SNNOOORRRREEEEE
There it goes again...
Alice sighed tiredly, and rubbed her eyes. She wished she had put on a pair of earplugs before taking a nap. This would be the last time she let Yugo's face anywhere near her ears no matter what. At this rate, his snoring would rupture her eardrums soon. Maybe she also should had taken him to visit an otolaryngologist if she wanted to keep her auditory. The earplugs could only help oh so little.
Massaging her ringing ear, Alice relocated Yugo's heavy arm from her chest to his side, who was seizing more than a half of the queen sized bed for himself, spreading his limbs out like a starfish or like a kid trying to make a snow angle on the pile of snow. It would be cute if their bed at home was as big as the bed at here. They might need to have a talk about their bedroom arrangement in the near future, supposing that they were planning to live together for a long time. Speaking of a long time, how long had she passed out anyway?
Alice checked the clock on her flip phone, and it read 17:02. Good. She would have plenty of time for a quick freshen up, and wake up others if they hadn't gotten up by now. Although, she wondered whether it would be better to wake Yugo up first before she took a shower since he was an incredibly heavy sleeper. Alice remembered there was this one time where Yugo's wallet, motorbike key, and his giant stash of video games collections almost got stolen by a pair of thieves if it wasn't thanks for Kenji, who abruptly return home to grab his books, catching them in the middle of broad daylight. Later, Kenji found out that the thieves broke their windows, somehow dropped the old television, which cracked both it and the wooden floors. What's more, one of them slipped on the carpet, holding on to the curtains for support, but end up being smacked in the face by the falling metal curtain pole, and for mysterious reasons, Yugo was still in deep slumber, even the neighbors nearby heard the ruckus who later called Yugo on his phone to check up.
It was a comical for a house invasion situation to say at least. Fortunately, both Yugo and Keji were unharmed. That was what mattered.
I'll wake him up later. I need to get out of these sweaty clothes, and I think Yugo drooled a bit on my shirt too. Alice looked at the small wet stain with displeasure. Not to mention, she was sweating a bucket back in the limos, and Yugo would appreciate if she let him to snooze a couple minutes more.
Grateful for having a private bathroom in their own room, Alice hopped into the shower to refreshen herself. She rushed up a bit rather than soaking under the pouring warm water for 30 minutes like usual because she didn't want to be late for dinner after being remined by Jane and Charles. Even if they didn't, Alice would try her best to make it on time due to years of being a nurse. Right after 15 minutes, Alice walked out of the bathroom in a towel wrapped around her figure and another one around her head. The sudden smell of a familiar fruity shampoo stimulated Yugo's nose, bringing him out of his pleasant sleep, and to see his girlfriend crouching down to take out new clothes from her suitcase.
"...Allie?"
"Oh, you finally awake. Come on, get up before we're late for dinner." Alice said as she picked a comfortable outfit, and begun to change.
"Dinner. Gado. Right. Ya just shower?" Yugo let out a loud yawn, and scratched his itchy cheek.
"Yeah. My clothes were drenched in sweat, and you drooled on my shirt."
"Hehe. Blame yourself for smelling so good." Yugo snickered, stretching his legs before getting out of bed, and slipping into his shoes which had been tossed around on the floor in different places.
"Oh please. I was covered in sweat, and you called me smelling good? You canines sure do have a liking for smelly things." Alice joked back, smoothing down her blue dress with small, white polka dots.
"Hey, you were not stinky! I didn't even smell a single sweat from you before ya took a shower. If anything, I'm the smelly shit here!" She couldn't hold back her giggles at his adorable defense for her.
"Alright, mister drooling baby. I'll take up your words for now." Alice combed down Yugo's bed hair with her fingers, who slightly bend down to make her task easier to finish.
Satisfying with his now neatly hair, Alice rested her arms around his broad shoulders, and lovingly gazing into his light brown eyes as Yugo instinctively pulled her closer to him. He returned back her affection by leaning down for a kiss. Unfortunately, their little sweet moment was ruined by a several loud banging on their door. Alice knew too well who would that be.
"Sis, hurry up! I'm hungry and want to play with Janie!" Uriko rammed her fists against the door. Kenji, who was still half asleep, tried to calm her down by groggily tapping her shoulder.
Dammit!
