Chapter 20(Part 1) - It's Hard To Say An Excuse, So, What's The Cause?

“Eyyyyy!! Let’s go!!!” Lily excitedly hung each of her arms on Qeru and Catte’s shoulders.

“Yeessss!” the others were excited too, except for one person.

“What’s wrong, Catte?” Lily asked her when she felt her sadness. The group's attention was also directed at her.

“Huh? Nothing! I think I am a bit sleepy.” She reasoned and yawned forcibly to prove to them that she was really sleepy. But the truth is, she don’t know how to say to them that she can’t go and couldn’t find a chance to say it.

“Then let’s go!” the group once again got inside the van and sat on their seats yesterday.

“Catte, Lily. Come with me for a second.” Varean said with a serious tone even before they got inside, so they followed him to the area far away from the van.

“Lily, how can you forget that Catte is a human?” he asked, and looked at Lily seriously. Lily didn’t flinch from the realization, since she had just remembered it last night before sleeping when she thought about the curse.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized while looking down.

“No need, so… you know what it means, right?” He asked her, referring to Catte not coming along with them.

“Will the curse actually affect her?” she asked with a sad tone, looked at Varean and was about to cry.

“Of course, if it affects me, it will affect her too, because we’re both humans.” He answered with a consoling tone.

“I could not find a chance to break it to them.” Catte interfered, making the two of them look at her. One has a look of ‘don’t worry, I got this’, and the other one has ‘don’t worry, I’ll help you’.

“The plan will be, I will say that something came up in the restaurant and you need to come to me. Just like what we talked about last night.” Varean said simply.

“I think we can just say it when we arrive at the border so you can still see Yulioe.” Lily added and tapped her shoulder.

“Thank you, but can’t the barrier be turned off?” Catte said, still hoping that she could come.

“There is no way. The people in Yulioe are great friends with humans and the other vampires didn’t allow it, giving their area a curse. So if humans passed the border, then they would believe that they were vampires and were just keeping an eye on them.” Varean explained and Catte’s heart ached even more. ‘Just what is it that prevents them from making peace with each other?’ she thought while looking down at disappointment.

“And then the lower mental tolerance you have, the faster you forget about ‘that’ even though it’s still three kilometers further. But since you agreed to break it out to them on the barrier, I will trust your mental tolerance since you came up with getting revenge.” He added and sighed.

“Now then, shall we go? I think we’re taking too long.” Varean said, and the three of them went back to the car.

“What did you do?” Qeru asked when Catte sat beside her.

“Just checked if anyone left a belonging behind.” Catte tried her hardest to hide the sadness in her voice.

As the car drives closer and closer, the slower she forgets about something. She was just feeling sad since she's not noticing it.

“Man, I should have brought my parasol.” Qeru said with regret.

“Oh, Princess Qeru forgot her precious parasol.” Poui jokingly repeated with the title.

“Don’t call me that.” Qeru replied and looked like she really hated it. The group laughed and the tension in the van yesterday, vanished and they all chatted in peace. Catte also just chatted with them and decided to forget the fact that she cannot come with them.

“Sir, are there any leftovers from your restaurant?” Jillian asked Varean and he immediately took out a bag full of food. It was from yesterday’s drive-thru—he bought an extra bag since he expected this scenario. A proud owner should prepare, you know?

“Oh! Thank you!” they took the bag from his hands and distributed it to each other. It was already in the afternoon so they felt hungry.

“Sir, don’t you feel hungry?” Nagie asked him with concern. She’s right, he is their driver and he should be hungry by now since they all ate breakfast together earlier.

“I can’t eat while driving.” He replied, not denying that he was hungry.

“Here!” Jillian passed a human world croquet to Catte to pass on Hazuka since he couldn’t remove his hands on the wheel. She coincidentally made him a little touched since it was his favorite menu, but the truth is that she just passed it on to him since the filling didn’t interest her.

“Thanks. I thought I would starve to death.” He said and the group laughed a little.

“Dad, do you want your son to feed you?” Hazuka asked while opening the wrapper of the croquet. By now, he can play along with the father-son joke.

“How sweet. My son never disappoints. Ahhh…..” he commented and opened his mouth for Hazuka to put the croquet in his mouth and let him take a bite.

Hazuka was just joking but did it anyway since this response was expected of his ‘father’.

The group was touched by this scene and melted their hearts. What a sweet scene. The once reserved son was now opening up to his doting father. Really, his father’s ability to make someone open up to him is amazing!

The van was filled with chatter and laughter on their way to Yulioe.

“Here we are.” Varean said, and the car stopped, making them look outside.

“Oh my goodness!” Lily violently opened the door again, releasing a ‘thud’ that made Varean question the ‘deserve’ thing.

“It improved so quickly!” Lily excitedly commented while looking at the town five meters before them. Varean made sure to park at a safe distance for Catte to not accidentally cross the border. The barrier was normal, it was just a normal arch like in the usual subdivisions in the human world.

“Come on guys!” Lily urged the group to come out, so they did and what welcomed them was a beautiful, well-lit town.

“Pretty…”

“I curse the one who made the rumor. I should have come to this place sooner.”

“I will live here starting today.”

There were a bunch of comments that came out from the group’s members.

“Woooo….” Poui happily ran and crossed the barrier without knowing it.

“Uh… guys..” Catte tried to approach the group with little steps as she was afraid to get pushed into the barrier accidentally. Varean was beside her, ready to take action if anything came up.

“Guys…” she continued approaching them.

“Hey, Catte has something to say.” Lily said and the group turned their eyes on her with questioning looks except for Poui, who didn’t hear what Lily have said and continued on admiring the town.

“Oh, something came up with the restaurant. Catte, you need to come with me.” Varean said when she was about to say directly that she couldn’t go. She forgot the plan! Varean was also holding his phone and acted shocked when he ‘received’ a message.

“Huh? What happened?” Catte played along, acting concerned.

“They didn’t say the details but it is an emergency. I need you to come with me.” Varean replied seriously, like a professional actor, so the members looked at each other.

“Catte….”

“So…”

“Uh… I can’t go with you.” Catte said with a low voice, but the group still heard it. She could feel the aura of the barrier slowly pulling her, so she took two steps backward but the group understood it that she really did not want to go.

“That’s….” Qeru couldn’t continue her sentence because of disappointment. It seemed to be a little unfair, since they went to her house and asked permission for her then Catte cannot go.

“But I really want to—“ Catte was cut off when she got pulled by Poui into the barrier. Catte’s eyes showed shock and sadness. Not because of earlier’s topic, but because she realized she would forget her purpose a second after that.

Varean, Hazuka, and Lily reacted quickly and tried to reach her hand with shock and determination in their eyes, but it was already too late for him to grab her hand and pull her back. She was already inside.

“What are you talking about, guys? Come on!” Poui hung his arms around Catte’s shoulder while smiling brightly yet innocently at them.

continue next part~