Ahh, it was time for her to hit the highway.

Maliah gave a deep pout, her full bottom lip jutting out. She was still working on her matcha bubble tea, having nursed it the past hour. She just really didn’t want to let it go. She was glad that she had an early dinner, this tea was her desert.

Maliah was walking towards down the street intending to make her way to her parked car and was passing a bus stop when it happened.

Her eyes lowered as she took a sip of her bubble tea. To this day, she would never know how it happened but in a blink of an eye she realized she had ran into someone. Even looking back she would swear it was like he appeared out of nowhere. One minute there was no one in front of her and the next….there was. Her half filled bubble tea spilled, dumping to the ground in a clack before she was even aware of exactly what had happened.

When she began to look up she realized that bubble tea was oozing down the front of a black shirt making her stare at it. That’s when her brain caught up to what happened.

“Oh my gosh!! I’m so sorry!! I’m so sorry” she apologized, unable to tear her eyes away from the greenish stain.

Maliah realized her prized calm was nowhere to be found as she yanked off her backpack and ripped it open eyes still on the oozing tea.

“I’m so sorry!! It’s my fault. I should have been watching where I was going. Oh….I think I have some tissue you can use to dry off.” she said rummaging in her bag.

Some distance part of her was aware of the fact that she was babbling. This encounter was going to use the rest of her inner battery for the day. So embarrassed she was, that she was talking more than she usually talked to someone, let alone a stranger.

Abioye blinked once.

Was this human talking to him?

Needing a break, Abioye decided to go to one of his favorite cafes. When he needed to, he tended to go to various cafes around the world. As long as it had some kind of tea, he could be content. It had the ability to calm him down in a way that nothing else ever did. This time he stopped in the small cafe and pondered for a moment. Mango or passion fruit? He ended up swiping him a passion fruit bubble tea, leaving the money in the cash register.

Abioye relished in no one being able to see him. He walked through the counter, the wall, people, anything and everything without bumping into anything. Walking down the street, he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings, sipping his passion fruit bubble tea contentedly as everyone and everything passed through him.

Then suddenly he was bumped into. He took a step back, steadying himself. His drink fell but he plucked it out of thin air before realizing that the front of his shirt had what looked to be….well, it smelled similar to his drink. Was it bubble tea also?

He twitched. He loved tea, but he didn’t ask for it to be on him. His content mood disappeared as quickly as it came and he found a sense of annoyance well up. Just what underling decided not to watch where they were going? If they had urgent business, fine! That did not warrant them slamming into him.

Babbling eventually entered his ears making Abioye look up intending to set this underling straight when he realized it was a woman.

A mortal.

A human female.

Abioye blinked.

Hold on. How? And what?

Never did a mortal see him unless he wanted to be seen and trust me, this wasn’t the time. But this human woman could see and talk to him. Abioye was still back on the fact that she, a young human female, bumped into him. He studied her bent head as she rummaged in her backpack while mumbling.

Suddenly, Abioye’s memory darted all the way across the millennia to a deep voice. For the second time in all his life, Abioye lost his composure, his fingers slacking around his cup almost making him drop it as he stood there stunned.

Oh duh no!

Maliah gave an ah-ha as she came up with the tissue. When she looked up was the first time she could see exactly who she had bumped into.

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And she was momentarily stunned.

He towered over her 5’7 thick frame by at least a good 4-5 inches. He was dressed in all black, except the designs of his shirt were in gold. In fact, Maliah recognized that he seemed to be wearing a type of menswear that Maliah had seen Nigeran men wear. What was it called? She had looked it up before….a senator style, she thought? The one hanging gold ankh-like earring in one ear and a small hoop in the other, offset his umber skin quite nicely.

But it was his pure gold eyes that captured her. Right now, they were slightly wide, his full lips parted as he stared down at her. He looked at her as if he was seeing something from a distance, approaching that should not be.

Embarrassment welled up once again as she looked at his shocked face. “I’m really sorry!!” Maliah apologized. She extended the tissue, “I don’t know how much it will cost to get this dry-cleaned or washed but I will pay it.”

Abioye breathed as his shock wore off. In an instant that Maliah looked away once again, he swept his hand over the spot and the bubble tea disappeared. He reclaimed his calm, although his heart raced at the implications of why she could see him. Why she could even bump into him in the first place. He couldn’t deal with this today. Of all days, this was not the day that he could deal with this. He needed to sit down and think this through.