Alice cursed under her breath, following along with a groan from Yugo, whom she gave a peck on the cheek as an apology.
"AALLLIIICCCCEEEEE!"
"I heard you, Uriko. No need to yell." Alice sigh and opened the door, which her younger sister launched herself on to Alice like a flying squirrel.
"What took you so long? Were you two kissing or something?" Uriko curiously examined Alice and Yugo's faces to check whether her suspicion was true.
"It was only 20 seconds." Kenji drowsily corrected, slowly recovering from the sleepiness. Uriko huffed at her best friend.
"Hell yeah, we were!" Yugo barked, and gave Uriko a noogie. "If it wasn't for ye, we would have some kisses!"
"Waahhh! Not my fault that it takes you too long to kiss Alice! Sis, Yugo is messing my hair and brain!"
"You don't even have a brain!"
"Same to you too!"
Uriko cried out as she desperately held on to Alice with her legs while her upper torse was being locked between Yugo's chest and arm, who was rubbing his knuckles against her head as if he was making some lemonade. Uriko's noodle arms flapped all direction to attempt to stop Yugo from twisting her head, and make a mess on her recently combed hair.
At the same time that Alice and Kenji tried to stop the shenanigan scene before them, a playful whistle could be heard not for away from behind them.
"A bit too lively for the first night vacation. All of you might want to save that energy for tomorrow." Jane chuckled.
All heads turned over to pay attention to the new comer who had changed into a fresh new outfit of a white shirt and a baggy sweat pant with a grin on her face. Uriko and Kenji had also switched to more loose, comfy clothes for the night.
"Janie! Save me from dum dum Yugo!" Uriko whined, and latched herself on to the taller woman's arm from her relieving sister.
"Kenji didn't rescue you, this time?" Jane raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Kenny is still under SLEEP attack." Uriko shook her head in despair, "helping" Kenji to snap out of his sleepy state, and protested back.
"I wouldn't be next time if you don't move so much in your sleep, Uriko." Kenji fired the first fatal shot.
"It's true. You wiggle a lot." Alice chimed in, stabbing Uriko's pride with a harsh truth.
"I sometimes have nightmare of that kick ya gave my face a year ago when we had a sleepover together." Yugo added the final blow.
Pride was dammed. Heart was shattered. Where was her dear, loving teacher when she needed the most? If her mommy was here, Mitsuko would drop an atomic bomb of truth about her bad sleeping habit. Uriko gaped at everyone, then furrowed her eyebrows, and puffed her cheeks out like a child who got denied of having ice creams as dessert for dinner.
"Then that's your fault, runt." Jane concluded with a shrug, which Kenji nodded along.
"Wah-?! What is this? An exposing Uriko day or something?!"
"Heh, nah. Ya just too boring to expose anything." Yugo teased, tried to give the brunette girl another noogie, but got his hands slapped away instead.
"Or … you're such an interesting person that everyone can't help but want to know more about you." Kenji's warm words immediately won over her, and she obediently reunited in her favourite piggy back ride with starry eyes as Kenji patted her back.
Alice had to hide her expression of gushing over the cute interaction while Yugo rolled his eyes at his little brother's charming act, but smiled nonetheless.
"As much as I love this little soap opera, but we have exactly ten mikes before Father has my legs served for dinner instead." Jane remined everyone. Alice cringed her nose at the graphic mental images that her friend was implanting who tended to use rather … negative languages when talking about her father.
"Mikes?" Yugo looked at her dumbfoundedly.
"Minutes. A slang term in military."
"Cool!" Uriko chirped.
"Also, Alice, grab a spare towel and dry your hair on the way. It's still wet." Alice blushed. If it wasn't for Jane, she would be idiotically walking around with a wet head. She blamed the damn kiss. Then again, it wasn't exactly a kiss since they didn't even touch lips yet.
With that, Jane led everyone to the diner area where Alan and Jenny were chatting to each other, already in their seats. Both sat the top of the extended large dining table that looked like it came straight from the British Royal family. Shining candle chandelier, a large stone fireplace with high quality wooden mantel, and an excessive display of fancy tableware and utensils. A large oil painting copy of the famous The Last Supper was hanged behind their back, which Alice was rather surprised as she didn't know the Gado was a religious because she had never seen Alan or Jane had shown any signs of worshipping any gods, though they could be practicing in private. Then she quickly scolded herself after remembering that the Gado was an aristocratic family with a long history, so of course, there was a period of time of their past generations being Catholic. Noticing the new presence, Alan stood up from his chair to greet them.
