Serene’s POV

I peered in the direction of the voice and saw Dria staring at me with hateful eyes. I knew she was pissed at me because of the incident, no, she hated me.

"Watch your mouth, Dria." Alvene hissed back at her.

"It’s alright, Alvene." I placed my hand on her shoulder. Dria gave me a final disdainful look and walked out of the room.

"She is mad because of the Arlo incident. I mean who wouldn’t be if their boyfriend’s subconscious was filled with some other girl rather than his girlfriend." I murmured to the girls, sadness creeping over me.

"You realize it’s not your fault if he is in love with you. I had my doubts because of the way he helped you. You dont have to feel guilty about it." Alvene whispered back. That still didn’t ease the burdens my heart held, I felt helpless when it came down to Arlo.

"Enough with sadness, cheer up Serene. Nothing should go wrong at this party." Ziva announced, giving final touches to my hair. Then I helped the girls in getting ready. Ayrden had chosen a burgundy gown adorned with pearls. She looked like a doll today.

"Serene, Ayrden you guys should go now. We will join you in a while." Alvene advised us. I took a deep breath at her words as anxiety washed over me. I was feeling extremely nervous, that my palms began to sweat.

"Come, Serene! let’s go." Ayrden and I made our way outside and began to head toward the stairs.

"Canios has asked me to accompany him to tonight’s party." Ayrden chimed in enthusiastically.

"Really? I am so happy." I gave her a tight hug and she couldn’t help grinning.

We had reached the steps and as I began to descend, my eyes fell on the bottom of the stairs and I saw Zeph pacing the floor. His gaze instantly went up and found mine as soon as he heard footsteps.

It felt like the world ceased to exist except for the two of us. I saw his eyes grow twice the size in shock as he gaped at me from head to toe. I felt so embarrassed at that instant. If only the ground will open and engulf me. I stopped in my tracks my face heating up.

He seemed to have transfixed in his place as well as if we were bound by some invisible threads. "Zeph seems to have gone in a shock," Ayrden whispered in my ear before heading down the stairs and leaving us alone.

"Zeph..." I whispered his name and that seemed to have knocked him out of his stupor.

"Serene!" my name softly flew from his mouth as he began to climb the stairs. My whole body stiffened and my feet were going cold. Dressed in all black he looked nothing short of a Prince. His raven straight hair was damp and styled to one side. And there was a single black rose in his front pocket, while his left hand was in the pocket of his pants.

He stopped right in front of me and taking out the rose from his pocket, he offered it to me.

"For you," he finally smiled. I smiled back, a bit of tension released from my body. I accepted the rose and tried to place it in my hair: "Thank you,"

"Let me," he took the rose and placed it in my hair, along the chains. He then cupped my face with his palms so I would stare into his eyes. "You look beautiful," he brushed his thumb over my cheeks.

I couldn’t help but get lost in his dark abyss which held my gaze. The moment was so intense that I never wanted it to end nor I wanted to break it off. My heart was going insane inside my chest and my cheeks wouldn’t have needed makeup to look pink.

His eyes then lingered on my lips: "I would kiss you but I dont wanna smear your make-up." That made both of us smile.

"You look dapper too and that kiss is pending," I told him with a mischievous smile. He picked up a stray lock of my hair and tugged it behind my ear and leaned over to whisper:

"Believe me I wanna give you more than a kiss tonight." My whole body shivered at his words and I could no more stare into his eyes. I lowered my gaze and blushed profusely.

"Shall we head to the party?" He asked, seeing how flustered I was.

"Yes," I replied meekly. He offered me his arm and I gladly took it. He led me to the Enchantment Hall where the party was being held. We met numerous people on the way and most of them appeared astonished at my chosen attire. I began to feel apprehensive.

"Zeph, is my costume too much? I wasn’t sure about wearing something like that." I asked him nervously.

"Well, it’s something new because you generally don’t wear such clothes. So I was a bit taken aback. But as long as you like it and feel comfortable in it, I don’t see any issue." He offered his honest opinion.

"Girls pushed me to wear it. I am not so sure about it. I was worried you won’t like it." I confessed to him, keeping my hand on his arm as we walked along.

"Serene, I will try to never dictate your life or choices. But I can give my opinion because you allow me that much. I love everything you wear but I prefer less revealing clothes. You don’t need this to show me how beautiful you are, I already know you are beautiful inside and out." He patted my hand and I felt relief. I was glad he wasn’t angry but I knew he would want his eyes to be the only ones to see me and my skin.

"I will keep this in mind."

We had reached the Enchantment Hall, and music from the band could be heard outside. We opened the door and entered. The hall was covered in white fog giving it a dreamy look, lanterns of different hues and tints hung in mid-air, illuminating the atmosphere. The ceiling had been enchanted to give the feel of a kaleidoscope.

It felt like we had stepped inside a fairy tale, everything looked so breathtakingly beautiful. The left side had been set up for drinks and food stalls. While the right side had games and fun competitions going on. Like arm wrestling, Who am I, Darts and other games. Mikasim was arm wrestling with another werewolf.

The Center stage was set up for dance as the Band sat in the front and played beautiful tones. I saw Ayrden dancing with Carios and it swelled my heart. She deserved happiness and I was so glad he finally acknowledged her.

Layla was dancing with Trikile and she gasped as her eyes fell on me and said something in Trikile’s ear before both of them stared at me with grim expressions.

"Ignore them, Serene." Zeph had followed my gaze. "What would you like to do?" Before I could answer Ralph joined us.

"Ohh!!! My Serene, you look beautiful." He complimented me before giving Zeph a nudge on the shoulder.

"Where is my girl though? I have been waiting so long for her." Ralph inquired about Alvene.

"She and Ziva helped me get ready first. They will be here soon, it will be worth the wait." I winked at him.

"Alright, shall we go play some games then?" Ralph offered. Zeph looked at me and I nodded. We decided to play darts. Zilver was in charge of the game.

"Hey!" We greeted him.

"Hello! Hello! Serene, you look very beautiful." He greeted us warmly and complimented me.

"Thank you, Zilver." I smiled at him.

"So you guys will like to play darts?"

"Yes, please," I replied.

"So let me tell you the rules. There are five buttons in front of you on the board. Green, red, blue, purple and black. You can see that all of them vary in size with red being the biggest and Purple being the smallest. Every button has a special feature hidden behind it. For each round, you will get one dart, and whichever button you will hit will open up and give you what you have earned. Remember, it can be a gift, it can be another challenge or a dare you will have to do and it can even be a punishment. So choose wisely."

We nodded our heads as he gave three of us one dart each. I chose to go first, Ralph and Zeph stepped back to give me the space. I squinted my left eye and aimed for the purple button, it was a direct hit. "Yes!" I exclaimed and heard Zeph and Ralph clapping behind me.

The button glowed and a small box below it opened to reveal a small mauve shade marble. Zilver took it out and showed it to me.

"Ohhh, Serene this is a very special marble. It changes colour according to the feelings of the beholder. Try it." He handed me the marble and it instantly turned vermilion.

"What does this mean?" I asked him.

"Vermilion means you are in love." His words made me blush and I didn’t dare look back at Zeph.