A Demon's Past

Chapter 15

I tried to convince myself I was overthinking this. I tried to assure myself I had said something about it, I must have. I forgot, that had to be it.

I just forgot.

I couldn't allow myself to consider how else he might have gotten that information. But I had never been good at controlling my brain.

So I spent the night wondering how he found out.

 Was he stalking me? Why would he do that?

No, he wouldn't, would he?

Maybe he just saw me around town walking with her and didn't say hi because he was busy. 

I fell asleep once I persuaded myself that he must have a perfectly good explanation. I felt like I would know if he were a creepy guy or a pervert. I would know if he stalked me, right?

He could have also searched for my name on social media and found how prominently Mist appears. And I didn't think that was weird, considering I had also searched for his socials but found none.

A man that parties with celebrities and doesn't post about it for clout? Strange.

I smiled at that and fell asleep thinking about him, only to see him in my dreams as well.

I couldn't complain. The same happy images came back, none of the bad ones.

____

The next day I was awakened by the sound of my doorbell around one in the afternoon. I didn't hear it at first, but Mist's barking near my ear was almost impossible to ignore.

I quickly got up, completely disoriented and dizzy, I anxiously opened the door expecting to find a person but was greeted by a package instead.  It was left on the floor outside my door.

I suppose I could more accurately describe it as a present as it was encased in a beautiful red box with a matching satin bow on its front. I grabbed it and brought it inside, secretly glad I didn't have to talk to anyone looking and feeling like this. 

I was still very much asleep and almost dismissed the package as something my mother had ordered or a gift from a very expensive brand looking to get her to be a brand ambassador or something like that, but then I saw it.

I noticed, as I placed it down on the kitchen counter, that there was a small note in an envelope lodged beneath the bow keeping the parcel together, an envelope with my name elegantly written on it.

I realized then this must have been the dress Andras had sent me, and I spent a couple of minutes reading and rereading the five words he so beautifully wrote on the card inside.

'I hope you like it.'

The card wasn't signed, probably because he knew it would be unnecessary. He knew I would be well aware of who had sent me a dress. 

Because everything he did was on purpose.

I began to fantasize, wondering if he had instructed for the box to be left outside of my door so that I could avoid the anxiety of talking to a stranger, but I dismissed that idea quickly. There was simply no way he could have known.

I carefully opened the enormous package, confirming my sneaking suspicion he hadn't just sent me a dress. There were two more boxes inside, the biggest one was carefully placed around the dress which was obscured by elegant wrapping paper.