Luke(1)

The next day.

TRING TRING

Drooling as usual, Liz lazily squinted her eyes and cursed at whoever was disturbing her sleep.

The day before had been very tiring. Along with chasing after Derek repeatedly because he wanted to jump in the pool even though he didn't know how to swim, she and her mom had had to extract all the essential necessities from the boxes that had been deposited by the movers.

The house had been just as grand inside as it had looked from the outside. The hall had a home theatre set up, with a top-notch projector and sound system that had sent Derek squealing with joy.

For those who entered the house, the Italian marble flooring gave them the sense that they were in a different country. At least, in all her life, Liz hadn't seen a house without typical white tiles and carpets.

After the expansive hall, one would come upon an open deck at the back which looked out over the pool. Complete with sunbathing chairs, Liz saw herself relaxing there and dozing off whenever she felt too tired from work.

There was only a single bedroom downstairs, but it was so huge that it was equal to two of the rooms in their previous house. Furniture, kitchen, everything was ready, making Liz feel as if she were living in a hotel rather than her own house.

Upstairs were three other rooms, of which one was a children's room decorated with bold and vibrant colors. One was for guests, whereas the last was a master bedroom like the one downstairs.

Her mother's knees weren't as well as they had used to be, so she had been assigned the room on the bottom floor.

Liz, of course, chose the master bedroom and had jumped on the bed to experience the softest mattress she had ever seen in her life.

It was almost as if she was floating on a cloud while the God of Sleep was hovering around her head, enticing her to sleep.

Of course, she had had to extract herself and unpack before ordering take out as everyone had been too exhausted to cook. After eating mediocre Chinese food from a place closeby which had had good reviews online, the family had slept more pleasantly than they had in months.

As the doorbell rung again, Liz felt as if that God of Sleep was also angrily staring outside, shooing away whoever had come to disturb her exquisite slumber.

Thankfully, Mary opened the door, making Liz yawn and decide to go back to sleep.

"Liz! It's Luke! He brought food!"

Like a starving squirrel that had seen someone drop food, Liz sat up on the bed with her eyes closed and sniffed.

Food and sleep were her two BFFs in life. Now that one had been satiated to an extensive degree, it was time to address the former.

Without bothering to brush her teeth, Liz ran outside before feeling lost for a second.

After finding the stairs on looking around, she bounded down and barreled towards the door while avidly sniffing the air.

BACON!

Getting to the kitchen and seeing the bacon that was being held up in the air by Luke who had an easy smile on his face, she immediately snatched it and stuffed it into her mouth.

"See, I told you so, Mary. If she became a detective, she wouldn't need a canine to sniff out stuff."

Munching on the bacon which had been fried to perfection, Liz smiled absent-mindedly for a bit before glaring at Luke on realizing that she had just been insulted.

She was wearing a loose shirt that had been washed so many times that its original color couldn't be discerned anymore, while her shorts exposed her perfectly toned legs.

Seeing the glare, Luke said, "All right, all right, I'm sorry. Here's my offering as an apology: a Lizwich!"

Taking out a sandwich wrapped in silver foil from the paper bag he was carrying, Luke held it out as if he was offering it up for sacrifice.

On hearing the word "Lizwich", Liz's eyes perked up as she realized that she would be able to feed her grumbling stomach happily soon.

Simply put: It was bacon with cheese on top, layered three times with toasted bread.

Specially designed by Luke for Liz, he had christened it so after seeing how much he loved it.

Suddenly, her phone rang upstairs.

Running forward, she took the sandwich before quickly hugging Luke, whose hands had been outstretched due to his gesture before.

As she ran up the stairs to see who it was, she didn't notice Luke's lingering gaze that followed her until she went out of his sight on the stairs.