" Come on eren, It's been 20 minutes already. No matter how much you hate it but Mr. Straks food's getting cold." Amelia jerked his horns rough, surprisingly eren wasn't irritated by it. Somehow this too had become his daily routine.
After Agatha's cold display of power, she never visited stark household, either cause of eren's bitter words or by her own choice.
And that made Marco and jasmine sad, disappointed in eren and even bit angry. Surely they knew Agatha was not someone to take offence easily, they knew it in their heart after meeting her just once and even then she left without any words, that made them think in various unappealing manner and that made their attitude visibly spiced.
Eren didn't say anything so he was also the one who continuously faced their cold front, they didn't do something much significant but their more than little sarcasm was over the top for eren.
And yes, Marco didn't let go of any chance to make eren pay, he made eren visits every single patient of his own, saying 'necessary to be a good physician'.On upfront his words were like " It's for you to socialize more." But on the inside it sounded like "You should get tortured more."
Eren obviously hated to socialise, because it required conversation and connection on both hands. He had to reveal parts of his being to know the other individual, someone whom he didn't really wanted to know but was just forced by Marco.
Anyway that was his daily life, again like usual Marco forgot his lunch and jasmine kicked eren out to deliver it. Eren stopped on his way to cafe, drank some tea and wasted 20 minutes in success but amelia came right on time to kick him out as well.
" Yes Eren, You can't escape this. Might as well just give up and go." Even cecilia sounded happy as she enjoyed his misery.
Putting a mirthless smile on his face eren paid the bill,
" Some friends you are."
" By the way where's your best friend eren?" Amelia chuckled as she asked.
" He's not my bestfriend, rather he should be yours after being neighbour for so long." he didn't wanted to hear from them as well, as if starks left something out already.
" So grumpy." But eren was already outiside the cafe, too defeated to argue. Just like usual, with his tired eyes and long sigh he walked to the saint stark clinic.
His arrival chimed in with a bell, Ms.nortan greeted him with a smile.
" Good morning Mr.salvatore."
Eren smiled, " Good morning Ms. Nortan, You're as professional as the last time I saw you." Words like usual and same.
Ms. Nortan smiled politely with honest chuckle, she too had taken Eren's words into account without noticing. Now after Eren's daily reminded, her smile didn't look so fake instead there was hint of genuineness.
" Comes with the job Mr. Salvatore." But her words said otherwise.
she was professional afterall.
" This just might be your another lucky day Mr.Salvatore, because a breathtaking otherworldy beautyfull lady has just arrived." She glanced at her watch and subtle surprised expression appeared on her face,
" Look at that, it's already been 5 minutes so you're left with no choice as well but to agree of course if Young miss doesn't object." her smile that showed same smugness when Agatha first came, but this time it looked much more real.
And this time eren wasn't annoyed, it felt happy that there were so many people having fun on his misery
" I suppose you won't take this lunch so that I can be on my way home without much trouble." Eren knew, without missing a single a day just like everyday she would stop answering and will contact Marco.
" I suppose I can help you this once."
" Huh!!!"
RING....
RING....
But before he could even process such shocker, Phone rang loudly.
Ms.nortan recieved the call and put it on speaker,
" I know he's outside, send him in."
BEEP...
Both eren and Ms.nortan were left speechless, Eren even more annoyed and Ms.nortan more amused as she apologised with a smile.
" You should smile more, just like that Ms.nortan, That way you'll definitely find someone sooner." it was just casual humorous compliment.
Saying that eren entered Marco's cabin in hurry, he knew the consequences of talking about relations with a older and single woman, simply disastrous.
But he failed to notice tinge of redness over the receptionist's cheeks.
*****
" I brought your lunch uncle marco."
" Yes thank you Eren, Meet Ms. Emily potter. She was troubled by hoodlums so I had to intervene and thus ended up here in our little paradise.
So don't go telling your aunt jasmine that I'm roaming aston enchating women." Marco laughed but Ms.potter and eren showed no reason or maybe they both were just annoyed- their expression said so- And the mood turned awkward.
Marco cleared his throat, hiding his embarrassment and spoke,
" Ms.potter This is my nephew Eren, he's the one I was talking about." Supposed breathtaking beauty, Emily potter, smiled politely as she nodded curtly to eren.
Eren felt shocked, there was a woman sitting on chair with legs crossed. Her figure slim, face maturely breathtaking and that too mixed with formal long white dress covered with long furred black coat.
Eren had developed a habit that wasn't very nice, to guess the proportion and just now he judged it to be magnificent.
Eren looked at her some more, her black eyes and eyes contrasting with pink white skin. Her cherry red lips took the most attraction.
