World After Worlds

"Rym," Matteo grabbed her arms, she shifted her sight on him. He could see her mixed emotion, confused eyes, she was hurt. He clenched his jaw, how did she remember?

"Teo," she stuttered and sobbed his name like a broken child asking for something, "don't take it away," she shook her head, "please."

Don't take it away? Why was she so eager to let it stay? What did she remember? Was it those… bastards who tried killing her? Is she crying because of them?

"What did you remember?" He enticed her, her eyes staggered and held onto him.

"...I don't know if it was a memory," she mumbled, Matteo wiped her tears away.

"Tell me," she paused and stared at his eyes for seconds, and nodded her head.

"Dandelions," she whispered, "a big field of dandelions and a crystal blue lake. Daisies, in your hands, I was pestering you but you were only showing me your smiles. You were making a crown flower for me." Matteo was stoned as he gaped at her, she remembers, how…

MATTEO was standing beside a Narra tree, scowling, rumbling, while he was watching Yanarym play from his location. He was not allowed to interrupt her with her friends. She threatened him that she would never talk to him if he did. As soon as she entered that institution for education, she made so many friends, rarely spending her time with him. It was aggravating however, Matteo did his best to refrain himself from interceding on her fate.

"Teo!" She waved her arms, screaming his name. Telling him to come closer, he raised a brow and unhurriedly walked towards her. She was sitting on a blanket, foods that he prepared were from left to right, she asked for food for a picnic. Three kids were joining her feast and he was not invited. He immediately assumed that they were going on an outside trip because they had not done it in a while. To his anguish, she was not thinking of him when she was talking about this recreation. "My friend, Tiana, wants to meet you!" She smiled happily and embraced a girl her age that was shyly looking away from him.

"Hello, Teo," the girl stuttered, Matteo's frown worsened. Now that he was closer, he could see how Tiana was wearing the same white floral dress Yanarym was wearing. Even hairstyles were identical, why was this Tiana copying his wife?

Matteo narrowed his eyes in annoyance, he had never been this irritated in his entire existence. "Teo, say hi to her," Yanarym pouted, seeing that he was not doing anything, only glaring.

"Hi." He exhaled angrily, he didn't want to socialize with people, but if he didn't do what Yanarym would ask for. She would insist that he should just go home not to ruin the ambiance. What ambiance? His face formed in an ugly wrinkle. What a nuisance, should I just kill all of these humans? Why are they taking away my time with my wife? They are already with her in that academy all day on the weekdays, even on weekends they will still steal her from me?

"Don't be intimidated by his scary face, he is just like that, grumpy," Yanarym said to Tiana who went hiding behind her back. "Tell him, come on, he will be glad if you invite him," she veered to Tiana and Matteo heard her whisper.

"Teo, do you want to join us?" Tiana asked, peeping from Yanarym's back. Matteo shifted his eyes to Yanarym and she was glaring at him. She called me Teo, stop making her call me that. "Ya-yanarym prepared a lot, I don't think we can finish it all. And it must be tiring just standing over there Teo…"

These are not for you in the first place, Matteo replied in his head but did not dare to voice it out for Yanarym to hear. "Don't call me Teo," he whizzed at the little girl and instantly the girl's eyes watered, she was about to cry but Matteo did not care. He turned around and walked back to the place where he was standing before.

He wanted to be with Yanarym, but he did not want anyone lingering on them. He wanted her alone, just the two of them.

"Teo!" Yanarym was angry but he was angrier. How could she allow another human girl to call him that? They need to have another talk after this day. "You're so mean! Tiana only wants to make friends!" He ignored Yanarym's scolding, later they would talk if the nuisances were gone.

"Tiana, don't cry, Teo is just not in the mood today," Yanarym coaxed Tiana, "you can try to make friends with him again tomorrow."

"Why make friends with such an old guy?" A kid with red hair asked. He was holding a book regarding medical herbs, reading it with leisure.

"Teo is not old, Lyndon." Yanarym rebutted, "He's just… twenty-three? Wait, I think he told me he is twenty."

"That's old, Rym." Lyndon gave her a bored look, "how old are you?"

"Eleven…"

"See? If he is twenty-three or twenty, he's double your age, that's old."

"It's not old, twenty is the quarter of a human's age. It's very young."

"Why is he here?" A kid with blue hair asked, Matteo was already at the distance but he could still hear them. The two boys seemed to be annoyed with Matteo, and Matteo had mutual feelings for them. "He's always around you, Rym." The kid added, Matteo shifted his eyes on that kid. "Isn't that annoying?"

"Kraig, you're always with your Mama, isn't that the same?" Lyndon repudiated the blue-haired kid. Kraig shifted his attention to Lyndon.

"I'm not constantly with Mama, she's not even here right now." Yanarym took a triangle sandwich and gave one to Tiana who calmed down and watched the boys start their feud. "It's different from Rym's situation, that old man is always with her."

"I told you, Teo is not old and he's been with me since I was a baby. He took care of me because Mother is always busy." She retorted before taking a bite to her sandwich.

"So, he's your babysitter?" Lyndon jeered, "we're already eleven, you still need a babysitter?" Matteo narrowed his eyes to those boys and snapped his fingers. The three collapsed, fell asleep with no warning. This did not surprise Yanarym anymore, he did this whenever his patience was at his limit. He did not walk but fled to her.

"I can kill them right now," he told her as soon as he reached out for her hand. She sighed, "I'm not your babysitter."

Yanarym giggled at him, "because you act like an old guy, they treat you like one." He grumbled and helped her stand up. "Why would you listen to our conversation, anyway?" She looked at the three kids and pointed a finger at them, "can you at least fix their sleeping position, the last time you did this Lyndon was complaining about his back."

"Let them be, they'll wake up when we're gone." He was about to pick her up and leave this place but halted for a second.

"Teo?"

"I can be young too," he uttered to her which puzzled her, "I can become eleven years old, do you want that?"

"Hmm, I wanna see your younger self, I think?" she smiled and looked up at him from head to toe, "But Tiana might like you more if you do that. She likes to know you and be friends with you."

"Who cares about Tiana?" He uttered stoically and turned to her with a softer expression, "will you like me more If I look younger?"

"I already like you a lot, Teo, you don't need to become younger if it is a hassle." She looked at the three kids and scratched her head, "can't you fix their positions? Just by looking at them makes me feel uncomfortable." She pouted her lips and put her hands together, "pretty please?"

Matteo 'tsk', and fixed the sleeping position of the nuisance. "Close your eyes."

"You'll do it?" Matteo nodded and she immediately covered her eyes with her hands. Matteo smiled and with a blink of an eye, he turned into a kid, but his powers were not that strong, so he predicted this appearance would not be upheld for a week. "Teo, you're so young! You're still so handsome! Did you turn eleven? You look fifteen! You're still tall!" She extended her arm to measure his height.

"What's important is I'm younger than twenty-one."

"You were twenty-one?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he held her hand that was extended to him and she floated to the air, "where should we go?"

"How about the dandelion field? Or a lake? Hmm, where do you want to go?" He smiled and led them the way. "By the way, will you teach me how to create a flower crown? I have to bring it to my class tomorrow."

"Flower crown? What kind of flowers do you want?"

"Daisies, do you think it'll be pretty on me?"

"Do you have to ask?" He smiled and interlocked their fingers. "Yes."