Chapter 26:

Chapter 19(Part 2) - Zyieny's Plan

Shadowed Love


“Tell me, why would we let this big fat sloppy van pass our territory and go to Yulioe?” he said and tapped the van twice with force, letting out a ‘bang’.

Right now, Varean was cursing his business partner who borrowed his dazzling limousine just for a shampoo endorsement parade, and in the end, he ended up using this fucking van.

“I will tell you if you would shut your shitty mouth and stop your saliva from splashing at me.” Varean answered with a certain accent that reminded Catte of a British person. Varean’s answer made the group hold their laughter, afraid that the group of men will get upset and they will end up as their food.

“Haha, you are so serious as ever, best friend. I was just joking! Of course, whatever you look like, you will always be my precious man.” The leader hung his arm around Varean’s neck and messed his hair.

‘Best friend? But I thought Sir Varean, my dad, and uncle Lartiean were best friends? Is he also one of the people who knows uncle Lartiean?’ Catte thought.

“Stop that bullshit. Let us pass.” Varean let out an irritated tone, but his face did not seem irritated at all as he felt kind of happy since it had been a long time since he saw his best friend.

“You will still pass? Going to Yulioe from here will take you eight hours and it’s already sunset. Are you sure you still want to go?

The people there will probably close their borders for about eleven.” The leader said with slight concern in his voice, so Varean thought about it.

“Why not stay the night here and just leave tomorrow?” the leader suggested, which made some of the members frown.

“So we will only have a four-day vacation?” Lily mumbled in disappointment, but the leader still heard it and turned to them.

“Hey kids, did you bring your reviewers?” he asked and the group immediately nodded.

“Well then, extend your trip and review your books here so you can relax in Yulioe.” He said, and the group’s faces immediately lit up.

“How about you? Did you bring your wife?” The leader asked. Varean was about to get furious but realized his friend was looking at Hazuka.

“Yes.” He answered and took a peek at Lily secretly.

“Woah, Varean, your son looks like a boy in love.” The leader commented when he saw Hazuka peek at the girl behind him.

“No, I am not Sir Varean’s son. I am not worthy of being his son.” Hazuka immediately corrected the leader, but he just got pulled closer by someone.

“What are you saying, son? Tell me, Zyieny. Do I look similar to my precious son?” Varean said like a doting father and Hazuka just felt overwhelmed. This was the first time Sir Varean hung his arms around his shoulders! What’s more, he called him his son! Precious son!

“Hm…. Just your eyes. Aside from that, I don’t think so. But you two give off the same aura and vibe.” Zyieny scanned their faces first before answering seriously.

“What kind of vibe?” Varean asked while still hanging his arms around Hazuka’s shoulders.

“An intimidating and cold aura around people, but it is a doting husband and father. Also a softy, just like a bunny or a cat.” Zyieny sounded confident with his answer, which made Hazuka flinch because of how accurate his answer was. Hazuka is a mix of the bunny and cat tribe.

“Haha, is that what you think? That’s so sweet of you, best friend.” Varean just replied casually and had a happy face as he doted on Hazuka even more like a father.

As they watch this scene, the group’s impression of Varean changes little by little. Turns out he is not intimidating as we thought. His restaurant is also worth dying for. What a great father. Some of them thought.

“Are you going to stay in this sloppy van until tomorrow?” Zyieny sarcastically asked, so the group turned their heads to Varean.

“You can go out now.” Varean commanded and his heart ached when he heard a thud when Poui excitedly opened the door and just looked at him apologetically and said ‘sorry’ in a little voice.

Just what did he do to deserve this oh so strong van that his heart aches from pity when one of the doors thud? Just what did the van do to deserve this kind of hatred from the driver?

“Oh… I didn’t know there were this many…” Zyieny said when they all got out of the van with their baggage.

“How about we cook some of them?” the man beside Zyieny, who looked like his right-hand man, suggested and looked at the group.

