章節 55: Chapter 11: The Sandwich

[Patricia's place - Afternoon]

"Hailey, was that really necessary?" Emily asked as her best friend let go of her arm, "Do you really not like Damian?"

Rolling her eyes, Hailey went to fridge to grab a can of soda, "Yeah, I do. Something about him just ticks me off."

A fizzing sound interrupted her as she opened the can. She took a quick glance down to the can and back up at Emily to continue, "Overall, I don't like him. Everything about him is just... How should I put it? A turn off? I don't know, it's just screams bad, to me."

She took a quick sip and passed the can to Emily, who stood beside her. Emily held onto the can and questioned further, "Is that your intuition? Or just pure hate?"

Hailey placed her hands on her perfect hips, and thought for a moment, "Hmm... Both."

"I felt something was a little off about Damian too... Am I overthinking? Damian seems to be Damian, but why does he seemed to be a little weird? Maybe puberty changed him?" The more Emily thought about it, the more she left reality, drowning in her own wild imaginations and paranoia.

"Hey." Hailey called out, but Emily did not noticed.

"Little O' Emily?" She continued calling, this time, while snapping her fingers, "Are you here?"

Again, nothing.

"Emily!"

Finally, she came back to Earth.

"W-What? Were you talking?" Emily asked with her eyes widened

Her best friend threw her a droll look and said dryly, "You don't say."

"Sorry. I was just..." Her words trailed off as she could not find the words to complete them. Giving up, she blurted out some words randomly to not make things even more awkward. "I was just thinking about... some stuff."

"Yeah, I can tell." Hailey cocked her head as she folded her arms, "You have always been a loud thinker."

She then sighed and turned to the counter behind her to grab a chocolate chip cookie from the cookie jar, which was conveniently placed there. She bit into the cookie and munched for a couple of seconds, before another voice appeared in the kitchen.

"Emily and Hailey, I didn't know you two came back."

The two girls turned to see Patricia to see her in her silk nightdress, which was way too short for comfort. It showed off her beautiful legs and figure, but it showed way too much skin.

She yawned and grabbed the can of soda from Emily's hands for a sip.

"Patricia! Weren't you supposed to be at work?" Emily asked with her eyes widened, "You're late."

She held the beverage down slightly away from her mouth and tapped the rim against her lips for a couple of times. Glancing over to the clock in the kitchen, she shrugged nonchalantly, "Oh. You're right. Well, it can't be hel--"

"No! You should head to work now. Anymore skipping of work otherwise you can get fired." Emily fought back, refusing to give up on Patricia. She then went up to Patricia's room to grab a white blouse and a tight black skirt. She laid them on her bed as Patricia leaned against the door frame, looking at the ever so panicking Emily.

"Patricia, you should get dress. I'll prepare something light for you to eat on the way to work. Apologise your boss, telling him you overslept once you reach your workplace." Emily instructed as she grabbed a hair tie for Patricia.

"What are you so passionate?" Patricia asked as she charmingly let out a laugh.

"Because if you skip now, it will be you're 49th time this year." Emily replied almost instantaneously with a blank look.

She rushed back downstairs and grabbed two slices of bread and a couple of other ingredients. She pulled out a frying pan from one of the cabinets and laid it on the stove. She twisted the knobs of stove and it lit up. Putting out her hand slightly above the heated cookware, she gauged the temperature, before pouring a little olive oil. Once that was done, she cracked an egg and laid two slices of bacon onto the pan. The smell of the bacon exploded throughout the kitchen as they sizzled satisfyingly on the pan.

Moving herself slightly, she stuffed the two breads into toaster while she kept at eye on the egg. She then sprinkled a pinch of salt and pepper on the bland egg and grabbed a tomato from the nearby table to slice it.

The two golden brown bread popped out of the toaster, which gave Emily a tiny panic attack. She took out the two toasts and laid them on the chopping board. She then grabbed a few leaves of lettuces and placed it onto one of the toasts, followed by two slices of tomato, the beautifully fried egg and the two slices of bacon. She top it off with the other toast and placed it on a plate.

She backed away and admired her masterpiece once more. She took a big whiff and the smell of all the ingredients gave a sweet embrace.

In any other situation, she would have grabbed the sandwich and make a run for it. But, she was not that heartless since this WAS Patricia breakfast and lunch.

