Her days had been a blur since returning back to her small Riverdale apartment after the Winter Solstice Festival. Between her part-time job at Inner Sanctum crafting those beverages both espresso and non-espresso and doing her best to keep that ever-constant mind of hers preoccupied with anything at all that might just serve as a sort of temporary distraction from that place that her mind dared to wander often to, she'd hardly realized how quickly the weekend had arrived. Alexander had yet to give the blue-eyed blonde any extra hours on top of her seemingly routine late morning to early afternoon shifts from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon, scheduling her rather consistently on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays more often than not, and so that gave her all weekend to do as she desired. Which could be both a good thing as well as a bad thing. It wasn't so much those days where she was absorbed in preparing herself for a busy day at the café only to entirely submerge herself in that those tasks that she was given by the dark hunter or the senior baristas or those quieter days where she was able to focus â€" or try to focus as it always seemed to turn out â€" on stocking her fridge and cupboard with much needed groceries and things for her tortoiseshell companion, and if she was especially lucky, she would be able to meet up with Elain who would be more than happy to accompany Beylani on a walk through Hyde Park so that she might just indulge in that affinity for photography that the blue-eyed blonde would always hold close to her heart. After all, the younger of woman of the pair was always eager to serve as a model for her, and that smile of hers was absolutely stunning. Everything about Elain just seemed to glow so naturally no matter what it was that they decided to do. Anything from poses to natural little snapshots that Beylani was always keen on capturing whenever something would capture Elain's interest or bring out some sort of vibrant reaction or emotion. It was hard for Beylani to believe that her best friend was a dark hunter really, but she accepted her entirely for who she was regardless, the younger woman so full of light and life that it was a welcomed way to try avoiding those memories and fantasies that were always trying to pull her into that place within herself. Yet, no matter how busy she tried to keep herself, those moments that she'd shared with the fae man that she had fallen would always find her in the end. There were nights where she was restless, unable to remove those hazel eyes, the taste of his lips that seemed to linger even when it had been days since last they'd stolen such a moment from the other.

She would miss him in those restless nights, wishing for that warmth of his arms around her, of that wing draped over her in what she would trick herself into considering a protective or affectionate gesture. And that day in the cabin that he'd given her as a gift... It was something she simply couldn't stop replaying again and again in her mind. No one had ever made her feel that way before, and especially no one had ever touched her the way that he had then as his lips devoured her own in those kisses thick with desire and wanting. Even his kiss was unlike anything that she'd ever experienced, despite having shared such gestures with Brayden although that had been so long ago that the blue-eyed blonde could hardly even remember them â€" not that she was bothered by this fact. Brayden had never meant anywhere near as much to Beylani as Andras did, but then again that boy from Willowhaven hadn't really even considered what they shared to be anything serious. He'd had plans to move away to college anyway, most all her peers yearning to leave that sleepy little rural town in their rearview mirrors for something bigger and more exciting. Beylani had loved her hometown, never having seen it as a prison or weight that kept her from going anywhere in life, but what she did know was that she wanted to see so much more than those golden pastures and wide-open spaces. A part of her had always thought that when she satisfied that curiosity of the world beyond those protected fences of her parents' property on the countryside, she would end up finding her way back home. But now, since she'd met Andras, since she'd finally confessed to herself that she had fallen for him when it was probably the single most foolish thing for her to have allowed herself to do, thinking that she would move back to Willowhaven now just seemed unlikely, no matter how much she loved her hometown and being close to her family. She wanted to be with Andras... for as long as she could, even if it would have to come to an end eventually.

Glancing over to the clock that hung on the wall above the small round table in her dining room, the time clearly reading 4:57pm, Beylani knew that it wouldn't be much longer now. Her parents were going to be visiting her today with the intentions of having dinner here. Normally, she wouldn't feel so much anticipation. If anything, she was normally so excited about the idea of getting to see her mother and father again. Being the only child of her parents, she'd grown up knowing that she was well loved and well nurtured. Like any decent parents, while they had given all that they could to the young girl they brought into this world, they also had set ground rules for her. While many would protest against those boundaries that their parents would place for them, Beylani had grown up understand why these rules had existed for her. Sure, there may have been a time or two where she'd been unhappy about those limitations or curfews, but those phases never lasted long. Moving away had been difficult for Beylani at first, that homesickness having hit her a little harder than she had expected, but what left her thrilled was knowing that they would take every chance that they could to come and visit her in the big city, and in turn the young woman would often take them out somewhere to see what Sacrosanct had to offer. It had been a while since the last time they'd visited, but that was only because of all the holidays that always seemed to come rushing in like a hurricane, time seeming to move so much faster during those weeks full of festivities. However, this visit of theirs was going to be different... Andras had expressed an interest in meeting them, and at first, it had puzzled the blue-eyed blonde. Wasn't that something that boyfriends and girlfriends did rather than friends? When those thoughts began to rise, the war between desperately wanting to know what she meant to the fae man pulling fiercely that want to simply live in this make-believe world that she'd conjured up in her heart that just maybe they were something more than just friends, the young woman quickly pushes them away as she bribes Chika into her bedroom with a saucer of cream. She certainly didn't want to have a repeat of that night when her docile feline companion went practically feral, making it quite clear that she was not so fond of fae folk as Beylani was. Just breathe. Everything's going to be okay. Why are you even nervous to begin with? Closing the door quietly behind her as she left the tortoiseshell to enjoy her treat, she begins to clear the dining room table of stray papers and junk mail before moving over to the kitchen where she begins to collect her cookware, shuffling through various cabinets and drawers, thinking to herself of just how she would prepare the chicken casserole with hope that the recipe she recited would be enough to keep those thoughts and feelings battling for her attention at bay, at least until tonight when she was once again alone...