Sweet Hometown

"Eh, you are with your boyfriend most of the time." Irene mischievously rolled her eyes and then put the straw close to her mouth for a sip.

The entire day was spent with hard work, Irene practiced so hard in order to maintain her voice. Her recent song is quite difficult to achieve due to its high notes. But during practice, she does not strive to reach the high notes in order to not strain her voice.

Irene slumped on the floor of her practice room, covered with sweat after she finished singing the last song to practice for the day. Valerie then entered the room and gave Irene a bottle of lukewarm water.

"Thanks," Irene received the water and took continuous gulps before asking Valerie, "Are you sleeping in your boyfriend's place today?" She stood up to leave the room.

"No, I broke up with him." Valerie casually replied while the two of them are walking by each other in the hallway on the way to the underground parking lot.

Irene raised her eyebrows as she observed her cousin's face trying to look for traces of sadness, "Why? I mean, are you alright? Want to go and grab a drink?" She offered, thinking this is a good time for the both of them to drink.

"He is too full of himself. You guys even noticed it when we had dinner together, right?" Valerie spat nonstop, annoyance is evident in her equally beautiful face.

Scratching her head, Irene thought of ways to not say mean things about Valerie's ex. "Well, he is kind of…. so proud of himself, I guess?" The two of them chuckled in Irene's euphemistic efforts.

In some people, being in love makes days pass by as fast as a blink of an eye. Meanwhile for some, someone's absence makes days stretch incredibly slow. For Irene, it is the combination of the two.

During the times where she experiences something good, it makes the day go on fast. In contrast, there are slow and stagnant days where she misses Amiel more than usual.

Irene decided to take a break for two weeks and spent it in her adoptive parents' house because it has been long since she last saw them. She decided to come home unannounced to surprise them.

Valerie was not able to come with Irene because she has prior appointments but she will come

There seemed to be no people in the house after she honked a few times but no one opened the gates of the parking lot which is why she got off her car and opened the gates herself.

"Uncle! Auntie?" Irene called them the moment she got inside their parking lot but no one answered.

After parking her car inside, Irene roamed around inside their medium-sized family house. Realizing they may have gone outside, Irene rummaged inside their pantry to look for instant noodles.

She did not eat any before she set out on the road which is why her energy is at the lowest right now. In no more than five minutes, the noodles was ready.

The doorbell rang twice right after Irene finished having her meal. She ran to the main door and peeked to see who it was.

Irene's eyes grew big when she saw a hoodlum looking man outside. He is wearing an all black outfit from his black baseball cap to his black rubber shoes. The man kept on looking sideways, as if checking if there are people around.

Putting both palms on her mouth, Irene leaned on the door and crawled to the living room to get her phone.

The man on the doorstep began to twist the door knob aggressively, trying to unlock the door using manly force.

Consciously looking to the door, Irene's hands shook like crazy while her heart is hammering aggressively against her chest. Her fingers could not type on the phone properly due to fear because the man kept on kicking the door and any moment from now, it would be opened.

Realizing her life would be jeopardized, Irene ran up to the stairs and locked herself inside her room. Her chest is going up and down from breathing heavily.

Irene firmly shut her eyes when a strong sound of the main door breaking resonated in the entire house. She then heard footsteps coming close. This time, Irene searched for a probable weapon inside her room in case the intruder comes inside.

"A baseball bat," Irene thought to herself the moment she saw the bat and gripped it tightly.

Irene listened carefully outside her room, "A burglar!" She heard her aunt let out an earsplitting scream.

Rushing downstairs, Irene still held the baseball bat close to her. She can't let that burglar hurt her Uncle and Auntie!

When Irene arrived downstairs, her Uncle and Auntie looked at her shockingly. "What are you doing here?" They said in chorus before Irene runs to them for a hug.

"There was an intruder!" Irene screams.

Her Auntie Rona patted her shoulder, "Don't worry, Captain already took care of him." She said, referring to their Doberman family dog, Captain.

"That man was so shocked that a big and muscular dog jumped over him. Good thing Captain did not shred him into pieces," Ryan said while shaking his head and staring at the man laying unconsciously on the floor while Captain looks over him.

A police car arrived outside their house to bring the intruder to the police station. Later that night, it was relayed to the Wu family that the man who barged inside their house claims to have no memory of the incident after he woke up from passing out earlier.

"Does he have a mental problem or something?" Valerie commented after listening to Roma relay the information sent by the cops.

The four of them are chilling in the living room while watching a movie together. AS much as Irene tries to divert her attention away from what happened earlier, she can't help but think whether Void has something to do with it.