Demon's Protégé

Back Story 3

It was a pleasant way to distract my mind off from things when I finally saw Maria’s face again. I don’t know but there was just something in her very warm smile and that motherly look that she gave me that had me feeling serene inside as if I was sincerely being taken care of. Her warm hospitality cured me from all the mental blows I have been suffering with these past few days. Maria was like a breath of fresh air and it really calmed me away from my stormy angst.

“You came back,” she told me this after she immediately motioned me to walk into their house. She led me straight to the dining hall for some tea, just like the last time. I sat again on the same seat I had taken before and watched her do her brewing. The windows by the sink of their kitchen was left opened and it let in the breeze of cold air into the room, making me breathe in the refreshing soft wind.

“I thought you’d never visit again,” she added this and I turned to glance around the place as she continued making the tea. “Bryan actually slipped out the last time you came here to Nari. I tried my best to lie but then…”

I chuckled at her statement, and it was not really that significant to clear out anyway. However, she sounded really troubled over it and I tried to reassure her.

“She went to meet with me yesterday,” I briefly shared to Maria and she jolted as she gave me a look over her shoulder. She stopped moving and stared at me with a raised brow.

“She did?”

I let out another chuckle, replying, “Yeah. It wasn’t really a very long moment but we somehow sorted out the deal between us and we ended up making an agreement.”

Sordid as it may seemed, I felt like totally comfortable with sharing these things with Maria all of a sudden. She doesn’t really seem like the type of person who judges other people that weakly and it was actually refreshing to be able to tell things about myself to someone who was a stranger. It lessens the insecurity and hesitance to be more honest about myself and it makes me feel quite relieved of the weight of all my worries.

“An agreement?”

Maria turned off the electric kettle when it flashed the boiling indicator and took out two cups from a drawer beside her. As she carefully set the teabags on each cup, I sighed and looked towards the window.

“Yeah, it was the kind that—“

The sudden sound of a squeaking door from the living room immediately cut me off as I tensed on my seat, feeling the prickling of the hair on my nape. Maria also paused, the kettle on her hand raised midway above a cup. It was the front door. And by knowing that, it just only means…

“Mom? Bryan?” Nari’s voice echoed across the living room and it reverberated into the opened entryway by the dining area. I already knew it was her even before she spoke over the silence. I gulped nervously and I saw Maria slowly settling the kettle down on the counter and her back slumping as she sighed.

She must be thinking of how to work out this one, Nari would totally flip out once she sees me here inside. Just one step into the hall…

“Bryan?”

Another door opened in a bang followed by skittering footsteps as I heard the young kid’s squeal running across the hallway into the living room.

“Nari!” Bryan’s shout was very vivid and clear as it echoed all over the place and it just added more fuel to my overflowing nervousness. Maria glanced at me and our eyes met, sharing a sympathetic smile to each other. For some reason, we actually understand what might happen afterwards. I was completely glued to my seat, my mind totally blanked. I guess, this is now the time for me to think of an excuse or maybe a possible escape before Nari finds me here. But then, I don’t think I could even move. I was more than afraid to even make a noise than to save myself from the upcoming terror.

“Someone’s here.” I heard Bryan said this to Nari and I gritted my teeth, trying to bite back a curse. Leave it to the kid to spill the beans. He must really hate me that much.

“Someone?”

“He said he’s your friend.”

A long silence followed that and I gulped again, and this time it was loud enough to be heard by Maria. She gave me a pointed look.

“Where’s he?” Nari finally asked in a calm yet eerie regard. I can practically picture her face when she said that. I was completely doomed, I was sure of it now.

“At the kitchen with mom.”

The next few seconds felt like minutes when it went on as I waited for her inevitable entrance. I did not even realize that I was fisting my hands so aggressively that both of my knuckles had turned white. It was not that hot, but I felt my entire body sweating. Maria froze by the counter, the tea was already left untreated. I was feeling a dozen of whirling emotions weighing down to my chest and my mind remained blank.

I could sense the footsteps coming closer and not long after, Nari’s silhouette finally appeared by the hallway of the kitchen. I turned my head with eyes slowly darting over my shoulder after feeling her cold presence and our eyes instantly met. Her face said it all.

Maybe coming here was never really a good idea in the first place.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Nari looked at me with what I could already regard as the deathliest glare she has given me since the night I had appeared in her life. She already worn the intense stare right after she took notice of me sitting in front of the table in their dining area. She stopped by the entryway from the living room with Bryan beside her and stood with apparent grim in her face. I was still numbed by silence as I felt cold inside as if I was actually caught doing something I should not have. I slowly turned towards Maria and quietly sought for back-up but she was still staring at Nari. Her eyes were widened and she looked a bit nervous.

