But, with a little cute smile, he waves me off and leaves my flat. When he was finally gone, I just slumped onto the counter. That man? The man, who calls himself Nocte, is such a goddamn gentleman. But I really tried to get it on with him? Even though I was seeing that twat instead? Man…. It’s kinda an insult to me imagining Nocte as David. I need to remove that memory from my mind, because my loins are acting up again! Sighing to myself, I finally peeled myself off the counter, went and changed into something much more comfy, and sat on the sofa while flicking through the channels as always while munching on toast.

A few hours went by and my phone buzzed. I picked it up to see what it was, and I saw that there was a message from an unknown number that read:

The delivery is outside

Was this what Nocte told her about? Could this be Charlotte or one of her employers texting me? Hopping off the sofa, I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs. There, in front of my building, was a black 4x4 with its boot open, with a man unloading a bunch of boxes.

“Are you Alexis?” Another man came up to me.

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“Your description matches what I was told, so these are from Charlotte.” He gestured towards the boxes. As I now get a much better look, I could now tell that there were a lot more boxes. “We can carry them up in one single trip.” He made a hand gesture, and two more men appeared. “Show them what flat you live in, and they will drop it off for you.”

“Ok then.”

With that, I found myself leading the men to where I live and, as they dropped off the boxes, I found myself alone in my flat surrounded by boxes. As I looked them over, I saw that there was definitely more than before. I had to ask myself if I even have enough room? As I was contemplating, the doorbell rang and, as I opened the door, I saw the man from earlier standing there with two railings behind him.

“I forgot to give these to you as well….” He informed her as he pushed them both in and, with a little bow, he took his leave again.

“Well, ok then….” I put my hands to my hips. “That takes care of one issue I had….” I stood there pondering, do I take the railings up the stairs or leave them down here? “Nah…. Up they go…. Somehow….”

Surprisingly, when I started to drag the railings up the stairs, I noticed that they weren’t that bad to pull, and they were surprisingly light. When I finally managed to drag one up, I decided to put it on the other side of the room, near where the door to the little balcony was.  After a bit, both railings were up the stairs in their new home. Now the next part was….

The boxes.

“Well, let's get to it!”

When it came to carrying the boxes and unpacking each one, it basically took a few hours. At the start, I had a steady pace but, after walking up and down those stairs a few times, I started to slow down. At least I got some cardio in! 

When all the boxes were emptied, I collapsed front first onto my bed. The entire room was filled with boxes, and I thought that I should probably flatten them and take them out to get recycled. But all effort went out the window. In truth, I had no idea how long I stayed slumped on the bed for. But eventually, I got up and moved. It was really only because my stomach started making hungry noises. As I walked down the stairs for another time, I noticed that my legs were feeling it. I really hope that there isn’t much walking tomorrow night, or for the next month! As I looked around in my freezer, I just pulled out a microwave meal, as there was nothing special, since I had no effort to do anything. When the microwave pinged, I got the food that I prepared and slumped onto the sofa and did my usual flicking through the channels. It was evening when I finally stopped flicking through the channels and had the urge to use the bath. I have only really used the shower so far, but not the actual bath! As I got off the sofa, I made my way to the bathroom. Luckily, whilst in my failed attempts at trying to find a job, I did in fact buy some bath bombs to use. Whilst the water was running, I gently plopped a bathbomb in and watched the water start to fizz. I don’t know what it is but, as I leaned down to observe the running water, I noticed that there was a weird calming effect that washed over me, it was so calming that I zoned out a little bit. When the water was deep enough, I undressed and got in. 

“Awww…. Nothing beats a bath….” I moaned to myself as I slipped down the bath into the water more.

I felt at ease, and it was only a matter of time when my hand started wandering down below. I always knew what I liked and, as I touched my sensitive parts, I just let my mind wander. It was usually the same scene. A muscular shirtless tanned man, sweat just glistening off his biceps. As I let my mind wander down below, I remember that the butt was just as good. My man in my head always had a face hidden from my view. I don’t know why, but I just accepted it. As I moaned, from the pleasure I was giving myself, my mystery man started to turn around. There was something about the jawline that increased my pleasure, from the jaw, the neck, the long hair, to the …. To the… Green eyes? In my mind, my mystery man finally turned around and there, staring back at me, in my own mind, was the same man that I was eyeing up a few hours ago.

Oh no! No way! Nope! Opening my eyes and sitting bolt upright, I just didn’t… I didn’t just masturbate to him, did I?! Urgh, I just let myself slide back into the water until I was submerged under it. The sexy mood that I made for myself was totally gone now. There was no way that I was going to continue masturbating to my….. Boss. As I came back out of the water, I sat up and hugged my knees. I was so close too, just a little bit more, but no HIS face had to ruin it. Grumbling to myself, I realised that I pretty much blue balled myself, but the female version instead. Sighing to myself, I just got out of the bath, changed into my night dress and wandered over to the sofa. 

Since he was sadly on my mind, I remembered that he gave me his full name. As I grabbed my phone, which was nearby, I typed his name into the internet search browser. Some part of me half expected to find nothing, but he did, in fact, come up. It was only a little news article and, as I clicked it, it showed a photo of him standing next to Charlotte and the article was about the new clothing brand store opening by the renown French stylist. I already knew about that and, as I went back to the original search, I found something else. Clicking that article, I saw that it was all about how one man made it his lifelong dream to help the animals. That he spends millions on sanctuaries, conservations and even helped pass the law with some illegal poaching for some animals. The whole article interested me. As I kept reading, I found out that this Nocte Divinus has done a LOT! He also founded what was called the ‘Solaire Project’ which had something to do with safeguarding tigers. As I kept reading, my heart really softened at everything that he’s done, and this man isn’t more well known?! He should be!!! But, eventually, I found an actual picture of him. He was holding a small brown dog that had stunning turquoise eyes. However, as I zoomed in on the dog, I noticed that it did not look happy at all. For lack of the better word, it looked grumpy as hell! There was also a caption that was included with that photo.