And more than that she was polite, that was genuinely surprising, because he remembered this situation happening in very different way, Eren's sense of deja vu ended right here.
Now he suspected that Agatha had come indisguise of Emily, just because she smiled.
He even forgot that he was staring holes of doubt,
" Eren don't be impolite and greet her." Eren jerked awake from his thoughts and bowed respectfully.
" I'm really sorry my rudeness Ms.potter." His tone flattering, smooth and buttered because Marco was here.
" It's okay eren and just call me emily, In this cultivation world strength has changed relations to great extent and we should follow that change as well."
Eren as well as Marco felt bewildered, Surely they didn't knew what manner of strength she possessed but looking at her beauty it was apparent she was strong, afterall with each leap in cultivation came painful breakthrough that evolved body to its peak power, speed, intelligence and beauty.
And judging by miss potter's looks, she was on par with Agatha. Beauty that not only came naturally but was also enhanced by strong cultivation.
And yet she was courteous.
" Shall we?" Emily stood up, ready to leave and eren nodded. He knew the gist of conversation emily and Marco made, he also knew the result of that. Another tour for him.
And so with a meaningful nod eren followed Emily out,
" Emily I'll be with you in just a second." With that eren showed emily the way to exit, because now he really had doubts.
He walked upto receptionist, Ms. Nortan, and asked, " Earlier you wanted to save me from this meeting, any particular reason?" Ms. nortan looked at him confused.
" Because you don't like this and I thought that I can be helpful once in a while." She answered with a smile.
" That's very nice of you, maybe you can help me out Tomorrow." Eren bent closer in cutely manner, something that he had learned from Jasmine.
" Nah.. I don't feel like you deserve it anymore eren." She chuckled as Eren's face twitched with annoyance.
Eren didn't argue, he had lady in waiting.
" Eren." Ofcourse before he could open the gate ms.Nortan stopped him
That made eren realise that not once but twice that she had called him with his name, something she never did.
Also her voice seemed worried.
" Maybe the reason why I wanted to help you out of this once was because...That woman seemed dangerous.
She didn't do anything that would make me hostile but just my gut feeling, so be careful." She was worried.
Eren smiled, " Don't worry violet, I'll be fine." His smile was assuring.
" By the way I can call you by your name, right?"
" No Mr.salvatore, it's Ms.nortan to you." And her soft spot was once again hidden under hardworking receptionist persona.
Eren left with a chuckle, even violet had to break her character once he left, her cheeks flushed red to his charm.
Once outside eren looked at Emily, She averted her eyes out of smartphone and greeted eren with a smile.
" Shall we?, I know a place where they serve good coffee." She was proactive, unlike someone eren just remembered.
But she was surely gorgeous, now that he got proper look he could tell that her body was much more defined, even though upper half was covered by thick coat.
" Sure." He needed to put his thoughts asides, nowadays he was easily distracted by beauty, he knew it yet he couldn't change it and that was another kind of trouble.
Emily glanced at him once more and mischievous smile came up, she drew her face closer to eren and smiled ear to ear.
" You're really obvious you know eren." Saying that she took his arm in her own and walked him in cerain direction.
" Hey..."
" What?" She peered in his eyes with her own deep seeking eyes. They weren't completely black, black were mixed with pale gray diamond shaped iris fibers that somehow shone with radiance.
Her eyes momentarily dazzled eren in silence, they were simply too mesmerizing.
And before eren could process, he was already being dragged to someplace he didn't knew.
Atleast that's what he thought.
Because after some time he was standing outside the cafe he knew very well, locked hands with a beautiful woman invoked jeaousy and he dreaded what awaited inside.
" This is the place, let's go." Emily wasn't forceful but it was hard to get free from her clutches.
Ding..
Bell chimed which notified near standing maid to welcome them.
"Welcome to caffechino cafe." She was a young maid dressed in maid gown with getle prepared smile on the face.
Her face even flushed as she momentarily lost in eren's charm.
" Let's sit there." Emily gently broke the moment and dragged eren to corner table.
She wasn't as social as she behaved, afterall she chose the table which attracted least attention.
The same maid walked behind them with fear, fear that she would somehow upset powerful guests. Afterall in this world beauty also reflected power and, Emily and eren both looked absolutely and uncompromisingly ravishing.
" Black coffee for me and Eren you?"
" Almond pachino." It was way too fast, they hadn't even sat properly.
Maid didn't linger, either due to fear or their radiance.
Just then,
" Eren and Emily, How did you two meet?" Another maid, this one seemed much familiar with both of them came up.
She was amelia, unfiltered and unreserved.
" And good morning to you too amy"
" Come on we can always skip on pleasantries, How did you meet eren?" She was tenacious and loud as she satdown with them,
And just like everyday Cecilia had come down personally to drag her easily distracted sister back to kitchen.
