Chapter 677 The Calm…
?"People do that?"
The boy genuinely seemed surprised that this was a thing and Evan couldn't help but laugh and tell him that it was something minor compared to the other things you could find in some relationships.
"Personally, I think it's because of their insecurities, and fear that their partner may cheat or something."
"You're not scared of that happening?"
When the boy asked this, Evan's expression turned blank for a moment before he grinned and spoke.
"Nahh. My girlfriend loves me too much."
"If only those others could be as confident as you were."
"If only."
The two sighed before taking the final sips of their milkshakes and trashing the empty cups. The boy was about to speak again, but he suddenly raised a brow in light surprise.
While Evan was wondering what he was shocked about, he sighed and pushed his chair out.
"As much as I'd like to continue the conversation, it seems the time has come for me to take my leave."
He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his guild card that was flashing with light. After tapping a few things on it, the boy suddenly made a strange expression.
"What?"
"Well…it's a little late for this but I actually didn't get your name…"
It was then that Evan realised that he also didn't get the boy's name and the two of them laughed a bit at the fact that they were asking for names after the conversation was over.
'Guys are like that, we can talk for hours and not even know each other's names.'
Such were Evan's thoughts as he pulled out his guild card and introduced himself.
"Name's Evan."
"Khristian. With a 'K'."
"Nice to meet you, Khristian."
The two registered themselves as contacts with their guild cards with Khristian clearly being surprised to see Evan's 'S' rank.
"If you're still around, we may see each other again."
"It's a small world, Khristian. We probably will."
The blonde teenager only smiled wryly in response before getting up and walking away. Evan might have been mistaking it, but it felt as if the boy was running away from something.
He didn't put too much attention on It anymore as he felt Eliza's presence come closer, turning around to see her crossing the street with a bag in hand.
"I'm done, Ev-huh?"
Eliza's expression turned strange when she got close to Evan, and her footsteps suddenly stopped.
"Weird…"
She took a seat in front of Evan, where Khristian was seated a moment ago, before looking around and sending out a pulse of life energy. Eliza did this to scan all the life signatures within a 500-metre radius of her position and though that was a lot of information for her brain to process, she was looking for just 1 particular life signature that she was never going to forget in her life.
'Nothing? Then let's try a different approach.'
Under Evan's confused gaze, she sent out another pulse of life energy, searching for a place with a physical presence, yet no life sign accompanying it but she came up empty as well.
"Maybe I was overthinking it…"
She muttered this to herself before she returned her attention to Evan who was taking his sweet time to go through the restaurant menu.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Damn, big sister's sharp."
Those were the words that escaped Khristian's lips as he placed a hand on his chest while panting lightly.
He glanced down to the street, at where Evan and Eliza were before quickly looking away for fear of being noticed.
"I warned you, didn't I?"
Another voice spoke up and he turned his gaze in the direction it came from, locking gazes with a long grey-haired and green-eyed man who then glanced towards Evan and Eliza's direction for a brief moment.
"If I wasn't here, she'd have found you out."
"Well thank the goddess you're here. To think that she noticed me from just my residual aura."
Khristian sighed and then looked back at the man in front of him before asking.
"I spoke with him and he seemed okay, so mind telling me why you and Grandpa hate him, Uncle George?"
"Ha…and we expected you to be our ally."
"Ally? The dude is a cool guy, clearly values big sister and most importantly; He likes strawberries! What problems could you possibly have with him?"
George facepalmed and sighed in exasperation, before getting up from his seat.
"Let's just go home, Khristian."
"Okay."
Khristian got up from his seat and jogged up to his Uncle, bombarding the man with questions about Evan and Eliza's relationship.
Unknowingly, Evan had gained an ally amongst the men of Eliza's family.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Eliza was busy holding her cheeks with a sweet smile on her face as she munched on the cake Evan had just fed her.
"This is wonderful!"
"Of course, it's a strawberry cake."
"Actually, I was talking about the chocolate part."
*CLANG!
Evan dropped the fork onto the plate and placed his hands on his chest, looking at Eliza as if she had just betrayed him. The girl just sighed and shook her head before muttering a line to herself as she picked the fork.
"I swear, you act just like my brother when it comes to strawberries."
"Your brother?"
"Yeah…Don't know why I suddenly thought of him. Maybe I am missing home a lot more than I thought."
The girl spoke as she cut apart the cake and held up a slice to feed Evan, though the part she had cut was the chocolate section.
"Come to think about it, just what kind of place is your home?"
When Evan asked this, Eliza's hand froze for a second, and she looked to the side and called the waiter while replying.
"It's a very normal, ordinary place."
"Liz, I don't need Mystic Eyes of Truth to know you're lying."
The Waiter who just came close heard the usual censoring noise that resounded in his head and Evan offered a small apology while Eliza used magic to soothe his pain before making their order.
Since the waiter was a normal person who was barely level 20, the effect of the censoring was a bit too much to bear.
"So, back to your hometown. What kind of place is it?"
"It's a relatively normal place with relatively normal people. We don't have any particularly special products or stuff like that."
Eliza once again gave a generic answer and Evan only shrugged before asking another question.
"What about your family?"
The girl froze when she heard the boy's question and she looked up at him, grabbing his arm and sending a pulse of life energy through him as if trying to confirm if the person in front of her was really Evan.
"Did they replace you with a clone when I wasn't looking?"
"Oy!"
"You can't blame me for asking. You're the one who always skirts around the topic whenever my family comes up."
Before she and Evan went to the Mansion of the Damned last year, Evan was very curious about her family, but after the events of Cheverton last year, Evan began reacting strangely whenever the topic came up.
Eliza studied Evan's reactions closely and she noted that any time her family came up, Evan had an expression that was a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
It was the same reaction he always had whenever things didn't occur the way he expected them to, and it got her curious.
Since he was the one who always pushed the topic back, it was natural for her to be surprised as he was the one suddenly bringing it up.
"Maybe when we're done with Tarse, we should get around visiting your hometown. It's in Verdalight in Vathax, right?"
Eliza didn't seem to recall having explicitly told Evan the name of the city, but since he got the location right, she just nodded along.
As for Evan, he decided that rather than wracking his brain trying to figure it out, it was best to just go where he could get answers.
Answers on how Eliza even existed, since the person who all evidence pointed to as her mother—Alden Kaur's daughter and George Kaur's sister—was supposed to be a dead woman.
'She should have been dead long before Eliza was born so it honestly does not add up.'
Evan had not said a word of this to Eliza, as she wasn't going to take him saying her mother was 'supposed to be dead' lightly at all.
"Sure you wanna go?"
When Eliza asked this, Evan sighed softly and shook his head.
"To be honest, I'm not so sure."
"Figures."
She wasn't surprised to hear his reply, but when she heard his next words, she realised she may have misunderstood said reply.
"For starters, your Uncle doesn't seem to like me very much…"
"That's why you don't wanna go?!"
Eliza spoke with quite a loud voice and drew a bit of attention to themselves, but the girl didn't pay it any mind.
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