“Why are you here, Taiyo?” Nari’s gritted demand had me jolting from my seat as I immediately returned my eyes to her. My throat went dry when her stare clashed into mine again.

“V-visiting?”

“You need to leave,” she quickly approached me and pulled my arm to remove me from my seat. I stumbled as I stood, letting her force swayed me towards her and she led me back to the living room. I was defenseless and was so lost in a whim as I strutted behind her until we paused by the front door. She turned around and faced me, her eyes narrowing into slits as she regarded me with heavy distaste.

“We talked already, right?” she spitefully remarked, her grip on my forearm tightening as she spoke, “I’ve agreed to a date. Why are you here now?”

She kept glancing alarmingly behind her and I wondered why she suddenly looked like she was trying to hide something. I frowned at her and only then did I finally regain my ability to speak.

“I’m just visiting,” I calmly replied to her, pulling my arm gently from her hold yet she still did not let go.

“For what?” she spat back.

“Relax, Nari,” I reassured her, smiling uneasily but her eyes kept darting back over her shoulders. “Why are you acting like this? I’m not doing anything wrong.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going here today?”

“I don’t have your number.”

“Fine,” she sighed in surrender, her whole body collapsing into a look of complete surrender that I suddenly begun to feel a bit suspicious of why she was actually acting like this. “I’d give it to you but you really need to leave now.”

“Why?”

“Because—“

“Why did you bring that guy here, Nari?”

Maria’s voice appeared behind us and it immediately cut Nari off as we both turned to look at her. She was giving Nari a warning glare and her arms were crossed in front of her.

“Guy? Me?” I frowned, puzzled over Maria’s question. I glanced back to my side to give Nari a questioning look but she ignored me as she returned Maria’s stare.

“Why is Ren here?”

Ren? That guy? He’s here?

“It just happened, Mom,” Nari merely explained, her grip loosening on my arm and she finally let go of me after speaking. She really looked helpless and I could not help but feel the same as I kept mulling over the thought that she brought that guy here at her place.

“Just happened? What is he to you?” I suddenly asked, unable to mask my jealousy as I stared her down and waited for her to explain. Nari faced me upon my demands and angrily met my eyes. Shooting me a cold look, she spat back.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

She just narrowed her glare at me.

I was suddenly driven by impatience when she did not even try to answer my question. I tried to bite back the words I was about to say and gently shoved her away from the front door. Before she could even stop me, I was already exiting their house and sharply walked towards the driveway. I almost did not want to believe it but I quickly saw the Ren guy leaning on the side of his car just at the front of the house. And seemingly unable to stop myself anymore, my entire vision went dark right after that.

“Taiyo!”

I did not see the punch coming back at me when it hit me on the side of my face. I was automatically pushed down on the ground by the sudden impact and my teeth banged against each other as I felt my head smacking down on the floor. Instantly, I saw Ren charging down towards me and I quickly raised my arms up to shield my face. Everything just happened so fast and we ended up rolling over the weeds on the frontyard of Nari’s house until her voice finally registered into the background. Only was then did I finally came back to my senses and stopped.

Ren still landed another heavy punch on me before he finally pulled away and kicked me once more as he stepped back. I was panting hard and my throat was totally dried up. I closed my eyes, my entire face was numb. I could not even open my eyes steadily into the view of the sky above me. I was still lying on the ground when Nari came into my vision. She was looking down at me, her eyes were filled with fury and disappointment.

I almost thought she was crying, but she started sputtering angry words at me and Ren.

“Ren! What the hell is wrong with the two of you!” she shouted so loud I immediately regretted all of my actions. Feeling so tired, I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath. I felt pain all over my face and my shoulders. Ren stood from a distance and Nari continued to reprimand the both of us.

“This is so stupid!” she spat with a huff, her frustration apparent in her loud voice. “You’re not kids anymore!”

“He started it,” I heard Ren grimly replied back to her, his voice a little shaky as he wiped the side of his mouth that has been bleeding. I just kept my silence as I heaved and tried to push myself off from the ground. But I still struggled to sit up, feeling my upper body almost giving away from the soreness all over it. I grunted and Nari somehow stopped her nagging.

“I need you to leave for now, Ren,” She softly pleaded to the other guy and I snapped my head towards her, surprised that she was actually making him leave not me.

“What?”