She noticed Emily and eren with amelia, surprised as she asked eren the same question with her eyes, something to which he just shook his head in defeat.
Not just her but even Amelia understood and chuckled at his unspoken answer, leaving Emily behind.
" Good morning Emily."
" Yes good morning Cecil, How have you been?"
" Good."
Cecilia smiled at them and nodded, asking for their understanding. Just like Eren's answer, her words were unspoken but recieved well. Both eren and Emily knew what came afterwards, Emily chuckled while eren just sighed as usual.
" How many times have I told you to come back to kitchen as soon as you serve the order?"
" Oww~"
" Oww~"
Cecilia twisted Amelia's ears as she dragged her back to kitchen.
" Ow...Don't you want to know how they met?"
" How do you think genius, isn't it obvious? Now do your work and leave them alone."
" Oww.."
Though it was painful for every customer to watch such sweet girl screaming in pain, most were regular here and knew that such event was part of their routine as well.They just enjoyed the mood, cheery and lighthearted.
" They're like cute little kitties." Emily humoured with soft laughter.
Eren shifted his attention back to Emily, she tried to hide her smile and that looked even more attractive.
Sensing his gaze, Emily reverted back to her tender smile.
" You know them?" He asked as he relaxed, shifted his eyes here and there to not appear rude who gawked at every opportunity.
But looking anywhere else in cafe was even more uncomfortable, most were watching their interaction with unparalleled attention and some shameful even sneekered as they whispered comments in private.
" Yes I'm regular here, been here for only few days but this place is nice, really nice.
Good coffee, pleasant service and quite neighbourhood."
She was right, this place was quite and very much like human communities, mostly on days because nights were different.
" What about you eren?, you don't look like someone from around here?" She asked, though she didn't say it but her eyes did. She was curious as to how he ended up in this situation, living with a vampire family and all.
Eren had no problem answering that, but he wanted to clear out few things before that.
" Before that, What did my uncle Marco said exactly?" He asked, his voice obviously tensed.
Emily chuckled,
" Huhu... He just wanted me to show you around that's all."
"He's not a man of short words Ms. Emily, I know that and you don't have to hide anything.
Please tell me what did he say?"
Emily didn't answer for long, long enough that it made eren doubt that she would answer.
" Your order is here."
new maid served the coffee tensly, she could feel trouble in their gazing silence and without much delay she hurridly ran back to her post.
" Why is it important?"
Eren didn't answer, instead he stirred his coffee a bit as his mind wandered what was the answer to her question.
Only after a bit that he spoke,
" I just want to know how much invading your presense will be in my today." His tone flat and rude, eyes unmoving.
But instead of feeling offended, Emily laughed at his face.
" You can't get rid of me that easily and believe me, This is all me reading your face.
Marco didn't say anything." With a smile she took a deep breath over her coffee and enjoyed the aroma with pleasure.
And eren was once again left troubled, he didn't like this feeling of deja vu.
Would she really just end it with simple conversation, expensive shopping and fancy lunch?, She didn't seem like such, though her personality seemed almost opposite to agatha, there were more than few instances where she seemed almost same.
Same where she'll bring trouble.
" Come on, drink or it'll get hot."
Listening to her words he sipped the coffee, it was cold and refreshing.
Though he lived most of his life in cold that would haunt his night and trouble his days, he still found it soothing.
Even now when his strengthened body feels less of cold, he still found ways to feel cold.
Feeling the refreshing sugary taste in his mouth revitalized his mood, he again tried to solve this matter in most simplest manner.
The trouble was marco's way of setting up meeting with strangers, Eren didn't like it but that was no way for eren to be rude to someone, like Emily.
So he just needed to play the part Marco wanted him to, But eren didn't accepted this as his defeat. It was just a step back before he could find something to jump on.
" So Eren what do you do?" Eren looked at her with a little sarcastic smile and answered,
" Nothing, except entertaining guests such as yourself." he wasn't thrilled in his sarcasm, he just pitied his self.
" Wow and those adopted parents of yours?, I means vampires and dragon exactly don't match." She stopped abruptly as if indulging in curiousity that ran through her mind.
And spoke after much thinking.
" On a second thought, vampires doesn't match with anyone."
" Huhu.. you'll be surprised once you get to know them and no, They're not my parents.
I am merely residing at their place for time being." His answer was low, it reflected his own confusion.
" Then why don't you run away?"
Her words surprised eren, it wasn't that such thoughts never occured to him but he just didn't approve of it, for some reason.
" You don't seem to like him, in fact you seem annoyed, irritated and angry." She took another sip, paused for a moment and observed his expression and spoke again,
" Wouldn't it be better?, To be free?"
