Just like what had happened in school, they saw Rhazen, Aki's father, almost everywhere. They saw him in the park where he was walking a small breed of dog and mingling with the people who strolled there. They also saw him in the wet market as a butcher. And in various other places.
Aki's only wonder is why he always only sees his father. Where is his mother? Why is he not with his father on the days when he appears to him?
The thought of someone else taking care of the mother made her hair stand on end. He was nervous that his mother might be doing something he wouldn't like.
The only thing that made Aki wonder was the fact that every time they saw her father, he was alone. Where was her mother? Why was she not with her father on the days when he appeared in front of her?
The thought of her mother taking care of something else made her terrified. She was afraid that her mother might be doing something she wouldn't like.
"Aki, hold the other end so I can cut properly."
She tried to shake off the doubts about her mother that were troubling her now. She just helped her group mates with their project.
Matthew and Mario already know that she lives here in M's house. Even their classmates think they were lovers because of the fact that they live under the same roof.
"Sis, eat these first," Mharc offered the snacks she brought.
"Thank you, Sis. Have you had a snack yet? Eat with us," Aki invited Mharc.
Four of their schoolmates including Matthew and Mario were now at their house. There were six members in their group. Their teacher let them choose their group mates that was why they were in the same group together.
Their class president Jessica was also grouped with them that was why they made her the leader. Pinky, Jessica's friend, was their treasurer. The three young men did not want to be in charge, so Aki became the assistant leader even though she was still clueless about many things.
"Looks like we can't finish this today. We have to come back here tomorrow, is that okay?" Jessica asked if they could go back to that house and work on the unfinished project there.
It was due on Thursday and it's only Saturday. But their teammates wanted to finish the project early so that they wouldn't be hastened when the due date was near. There was a lot of work assigned to their leader because she was the president of their class. That's why they can't just sit idle with their project.
Aki didn't even let M know about Jessica's concern. She didn't bother to ask if their leader's idea was fine with him. She took the initiative to make the decision herself and immediately agreed with her.
"Sure, let's continue it here tomorrow."
The six of them were complete, but only the three women were working. M and Matthew were playing on the play station. While Mario was not even helping but still had the guts messing with what the three of them were doing.
"Mario, don't touch that! You might break it again!" Aki scolded him for the nth time.
Mario just smiled at her and continued to fiddle with what they were doing. "What is this? How does it work?"
"Stop it, Mario!" reprimanded the leader, Jessica, while she was already pecked at Mario.
"I'm just asking. You're so hot-headed." This young man was really annoying. He even managed to laugh at his irritated leader.
"Tsk. Don't ask, will you? It doesn't help at all!"
"It's boring. Those two scumbags don't want to play with me," complained Mario referring to their two other group mates namely M and Matthew. Because of that Aki's attention darted to them.
"You two, aren't you going to eat? Are you just going to play there all day long?"
But they were not even bothered by her and were still focused on what they were playing.
"Oh! Sis, just let them be. They'll eat when they're hungry," Mharc commented with a laugh.
"She's right. Just hand me the cookies, Aki," Mario said in a teasing manner.
When Aki handed Mario what he was asking for, he still didn't eat. "Feed me, Mharc," he gently ordered the girl sitting beside him.
"I don't want to."
"Come on, kid."
He treats her like his younger sister. He was there and saw how she grew up and suffered with her older brother M. Even before they lost their parents, M and Mario were already best friends.
"I don't want to, you lazy."
"It's because my hands are dirty."
"That's your fault. Your hands wouldn't get dirty only if you didn't interfere with what we were doing," Pinky said, annoyed.
Mario decided to ignore what Pinky said because he knew that these women would only team up against him more if he continued to defend himself.
"Come on, Mharc."
Instead, he just begged Mharc to feed him.
"I. Don't. Want. To." Mharc said, stressing every word. "There's a lot of women here. Go and ask them," she said, teasing the girls who were with them. She knew that there were many women who fell for Mario but these two—Jessica and Pinky—were different.
"I'm out, I'm not a nanny." Jessica's eyes rolled slightly at Mario's behavior.
"Me neither. Go find yourself someone you can fool," Pinky said.
They were teasing Mario. They were giving back for his nagging and messing with them earlier.
Aki just laughed at them and said, "Come on Mario, let me feed you."
"There you go! Sis Aki's willing to feed you!" Mharc thought Aki was just teasing and making fun of Mario. Little did she know that Aki was serious about her offer to Mario.
"Come on! Say 'A'!" Aki said as she put the food in front of Mario's mouth.
Mario, Mharc, Pinky, and Jessica looked at Aki with their wide-opened eyes because of what she did. They were surprised Aki was not kidding when she said she was going to feed Mario.
"What's the matter?" she asked strangely. For her she only offered to help her friend. His hands were dirty and as a good friend she was, she offered to help him. That was all. There was no malice in her feeding Mario food. But it was different for these Mortals, especially since they thought that she was M's woman.
"Seriously?!" Pinky exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yes, what's wrong?" Aki asked, still wondering.
"I'm not ready to die just yet," said Mario, shaking his head repeatedly.
"What do you think you're doing, girl? M might get jealous!" Jessica replied with a snarl.
"Why so?" Her hand holding the cookie was still hanging in the air. Her eyes were flashing a questioning look at her friends.
"Oh my! I don't know what to do with you, young woman!"
"Is there a problem? I was just going to help feed Mario," she tried to to defend herself but still confused with what her friends meant.
"What are you, guys, talking about?" asked M who was now approaching them.
"Will you be jealous if I feed Mario these cookies?" Aki directly asked the young man who was momentarily surprised. He stopped for a moment; stared at Aki; and later laughed at it.
"No. Why should I be jealous?" he answered, still laughing. 'Why does she have to ask for my permission?' he thought. There's no need to do that. They were just friends.
"See? I told you," Aki proudly turned to their friends.
"Come on now. Say 'A'!" She continued what she was doing and lightly pinched Mario's chin with her left hand to gesture to him to open his mouth.
Before accepting the food offered by Aki, Mario looked at M first. Asking for an answer if it was really okay for him to accept his girl's food. But M just looked away and ate the snacks in front of him, not even looking at them again.
Because of how determined Aki was, Mario eventually gave in and accepted what she was giving him.
"Here's another one."
Smiling, Aki placed another cookie in Mario's mouth. Aki was having fun feeding Mario.
"Next time, I'll feed you again," she seriously promised after giving him the last remaining cookies.
Mario and the others who were there choked with that statement of Aki. Mario was indeed a womanizer but his friend's girlfriend was absolutely off limits. He was not comfortable letting Aki, who was the girlfriend of his best friend, do things that his girls usually do.
"What? It's fun. I'll feed you again, Mario…next time," she said happily.
Aki, the Archein, doesn't know that feeding a man also meant flirting for these Mortals. She thought it was just a normal thing for good friends, especially since she saw many people doing it in the parks they passed by.
"Oh! Thanks but no thanks, Aki. My hands are just dirty now and I'm too lazy to wash them so…" Mario trailed off finding the right words to turn her down.
"Whatever! I'm still going to feed you. I'm going to feed you all!" Her statement was filled with finality and melodious with excitement.