After school, Dean walked out of the school gate. He stopped for a second, turned around, and saw a girl hiding behind the gate. Then Dean casually kept walking.
"Hey, NS, that girl's been following me for a while now," Dean thought to himself.
["Just let her be."]
"What does she even want, anyway? Why doesn't she just come up and talk?" Dean wondered.
["She's just curious because she saw you and Claire when you entered my world earlier."]
"Hmm... so I guess I should shut her up," Dean muttered.
["No need. As long as she's not a target, you're not allowed to make a move. Besides, there's something else about that girl."]
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Dean asked.
["You'll find out later, hohoho."]
"Secrets again, damn it," Dean grumbled.
Dean glanced back as he kept walking and saw the girl still trailing him. Finally, he turned into an alley between buildings. The girl immediately ran to catch up, but when she turned the corner, Dean was nowhere to be seen in the dead-end alley.
"Huh? Where'd he go? Darn it," the girl said, looking confused.
*****
"Rustle," Dean appeared on a tall tree branch. He saw Claire still sitting in class through a nearby window, resting her chin on her desk. Then Claire looked out the window and saw Dean perched on the tree right next to it. Claire's face immediately brightened, and she mouthed, "I'll be done soon, wait for me outside," without making a sound.
Dean nodded, and Claire kept looking out the window at him, smiling. But suddenly, Claire looked straight ahead, her face tense. Then she stood up and started reading a book, and all her classmates turned to look at her.
"Hoo... looks like her teacher caught her looking this way, huh?" Dean mumbled with a smile.
"Rustle," Dean started climbing down the tree. He brushed off his clothes and casually walked towards the front gate, totally unnoticed. Because he can hide his presence, no one realized he was just strolling out the front gate, even with lots of students, staff, and janitors passing by. The security guard didn't even notice Dean opening the gate and walking out; the guard was just confused, feeling like he'd already closed the gate and hadn't opened it yet.
Dean leaned against the school fence and checked his watch. He looked around; it turned out Claire's school was in a pretty busy shopping area. This was different from his own school, which was located between office buildings and and residential areas, making it a bit quieter than Claire's. He also realized that Claire's school was a bit further from his cafe, which was near the office district.
"It's crowded here," Dean muttered.
["That's right. Do you want to walk around for a bit?"]
"Nah, Claire will be out soon," Dean replied.
"Ding!" Two messages popped up on Dean's smartphone. He opened them immediately and smiled. He quickly replied that he'd received the money and then opened his mobile banking app to send money to Laila. Of course, Laila replied to his message by calling and asking him questions like a mother would. After talking for two minutes,
"Where's Angel, Mom?" Dean asked.
"She went to the mini mart... Oh, and she said she wants to come to the cafe during the holiday. She heard Uncle Liam gave you the cafe," Laila replied.
"Huh...? How did she hear that?" Dean asked, surprised.
"She was eavesdropping when Uncle Liam called last night to telling me about his wife pregnancy and also telling me the progress of changing the name of the cafe certificate to your name... that child," Laila said.
"Oh...I see. Do you want to come too, Mom?" Dean asked.
"No, I'll just stay home," Laila replied.
"Hmm... why, Mom?" Dean asked.
"It's nothing, you know, I'm starting to get tired easily. I wanna use the time to rest," Laila said.
"I see. I'll tell Angel not to stay here too long then," Dean said.
"Let her be, Dean, she misses her big brother," Laila said.
"Alright, whatever," Dean replied.
"Oh, by the way, I heard you have a girlfriend?" Laila asked.
"Huh...? Who told you that?" Dean asked, surprised.
"Angel. Since last week, she's been so angry and really wants to come to your town. She wants to 'settle things' with a girl named Claire, or something like that, because I just heard her muttering angrily, not really understanding what she was saying," Laila answered.
"Oh man... why is she like that? Claire's a friend, not a girlfriend! I've explained it to her so many times," Dean said, shaking his head and suddenly feeling tired.
"Well, that's just Angel. She look up to you too much," Laila said.
"That's called a 'bro complex,' Mom," Dean mumbled.
"Alright, whatever. I'm going to rest now, okay? You stay healthy, and call your mom often," Laila said.
"Okay, Mom, don't overdo it," Dean replied.
"Yeah, bye," Laila said.
Dean stared at his smartphone screen after the call ended. He paused for a moment, then put his phone back in his pocket. "Hufff," he sighed and leaned casually against the wall.
["Thinking about your sister?"]
"Yeah... she wants to come here. I don't know how that's gonna turn out," Dean thought.
["Just let her come and introduce her to Claire."]
"This is why I hate dealing with women, you know? I thought in this life I could relax, even with all this debt," Dean mumbled.
["Hohoho... you have Claire and your sister Angel, kind of like a harem, right?"]
"Harem? You're stupid. Angel's my little sister, and Claire... she's... I don't know what she is, but I don't want a harem," Dean said.
["Hmm... back in your old life, when you were ugly and poor and worked yourself to death, you wanted a harem, didn't you? In this life, it can come true, why don't you enjoy it?"]
"Shut up! It's different. Don't talk about women, I'm tired of it," Dean snapped.
"Dong... dong," the school bell rang. Dean glanced over briefly, then looked back towards the shopping area. Soon after, students started pouring out of the gate. Some of the girls saw Dean leaning against the wall and were immediately awestruck by his handsome face. But Dean kept looking at the gate, ignoring the whispers of the girls passing by. A moment later,
"Hi!" Claire ran from the gate, waving with a cheerful face. Dean stopped leaning and faced Claire, who was running towards him with both hands in her pockets.
"Sorry I took so long," Claire said, grabbing Dean's arm when she reached him.
"Yeah, no problem," Dean replied.
"Why do you look like that? What's wrong?" Claire asked, noticing Dean's expression.
"Just a lot on my mind. Let's go to the cafe," Dean suggested.
Suddenly, they both felt a strong hostile vibe from all around them. Dean and Claire looked around and saw many girls staring at Claire with envious and murderous glares, while many boys were giving Dean sharp stares, ready to punch him.
"Great. Now both of us are drawing attention," Dean muttered to himself.