So when Maliah looked back intending to apologize and offer the tissue once more, her gaze caught his shirt and realized there was no bubble tea oozing down. She blinked slowly at first and then rapidly. It wasn’t a trick of the eye right? She just saw it just a minute ago, didn’t she? As if to reassure herself she took a peek at the ground where her bubble tea was slowly drying up a fast death.

Abioye reached up and dusted himself off over the supposed dark stain, speaking for the first time, “You needn’t trouble yourself.”

Maliah pointed at the front of his perfectly black with gold designs and more importantly dry tunic. Finally she found her voice as her eyes traveled back up to his face, “Wait, but….I clearly spilled the tea on you.”

Casually Abioye took a sip of his own bubble tea, “Did you?”

Maliah’s eyes narrowed. Someone was playing her for a fool, “Mister, I know what happened. I’m not stupid.”

Abioye’s corner of his mouth quirked a bit then, “And yet the evidence speaks for itself….What do you say about that?” he asked as he gave a sweeping gesture of a hand over his chest.

He couldn't help that he was a bit curious to see what she would say? Even this small deception would send an ordinary human questioning their ever loving mind. He couldn’t help but to smirk. If it made her question her mind all the way to the mental house, he would count it towards not having to deal with this pressing matter.

Surely, she was not…

Abioye shook himself. He refused then and he refused now. His hand slipped into the pockets of his black pants, “Since you clearly didn’t spill anything on me, you clearly do not owe me.”

It sounds reasonable. Except for the fact she was still trying to figure out how it was possible. Did she make a mistake? No, she clearly saw the stain. She did. She wasn’t crazy, she just looked this way.

“Miss...miss….”

It took a moment to realize that an older lady was waving her down trying to speak to her. She turned to the elderly lady with a small smile, “Yes, ma’am?”

The wrinkles in her face deepened as she shifted her eyes to the left and right looking up at Maliah, “Are you…. okay?”

Abioye glanced at the old woman as he took another sip of his tea. He had quite forgotten that no one else could see him. No one else but Maliah.

Now, he was interested.

Maliah nodded, “Yes ma’am, we’re fine, thank you. Just a little snap-fu…..”

The older woman looked around before looking back at her, “We? Who else is we, dear?”

Maliah only smiled politely and gestured discreetly to the man in front of her. The elder woman looked at the tall man for a long moment before looking back at her. Maliah glanced at him who had not said anything. Finally the older woman’s eyes shifted back to Maliah and she saw a hint of pity begin to creep in them.

For what reason, Maliah didn’t know.

Just then, long blonde hair came ripping into Maliah’s face as a younger woman rushed over and took the older woman’s arm. She began to manveer her away from Maliah and the tall man but before she left Maliah heard her hiss, “Grandmother….don’t speak to the crazies.”

Maliah blinked and spoke before she could register it, “Wait, what is that supposed to mean?”

The younger woman turned, her hair whipping behind her with a snap, “Look if you are high, go be high somewhere else!”

Aboiye’s gold eyes shifted from the woman to Maliah, still absently sipping his passion fruit bubble tea.

Maliah breathed as her right eye twitched but she kept her voice calm. Yet when she spoke everyone could hear the sharpening edge of her words, “Excuse me miss. I have never been high in my life unless it was watching a drama. Now, kindly explain what is the problem and if there is none then please leave me alone. I’m not bothering you.”

The corner of Abioye’s mouth quirked up slightly as he found that he was….impressed.

It took skill to be both cutting and polite with words. He didn’t remember the last time he felt that way.

And he hated it.

As quick as the feeling of being impressed came it went followed by annoyance.

The younger woman only harrumphed before she turned away clearly not going to continue. Her grandmother kept muttering to her and the younger woman kept waving away her words.

Finally, Maliah looked back at the man and realized he was frowning around the straw in his mouth. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly she felt some heat creep upon her back and turned and looked over her shoulder surreptitiously. Her head drew back once she noticed the other patrons around the bus stop looking at her as if she had lost it. Some even shuffled away from her and the man. Maliah swallowed. There was way too much attention she was having now. She felt her mouth go dry with all the eyes on her.

“You really need help”, one murmured loud enough for her to hear.

But when she collected herself and looked back, the tall man dressed in all black was nowhere to be found.