Clueless - Progress in the Research

[Mar Black's POV]

"These are great results," Mar muttered as he scrolled through the data on his tablet. "We had it all wrong, didn't we? Plan Beta was working great after all."

Plan Beta was the project Alex and Mar had moved for, but the results of the past months had been terribly disappointing. So disappointing that they'd started developing a new plan of action. But the latest results of plan Beta were fascinating. Both energy sources had suddenly stabilised and were now humming in sync.

That left just one question: What had changed?

DING DONG!

Luckily, someone had rang the bell when Mar's thoughts had lingered on a question that he didn't have the answer to. Otherwise he might not have heard the doorbell at all.

"Who could that possibly be?" Mar wondered in thought, stood up from where he'd been working and sauntered to the door lazily.

"I'll get it!" he yelled to Alex who was gaming upstairs in his room, even though he doubted that Alex had heard him, or the doorbell.

By good habit, Mar checked his appearance in the mirror before actually opening the door, put a few stray strands of hair back in place, grabbed the door handle, opened the door and aimed to dazzle.

But funnily enough, he felt dazzled himself once he finally saw the guest.

If he would have made himself an image of who he'd expected to find, it would have been nothing like the girl that was actually standing there. She was dressed in an elegant white sundress, with her long blond hair hanging in a loose braid over her shoulder, and her dark blue eyes shaded by a large sunhat.

This girl was absolutely beautiful. And Mar knew because he'd seen his fair share of woman and girls in his time. In fact, if he'd been a few years younger, he might have dared to seduce her, but admittedly, she was much to green for his taste now.

He watched her look him up and down twice with her brows screwed in a confused frown.

"Can I help you?" he asked, unable to hide the annoyance from his voice. Usually people loved him on first sight, they didn't need to look twice. The way she'd looked at him made him feel like he was losing his charm.

"Excuse me, but does Alex Black live here?" she asked in a nervous manner. Ah, of course, she was here for his son. Hence why she wasn't affected by his charm.

"He does," Mar said and her expression lit up ever so slightly. "He's gaming up stairs. Would you like me to call him down?"

"Uhm, no. Actually, I only came here to return the money I'd borrowed," she said as she reached a hand towards him, ready to give him whatever she was holding. Mar reached out a hand to meet hers and she dropped a few coins and bills in his hand.

"It should be the correct amount," she said as she started backing away again. "I have to leave now. We'll be eating supper in a bit, but mom wanted me to return the money as soon as possible."

"Ok," Mar said, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Bye?"

"Bye! And thank you again!" she said smiling a heavenly smile and waved one last time before she disappeared into the street. Mar caught himself raising his hand halfway to a wave, then realised what he was doing and ran it through his hair instead.

That was new... and he wasn't entirely sure he liked it. She'd left him with more questions than he could answer. Who was that girl? And why did she hand him money? Had he lent someone money? When did that happen?

Then realisation dawned on him.

"Alex," he breathed. Could that have been the girl he'd gone shopping with? He took his smartphone and checked his card transfers. His eyes widened when he found the transaction with the caption "The Wardrobe - Woman." He quickly counted the cash in his hand and indeed; it was two cents more than the concerned transaction.

Mar laughed.

He could roughly imagine what had happened and couldn't help but feel proud. So Alex was a chip off the old block after all! Recently, Mar had started to fear that the only thing his boy had inherited from him was his looks. Each day the boy reminded him more and more of his dear wife, but he did have a knack for charming woman, just like his dad!

Feeling profoundly touched, Mar returned to the living room, suddenly feeling very glad they'd moved here.