" Ah enfin (finally) !. All of you have come. I must apologies for my tardiness this afternoon. There was a sudden urgent business that I had no choice to attend. Fortunately, everything has been solved now. There won't be more trouble to interrupt our little vacation together. "
Like usual, Alan made a whole speech out of nearly everything about family and friends. However, Alice appreciated, and admired the French man's nobility, and courtesy nature. It was rare to find such people like him to not have been corrupted yet by the harsh, cold, vile world that they had to live in.
"It's perfectly fine, Mr. Gado! In fact, you allowed us to have some time to rest." Alice shyly said.
"Please call me as Alan. I have stated before. We're all famille here, mon chéri." His accent was as heavy as usual.
"There is no need for formality when in private with us, love." Jenny finished her newlywed husband's line.
"Trust me, Alice. Both of them don't want to be reminded with work right now, and neither do I." Jane explained more.
"Then can I call you as Grandpop and Gran-Gran?" Uriko asked out loud, which making Alan and Jenny to laugh.
"I would be greatly honor!" Alan trumpeted, drummed his chest with a fist as Jenny chuckled alongside with him.
"Hooray!" Uriko cheered.
"Won't your grandparents get jealous?" Kenji jested, gently dropping her off his back.
"Actually, they're getting tired of her frenetic energy." Uriko poked Alice's cheeks for exposing her again.
"Can we eat now? I'm starving." Yugo rudely cut in, showing the evidence of his great hunger with a growling stomach.
"Of course, please sit. Our dinner will be arrived soon." Alan sat back into his chair.
The rest following suite. Alice and Uriko settled down next to Jenny's side because their seats were near the door due to her little sister was a fast eater, and had an intendency to run off to play, so she had to be near Uriko in order not to let her choked on her own food. To her luck, Kenji also sat next to Uriko as a succor for Alice. Obviously, Jane took a seat on her father's right side, opposite from Jenny, almost symbolic in a way similar to the old royal of the king, and his trustworthy subjects, or the lion and his lionesses. Some people might view this hierarchy as sexist and outdated, but for Alice, the Gado merely had a tight knit, traditional family bond that happened to involved with knighthood and royalty, at least, judging from the years she had been interacting with them, and the way they carried themselves.
"Have you seen Long, Father? He told me that he wanted to take a scroll in the garden, so you might have seen him on your way to here?" Jane looked around in the room before asking Alan.
" Négatif (negative). Only Mr. Gilbert was there. I haven't seen Mr. Charles either."
"Don't tell me you scare off the poor man again, dearie." Jenny smiled coyly.
"What makes you think I'm always the culprit of his disappearance?" Jane gave her a scowl look.
"Girl, you punch people if they don't listen to you. I mean, ya did ordering him around an hour ago like a dictator." Yugo commented, and slid into the chair next to Jane.
Alice blinked a couple of times, looked over to the empty seat next to her that had been moved slightly away from the table, and realized her boyfriend had chosen to sit with his opposite gender best friend instead of his girlfriend's side.
Wow, calm down, Alice. You're over thinking again. It's just seats. It's not the end of the world. Chill.
Alice tried to reassure herself with logics, but her anxiety reemerged when Yugo casually slung his arm around Jane's shoulders.
"Oh? What did she do?" Yugo's words sparked an interest into Jenny's playfulness.
"Why do you need-?" Jane attempted to argue, but got interrupted by Yugo.
"She got a bit touchy at something, Long whispered some weird shits to her, and both of them walked to their little Wonderland." He shrugged. Alan raised an eyebrow at the new informantion.
"You made it sounds like we were making out in the dark corner." The Amur Leopard Zoanthrope glared at her friend. She was this close to bash his stupid face against the dark mahogany dining table.
"Wait, you did?"
"NÉGATIVE! That's like assuming you and me are dating just because we're close together!" Jane exclaimed.
"Eeww, who even wants to date you?" Yugo cringed his face, showing absolute disgust at the idea of dating Jane, which Alice was relieved to hear from him because it helped her to ease a small amount of worrisome in her chest, though anything could happen beyond people's wildest imagination, so the danger was not farfetched.
