After that day, he decided to let her call him Loriel, since it was better than ‘Whatever’. Besides, his other name was too precious for her to say.

Loriel would prefer to only hear it from the woman he loved, which obviously wasn’t her.

Gosh… when he thought about how badly he treated her in the early years of their relationship, Loriel felt so guilty. He wished he could go back to the past and fix it.

She deserved so, so much more.

He was cold to her and made known that her presence was unwanted. However, she persevered. After a long while, Loriel finally realized she was not really a weak damsel in distress. No, in fact, she was stronger than that.

It took a lot of courage and strength to stay in a one-sided relationship and still gave her all. She was loyal to him and loved him unconditionally.

Every time, she made known that she loved him no matter what.

That foolish woman.

Gosh, he missed her so terribly.

Loriel turned his gaze outside the window to see the force of nature that would always remind him of her. She loved rain so much and could sit on that sofa by their window for hours, watching the rain and daydreaming.

She was a very simple woman and was happy with simple things in life. Loriel initially despised her lack of ambitions. It took him a while to appreciate her principle.

She was very easily pleased. She took joy in all the littlest things. And whatever he gave her, no matter how small, she would receive them with a smile on her face. She was so pleasant and always grateful.

In fact, Loriel couldn’t think of a day that didn’t become better because of her.

Fifty-five more years…

He wished he could just sleep for the duration and wake up when it was time to meet her again. However, who knew what would happen if he did that? These foolish humans were so unpredictable.

The last time he decided to sleep for the whole century, he woke up under the rubble as Germany waged war in Europe, not just once but twice! And the second one destroyed the city he was in.

After that, he vowed: never again!

‘See, honey? Things I’d do for you?’ he thought to himself. ‘I exposed myself to the unthinkable so I can be with you.’

His mind wandered to the time when he could see her again.

When that moment came, he would tell her he had been good all this time. He would tell her that he missed her… so badly. That he did all he could, to see her again.

He even took the curse of immortality.. just so he could be here when she was back.

And remember when he said he had enough chasing away dragons and monsters because he wanted to live a peaceful life?

He did exactly the opposite. It took him seven years of going into battles, fighting those creatures so he could reach the holy mountain of Cretea to get that potion of immortality. He had lost counts of how many dragons, minotaurs, and other monsters had died under his sword.

He had no choice. The gate to the mountain of Cretea was protected fiercely. Those so-called gods didn’t want regular humans to flock to their holy place to take their immortality potion.

Loriel was probably the only human who did it. He took that potion. Now, he became one of those awful gods who could live as immortals and treated humans as their playthings.

Those ‘gods’ didn’t like Loriel, because he was not really one of them, but they didn’t bother him. In fact, they kind of respected him since he could achieve immortality with his own efforts.

They also knew that to him, immortality was not really a blessing, but more like a curse. A curse that he took willingly.

‘I hope you know that I love you so much, honey,’ he said inwardly. ‘I love you more than I love myself.’

‘Next time, I will make sure you hear it from me.’

‘I will tell you every day, how much I love you.’

Loriel wiped his eyes that were gleaming with tears. He should know that rain would bring back so many memories of her that it became overwhelming.

‘Oh, honey… I am tired.’

Loriel scolded himself for his moment of weakness. He had waited for over 15 centuries. He just needed to keep himself busy and surely time would fly, right?

However, it was hard to find something to do when you had done everything there was to do when you were on your own.

Traveling the world? Done that.

Getting a new hobby? Yep, too many to count now. He had even learned crocheting to kill time.

Ask him fifteen centuries ago if he would ever take such a feminine hobby and he would kill you on the spot for insulting the monarch.

Meeting new people? No. No.. he didn’t really like talking to people. The few humans he tolerated were his assistant and his family.

Hmm… maybe he should travel again.

Yeah… there was no place on earth that he had not explored. So, maybe the next destination should be space? He heard there were some breakthroughs in technology recently that allowed humans to travel faster in space.

They had been talking about colonizing Mars for decades now. So, he probably could pay to get a space in their next exploration to Mars or something.

Yeah.. that new private space initiative, SpaceLab, was in need of funding, and he had a lot of money.

He would tell his assistant to look into the matter.

Loriel looked outside the window again. His mind felt a bit lighter after getting clarity of what he wanted. Yes, he would travel again.

It should be good to distract his mind for a while.

Just when Loriel thought he could get rid of his longing for her from his mind, suddenly, right then… he saw her.

Loriel was suddenly unable to blink. He was dumbfounded when he saw a very familiar face in front of the cafe. The woman was standing under the awning and her hand was raised with an open palm, to touch the raindrops that were falling.

She was so beautiful beyond compare. Her creamy hair fell down her shoulders like a waterfall, and her green eyes that shone like emeralds were mesmerized by the scene around her.

She seemed to enjoy seeing the rain and her red lips were curved up on a beautiful charming smile.

At that moment, Loriel felt the air was sucked out of him and he couldn’t breathe.

Elise…

Tears slowly dripped down his cheek as his body unknowingly rose from his seat and his hand touched the glass window. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

This… must be his imagination… right?

Did he miss her so much that now he had gone crazy?

‘Oh, Elise… my lovely Elise…’

‘If this was really you, please give me a sign.’

Loriel’s eyes were fixed on the girl as he looked at her longingly. His brain told him he was hallucinating. Elise was not supposed to be here. The evil Time Master sent her to the year 2100, to punish him.

This was only 2045. He still needed to wait another fifty-five years.

That was the reason why he took the curse of immortality so he could wait for her. It was not the time yet.

Maybe his mind was clouded by his longing for her, so it had started to make up things.

Maybe he should see a doctor? Well.. what did modern doctors know? He knew more than all of them combined.

Loriel sighed. His brain told him he was hallucinating, but why did his heart tell him it was her?

He finally decided to leave his book and came out of the cafe to talk to her. If it was her, he would know.

CREAK

The door opened and he walked slowly to her side. Loriel knew at this day and age, he couldn’t just approach a woman directly like it was in the past. Modern humans had what they called personal space.

He was a king in the past, and everyone would bow down in respect or curtsey when he entered a room, but here he was a regular human. His kingdom was gone over one thousand years ago.

It was all his fault. He didn’t want to take another wife just to get an heir to inherit the kingdom from him.

How could he marry another woman when his dear wife was still alive?

She was just not with him at that moment. Loriel would feel like cheating when he even looked at another female in a romantic way.

So, without an heir apparent, as predicted, once he left, there was a long and bloody power struggle between his nephews.

He didn’t remember who won, nor did he care. His kingdom no longer had meaning to him once Elise was gone.

Gosh, she would scold him if she knew. She always wanted him to be a good king.

‘How could I rule my kingdom if every day all I could think about was you, honey?’

The woman who was mesmerized by the falling rain, slowly realized a pair of eyes had been watching her from the side.

She turned to Loriel and when she saw him, her eyes went round in shock.