Eren felt weird, something that he didn't felt so in long while but his emotion surged,his face distorted in silly laugh.
" Hahaha..."
He couldn't control it, he knew people were watching and he knew such questioning expression were written over emily's face as well but he just couldn't hold it.
After a while, with difficulty he finally managed to halt. His teared up eyes still laughed mockingly.
" What is so funny?" Emily asked curiously, not angry.
Eren nearly bursted into another fit of laughter athe question,
" Nothing, It's just you said something about being free." His face smiled yet his eyes wandered into dreams of his past, a sudden melancholy clouded his emotion.
" I said the same thing and someone had answered my question, My brother." The smile eren showed now wasn't something he often showed, he hid it just like every painful memory, smile of pain.
" He said ' What is there to be free from?, As long as we're not chained we are free.
Only thing that limit us, restrain us, shackle us is ourself.' " Eren looked at Emily and chuckled to himself.
" Watching you repeat same words reminded me of my naive, ignorant and stupid self.
How stupid we all are." Eren smiled as if suddenly a very deep memory had reawakened his cold heart.
" And how smart he is." Emily looked at eren with a smile, but that smile slowly faded. Her expression somber.
" Hey you two, Are you ready to orde-" Amelia's words stuck midsentence.
" Why are you crying Eren?"
" Huh.." Eren blinked in confusion, his eyes blurred. Only then that he noticed steams of tears were rolling down her face.
He hastily wiped his face but every tear wiped was ready to be replaced by another, like a damn of emotion just flew out of control.
And every tear brought back more and more painful memories, memories that weren't pleasant, memories that pounded heart erratically, memories that throbbed the head, that chocked the neck.
" Hey hey...Heyy, look at me Eren" Eren couldn't see with blurry eyes and his brain refused to orient, he couldn't think much less reason to what was happening.
Suddenly he felt warm hands pulsating on his cheeks, his heart that pulsed frantically relaxed and his clogged up chest finally breathed the sigh of relief.
His mind blacked out as last memories remained where he hugged his unusually warm brother into tight embrace.
" What happened?"
Emily blinked confused at amelia who held eren in her arms.
" I don't know, he was talking about his brother and next, you know how it went." amelia looked at eren, the way he hugged her tightly made it really hard for her to stand straight and his horns seemed very sharp and white.
It felt really uncomfortable, even more so as she felt all the eyes on her. Murmurs of chittering was everywhere in cafe, it wasn't making this situation any better.
" How the hell is he this strong?, Can you?" Her failed attemp to free herself resulted in her asking Emily for help.
But before she could act,
" What is happening here amelia?" A middle aged vampire asked in flat tone, though flat along with stoic face his displeasure was evident.
" Oh boss, My friend here suddenly fell unconscious." Amelia akwardly squirmed out to freedom as she answered.
Middle aged vampire was owner of this cafe, heath powel.
" Get him out of here, he's creating nuisance." Heath walked out of with annoyance and with surety that his order will be followed in almost respect.
He knew he acted strict but he didn't care, heath wanted everything as he liked.
Emily could possibly say word or two to get him off his high horse but she wasn't the type, she couldn't care less.
Beside she was already carrying eren in her arms as she started walking out of cafe, she gave amelia a nod and took her leave.
Their departure chimed as well, and though Amelia had question as to what happned? How it happned? And where will Emily take him? she didn't had time to ponder a bit when cheeky toned order from heath sounded in her ears.
" Get back to work ame."
" Yes sir."
She was aware of her employer's self centred personality and didn't entertain it, but she still followed his rules.
" Where did eren go? I brought his favorite dish." Cecilia asked, holding smoky fried chicken nuggets in her hands and unaware.
" He had to rain check due to some trouble, Emily assured me that he'll be fine so you don't have to worry about him." Amelia smiled as she teased Cecil, suddenly she realised something and asked,
" How do you know Eren's favorite food?" Cecilia didn't answer and smirked,
" hey answer me?"
Cecilia sat down with swift turn, but before she could play the arrogant smug role.
" Get back to work you two."
Heath's sudden intrusion spooked both, enough that cecelia nearly tripped off the chair.
They stood up straight like a soldier ready to be chewed out by his commanding officer, heath looked pissed but decided to say nothing.
Amelia and Cecilia didn't wanted to listen anything anyway, so they ran back.
Amelia made sure that Cecilia didn't spill the chicken nuggets, though she was the cumpsy one among two.
But she had eyes on those nuggets for whole another reason, her mouth dripped.
Just then heath's voice sounded from behind,
" And I'm gonna cut from your salary for that dish and two cups of coffee."