Uriko silently chanting Yugo and Jane to fight in the background as Kenji pulled one of her cheeks to make her behave.
"I advise you not to inflict violence on our friends, Jeanne." Alan rebuked as his daughter was terrorizing Yugo by putting him in a deadly head lock, who rapidly tapped her arm to surrender.
"Yes, Father." She immediately stopped, and sat back into her chair, but not before she harshly elbowed Yugo at his ribs, which she earned a warning look from Alan.
Alice wondered whether she should check on Yugo's wounds since Jane's biceps were the deadliest weapon next to her guns, and Yugo's face was rather purple right now, who was coughing for air, and massaged his painful side.
"Um … When did you say dinner will here again, Ga-I mean Alan?" Alice nervously laughed, wanting to break off the tension.
"It will be here right … now."
As if on cue, Charles, the butler, and several maids dramatically trooped in with kitchen trolleys that carried their dinner in silver platters. Alice could smell a whip of delicious, hot food as the maids begun to serve. The final person to enter the dining room was Long, who brought a large platter with him, and set it down at the center of everyone before settling down one seat apart next to Kenji. There was a hesitance in his movement, barely a second, but Alice could swear she saw Long was intended to sit on Jane's side, yet, he smoothly stopped himself before anyone had noticed. Was it because he was shy to sit with her or was it due to the seat next to Jane was already occupied by someone else?
"Apology. Charles needed my help in the kitchen." Long explained. His voice was restrained.
Alan waited his butler to confirm.
"Qui, Maître. Sir Jin had gratefully lent me a helping hand with the heavy platter." Alan nodded.
"He's old, Father. Give him a break." Jane groused. Her father tended to be harsh on the servants, especially Charles if they bothered his guests in any means because they had to fulfil their roles in his words. She still irritated at the fact that Alan called Charles back to work, despite the 70 years old man affirmed that he volunteered to work again in order to see them for the last time.
"Very well. Please dig in, everyone. No need to wait." Yugo and Uriko were the first to chow down.
Everyone begun to enjoy their meals. Salmon en papillote. Baked salmon with crunchy vegetables and herbs. It had been a while since Alice was able to eat fresh fishes. Yugo mostly wanted to eat red meat and junk food when they were in Washington due to being neck deep in paperwork and meeting, so they didn't have the time to make proper meals. Kenji barely ate much last year since he was struggling with adjusting to the new environment, and the academic pressure. Despite being stress and too occupied with his school work, the young boy still went out of his way to help Yugo with the documents and speech since they knew too well that literature and communication in a professional style were not something Yugo exceled in. Now they were in their well-deserved vacation, she would make sure to fill her stomach and others, especially her stubborn boyfriend with any healthy food she could fine, even if she had shoved it down his throat. Alice squeezed the slice of lemon to add more flavor.
"Water or orange juice, Mademoiselle? Perhaps a little wine?" Charles asked.
"Oh no. Water is fine." Alice timidly smiled. Charles poured one for her, and offered to dispose her used wet towel that she used to dry her hair.
Alice was not used to having people staring at her while she was eating. Well … except for those times when Alice was recently taken in by Mitsuko, Uriko had found her presence to be interesting, and followed everywhere she go like a shadow until the kitten reunited with Kenji in their first year of middle school. Alice guessed that fancy dinner restaurant Yugo took her for their first date count be counted as one, though there were no butlers or maids standing next to you, and watched over you like a hawk.
"If Alice doesn't want, I can have that glass for her instead." Jane reached out for the bottle of wine in front of her, but it quickly got snatched away by Charles.
"Tch. Tch. No more wine for you, little one." He waged a finger at her.
"I thought I was the Lady of the house?"
"Not in my presence. You only allowed to have one glass per week." Alan informed, and waved Charles over to refill his glass with wine.
"That's unfair, Father. You get to hog over the whole wine cellar by yourself, but I can't even drink more than one glass? For a whole week?"
"Woah, you guys have a whole ass cellar?!" Yugo gasped while his mouth was still full of food.
"Correct, and swallow before you talk, dammit." Jane scathed, trying to avoid the man's spit sprayed into her face. Yugo mumbled an apology.
"Jenny shares with me, of course, and our friends are more than welcome to have some. Albeit, the young ones may have to wait for bit." Alan sipped his wine.
