The Cursed King

"She walks to the office every day, right?" one staff started gossiping when she visited her friend's cubicle with a mug of coffee. "What? She cannot afford to take the bus?"

"Maybe she lives nearby?"

"Only rich people live around this area," the first staff furrowed her brows. "People who live here wouldn't need to work at all."

"Hmm.. you are right. This is so mysterious."

"Maybe we should follow her and solve this mystery," one girl suggested.

Her friends looked at her with narrowed eyes. Stalking Elise seemed a bit too much just to satisfy their curiosity, didn't it?

"Let's do it!" another one stood up and patted the first girl's back. "I am dying to know."

They exchanged glances and nodded. The others could see the determination in their eyes.

"Fine. If you both have that much time in your hands, feel free to investigate. We will wait for your report... hehehe."

Cindy and Lola, the names of the two girls who wanted to find out where Elise lived, kept their word. After office hours later that day, they sneaked behind Elise and followed her to see where she lived.

Alas! It was Elise's schedule to go to her baking class. She took the bus with the help of Google Maps on her phone and went to see Chef Lucy, or Lucius.

The two women who were following her with a taxi were surprised to see Elise get off in front of a building with a big and fancy bakery downstairs.

"Do you think she stopped by to buy cakes?" Lola turned to Cindy to ask her opinion.

Cindy shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let's wait."

They entered the bakery, pretending to buy some pastries. After half an hour, they still didn't see Elise come out and the two girls became more and more confused.

"Maybe she lives here?" Lola asked Cindy.

None of them knew the answer. Their investigation met a dead-end. Cindy finally decided to go home and continued stalking Elise the next day.

*** 

"Hello, Loriel," Elise called Loriel when she entered the penthouse. As she didn't hear any response, Elise went around to see if Loriel was outside.

She didn't find him in the library. He was also not in the kitchen. Maybe he was in his bedroom? Or... could it be that he was out?

Yeah.. that's a possibility. He must have a life outside of this penthouse, Elise thought to herself.

She decided to place her bag on the couch and walked outside to see the moon.

When she left the baking course, she could see such a beautiful full moon in the sky and decided to enjoy it when she arrived home.

She entered the garden through the side door and looked up to the night sky and watched the enchanting moon. She didn't realize Loriel was sitting on the sun chair to her left in his boardshorts after taking a dip in the swimming pool earlier.

The man was enjoying the moon too with a glass of wine in his hand. When he heard her footsteps entering the garden, he knew Elise had arrived.

He was about to greet her, but he changed his mind when he saw her smile and look up to the sky.

She was so beautiful and mesmerizing. Unknowingly, tears fell down to his cheeks as he watched his dear wife admire the moon.

This was how he remembered the woman he loved. Elise could always see beauty in every little thing. It was very easy to please her.

She also made mundane things feel interesting. Like watching the moon.

Gosh... he missed her so badly.

Now, Loriel felt greedy. Yes, he already found her, after waiting for so damn long. But he couldn't treat her as his wife because she didn't remember him.

She felt so near, yet so far.

Elise was here with him, but she was basically a stranger until a few days ago. And now, they were... friends?

Loriel really wanted to kiss her and hug her to his heart's content. He wanted to make love to her. He wanted to confess his love a thousand times, and a thousand more.

He could only keep those desires to himself.

Elise smiled happily when she saw the moon. It was such a beautiful night, she thought.

After she was satisfied, she decided to go back in. It was almost dinner time. She better made dinner, so when Loriel returned home he could eat a hot meal.

She was grateful for the internet because secretly she could learn how to turn on the stove and many other kitchen appliances without asking Loriel. Horatio helped her a lot too.

"Okay.. time to cook," Elise muttered to herself as she turned around and wanted to enter the penthouse. Her movement halted when she saw Loriel was sitting on the sun chair only several meters away from her. "You...? How long have you been there?"

Loriel smiled sweetly. "Uhm... an hour?"

"What? Why didn't I see you?" Elise pressed her lips in surprise. Gosh.. did Loriel see her admiring the moon?

He must think she was weird, right?

"Well, you were so focused on watching the moon. You didn't care about your surroundings," Loriel commented. He got up and walked toward Elise. "How was your day?"

Right at that moment, Elise suddenly realized that Loriel was only wearing boardshorts. It looked like he was swimming before he decided to relax on the sun chair.

Elise didn't know why he would swim at night. especially on an autumn night like this. Didn't he feel cold?

And now she couldn't help but stare at his beautiful physique. This was her first time seeing a man wearing so little garment on his body. Loriel had all his muscles in the right places.

His body was slightly buffed with a chiseled chest and toned arms. There was something about his appearance that made Elise gulp.

This man was so sexy, she thought.

His slightly damp hair and the sweet smile on his devilishly handsome face made him look so alluring. 

Wait.. was alluring even the right word to describe a man? Elise really didn't know. 

Loriel smiled playfully when he saw her reaction.

Aha. Apparently, Elise liked what she saw.