Chapter 16: Damian, Not Again!

"What is this?" Lavi asked as he stared at Emily as she was about to feed herself a scoop of strawberry ice cream that she got from one of the stations.

"Um, ice cream." She replied as she looked down at the icy treat. "Strawberry ice cream to be specific. Do you want some?" She asked as she offered her spoon.

He took the spoon and had a taste of that dessert himself.

"So, how is it?" She asked, "Do you like it?"

Abruptly, Lavi stood up, scaring Emily in the process.

"Where did you get this?" He questioned, which strangely sounded more like demand.

She pointed to the direction of the ice cream station, "Ther--" Before she could finish, he rushed to that direction.

"...Oookay." She muttered to herself, before a smile unwillingly made its way up her mouth.

Just then, she heard a 'pop' sound coming from the table next to her, where Patricia sat at. Instinctively, she turned her head to see a waiter, standing next to Patricia, with a bottle of red wine.

The waiter poured her a glass and Patricia requested for a bottle of vodka as well. He nodded and scurried to get what she wanted.

"I swear she have a drinking problem." Emily thought, shaking her disappointingly.

That caught Patricia's eyes.

She turned to face Emily and flashed her a grin as she twirled the wineglass in circular motion, "What's up, Em? Wanna have a glass?"

Sighing, Emily suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and said, "Patricia... Didn't yo— Actually, nevermind."

Before Patricia could reply, Ben came up behind and took the glass away from her, "But, I do." Once he said that, he took a sip—

Actually, he drank the entire glass in one mouth.

Emily's jaw dropped when she saw what Ben did.

Retaining her grin, Patricia wiggled her eyebrows toward him, "Just got a heartbreak?"

Ben set the glass on the table gingerly and smirked, "Well, maybe. Or perhaps, I'm upset because I lost something that I held dear to."

Emily overheard and asked, "Really? What did you lose? Where's the last place you went?"

Ben laughed wearyingly as laid back into his comfy seat, "I lost my heart. And it was stolen by you."

...

That was... Something.

Before Emily could say anything, a napkin cut across the room and smacked him across his face.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Yukiko snarled, "You disgust me."

Catching the napkin one hand, Ben walked towards Yukiko with his head held down.

Step, step, step.

The sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the, now, quiet room.

As he got closer and closer, he raised his head to reveal a smirk, "Well, is that jealousy I sense?"

Emily raised her eyebrows and blinked for a couple times. Well, there was no doubt, she knew something was going on between them from the very beginning.

She got to admit, it was kind of enjoyable to see things like things happening in real life. At least she was not always the only one who get all those embarrassing interactions.

Restraining herself from grinning like a weirdo, she thought to herself, "It's almost as if... This is something out of a romance novel. I... Ship it."

Just then, Patricia's voice penatrated her train of thought. "Wow, Beck! You're just like your brother! Drinking it like it's nothing!"

Emily whipped her head around to see Beck downing a glass of clear liquid.

He placed the glass down and looked at Patricia, confused. "Isn't this a glass of water?"

"No, it's vodka."

...

"Are you sure? I me—" Before Beck could finish, he passed out.

"Anddddd, he's down." Ben said as he rested his hand on his side. "You see, my Brother isn't much of a drinker."

"Beck?" Emily called out as she checked on his body that was slumbed over the table. She bend down slightly and take a quick look at his face. His entire face was in a pinkish shade and it was almost surreal that one could still look so good drunk.

She was not going to lie, she did blushed a little seeing that stunning face of his.

"Emily, Emily, Emily. Stop staring at him like a creep." She told herself before turning her head back, "Yeah, he's totally out."

Suddenly, she felt someone tugging on the sleeve of her sweater, "Emily..."

She looked down and saw a familiar looking hand.

It was Beck's hand.

"I'm not down yet... I just want to let you know, I always thought you're pretty."

Emily froze for a second when she heard him. However, after that second, her face flushed a pure shade of pink, "Beck! W-What are you sayi—"

Without hesitation, Beck rose up and grined playfully with his reddened cheeks. In the next second, his hand was on her face. He stroked her cheek gently for a moment, before tugging a lock of her hair behind her ear.

He withdrew his hand and backed away slightly to get a better look of Emily. "You... look so much prettier now."

Everyone sitting around them sat there and stared at the two for them for a good few seconds. Honestly, they were just enjoying whatever that was happening.

However, the sound of a click and the flash of a light interrupted their sweet moment.

Sitting across them was Mary.

...And she was taking photos.

Of them.

Flustered, Emily instinctively covered her face and shy away from phone, "Mary! Don't!"

Giggling, Mary continued taking those pictures and disregarded her leader's 'order', "Sorry, Emily. But this can be a once in a lifetime thing."

Just when she thought things could not get any worse, Beck slung his arm over her shoulder and posed for the camera, "Mary! Take a better shot, alright?!"

"Aye captain!" She replied as she continued clicking away as laughters made its way to the two tables.

"Someone, please save me!"

*****

[Mysterious food place, back alley]

Blood was splattered all over.

Many of the men were on the ground, unable to get up after they met an utter defeat against Damian. They did not stand a chance against him, who was a monster, as compared to them.

Most of them were taken out within the first five minutes, afterwards, some flee while others stood their ground with their gang motto embedded in their soul. However, meeting someone like Damian, mottos like this will get you no where.

"...Seriously? I thought I will get a better workout from this." Damian said as he sat on one of the men's back, who had passed out... Probably.

"Hey, all of you are not dead, right?" He asked as he looking the surrounding men, who gave him no response. "...Oookay, I hope that's a 'yes'."

He looked down at his bloodied knuckles and then to his slightly stained outfit, "Crap. I need to clean myself up."

He thought about it for a while, contemplating whether he should just go straight back to Patricia's. He was not in the best mood, especially how he was about to betray someone who trusted him entirely.

"...Man, I guess I'll just head back."

He pulled out his phone and called for Patricia.

"Hey, Patricia. I'll head ba--"

Patricia cut in, "Damian! Hey, where are you? You're missing the fun!"

"Well, that's fine. I'm good." He chuckled, "I was just about to head back."

"What? Why? The fun has just started."

"Yeah... I'm just, you know..."

Within a fraction of a second, he quickly came up with the most generic lie, "...feeling sick. I have a really bad headache and I think I ate something bad anddddd as of now, I don't feel too good."

"Really?" Patricia did not seem to have bought that lie, but she still let him off, "Alright, I got it. Need me to grab any medicine for you, on the way back?"

Seeing her concern for him really made him taste the bitterness of his lie. "No, it's fine. I just need some rest, I'll be better tomorrow."

"Alright. You can just call me anytime, if you need something. I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, bye." He replied and hung up the phone.

He walked towards a man, who was luckily still conscious, and lifted him up. "Hey, call your other members to pick up your fellow friends, in..." He paused and looked down at his watch, "...20 minutes. I want you to clear this whole place up within 20 minutes, alright? Otherwise... I'll... Um, I don't know. Do something, maybe?"

The man nodded frantically, terrified of Damian, even though he was speaking normally.

He then released the man, "Good, thanks." He ended with a smile, before walking out of the alley and back to Patricia's house.