“This dog is like my son, and I wish for him and many others to have a better world.”

Hmm…. However, as I kept reading more about what he’s done and what he plans to do, I saw more and more photos of Nocte and this dog, and each one he looked extremely grumpy. To me? It felt like the dog was getting more grumpier with each photo. The dog’s attitude really made me curious. So, as I changed to the text messaging app, I brought up Nocte’s chat log. 

So I looked you up online

It wasn’t long until I got a reply back.

Find anything good?

I found a big article about your animal ‘business’, but I found a rather grumpy looking dog in the photos on it. What’s his name?

Grump Master 9000

That’s not real

You got me

What's the dog's REAL name?

Why are you so interested in dogs, particularly this one?

Indulge me

For once, Nocte did not send an instant reply back. But, a short while later, he sent something back

Corvus

Wait, Corvus? My Latin was rusty as hell, but I knew some scientific words, so wasn’t Corvus Latin for crow or something?

Cute name

I’ll tell him you said that, he’ll love it

Oh? You still got him?

Why would I get rid of him?

Oh! Sorry! But I would love to meet him sometime!

Again, there was another little pause, but Nocte still replied back.

Sadly he’s not really a people person, besides he’s back with my mother

Awww

If my memory serves me correctly, you’ve seen a certain article. So you found anything interesting? Perhaps dirt to use on me?

Nah. Your slate is 100% clean!

Unless I’m just really good at hiding it

Somehow I really doubt it!

Quite optimistic of you! But since we are going back and forth, you are a text person?

I find calls really awkward

I learned something new about you! 

For some reason, my face started to feel flushed at that simple text but, before I could reply, he sent another message.

Also? Your dress for tomorrow night is being delivered in an hour. So don’t go to bed just yet!

Thank you for letting me know!!

With that, I close my phone. So the whole animal angle was true, huh? Same with the Charlotte thing. But seriously, who is this man? The stuff he’s been doing seems to be a lot for just one man to do. As I picked up my phone again, I decided to text mum to see how she is, and she replied back saying that they were doing great. Mum never asked me about how my jobs were going, she was always the shoulder I had a cry on after all the others had failed! 

A short while later, the bell rang, and I buzzed the man, who was on the other end, in. As he came to my door, he flashed a badge that had Charlotte’s name on, and handed me a body sized dress bag, and turned to leave. As I checked the tag, I did see Charlotte’s name, but there was also a note attached.

All ready for you! You’ll be the belle of the ball! Love Charlotte xxx

Smiling to myself, I unzipped the bag and there, as clear as day, was the adjusted ‘prototype’ dress that Charlotte designed! Wait, does this mean that tomorrow night I could be wearing a proper original? I never was that big into brands, but I knew that this meant something special, and I couldn’t help grinning. As I took it upstairs, I placed the dress on the railing. But, since I had no idea how long this event tomorrow night would be, I climbed into bed. I thought about reading one of my saucy novels but, after the event in the bath? Somehow I didn’t think so. Instead, I decided to go to bed early.

I’m not sure how long I was asleep for, but I heard a thump coming from the living room again. As I got out of bed, and walked down the stairs in the dark, I felt my foot touch something. Feeling surprised, I nearly fell backwards and stumbled to look for the switch! When the light came on, I saw that Rufus’ ball had rolled to the bottom of the stairs. 

“Rufus, please… Mummy is trying to sleep.”

Picking up the ball, I went over to place it back on by the TV stand but, as I turned around, I saw a shadowy figure standing a short distance away. 

“Who are you?!” I didn’t want to scream, since it was late.

But the figure seemed to look surprised that I was even talking to them.

“You… You can see me?” A male voice spoke back.

“Well, duh! Contrary to popular belief from my friends…. Well, if I had any, I’m not blind!”

“I see… Well, this is new…. Most people who see me are either the damned, the soon to be damned or those with certain abilities….”

Feeling confused as hell, I tried to squint to try and make their face out. The only thing that I could tell was that they had a hood on, and wore dark clothes, but something red around their neck was half showing. Was that a red tie? But there was one thing for certain, either that man was crazy, I was crazy or this is some strange ass dream. I was thinking about the latter.

“Ok. I do dream of strange things….”

“You think this is a dream? No.. Wait. It would be better like that. I’ll leave Rufus in your care, he doesn’t seem to want to leave just yet. However, Rufus talking about a certain man who could also see him is rather interesting to me.”

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but he did say ‘Rufus’.

“What about Rufus?”

“Don’t worry about it….” The shadow of a man started to move and, as he got a little closer, I could see more of his face. There was no question about it, his eyes gave off a very similar looking green. “The reason why you can see me baffles me, and I will look into it. Goodnight, Miss Alexis….” With that, there was a puff of darkness, and the shadowy figure just upped and vanished.

“I need to stop… Eating before bed….” I grumbled, as I marched up the stairs and back to bed. However, if this was just a dream, it didn’t really matter.

What a very strange dream though, but that mysterious man had a very similar vibe to another man who had been plaguing my thoughts. Oh, great! He’s on my mind so much that I somehow dream of a shadowy version of him! God, what's next? I’m going to dream of a mini version of him that is actually just his son? God, I hope not…. But he needs to stop living rent free in my head, it’s just weird!