"Don't worry, Grandpop. I'm fine with my juices, and cider." Uriko grinned before being poured another glass of orange juice by the maid.
"See? Why don't you behave more like Uriko?"
"I'm 21!" Jane complained.
"Still a cub to me." Alan answered with a frown.
They continued to argue more. Alice took the chance to observe everyone. Jenny was twirling her almost empty glass in her fingers with a playful smirk on her ruby lips as she watched the two Gados whom switched to have a staring contest against each other now. Yugo resumed with his meal, and scooped more side dishes to fill his overly large appetite. Charles, the everly dandy butler, handed over a napkin for Yugo to wipe his sauce-stained cheeks, and mouth with both hands. Then he asked if Yugo wanted another salmon plate, to which Yugo responded with an eager nod. Uriko tried to sneak several celery sticks over to Kenji's plate when he was drinking his water, even so, nothing could pass the apprentice, and soon to be master of Ninjutsu's vision as Kenji flicked Uriko's forehead, and passed back to her plate. Long was the only one who was unbothered by his surrounding, and ate his dinner peacefully with empty thoughts … or that was what he wanted people to think he was.
Alice may not possessed the most optimum detective skill to analyze Long, despite being a family friend. However, she caught Long snuck a glance over to the spiky short hair woman every time he took a bite. Eyebrowed furrowed, lips formed a thin line, and harden eyes. Wasn't that always had been his trademark look? A part of her agreed while the other begged to differ, and forced her to look deeper into this mysterious man. Although, his glasses helped to conceal his expression, from Alice's angle of sitting, she could see a change of emotion when Long's briefly moved his focus on Yugo before returned back to eating. Was that annoyance, and anger? Annoyance, maybe since Yugo and Long hardly ever interacted much together nor they wanted to be close, but anger? Alice rarely had seen the man ever once raised his voice, not even a notch difference. The only time she knew he had gone mad was through Uriko, who was a rather dramatic narrator, and the reason Uriko got yelled by him was because she threw the extra Math homework that Long gave as a punishment for failing her exam, and ditched their afternoon training to hang out with her friends behind his back. Mitsuko had to go back to her hometown due to family issues in a sudden as Alice was toiling away at the hospital, and only able to return home at midnight. Therefore, Long couldn't call anyone at that moment. He didn't have Kenji's phone number yet. He was worried sick for his student, and ran outside to search for her in fear of Uriko being abducted again in the middle of heavy rain.
Alice didn't realize that she had been staring at Long like an idiot, who raised an eyebrow at her, and she hastily adverted her attention back to her unfinished plate to avoid his lemur stare. Was he irritated at her for rudely staring at him like a bizarre creature or was he suspicious of her being inquisitive, and attempted to expose his dark secrets? Thankfully, her little sister came in to save her away from the awkward humiliation Alice just set herself in.
"What's inside that, by the way?" Uriko leaned forward to sniff at the silver platter which still had its lid on.
"Yeah. I have been wondering the same thing." Yugo asked as he finished his second salmon plate.
The two main characters of the house who had finally finished their little competition shared the same question as the boxer.
"Wait... Is that...?" Jane's nose twitched at the familiar sweet aroma.
"Qui, Mademoiselle. Everyone, may I present you Tarte des Demoiselles Tatin! Also known as fruit tart!" Charles theatrically took off the lid, and revealed the large blackberry and raspberry tart that emitted steam.
"Ooh! Ooh! I want some please!" Charles chuckled at Uriko's childlike demeanor. She reminded him of Jane when she was a toddler.
"Of course, mon chéri! However, please wait for your turn. Mademoiselle Jeanne needs to be severed. It was made specifically for her." He gave a secret smile at the last sentence.
"Really?" Jane expressed her genuine curiosity.
"Qui. Why don't you have a taste first?" Charles handed over a plate of large cut of tart with warm cream on top.
Jane wasted no time, took a mouthful bite, and her face immediately lit up with joy. Alan fondly smiled as he enjoyed seeing his daughter showing her more emotional side. She was still young after all. He didn't want Jane to be bitter and cynical due to her obsession of fighting, though, out of Alan's awareness, that was not the real reason why she followed his footsteps to become a mercenary. He blamed himself for being the reason of Jane chose the battlefield over the peaceful life that he had wanted her to be in for a long time. Despite his constant objection of his opinion on Jane's decision, Alan remained to subsidize her till these days. Alan may disagree, but he took pleasure in pampering his two favourite ladies with goods.
