"You seem to be in a bad mood?"
Erina turned her head and saw Julian taking a seat next to hers.
"And what's that have to do with you, Jules?" Said Erina with an annoyed tone.
"That bad huh? I did warn you, you should have listened instead of hoping for something that you won't attain in this life of yours, Rina." Julian grabbed a bottle of liquor and poured himself a glass.
Julian's words pricked Erina's heart.
Annoyed she retorted back.
"Aren't you the same?"
"Unlike you, Rina? I know she won't ever look at me, like the way she looks at Boss Ana. Ha! She doesn't even like men, Rina. I'm satisfied with being her 'Shadow' at least I can be by her side, it's better this way. I'm a Grace! We fall in love once and forever be faithful to that person. It's the curse of our Grace family." Julian said before gulping down the drink on his hand in one go.
"Whatever." Replied, Erina rolling her eyes.
"But, you Rina? You are torturing yourself. Look at yourself, sooner or later she will leave you and you know that. Regretting now, are you? You knew the outcome yet you went on with it. Haha, it's very funny!" Chuckled Julian seeing the angry expression on Erina's face.
"It's complicated!" Gritting her teeth, Erina muttered out.
"Complicated, you say? Hahaha! Funny, very funny."
Though, Julian was mocking and having fun poking at Erina.
He understands very well, what Erina is going through.
But he can't stop himself from poking her by making fun of her.
"Tell me everything about the Grace visiting you and their purpose. I have a job to do, either you tell everything or I dig everything about you myself!" Changing the topic, Erina demanded.
Aurora has given her a task to find out why the Grace family is visiting Julian and why they want him back in the Grace family, especially it's the main family that wants Julian, not the branch he is from.
"..." Julian's face darkened hearing Erina.
Seeing Julian's expression, Erina smirked.
It's now her turn to abuse her best friend.
'Hah! Where's that smirk of yours now, little Julie!' Erina said in her mind.
"What! You still haven't tell your Mistress about the Grace family yet? Wow, Mr Noble Grace! So this is how you show loyalty to your Mistress, JULIAN? I wonder what she might be thinking now about you since I was tasked to find out about this situation of yours. Maybe this task was given to me by Your Mistress, that you love so dearly and vowed to stay by her side ALWAYS AND FOREVER!"
*crack*
The glass that Julian was holding on to started crack by his grip.
"I've planned to tell her! Soon I will tell her about it."Julian said clenching his jaws, staring at the cracked glass in his hand.
"Well, I don't care about your feelings. I'm trying to get my job done, either you tell me about it or go tell Boss Nyx about the Grace family. If you do decide to tell her yourself, please make sure to send me the details of your Grace family drama to me before you tell your Mistress! I don't want to disappoint my boss who gave me the task."
"Whatever!" Julian replied annoyed by Erina.
Erina chuckled, feeling satisfied by making Julian feels likes s*it.
"You know? I was trying to sleep here!"
Hearing the voice, the two looked around but didn't find anyone.
"I'm in front of you two, behind the counter."
Erina and Julian looked in front of them and saw Hidelio scratching his head and yawning.
"What are you doing behind the counter?" Asked Erina.
"I was sleeping until you came and started talking s*it about your life. Woke me up when you were sniffling like something stuck up your nose and letting your salty juices outta your holes."
Hidelio abruptly stopped, realizing tf he just babbled on!
"That sounded bad, f*ck! I'm staying way too long with that rapper guy!!!"
Complained, Hidelio opening the bottle of liquor in front of him.
Instead of drinking from a glass, he straight up drank from the bottle.
"Ah! The new kid. I haven't seen him yet, how's he?" Erina asked, thinking about their new colleague.
"That kid is horrible! He raps weird f*c*ing shit all the time. He acts tough but he isn't tough at all, a p*ssy! He thinks he is cool and tries to flirt with any girl he sees, the internet ruined him completely! But the idiot has talent, for sure. On the field, he is good in stealth and spy stuff. Off the field, he is great support with his computer skills. He can't fight much, doesn't have any strength but he got good manoeuvring skills on dodging and quick stuns with tasers!" Thinking about that menace, Hidelio gave his honest assessment of the recruit.
