The people that were sitting near Bryan, all of a sudden started to sweat nervously. Some of them even passed out on their tables.
It wasn't until Benny lightly patted Bryan's head that the latter put his emotions under control.
Bryan looked around at the slight commotion he had just caused. He was a little taken aback as he thought inwardly, 'It seems to be getting harder trying to keep my emotions in check. Is this also because of my transformation?'
'Although your body has adapted to the changes, your mind has yet to adapt.' Benny replied.
"Huh?" Bryan felt puzzled, "What exactly do you mean?"
Benny thought for a long time and then replied mentally, 'Hmm, How should I put this? For example, imagine that all your life you've been a rabbit, and now all of a sudden you've become a lion. Does that make sense?'
Bryan's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch as he replied, 'That's a hell of an analogy. But I understand what you're saying…I think.'
Soon, the waitress came to Bryan's table carrying a large tray full of dishes. When she saw the customers around breathing heavily and drenched in sweat, she was taken aback.
However, she didn't tend to them. Their respective servers would do that. She walked towards Bryan who, surprisingly, seemed to be doing fine compared to the rest.
She didn't think much of it. She lowered the tray and served the dishes to Bryan in a professional manner and with great familiarity.
"Enjoy your meal, sir!" The middle-aged server smiled and then asked, "By the way, would you like something to drink?"
"Some water would be nice," Bryan replied.
"Oh!" The server lightly tapped her forehead, "I forgot to get that for you. My apologies."
With that said, she hurried away. Bryan, on the other hand, looked at all the dishes on the table and couldn't help but nod his head in approval, "Hmm, not bad. At least they look and smell good."
Benny, who was sitting on Bryan's lap all this while, jumped on the table and sat at the center after pushing away a few plates. His eyes shone brightly and his mouth started to water.
He looked at Bryan and spoke mentally, 'I'm going to begin first!'
Without waiting a moment longer, Benny dug into the plate of mutton chops that was placed closest to him and started to eat it with great relish.
Bryan couldn't help but smile warmly looking at Benny. He too began to taste all the food. He had to admit, that the food here was extremely delicious compared to the restaurants he had eaten at in Damascus.
And this wasn't even the best restaurant in the city, according to the driver from earlier.
'Perhaps, in my free time, I should visit all the good restaurants in Nadir.' Bryan thought to himself as he cut a small piece of grilled chicken breast and put it in his mouth.
At some point, the server had already served him water. When she saw Benny sitting at the table and sharing food with Bryan, she couldn't help but feel a little appalled by it.
After all, she had never seen pets eating with their masters at the same table.
Bryan continued to enjoy his lunch as he chatted with Benny. From time to time, he would look through the floor-to-ceiling window and view the cars passing by.
He still hadn't completely digested the fact that over a year had passed while he was in the Dreamworld. Only when he looked at the world around him and see the various changes that had taken place in his absence, would he realize just how much he had missed.
'I wonder how Captain, Andrew, Elijah, and Olivia are doing…' Bryan thought in a daze.
All of a sudden, he heard a loud clamor coming from the direction of the restaurant's entrance. Bryan extended his spiritual sense and found that a couple was vehemently arguing with the receptionist.
And the reason for the argument?
Bryan couldn't help but scoff when he overheard the young blond man, wearing a fine suit, yell at the receptionist, "Why does a blind man need to sit by the window? He can't even see!!"
The receptionist continued to display the same professional smile, "We cannot ask him to change tables, sir. After all, he was here first-"
The blond man instantly cut her off, "I don't fucking care! Your private rooms are full and now you can't even provide me with a table of my choice in the common area. Do you know who I am!?"
The man was seething with rage. He had brought this young brunette behind her on a date. And now he couldn't even find a place to sit. For a man of his stature, this was a big embarrassment!
Meanwhile, the beautiful brunette behind him was looking in the direction of Bryan who was eating with proper noble etiquette. Her eyes lit up when she saw his handsome appearance—even with the blindfold on!
For some reason, she felt instantly drawn to him. Bryan gave her a sense of familiarity that she usually felt from the elders in her family.
The young lady looked at the receptionist and asked politely, "Can we ask the gentleman over there if he can share the table with us?"