"I take that you enjoy the tart, hm?" Charles chuckled as he started to serve everyone their dessert.
Jane only relieved back with a purr, to prove further her answer, feline ears and tail popped out. It was natural for Zoanthropes to morph when they experience strong emotions, which was happiness in Jane's case. To humans, this phenomenon would be seen as an advantage because they could able to express themselves more, and be able to protect themselves when in danger with their superior strength, but to Zoans, it was a weakness or to be grimmer, it was a curse. Humans seemed to forget the extended centuries of hunting, abusing Zoans in order to lead them to their extinction due to humans were afraid of something that they couldn't comprehend or something they couldn't control. It was in human's nature to have a desire to tame and own the beast. However, everything would be change right now. With the help of Alan and Yugo, all Zoanthropes would be free from the unfortunate fate that their past generations had to endure. The appearance of WOC (World of Co-Existence) only had been a tremendous help for Zoans since last year.
"Damn, this stuff is good!" Yugo praised as he asked for another plate.
"Agree." Kenji complimented, and wiped off the cream on Uriko's cheek, who licked her spoon clean, and tried to take some more from Kenji.
Alan nodded his approval before washed his mouth with his wine.
"Dessert for you, Ma dame?" Jenny shook her head when the maid politely asked.
"Fill my glass instead please. Unlike them, I'm not quite fancy with sweet. My husband is more than enough for my appetite." She chuckled when Alan leaned over to her and softly kissed her cheek.
"Not in front of my pastry, goddammit." Jane grumbled, making others to laugh at the comedic scene where the child got embarrassed of their parents showing affection in the public.
Everyone was right. The fruit tart was amazing. The sweetness of blackberry and raspberry brought out the summer flavor that Alice had been missing since she left Japan. The tart crust was perfect, a little sweet and buttery, not too hard to be crumpled when she forked in down. The warm, milky cream brought out more of the cookie like texture of the tart crust, and the hint of sourness from the fruit balanced out the sweet and butter. It was refreshing. Alice took another bite of goodness.
For some reasons, Alice's brain commanded her to look over to her shoulder, which she complied after some failed attempts to quiet it down. To her absolute surprised, a small smile formed on Long's stone cold face as he endearingly glanced over to Jane whose tail curled up like a squirrel and reached over to cut another slice of tart. His dessert was left untouched. Hold on. Was the reason of Long choosing to sit opposite of Jane is to see her reaction? Out of the 12 seats left, he decided to sit on Alice's side of seats. If he was anti social, he would had sat the opposite of Alan, which is the chair at the end of the dining table. Alice stealthily bended backward and her suspicion was right, Long had slightly moved his chair more on his left in a convenient way toward Jane.
"I have to say. This tastes awfully familiar." Jane thoughtfully said, making both Charles and Long to sweat nervously.
"Ohoho. Who's on your mind then, Mademoiselle?" The old butler stroked his goatee in a mix of anxious and curiosity.
"Was it chef Leyla? Is your sister still around?"
"Ah, chef Leyla had unfortunately retired two years ago due to health conditions." Charles gently shook his head and nervously looked over to Long, who drank his water to ease down his worry.
"I made sure to offer her the best nursing home." Alan added.
"A shame. I miss her cooking. Anyway, whoever baked this godly treat, I will kiss them full on the mouth." Jane purred and licked her lips after finishing her last bite of dessert.
Suddenly, Long choked on his drink, which causing everyone to pay attention at his unexpected deportment.
"My apologies..." Long coughed as he dapped a napkin over his mouth and wiped the wet stain on his front garment.
He was wearing a navy blue Changpao with a long black stripe that stretched from his shoulder down to his heels on his left side with golden oriental patterns. Long had always been a traditional person from his etiquette to the way he dressed, similar to Alan, except for the fashion part since the head of Gado family was a military man. The only type of more modern outfit Long allowed himself to wear was suit, which he wore almost every day for his work as a high school teacher.
"You okay there?" Jane asked in concern.
"I'm fine. No need to worry about me." His tone was a tad cold and harsh.
