A Day Out

Getting ready to go to the mall to meet up with Cat, Jake was looking at himself in the mirror. He hadn't looked at himself properly after reaching level 3 and now that he was seeing his face up close, it looked like he was getting more handsome. Not that he was handsome before but his face was improving. His skin had become smoother, his jawline was now a little bit straighter and firmer, the brown colour of his eyes had gotten a bit brighter. 'Does this mean levelling up doesn't just give me a muscular body? From the looks of things my face got some improvements after I leveled up earlier. So the higher levels I reach, the more benefits I get. This is amazing. I better finish getting ready, Cat might already be there.'

***

Sitting at his table in his office, Andrea got a call on a strange device which he had placed on the table in front of him already expecting the call. "Hello." Andrea said with a tone that signified he wasn't happy to be speaking to the person on the other end. "Andrea my friend. It's been a long time since we spoke. How have you been?" said the person on the other end of the phone. "I am not your friend. I'm only speaking to you because it's the only way to protect my family. What's left of it anyway." "Don't talk like that Andrea. This is what's best for all of us. You don't piss the master off, he doesn't kill me, and you get to live with your sons in peace. Now, any updates on either of them? You know you must not lie. If you do things could get really ugly for you and your boys." Gritting his teeth, Andrea had no choice but to tell him the truth. "I have nothing to tell you about Sky, he's still the same so his bloodline might not have activated yet but Jake..." "Yes what about Jake?" the person asked after Andrea hesitated to talk. "It is most likely nothing important but Jake is different from when he came to live with me." "Explain 'different'." "He came back to the house one night and it looked like he had gained some muscle out of nowhere. I noticed it again this morning before I left the house, he looked different." "Well that's definitely the best thing you've given me since we started talking." the person said with a cheerful tone. "Do you think he has somehow activated his bloodline within the short period he has stayed with you?" "No." Andrea answered, "Did you think of the possibility that he might be taking drugs?" "Really? Like the son of Andrea Xendor would ever take drugs." "That is no longer my name." "You can't change it Andrea. And you can't hide your sons forever." After saying that, the call was disconnected. Dropping the device back on the table, Andrea sighed with relief. "Not hide them forever, only until their ready to deal with the truth."

***

Going straight into the mall, Jake looked around for any signs of Cat or Cassie. 'Wait a minute. Where is the first place girls would go to when entering a mall.' Jake thought to himself. Looking towards the female clothes section, Jake walked towards it. On getting inside he saw Cassie, Cat, and what looks like an older version of Cassie whom he assumed to be Cat's aunt, down the aisle for blouses and skirts.

Turning her head, Cat saw Jake coming to meet them. "Hey." Jake said to Cat when he got to where she was. "Hey," she said back to him, "you made it." "Of course I did. Are you happy to see me?" Jake asked her. "Well that depends, did you come here because of me?" "Who else would I come here for?" "Ehem" Looking back because of Cassie's fake cough, Cat introduced Jake to her aunt. "Aunt Maggie, this is Jake. Jake, my aunt Maggie and you already know Cassandra from school." "Nice to meet you ma'am. I've heard a lot of nice things about you." "Hello Jake. It's always a pleasure to meet one of Catherine's friends. Will you be joining us today?" Maggie asked Jake. "Yes ma'am". "Well then let's carry on. We're having dinner at the nearby restaurant, would you to care to join us Jake?" "I can't say no to a woman as beautiful as you ma'am." "Oh stop you'll make me blush." Maggie joked.

Moving from one section to another, they bought different items and spent a lot of time deciding what to buy, what would fit them the most, and what they thought they didn't need. "Jake won't you be buying anything?" Maggie asked. "I will, I just want you all to finish buying what you want first." "That's sweet dear. We're already done, let's go?" "Sure."

Now entering the section for male clothes, they went to the aisle for trousers and shirts. Jake had to try on way more than he would have wanted to because he couldn't say no to them whenever any of them asked him to try on something or one of them wants to see how a shirt will look on him. Even Cassandra took part in picking out clothes for him to try on. "Seriously, that's enough testing. I'm not even going to buy all these." Jake complained. "Dear you're not the one paying for it. You joined us so I'm going to pay for everything." Aunt Maggie said, "Now pick the ones you like." "Thank you ma'am but I can't accept that. I brought my own credit card, I can pay for what I bought." Jake turned down the offer. "Nonsense, I insist. Keep your money dear, I'll pay and not another word from you. Take the ones you like and let's go put some food in our stomach."

After taking what he liked and what Cat said he must take as well after a few complaints from him, Maggie paid for everything and they left the mall. "Wait, I think I dropped my wallet. You guys go on, I'll meet you there." Jake said. "Are you sure?" Cat asked. "We can wait for you." "No, there's no need for that. I'll meet you guys at the restaurant." "Okay." Heading back inside the mall, Jake went to the jewellery section and went to an aisle for bracelets. He picked a green bracelet with little pieces of green jewels embedded into it. "This is perfect. I'm sure she's gonna love it." Jake said to himself. Jake quickly took it to the counter to purchase it without looking at the price. Due to his dad being the manager of one of the biggest companies in Ansteria, Jake and Sky get a huge amount of credits as their allowance. Since Andrea transferred a large amount of credits to Jake's bank account, he had a lot of credits to spend.

After purchasing the bracelet Jake went to the restaurant which was just a couple metres away from the mall. Walking inside, he took a look around trying to spot where they were seated. The restaurant had a booth-like arrangement. In one booth, there was a table and people could sit round the table. There was enough space in a booth for up to five people. Seeing them, Jake went to meet them. "Jake, did you find your wallet." Cat asked as he settled down beside her. "Yeah I did." "Well you're just in time. We're about to order." Maggie said.

When they finished eating, Aunt Maggie paid the bill and they all went outside. "My vehicle's somewhere in the car park," Maggie said, "so instead of us going there together I'll bring it here then we all go home. Sound good?" "Sure mom." Cassie answered. "Cat, can you walk with me a little?" Jake asked. "What?And leave me here all alone?" Cassie complained. "Come on, don't be such a baby. We'll be back in a second." Cat said. "Don't do anything stupid." Cassie told Cat as she walked away with Jake. "What's up?" Cat asked Jake after they turned the corner of the restaurant building. "I got you something." Jake replied. Taking out the little box in which the bracelet was packaged from his jacket pocket, Jake opened it and brought out the bracelet. "Aw. It's beautiful." Cat said to Jake while smiling affectionately. "Jake you didn't have to. Now I feel bad for not getting you anything." "Dont worry about that. This is a gift from me to you." He took her hand, put the bracelet on it and kissed her hand while looking into her eyes. "It complements your eyes." Jake said after standing straight. Blushing fully, Cat stared at Jake. "Well you're quite the romantic." she finally said. "I am. For the right person." "I love it Jake, thank you." Hearing the blaring sound which Cat recognised to be aunt Maggie's vehicle–the Glist. "We should probably go." she said chuckling at how much time they had spent already. "Yeah we probably should." Jake concurred.

Reaching where they were previously, they saw Aunt Maggie in the driver's seat of the Glist and Cassie next to her. They both got in and Maggie took Jake home using the directions he gave. "Thanks for everything today." Jake thanked Aunt Maggie as he got down from the Glist. "It was my pleasure dear. Join us again sometime, I'll be more than happy to make some time." Maggie said to Jake. "Yes ma'am. See you tomorrow Cat. Bye Cassie." "Bye." They both said to him.