I open my eyes and meet his gaze. "Hi..." I whisper.

A small smile plays on his lips before it disappears. "I don't know how to do this because we don't–" he struggles with the word.

"Date?"

He nods. "We don't date on Di Hipsodat. And I have never had to be physical with anyone because we don't do that either." He tells me.

They don't get physical. "What do you mean by that? How do you reproduce if you can't get intimate?"

"Reproduction in Di Hipsodat is different than it is here on Earth. On Di Hipsodat, we just press our foreheads together and that's it."

"That's it? Just press our foreheads together?" Wow. That place is getting even more weird by the second. I'm glad I was born here and not there.

"Yes. And I know you're human and I haven't been in Di Hipsodat in a while, so I understand if you want to get physical."

I sigh, when I finally understand what he's trying to say. "Dating is not all about being physical, although that's kind of like a major part of intimacy but you don't have to feel pressured to be physical."

He nods like he understands. "Okay then."

"Okay, so we're doing this. We're dating?" Now that sounds weird.

"I guess."

Well, I'm glad we had that talk.