“Oh… can we at least have our vacation before getting cooked? We really want to visit Yulioe.” Lily raised her hand, which made the group shocked. Not because she talked back at the barbarian but because she agreed to get cooked.

“Uh, Lily…. if you want to get cooked, don’t bring us with you…”Catte said in a low voice, but since this area is quiet, the people still heard it and restrained themselves from laughing.

“What? What happened to our friendship? Didn’t we vow to stay with each other, for better and for worse?” Lily almost looked like a person whose lover was dead, but the group still took it seriously.

“Then you should have just rejected it.” Cassie said and the barbarians can’t stand it anymore and spoke up.

“Hey kids, we were just joking. What’s with kids nowadays? Can’t even understand a joke?” Zyieny’s right-hand man said.

“I know.” Lily replied and smiled. Right now, even for the group, her smile looked a little bit creepy.

“What do you mean?” the right-hand man asked. That was a question but it sounded like a statement.

“You won’t even touch someone who was with Sir Varean.” Lily simply said and shook her shoulder.

“Heh.” The man just simply scoffed because what Lily said was true, he was even standing 2 meters from Lily. Varean just smiled like a proud father. His detective Lily’s skill is amazing as ever.

“Let’s go in.” Zyieny led them into a clean, wooden house. It is not that big nor small. Just the exact size for their group.

“You can stay the night here. Don’t ever break things or you want to get buried alive.” Zyieny warned, that made the group conscious of their movement. He was about to leave when Varean spoke, “Oh Zyieny, would you go easy on my passengers?”

“Passengers my poop.” He said and left.

“Well then, go and rest in the bedrooms. Papa will cook dinner for you.” Varean said, and the group laughed when they heard the word ‘Papa’.

There are only 2 bedrooms so the girls went to the first one while Hazuka went to the other one, which would be his and Varean’s room for the night.

They were asleep for almost thirty minutes when Varean finished setting the table.

He went upstairs and knocked twice on the girl’s bedroom. When no one answered, he let himself in and found them sleeping. “Hey, time to eat.” He shook every one of them to wake up. When they are finally standing and are rubbing their eyes, he goes to the other room and finds Hazuka sleeping cutely but he looks like a bunny that has been abandoned.

“Time to wake up, my boy. Dinner’s ready.” He gently shook Hazuka’s shoulder and just continued with the father-son acting he invented.

“Dad…” Varean was caught off guard when Hazuka suddenly called him such a precious name. He wasn’t sure if his ‘son’ was just playing along or he really mistook him for his dad. Nevertheless, he still woke him up.

“Sir Varean? Oh no, I’m sorry. How embarrassing, falling asleep in front of you.” Hazuka stood up immediately and fixed the bed.

‘Seems like he was just mistaken’. Varean thought and just dropped the topic.

“It’s okay, I’m not royalty or something. Dinner’s ready so let’s go.” Varean held Hazuka’s back to lead him downstairs. The girls were already sitting and were just waiting for them to come down.

“Time to eat!” Lily exclaimed and the family started eating happily while chatting.

“Sir, you know what? I thought you were intimidating but you are actually a kind and doting father!” Jillian excitedly said, which made them all stop what they were doing. Yes, they realized that, but they were not close enough to be honest with each other.

“I am.” Varean just answered shortly, referring to being intimidating and released his intimidating aura jokingly that made Jillian realize her mistake.

“Yes, you are.” She agreed in monotone. They all just laughed and continued eating.

“Catte?” Varean called out Catte’s name outside the door. After eating, they all helped wash the dishes and rested upstairs.

“Yes?” Catte got up from bed and opened the door for Varean.

“Come with me for a second.” He said, so Catte bid goodbye to the girls before going downstairs with Varean.

“Where are we going, Uncle?” Catte asked when they passed the living room to go outside. She decided to just call Varean ‘Uncle’ since he is also a friend of Lartiean.

