Chapter 34: Can you even eat like this?
About my parents... I don’t know what to say. Sure, they were caring, and they loved me, but sometimes I couldn’t help but feel hollow at their love and care.
As genuine as they seemed, I feared they weren’t that genuine when they treasured me because if they were, they wouldn’t have stayed silent while my elder brother harassed me and called it a friendly competition between brothers.
I know they saw it all. I know they saw how much I was hurt by his ’pranks’ and yet, they let it slide with a smile, not even giving him a pat on his wrist.
It was either they genuinely didn’t think I was hurting, or they loved my older brother more than me, enough so that they could overlook the hurt he was causing me.
They would give me what I wanted but if my brother said he wanted it, they would take it from me and give it to him. He did that a lot, exerting his dominance over me and showing me how powerless and less loved I was compared to him.
He was a psychopath that I wish never to come in contact with again.
’Dammit, I didn’t want to think about this.’ I scratched my hair in frustration. I tapped my feet on the ground repeatedly and impatiently and then turned around. "Hey, Noah. What’s taking you so long? I said you could pick anything from my wardrobe, not spend eternity there."
There was no response. Just what was taking him so long?
Since we were going out to a restaurant to eat, he needed to wear something other than the shirt he had been wearing for weeks now. We should probably stop by a clothing shop and pick a few more things for him.
’It’s been a while since I cooked so maybe we should stop by the grocery store and pick up a few things to fill the fridge.’ I thought and looked at my phone.
Honestly, this money, I never planned to use it even if it killed me but I suddenly don’t care about it. It would be a waste to leave it be, right?
I regarded this money as leftovers from my brother because I was very sure my brother would never let my parents hand me such a huge sum of money.
It was probably less than what they would give him.
My parents were well off and owned their own business which was doing pretty good. They had branches in three parts of the country and were striving.
So, seven digits was basically nothing to them, so they could toss it at me without looking back and saying it was a severance fee. I made up for that one extra digit with my own hard work, which was later thrown down the drain.
I sighed and then raised my head to find Noah walking out with one of my hoodies and a nose mask in his hand. Right, we couldn’t let him get spotted by the enemy so he needed to be covered from head to toe.
I watched him put on his nose mask.
"Can you even eat like that?" I subconsciously asked out loud and he stopped in front of me, answering.
"Yes," he answered. "I’ll pull it down when it’s time to eat."
"Oh," I exclaimed, realizing he was answering my question. I looked away and picked up my jacket hanging on the coat stand. "Then, let’s get going."
"How’s your elbow?" Noah asked and I looked back.
"Huh?"
"You elbow," he said. "Does it still hurt?"
I took a long look at him before looking away.
"O-only a little," I said, "I can use my arm normally now, and the wounds are all covered up too, so I don’t feel it too much, but I still get a stinging feeling from time to time, and it itches too. The doctor said not to itch it. If not, it’ll peel and..."
What was going on? Why couldn’t I stop talking? I was going on and on about my elbow when he asked just one question.
At that moment he had asked, my heart skipped a beat for some reason. I honestly don’t know what’s going on with my body anymore because I keep having this tingling sensation in my stomach and then my heart flutters for no reason.
It was as if I was in heat or something.
I paused as soon as that thought crossed my mind. What the hell was I thinking now? The werewolf who was about to go into heat was behind me. There was no way a normal human could go into heat.
I must still be having symptoms of the fever I suffered a few weeks ago.
’Maybe I should stop by the hospital and get my heart checked. Who knows, I might just be suffering from Arrhythmias or something.’
"Is something wrong?" I heard Noah’s voice so close to my ear and flinched. Why... Why was he so close to me?
"I... I’m fine but... Why are you so close?" I asked, my words breaking as I stuttered in shock.
"I called you a few times but you didn’t respond." He said. "I thought I’d get closer and I finally got a response,"
"Ah," was I so lost in thoughts that I couldn’t hear him calling me? What was wrong with me, really?
"Well, I... I was thinking of something that’s all." I said and spied on him. He’s gotten a response from me so why wouldn’t he move back already? "Alright, I’m opening the door now." I quickly opened the door and walked out, sighing in relief.
Noah stood there for a second, finding my reaction odd but since I could not tell what he was thinking, I decided to rush him and be done with their awkwardness.
"Hurry up, I’m starving." I said and he nodded, walking out the door. I closed the door and said, "We’ll go to one nearby so we don’t have to take a cab, what do you think?"
"It’s alright." He said. "But let’s not spend too much. Even if you’re still loaded, no one knows what might happen."
Ah, look at this guy, trying to be thrifty, eh? Well, not on my watch.
’We’ll eat to our satisfaction, buy enough to fill the fridge, and get you some clothes too.’
It’s the least I can do to thank him for putting me back on track, though I still didn’t have thoughts of going back to work yet.
"Hah, it’s nice strolling after so long." I said and glanced at him. "How about you? Does it make you feel alive again?"
"It makes me feel anxious because I do not know who my enemy is." He said. "So, I would like it if you refrained from saying my name out loud, Micheal."
Ah, I almost forgot for a moment. There are pursuers up Noah’s tail, and the worst thing is that we don’t know who they are, so anyone can be a suspect.
"Alright, I got it." I said and tucked my hands in my pockets. It looked like, it was just us against the world at this point, haha.
