Demon's Protégé

Love and Trust

“You can stay.”

My head turned so fast, I winced when I felt a snap on my neck. I gaped at Nari who was standing by the hallway after she had excused herself to the bathroom. Maria had seen us a while ago right after we had shared a hug to which she did not even bat an eye at and appeared to be so perfectly calm when she caught me in their living room. Instead, she had offered a cup of tea again and I was brought to their dining hall to have some.

“Stay here?”

“You said you’d been sent away, right?” she told me with a soft sigh, “You need to hide yourself. You can stay here until you can go back to where you’re staying at.”

Upon speaking those words, Nari paused and hesitated for a second as she gave me a frown.

“Wait… Where have you been staying?”

“At the mansion.” I answered without even missing a beat.

“The mansion?” she frowned harder and after a few seconds she started chuckling to herself as if she just found the idea so funny. “You’re so crazy.”

She did not have to even remind me of that. I already knew I was crazy.

“I wanted to stay as near as possible.”

My bluntness suddenly had her stop as she avoided my gaze and fidgeted with her hands. She looked so innocent and embarrassed that the image immediately brought a smile to my face.

“You can stay but don’t get too comfortable,” she quickly recomposed and gave me a weak sneer as I remained smiling back at her, “I still don’t trust you and your craziness. And I won’t leave the town because you said so, just to be clear.”

I guess, it won’t be really easy to convince her to run away from here. But it does not matter, I was already willing to do just about anything just to drag her away from this odd and shady place.

“Why are you here again?”

The question echoed into my ears and sounded a bit off when I heard it and I opened my eyes to the blinding brightness of the living room at Nari’s house with a face of little Brian looking down at me. He was leaning in front of the sofa from where I had slept the night off after talking to Nari this early morning.

“Brian, he’s our guest,” I heard Maria’s soft-spoken voice resonating from a near distance as she warned the kid, “Don’t be rude.”

“Mister,” the kid said but this time he already had the decency to speak gentler than the previous one, “Why are you sleeping here?”

“Don’t worry this is only for one time,” I reassured his worried look as I slowly pulled myself up from lying down.

“Does my sister know you’re here?” he continued to interrogate and I softly smiled at how protective he had sounded.

“She let me in actually,” I answered him, yawning as I stretched my arms above me, “Don’t worry kid. We just talked about something. I’d leave later.”

“Really?” the kid said with a doubtful frown and I lightly chuckled at how comical he had looked.

“Yeah,” I said while grinning, “Really.”

By the time Nari woke up that afternoon, Brian and I had been playing chess at the living room. It almost felt like she had caught us doing something embarrassing as I immediately panicked and gave her a weak smile as she chuckled to the scene in front of her.

“You two get along now?” She asked and the question somehow felt like directed more the funny situation than how it should had meant.

“He’s a tough competition, Nari.” I heard Brian answered with a subtle air of maturity oozing out from where he sat across me on the floor. “Dad said tough competitions make men wiser when intelligence is tested.”

Whoaw, I did not see that coming. But the kid, just got the unusual wisdom. Kudos, to his good father. I admit, that was a really good advice.

“So, is he your friend now, Brian?” Nari spoke as she shared a look at me and smiled to herself. Brian was too busy monitoring the current state of the game we were playing for his next move to even notice us.

“We’re still working on that,” the kid frankly affirmed and I turned to look at him this time, “Depends on how this game ends.”

On how the game ends? Embarrassing it is to even admit, but I was actually leading towards the losing end. I was not really a pro in chess and the kid just catapulted me out of chances to even spark a good chemistry with him.

“Then, I guess it would be a real tough luck to the guy, huh.” Nari even commented and I squirmed from where I sat as I gulped nervously.

What a pair of siblings. And why am I even trying to suck up to this?

Oh yeah, right. It’s because I was stupid. A real lovesick stupid.

Dusk was breaking in slowly as Nari busied herself while I waited from their living room before I was about to leave their place. My backpack rested beside me on the couch and Maria was still occupied in the kitchen with Brian’s voice hovering the silence in the house as he chat on about this current book that he was reading to Maria.

I was still fidgeting awkwardly on my seat when Nari finally came out of the hallway from her room, wearing a simple sundress. This time it was green and flowing way has her knees, complementing her eyes. She gave me a look and paused by the hall as we just stared at each other.

“I’d be out for the gig tonight,” she told me after a moment when she realized that we had been just making eye contact without even trying to break it. It was kind of unusual for us to be this comfortable and peaceful. But I can’t say I don’t like this, I was actually savoring every moment that Nari was gradually being nice to me.

“You’d leave once I leave, right?” she reaffirmed and I just nodded instinctively, feeling quite nervous to even speak out.

“Nari, you’re off to the pub?” Brian chose the moment to show up and he bounced his way towards Nari until he reached her with a hug on her hips.

“Yeah,” Nari said with a grin and Maria appeared from the kitchen, looking at them with a smile as well.

“Are you going to leave as well?” I was caught off guard when Brian suddenly turned his head to shot me a look behind him and waited for me to answer.

“Y-yeah…” I trailed off, meeting his eyes, “I was going to leave once your sister leaves tonight.”

“I didn’t like how the last game ended,” he remarked with a haughty voice and I felt quite confused to the way he said it. He had won me over three rounds this afternoon so I didn’t understand what he meant by saying that. “Can I ask for a rematch before you leave?”

I was stunned, speechless and I could not even move for a second. Maria and Nari shared surprised looks on their faces after hearing what Brian just asked. I was even more shocked. I didn’t want to turn him down so I could only nod and gulped nervously when I answered him.

“I was just thinking of demanding the same thing,” I said lightly, masking my anxiety, “Would you spare me this time? I might not go easy on you now.”

It was on. I could even read it from the way Nari just looked at me. She knew Brian was finally softening up and I was really glad. It felt like I just won something. And maybe, I just really did.

And for a second, something warm welled up inside my chest. I never felt this before and as I watched silently the scene before me: Nari smiling, Brian hugging her, and Maria watching them with a grin; it all made sense.

This was what a real family should look like. And for a second, I just got this very idea inside my head, convincing me to stay.

I wanted to have this. I wanted to be a part of this.