“Just for now, please,” she said with a pleading tone and Ren hesitated for a moment as they continued to stare at each other. I just silently watched it with pure distaste and after a long moment, Ren finally let out a long sigh and retreated back to his car.

“I’ll wait for you tonight, Nari,” was all he said before eventually leaving the place. I was still mulling over his last words when Nari suddenly appeared above me and our eyes met as she regarded how bad I looked now.

“How stupid can you actually get?” she said in a rhetoric remark and I smiled bitterly, feeling quite embarrassed now that things had finally sank in. I grunted once again, trying to push myself up to stand but I wobbled and almost stumbled back on my butt. Nari reflexively rushed to my side and wrapped her arms around my shoulder and chest. Her sudden proximity had me staggering a step back but she held onto my body tighter as she managed us to turn back towards their house. I could not even stop myself from blushing as we started to walk side by side.

“No reason to feel shy for you now. You’ve made a lot of bad impressions already.” she said, slightly speaking in a teasing tone as I kept my silent, unable to even muster any words as of the moment. I still was lapsing in the feeling of her warmth on the side of my body.

When we got inside the house, she quickly guided me towards their sofa and I sat quietly, wincing when I felt the burning pain on the side of my cheek.

“Ouch.”

I muttered with a hiss when I felt the ice bag touching the bruise below my eye and the sensation stung me with a lingering coldness. I instinctively pulled away but Nari just aggressively put more weight on her hand as she held the bag firmer against my face. She was so close, and all of a sudden, I was immediately surrounded by her scent. And momentarily forgetting the entire situation, I tried to basked into the scent of hers that instantly reminded me of cinnamon bread and that one particular day ten years ago…

“You find this funny, huh?”

My eyes blinked back to present upon hearing Nari’s question thrown at me and I frowned at her for a second. “What?”

“You’re smiling,” she said to me, her eyes not leaving the area on my cheek. She was looking at me with a placid stare and I coughed uncomfortably, fixing that silly grin on my face. I did not even realize it was even there. I winced again when she brushed a sore part and I heard her sighing heavily.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s pretty late to say that now,” she told me grimly and I could even feel the tension seeping out of her when she roamed her eyes all over my face. “You don’t fight so well for yourself. He had you really bad, you know.”

I know. I can even feel everything. It was really stupid to start that fight. I did not even expect I was just going to embarrass myself by lying flat on the ground. I seemed to have only degraded myself more by my own idiocy again.

“I always end up looking like a clown to you, ain’t I?”

My comment surprisingly had Nari laughing at my expense but I did not even feel offended by it. In fact, the sound of her laughter had my heart welling up as I smiled at her expression and felt endearingly captivated by her face. For some reason, every pain I could feel in my entire body had vanished as I basked into the comfort of her touch and gentleness. This is bad though… I am actually falling so hard and I don’t how to save myself from this no more. I was sucked down to infatuation towards her and it was getting me so whipped.

“This is a first,” I suddenly remarked and Nari paused as she gave me a look.

“What is?”

“You laughing like that,” I casually admitted, my lips twitching into a smile, “You’ve always and only scowled at me but it feels like being beaten up like this was actually the only way to see that rare expression from you directed towards me.”

For a moment, Nari just stared right back at me, her hand raised mid-air towards my face with the ice pack. I was not sure how to describe the way she looked at me at that second. I was just deeply hypnotized by those green orbs that seemed to look past my nonchalant façade. We did not say anything for a few minutes, but our stare seemed like we were having a conversation that neither one wanted to interrupt. I just kept meeting her reserved look unable to move from where I sat by their couch with her side softly pressed against my shoulder.

“Taiyo, I got you something to change to.”

Maria’s interruption from the near distance eventually broke the moment between me and Nari and I turned towards where she was now standing by the hallway. She had appeared with a shirt in her hands. Her eyes darted between Nari and I and she seemed to have realized that she had caught us in an awkward moment. Yet Nari just silently pulled away from me as if nothing had happened and she shifted further towards the opposite side of the couch that I suddenly regretted losing her warmth near me.

“Thank you, Maria,” I said with a small smile as I struggled to get up from sitting and started walking my way towards her. She held the shirt out to me and I immediately caught her wincing at the sight of my face.

“That bad, huh?” I said, bitterly smirking at the reaction she just made.

“You might need some bandages,” she told me and before she could even turn to walk back to their room down the hallway, Nari suddenly walked up behind me.

“I’ll get it,” she said and she quickly disappeared away. Maria and I looked at where she had just walked out to and we both smiled sheepishly.

