THE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE

CHAPTER 3 (Fay)

Three weeks later...

It's been three weeks since the day at the bar. Three weeks of nothingness.
No calls. No messages. No hint of interest. Nothing. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved. Maybe a bit of both?
I'm aware he doesn't have my number, but I just thought...that he would try harder. That he'd meant what he'd said- that Mason takes challenges serious and does everything in his power to fight for his victory. So what takes him so long? Has he given up already? Or was I just a little game to him that night?
These thoughts haunt me when my phone vibrates. My brows furrow in confusion when I see an unknown number has texted me.

Unknown: Missed me, beautiful?
My heart starts racing when I read the message. I smile at my phone, knowing who it is but still play the ignorant one.
Me: Who's this?
Unknown: Ouch. Forgotten me already? You're not good for my ego.

I can practically hear Mason say that, how he would lay his hand over his heart like it'd actually hurt him.
Me: I guess you're easy to forget. Try harder.
Mason: I wanna see you, Fay. Meet me at the bar at eight pm.
Me: Oh? Making commands now? Nah, it's a no for me.
Mason: 'No' seems to be an often used word in your vocabulary. When I'm finally done with you, 'yes' will be the only word you'll ever remember, right next to my name of course.

This text should have been an instant turn-off for me, so why for gods sake, does my heart make a fucking jump in my chest?
Me: You're thinking too highly of yourself. Because I think, when I am finally done with you, you wish you would have never met me.
His reply takes a while, the dots appearing and disappearing over and over again.
Mason: Right. And I'm the confident one. Meet me at eight, I won't tell you a second time.

I don't answer his last text, because I know it'd piss him off. I know, because when we were only kids, he used to get all upset when I ignored him. Sometimes I ignored him just to anger him.
He always had been this kind little boy, trying to make conversation with the girl next door, a girl who had nobody.
Nobody to talk to, and especially nobody to love.
So he made it his mission to be this girl's person.

I guess that's when his obsession with challenges begun- with me. I was his trigger. His first challenge. And he succeeded at getting my person. For a small amount of time, he became the most important person in my life. The only thing that mattered to me was him. But that was then. Now he's just another stranger. A stranger I have history with.
A stranger who's left, when I thought he'd never leave.

                                                                                                       ̃
The clock tells me it's only a few minutes before eight. I've decided not to go to the bar, because no man should tell me what to do. And that's not going to change, not even for the man who once was my everything.

                            ̃
It's past ten when loud banging on my door wakes me out of my dreamless sleep.
Whoever is standing in front of my door seems to be extremely mad, because the knocking becomes so harsh, I fear the wood could splitter any second.

I rush to my door, guessing it's probably Mandy, my friend who I've met at a toilet. But that's another story to tell. She must have had another fight with her boyfriend and probably wants to sleep at my place for a few nights now. She does that often lately.
But when I open the door, a furiously handsome man is looking right back at me- Mason.

I don't even have the time to ask how he'd found me, because he reacts way too fast.
He swings the door wide open and steps inside my apartment. Not waiting for my permission to come inside. He just does.
Mason is so close I can smell his scent- something very masculine and him.

The same moment he reaches for me, he closes the door with a loud click. One of his hands is on my waist, making it hard for me to breath. Mason pulls me closer until his angry whisper is right next to my ear. "Transfer me again, and you're going to regret it." His deep voice sends a shiver down my spine, and only a few moments later I realize what he'd just said.

I push against his chest, trying to create some distance between us. "Threaten me again," I say, my voice cold but breathy, probably from sleep. "and you are going to regret it."
He actually has the audacity to smile.

Dimples appear on his maddening remarkable face. "It's been way too long, beautiful." he tells me, still so close, close enough for me to lean my head against his chest. I would never do that, but still...
"Could've been a while longer for my taste," I snap with a sharp smile on my lips. "I wouldn't have minded seeing your pitiful face ever again."

Mason makes a deep sound in his throat "mhh, that unstoppable mouth of yours," he say's in a dark voice. "I wonder what else it can do, than just talk so much trash."
Pervert.

I make another attempt to get out of his hold, but he seems to want the exact opposite, because he pulls me closer. "I'm not talking trash, Mason," I hiss, pushing against his chest to build some distance once again. Without any success. "just making a statement of truth."

His deep chuckle fills the room, I can feel his body vibrate with laughter against mine. "Is that so?" he asks, disbelief resonates in his tone.
He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear, looking me deep in the eyes while doing it.
"Have you forgotten about our challenge already, beautiful?"

His intimate stare is making me squirm, because there's a fire in my chest I can't quite put together. I've already decided to hate him a century ago, but in this moment, I hate him even a little more for affecting me this way.
"I did not forget. But I assumed you did." I answer, not exactly lying but not telling the truth either.

Dimples form on his face all over again. "So you did thought about me," Mason states, looking too fucking pleased with himself. "I don't want you to think that I didn't wanna give in to the challenge as soon as possible, I did. But something with importance came along. So I had to make you wait for a little while." he smiles down at me. "You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

I swallow, my eyes drop to his lips for only a millisecond before they return just as fast to his caramel eyes again.
"No, I didn't change my mind," my voice is a little more raspy than usual. "I love challenges just as much as you do, remember?"
Something flashes in Mason's eyes that I can't catch because it disappears just as fast as it appeared. "Yeah," he rasps.
"I remember." And just like that he let's me go. The warmth of his body already leaving me.

I hate that I want to grab hold of his pullover and pull him closer again. I don't do it of course, that would be a victory for him.
Or would it be just as much loss for him as it would be for me?
He clears his throat, my gaze meets his. "We should go on a date," he say's. When he sees my confused face he continues, "for the challenge of course. You'll be falling so fast, you won't even have enough time to blink."

So the challenge really is about who'll fall first in love with the other. I smile, knowing I'll be the one to win this little game.
I stretch out my hand for him to shake. "Challenge excepted." he looks down at my outstretched arm, almost like nobody has ever shaken hands with him before. Just when it gets awkward and I want to pull my hand back away, Mason catches it and gives it a small shake.

His hand swallows my own, making it look petite in his hold. And then he does the most unexpected thing ever, he turns my hand so that the back faces him and kisses it. He kisses my freaking hand!

I mean who does that anymore? It's not like we're in the 17th century or so.
But that doesn't change the fact, that right where he'd kissed me won't stop tingling.
I never got what all the girls said about getting butterflies, but right now, my belly feels like there is a whole swarm of them inside me. I'm still looking at my hand when his low voice sounds again.

"Be ready tomorrow, beautiful," Mason say's, his voice a little hoarse. Did his little scene right now affect him just as much as it did me? "I'll pick you up at nine. Don't make me wait again. To make sure you'll get into my car in time, I'll wait for you on your door." With that, he turns to leave. Not looking back once. Just like he did three weeks ago.
And thirteen years before...my mind screams.