"Do you have internet connection?" Aurah asked Ben as soon as he walked into the room.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Of course I have."
Aurah took her mini laptop out of her back bag. "What's your password?"
Ben grimaced. He'd never told anyone the password to his wireless connection before. He thought for a moment like he had a choice. Then he heaved a sigh: "Keiraknightley1985"
Aurah looked him straight in the eye. "As in Keira Knightley? The actress?"
"Yeah, that's right," Ben muttered.
"You gotta be kiddin' me!" She started laughing.
Standing by the kitchen's doorstep, Ben crossed his arms. "May I ask you what is so funny?"
"Well…" Aurah collected herself and spoke with a curled lip. "Your password is the name of a female actor! That's what is funny."
"So what?" Ben shrugged.
"So what?" Aurah raised an eyebrow. "Supposedly, you hate women, but even your password is a woman name. This is sort of contradiction!"
"First of all, I've never said that I hate women. People think that I do, for some reason. Second, I'll be honest with you. Keira Knightley is one of the hottest things I've ever seen. For me, her name is hard to forget. That why I chose that as a password."
"Hot? You think she is hot?" Aurah burst into laughter again.
"As a matter of fact, yes I do! What are you laughing for now?" Ben said irascibly.
"Sorry but she is so skinny," Aurah replied with a smug smile. "As if she's gonna fly like a feather when the wind blows strongly!"
Ben opened his mouth to give her a good response, but the words wouldn't come out. He examined this twelve-year-old girl for a few seconds, trying to figure out why and how he was being defeated by her. She had some kind of power which he couldn't name. A power which makes him want to fight and obey at the same time…
"Whatever… What do you have for breakfast?" Aurah distracted him.
Breakfast? Ben thought being surprised. He always had his breakfasts at a small restaurant near his office.
"Are you gonna keep me hungry all day long? I don't recommend this!"
Ben shook his head off to collect himself. "I'd better go to the supermarket. I have nothing in reserve." He took the keys to his truck and put on his sneakers.
"Better make it snappy!" Aurah called out to him from behind.
"Lord, give me patience," Ben muttered to himself.
After he had gone, Aurah searched on internet for the serial murder incidents in London of recent years and finally she found one!
The news was titled as "Prostitute Murders" on the website. Three women were raped and killed in London by the same methods. The police found a suspect but they had nothing to hold him on.
Was it Ben? Aurah lapsed into thoughts. Why did they suspect of him? From fingerprints? Was his blood or DNA found on the crime scene?
She turned off the screen suddenly when Ben came back whistling with shopping bags in his hands.
"I've got everything that is needed for a breakfast," he said with joy.
"I hope you're good at making omelette," Aurah replied.
Ben's eyebrows flew up. "I beg your pardon?"
"Don't you understand American English? I said I wanted an omelette for breakfast."
"Okay, that's it!" Ben yelled, putting the bags harshly on the kitchen table. "I might be rude or abrasive or even sexist, but I'm definitely NOT a slave for a teenage witch!"
Aurah seemed not to give a hang. "I recommend you to do as I say. Don't make me hurt you, Benjamin," she said mildly.
"Bloody crap! I wonder how you're going to do that!"
"Don't confuse me with those vulnerable women in London!"
"What did you just say?" Ben growled.
"You heard me, psycho!" Aurah yelled back.
Ben eyes smoldered with fire by every sharp word that came out of Aurah's mouth. She thinks that I'm a killer, he thought. He felt all the blood in his body rushed to his brain. If that weren't Marrok's grandchild, he would have kicked her out of his house already. He breathed heavily to calm down. When he turned his head around and met Aurah's gaze, he saw something different in her eyes. They were like saying: Please, tell me that it is not true! Please, defend yourself!
He understood that Aurah was not apt to believe that he was a murderer. She just enjoyed pissing him off. Ben collected himself and decided to play the game by her rules.
Scratching his hair, "Well, what can I say? My reputation beneaths me," he said listlessly.
Aurah bit her lip. "So… It was you who had done that, was it?"
Ben took a chair and sat against Aurah. "I really don't care what people think or say behind me. God knows that I never touched any of those women. I don't know why they were killed. I don't know who did that or why it stopped after I emigrated." He sighed. "I don't know why I feel like I have to tell you all these. I've never talked to anyone about this before. Not even to Mercy or Warren…"
After short pause, Aurah smiled; "I know." Then she stood up and headed for the kitchen. She took the cheese, eggs and tomatoes out the bags.
"I need a frying pan," she called out to Ben.
As bewildered, "You've decided to make the omelette?" Ben asked.
"I guess you've deserved it." Aurah cracked a smile.
"The pan is on the upper shelf. Let me help you, shorty!" Ben got into a humorous mood. He'd almost begun to enjoy Aurah's presence.
"Hey! I'm not shorty. I'm 5'5… for now!" Aurah laughed while she was mixing the cheese with the eggs.