“I’m sorry about what just happened,” I decided to take that moment to apologize right away. Maria just looked back at me and gently tapped me on the shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said to me, her warm smile not even subsiding. “For the record, I also didn’t like the guy.”

“Huh.” I uttered back, smirking again then winced when it triggered a sting on my face. “Who was he to Nari, anyway?”

“He’s…”

“Alright,” Nari came back so quick before Maria could even answer my question as she approached me with a medical kit in her hands. I suddenly wanted to make her turn back and leave so that Maria can finally tell me what her relationship with that Ren guy really was. But then, I also did not want to ruin whatever moment we were sharing now just by bringing that guy up again.

“Let’s fix you up.” Nari said this to me, stopping on her tracks when she reached my side.

We went back to the couch and I let her tend to my bruises as I watched her silently. Bandaging my face took quite a while and Nari had a hard time trying to cover up every injury shown on my face. I don’t really want to ask how much it damaged my entire look and I tried my best not to react on every pain I get whenever she hit a sore spot. I remained composed as I waited and when she finally finished, I exhaled loudly not even realizing that I had been trying not to breathe too much the entire time.

“Thank you, Nari.”

Soon after being taken care of, I had decided to go back to the motel just to clean myself up and check everything else. I was still feeling all sorts of pain all over my face and my upper body. I had a hard time trying to settle myself inside the driver’s seat of my car, grunting as I endure every jolt I get when I moved. Nari was standing behind me the whole struggle and I partially looked back at her with a small smile, silently appreciating her presence.

“You sure you’re feeling okay, now?” she asked me, and I could even note the sound of worry from her voice. I actually felt relieved that she was beginning to soften a bit towards me and I responded back to her with a wider grin.

“I’ll be back for our date so you’ll be hearing from me soon again,” I told her and she just silently nodded back at me as she stepped back before I closed the door of the car. I rolled the window down for one more time and reached my hand outside towards her to touch the side of her face.

“I love you,” I uttered before I started the engine, not even minding to wait for her answer. She just went quiet as I pulled away with my foot slowly stepping on the gas. I took a few glances at the side mirror to check her reflection and caught her just standing by the side of the road as I got further and further away from their house. I tried to imprint that picture of her as I sped down the road and finally went back to focus my eyes towards the windshield when she eventually disappeared from the mirror. I sighed loudly for a moment. This was a little strange for our development.

My mind was filled with so many thoughts of sorts until I have finally reached the motel and parked on the driveway. Just then, I noticed another car on the empty lot and frowned at the unusual scene when I turned the engine off. When I got out of the car and started walking towards the motel’s entrance, I saw another person standing in front of the counter through the glass doors. When I walked in, Henry turned towards my direction and the person who was in front of him did the same. I stopped on my tracks, slightly confused as to how to assess the situation. The person gave a look of familiarity but I could not recognize the person at all.

It was a woman.

The sophisticated-looking woman wearing a bland gray suit and a pencil skirt looked like she was already past her forties and she stood so straightly with elegance and superiority as she met my eyes with a cold demeaning expression. Her lips were pursed and she slowly took her time as she skimmed her eyes from my face down to my feet with a subtle raise of her brow. I felt chills as she regarded me so blatantly like that and I paused on my tracks by the entrance.

"Taiyo Takagi. You must be him," She said this coolly and I gulped as I hesitated to answer her back. I really had no idea who she was and hearing that she already knew who I was put me to a slightly defenseless position.

"Who are you?" I inquired with a look of mistrust.

I took that chance to give Henry a glance but I only caught him darting his eyes back and forth from me and the woman as if he did not really want to see this as he tried to blend in the background. I bravely took another step forward as I calculated my next words while the woman just kept observing me from where she stood.

"Should I know who you are?"

"Oh don't worry," the woman replied so casually, her lips curving into a misleading smile and I started to feel even more suspicious. "I know your father. We've been business partners for years now. I just didn't expect that you would actually be visiting this place. Does he even know you're here?"

"My father?" I frowned and the woman just smirked back as if it was an affirmative response. Business partners? For years? How come I hadn’t met her not even once before?

"Didn't he tell you?" She teasingly remarked as if she just heard my thoughts and she clicked her tongue at me. "I've heard about you actually. You must have been so naive all this time. But allow me to introduce myself, just for formality sakes."

I kept silent as I waited.

"I'm Katherine Lincoln," she explained, "People call me Madamme Lincoln for short. And I'm this town's mayor."