"That's surprising, that kid has some character!" Erina said after listening to Hidelio.
"You have no idea!" Hidelio said, putting the bottle of liquor on his drawer behind the counter.
"So the two of you free? I have a job. If you two are free, help me out a bit!"
Erina and Julian looked at each other, both of them shrugged then turned to Hidelio.
"Let's go, kind of feeling s*it. So I need to let myself lose a bit." Erina said, getting up from her chair
"Me too, the witch beside me pissed me off making me feel s*it! I need to release myself to feel better."
The three soon left the clubhouse to complete a task for their organisation.
~~~
In Starfall city,
Aaron parked his car in front of a two-story building.
"I like the weather!" Erisviel nodded looking outside.
It was snowing.
"You like the snow? Trust me you will soon start to hate the weather. In Starfall, it snows for 6 months. Every few couples of days it snows." Said Aaron, remembering that it's always winter almost half a year in Starfall city.
The Summer in Starfall city lasts for a month!
"Hmm, I like snow. It calms my mood always. It's similar to your waterfall peace thing." Said Erisviel getting out the car.
"I see." Aaron got out of the car.
"This is the clubhouse?" Erisviel asked looking at the building in front of her.
"Yes, It will be the same as Star City."
"When will the others will arrive?" Inquired Erisviel.
"Probably in a day or two. Li Hwa will arrive in a week though, which is sad. I will be all alone here!" Aaron replied feeling down.
Hearing Aaron, Erisviel snorted.
"Good for her, and hello! I'm also here you idiot!"
"Ahh! You won't understand, Eris." Aaron shook his head remembering his cute girlfriend.
"Idiot!" Erisviel muttered under her breath.
The two went inside.
Inside the new clubhouse,
Erisviel thought for a minute before she asked.
"Hey, Aaron?"
"Hmm?"
"What Is it like to be in love? Or what is it like to like someone? I know the concept but it's hard for me to figure out what's love or like!" Erisviel said with a confused look on her face.
Aaron turned to Erieviel in surprise!
"Do you like someone, Eris?" Asked Aaron.
Sharing her head, Erisviel replied.
"I don't. It's just you, Aurora, Ana! Aurora already said she is just fooling around. I can understand her, but not you and Ana." Erisviel stared into Aaron's before she continued.
"I don't know about myself. I like you guys, my friends. I cherish you all! But that is something you would call unconditional empathetic friendly platonic love."
"What is it like to like someone? What is it like to love someone? I don't know. Yes, I find boys handsome and girls pretty but I don't consider that sexual attraction, you know. I have been thinking about this for months now. I don't know my preferences, I'm just confused about myself. I see that you are happy with Choi Li Hwa but I don't see myself like that at all. It feels foreign to me." Erisviel confided her confusing and complicated thoughts that have been occupying her mind for months to Aaron.
"All my life I have been studying. It was study, eat, sleep and repeat. I never thought about anything else until I met you guys! I was like a small fish living in a pond until you guys brought me to this ocean, I learned about life from you guys. To be honest, if I never met you three back then? I would have been living my boring life like a robot doing daily tasks until my life expectancy runs out. Look at me now, I'm more expressive than before! I regained some emotions that I thought I lost and learned new emotions from you guys. I'm finally living my life! But now I question myself, who am I? What identity do I have? What kind of person do I like? What is my preference? I'm nineteen this year, yet I don't know about myself much." Erisviel finished telling Aaron her thoughts.
"..." Aaron.
'Oh, my Darkness! My friend, dear goddess of Darkness. Help me out, I don't know what to say or do! This is much harder than the confession to Li Hwa!!!' Aaron internally screamed praying to the Goddess of Darkness.
Please read the Author's note that I call 'Hyacinths end of volume note (1)'