Okay, she was not BEST chef. But, she damn well knew how to make an effing sandwich.

Sighing to herself, she whipped her head around to see Patricia walking down the stairs confidently with her hair nicely tied up in a high ponytail. Her outfit complemented her figure beautifully and her makeup was done perfectly. Overall, she looked absolutely stunning, even though she was just going to work.

"Here." Emily said as she passed the sandwich to Patricia.

"Thanks, Emily." Patricia replied as she gave her a light tap on the head. "I'll be going now."

She went for the door and held the doorknob, with the intention of opening it.

But, someone else beat her to it.

The door swung open to reveal Damian, Beck and Mary.

"Hey, I didn't seen you in a while." Damian greeted with a playfully grin hanging at the corner of her lips.

Patricia looked at him for a while, unable to recognise the guy in front of her. She squinted her eyes and stared for a little while more before saying, "Oh!"

"You finally remembere--"

"You must be Emily's new friend." Patricia cut him off.

"Seriously...?" Damian looked at her unamusingly and crossed her arm over her relatively broad chest, "I can't tell if you're joking or you're actually being seriously."

"What do you mean, handsome one?" Patricia asked with a smile as she moved closer to him. She then seductively placed her arms on his shoulders and continued, "Is that a pick up line?"

"No." Damian replied calmly, unaffected by her charm. "It's Damian."

"Oh." Her eyes widened for a second, before she returned to her normal glaze. She then retracted her arms and greeted back, "Hey Damian."

"Just that?" He frowned as he tilted his head a little disappointingly, "Aren't you happy that I'm back?"

"Well, indifferent."

"Ouch, that's hurtful."

"Relax, I'm joking. I'm happy of course, especially how you became much better looking than you are three years ago." She teased as she gave her a wink, "Well, I'm going to now. I have work."

"Oh yeah, I'll be back by seven. Don't cook anything, I'm going to cook for tonight." She added on before leaving, "Okay, bye now."

Once Patricia left, the house went silent.

"Okay, sooooooo..." Damian forced out to break the awkward silence between the five of them. "...What are we going to do now? My stuff will be coming in an hour's time. So, as as of now, we can just chill."

Hailey ignored whatever he said and just went to the freezer to grab a tub of chocolate ice cream. She then jumped on the sofa and turned the television on, "Emily, sit next to me. Let's watch some TV."

Smiling sadly, Emily nodded and did what her best friend told her.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Mary recalled as she smash her fist against her palm, "Ben and the others are--"

Ring, ring, ring.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "--Coming."

Damian was near the door, so he opened it voluntarily to see Ben, Jai, Lavi, Yukiko and Anna outside.

Swallowing hard, he forced out a smile upon meeting their gazes.

"Hey Emily!" Lavi waved as he let himself in. Bumping into someone unfamiliar, he finally realised Damian's existence, even though he had been standing for a good fifteen seconds.

"Oh. I've never seen you before." He said his thoughts out loud. Pursing his lips for a second, before pointing at the stranger as he maintain eye contact with Emily, "Who is this?"

She stood up and walked towards them. "Um... This is Damian, my stepbrother... Kind of."

Throwing them a quick wave, he greeted the five other people, "Hey."

"Ah, nice to meet you." Lavi smiled before introducing himself, "I'm Lavi."

"Same here." Damian replied as he reached out for a handshake. Without breaking eye contact, he returned the favour.

"...Are you experienced in combat by any chance?" Lavi questioned abruptly as he noticed how Damian had great forearm musculature.

Damian's heart skipped a beat when he heard that.

However, he quickly composed himself.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you have a great arm, so I figured that you are experienced in combat."

"Oh." Damian let out as quickly withdrew his hand, "Yeah, just a little street fighting."

"Cool." He complimented before asking Emily if she got some chips.

Damian let out a sigh of relief as his mind was finally at ease, "Thank god."

Just then, he felt as if someone was watching him. Based on solely on his gut feeling, he turned to see the fire demon's twin. Ben broke into a smile once Damian acknowledged his presence, "Ex-Phantom member, Ben Oliver. I remember him leaving when I first arrived at the Phantoms. Let's just hope he doesn't remember me."

Ben then walked over to his twin to have a conversation of some sort.

"This is ridiculous. I'm literally skating on thin ice. If I make a wrong move and get exposed, I'm definitely going to... Die."