"Oh mon! Sir Jin must be worn out from the interminable air transport. If I may, Maître, I believe we should retire early for tonight." Charles requested as cool as cucumber.
"So early? We would miss the chance to see our Janie's little secret admirer. They did bake the tart solely for her, after all." Jenny slyly smiled, receiving a hidden glare from Long, which she pretended not to notice.
She's on to something. Alice thought.
"Yeah. I wanna explore the castle!" Uriko shouted, and Yugo supported her idea by pumping his fists into the air.
"Can we save that for later? I still have a bit jet lag, to be honest." Kenji objected as Uriko patted his back, and Yugo walked over to his brother's seat to rub his head.
"Ah … Me too, Alan. We're still quite tired from the flight." Alice concurred.
"Well, if everyone is tired, I guess I will follow along." Jane told, still worried over Long, who avoided her gaze.
"I see. Very well. Let us all rest. Before we depart, please remember that we will have a stroll in Paris at seven hundred sharp. Make sure to get as much sleep as you can because we will spend the whole day at there." Alan announced and stood up from his chair.
"Read back." He ordered Jane.
"I read back: tomorrow seven hundred sharp at Paris." Alan nodded in satisfaction and walked to his bed chamber. Charles and the maids begun to clean up the dining table.
"Such a shame." Jenny commented before following the African Lion Zoanthrope.
Jane noticed the puzzled look on her friends' face and explained.
"It's a military radio communication tactic. It's almost our second nature." Everyone noted.
"You guys still remember your way to your rooms?" Jane questioned. Her leopard ears and tail had reverted back now.
"Kinda. If we lost, we will just track Yugo's stinky socks." Uriko snicked behind her hand.
"Hey!"
"Just go straight from here, turned left at entrance foyer, go straight until you see an old telephone with a flower vase to it and take a sharp right." The young mercenary instructed.
"Alright. We'll see you in the morning, Jane." Alice smiled.
"Bye-Bye!" Uriko waved, and skipped back to her room with the tired Kenji.
"Later, furball." Yugo socked Jane on the arm before walked with Alice.
Only Long and Jane remained at their spot. Waiting until the rest was out of ear shot, Jane turned her head over to the anxious Chinese man who hid behind his aloof façade. His hands begun to feel damped behind his back. The air suddenly felt warmer. Somehow her eyes sparkled more than usual tonight, and it was barely past 20:00 now. It was not that dark yet. He stood motionless, back straight, head firm, but his eyes were at somewhere else aside her face. He held a breath when Jane took a step closer.
"Thanks for the tart. You don't have to do that, you know?" She hit his chest with the back of her palm in a playful manner.
"… You know?"
"Pfftt! Of couse, I know, silly. I can recognize your cooking skill from miles." Jane smirked.
"Oh." She laughed at his response.
"Were you still guilty about what happened in the afternoon? I told you already. It's fine."
Long didn't confirm nor he denied. Jane sighed. It was rather cute of him to bake one of her favourite pastry if she had to admit. However, she was getting annoyed and tired of Long holding grudges for something so trivial. Jane was not fond of being put on the pedestal, which she highly doubted he even bothered to do that, though he did show highly respect for her and Alan. She didn't like the idea of being superior over her friends.
"Alright. Alright. You don't have to say anything. I'm head to bed now." Jane dismissed and was about to walk to her private quarter until her arm got grabbed by Long.
She looked over to him to ask what his deal was and saw a mix expression of panic, confusion, and... irritation?
"I... You... Have a good night." Long vacillated, struggling to form a proper sentence.
Jane gestured at her arm, which Long let go at once, and put his hands behind his back to hide her from witnessing him digging his nails into his palms. His head hung low. Eyes glared a hole into the marble floor. Jane could only raise an eyebrow at his odd behavior, but soon shook her head and reached a hand toward his face to fix his glasses that was slightly dropped a bit too low on his nose bridge.
"Bonne nuit, Long. (Good night)" With that, Jane walked away, leaving the stunt Long behind.
His body went stiff again, recovering from the shiver of her touch on his face. Long clenched his jaw to prevent the heat rise up to his face, and wanted to bite his tongue to prevent the urge to touch the spot where Jane playful smacked him. He let out a frustrating groan, and trudged back to his room. Hopefully, by tomorrow, all of these complex, and abnormal emotions would go away.