“I mentioned you and your background to Zyieny and he asked for you.” He answered while they were walking towards the huge house in this little town.

“Zyieny.” Varean said, and looked at the person reading at a table in the middle.

“Sit here, Catte.” He said and tapped the seat at the other side of the table. Catte was confused about why he knew her name but still sat down anyway.

“Oh my goodness… you really are Jameson’s daughter…” he commented, and had a longing emotion in his eyes.

“Ah… are you also a friend of them?” Catte asked, referring to his father, Lartiean, and Varean.

“Yes, I am one of Jameson’s front liner.” He answered and smiled kindly.

“Huh? Front liner?” she asked with both of her brows raised.

“Yep, but it is not the time to tell you yet. Just a little longer.” Zyieny said, and looked at Varean.

“How did you find her?”

“She came to me.” Varean casually answered and added, “She applied to my restaurant.”

“Oh, that… you mean that fast-food restaurant?” Zyieny repeated incredulously. “Oh man, you sure attract relevant people to your ‘fast-food’ restaurant.” He added, emphasizing the ‘fast-food’, sounding like he was mocking his friend’s business.

“My restaurant is worth eating at, bastard.” Varean replied with a slightly irritated tone. He really loves his restaurant.

“Can you even prove it?” Zyieny provoked him.

“Those kids said it was delicious and was their first time eating such delicious food and would even eat the whole menu.” Varean said proudly with his grin.

“Oh, kids. They don’t pick what they eat anymore.” The other man said with disappointment in his voice.

“Shut up, Zyieny. You just can’t go to my restaurant since you live far away.” Varean retaliated.

“You are just greedy for money.” The other man also didn’t let himself lose and even insulted him.

“Whatever.” Varean just rolled his eyes.

“By the way…” Zyieny turned to look at Catte.

“Hm?”

“Are you sure you want to cross the border? I’m sure you went to this world to get your revenge but I am confused about why you want to go to Yulioe.” He asked with sincere confusion.

“Huh? Lily said Yulioe is not as the rumors say, so we want to have our vacation there.” Catte was also confused by Zyieny’s words.

“Oh, seems like the smartest person also forgets about its friend’s status and got swallowed by emotions.” He commented and looked at Varean, who just ignored what he said.

“Huh?”

“If you cross the border to Yulioe, you will forget about your purpose. Not your memories, but your purpose, so your memories will be replaced. She probably didn’t tell it since most of the members of your group is a vampire or in the animal tribes but it only works for humans.” Zyieny firmly said that made Catte stiffened on her seat.

“So I can’t go with them?” Catte seemed to ask the most obvious question that Zyieny scoffed at her. “Obviously.”

“But how would I say it when we are already here? They even asked permission to Qeru’s mother to come with her, so I can’t go back now.” Catte said with a problematic tone.

“It’s just two choices. First, you will tell them that something came up at the restaurant and you need to go back with this old dude, or you will go there and forget your purpose and fail to get your revenge.” He said and raised his two fingers while seriously looking at her.

“I don’t have a choice. I need to get my revenge.” Catte said, with determination but also with disappointment. She thought she would have her vacation with her friends, so she was excited and this news suddenly came to her.

“Okay. Good luck tomorrow.” Zyieny said before hugging her and bidding goodbye.

“Sometimes, you need to take your priorities. Friends are also important, but it’s up to you.” Varean commented while they were walking back to the house.

“Right.” She just replied with disappointment and sadness.

“Goodnight then.” Varean said before Catte went upstairs. “Goodnight.”

“Catte, where did you two go?” Nagie asked while playing with her phone.

“Somewhere important.” She said uninterestingly before going to sleep while being sad.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Varean explained to Hazuka what they had talked about earlier. Hazuka almost also said that he would accompany them, but Varean rejected it immediately, saying that his son also needed a break from stress.

In the end, Hazuka got flattered again about being called ‘son’ and just agreed before the two went to sleep.

What wonderful choices by Zyieny.

continue next chapter~