The young man was dumbfounded, "Meryl, you wish to share a table with a stranger!?"
Meryl looked at the young man and replied, "Dillon, as you can see the entire restaurant is packed. Rather than wait here, I'd much rather ask that gentleman to share the table with us."
Dillon looked at Bryan and his eyebrows furrowed. Why? Because Bryan was more good-looking than him.
He would much rather wait than share a table with Bryan. He was about to refuse but when he saw the way Meryl was innocently looking at him, he couldn't bring himself to say no.
Dillon looked at the receptionist and frowned, "You're not going to stop us from sharing a table now, will you?"
The receptionist hesitated for a slight second and then finally displayed a professional smile, "If that gentleman over there has no problem with sharing the table, we have none either."
"Hmph!" Dillon stomped his feet and walked towards Bryan. Meryl followed behind him. The receptionist's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch as she looked at Dillon's back and thought, 'These rich second-generation people's ego sure is fragile.'
Bryan had already heard the entire conversation. He didn't mind if this couple joined him. Moreover, he would also like to know the current happenings in Nadir from them.
Dillon walked in front of him and spoke with a cocky attitude, "You, Mister! Me and my date would like to sit with you. I'm sure you don't have any problems right?"
He made sure to emphasize 'My Date' so that Bryan didn't try to pull any tricks. After all, in the appearance department, Dillon had already lost before the race had even begun.
"If you say 'Please', I might let you.' Bryan continued to eat his meal and replied without even looking at Dillon.
The veins on the side of Dillon's forehead began to throb in anger as he saw Bryan's nonchalant attitude, "You little-"
However, before Dillon could make a mess, Meryl grabbed him by the arm and signaled him with her eyes.
She then looked at Bryan and was inwardly shocked at how handsome Bryan was up close. She flashed a polite smile and asked,
"Mister, we would greatly appreciate it if you could please share the table with us. After all, the rest of the tables here are already occupied."
Bryan nodded, "Sit."
The vein on Dillon's head throbbed even more, "Who the hell do you think you are!?"
"A nobody," Bryan replied stoically.
Dillon was about to go off but was cut off by Meryl, "Thank you, Mister."
She then pulled Dillon's arm and made him sit right next to him, across from Bryan.
"At least, get your damn pet off the table!" Dillon gnashed his teeth as he glared at Benny.
"Ask him," Bryan replied.
'This motherfucker!!' Dillon cursed in his heart. He couldn't even remember the last time someone spoke to him like that. All his life, everyone he had ever met had to fawn over him.
And here was Bryan, who was speaking to him as if it was a drag! How could he tolerate this? But then he remembered that he was here with Meryl. And he had to show her his good side at all times—or at least try to.
Dillon took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and waved his hands in front of Benny in order to scare him, "Shoo away, dirty cat! Get lost! Shoo! Shoo!"
Benny glanced at Dillon and raised his tiny head as if looking down on him. He then narrowed his eyes and spoke mentally, 'Pathetic!'
GAASSPP!!!
Dillon shot up to his feet as he looked at Benny with wide eyes. He pointed his trembling finger at him and stuttered in utter shock, "The C-C-Cat spoke!!"
Meryl looked at Dillon and asked incredulously, "What are you talking about? Are you drunk?"
"Did you not hear the cat speak? I swear to the Goddess it just spoke! I'm not lying!" Dillon tried to justify.
Meanwhile, Bryan had to lower his head and struggle hard to prevent himself from breaking into laughter. A few moments later, he lifted Benny by the armpits and placed him in front of him, on the table.
Dillon and Meryl had already seated themselves by now. However, Dillon kept peeking glances at Benny, his eyes displaying a mixture of curiosity and horror.
After the couple placed their orders to the server, they looked towards Bryan. Well, only Meryl was looking at Bryan, whereas Dillon's eyes were glued to Benny.
"My name is Meryl Jones and this is my good friend Dillon McCarthy." Meryl introduced herself and Dillon who was still staring at Benny like an idiot.
"May we know your name?" Meryl smiled.
Bryan nodded,
"The name's Bryan Lombardi."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om