Milk, Assaults and Donuts

"What, Sana? What are you doing? " Mave asked as she looked at Sana walking towards the man at the corner before turning to Melvin. "I thought you're-"

"Well, you can't expect everyone to work for free here — unless you're Maya." Melvin sighed as though he remembered a terrible memory. "I have to at least make sure that everyone is in the same boat and luckily, you have a little sister."

"You… you monster…" Mave whispered as he glanced back to her sister and soon, after a heavy moment of helplessness, he lowered his head and clenched his fists to take a shallow breath hurried by fear and uncertainty. "Will you… will you be able to protect us? Will… will you really take us in if she does what you asked?"

"You're asking if he's strong?" Melvin smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Well, not… compared to me but he's plenty-"

"You don't have to tell him more chief!" The guy in the corner interrupted him before moving on with his meal.

"Wha-"

"Yeah, he probably heard our conversation earlier… if… that's what you're going to ask kid," Melvin said before even Mave could open his mouth. "That sure makes things easier and now, everything really depends on your sister."

Mr. Breen smiled the same way as Melvin as if they were watching their daughter making her very first steps and Mave, on the other hand, retreated at the edge of his high seat to tug his mug closer so he could take a sip.

Sana swallowed her saliva and tightened her jaws to force herself to smile. Her pained legs shivered with a sense of dread biting her bare feet as if she was trodding in the midst of a snowstorm. She wanted to turn back and run to her brother's embrace but the thought of them, especially the thought of her getting dragged back to that place kept her dying will aflame.

Her tired big brown eyes twitched as if she was being skinned alive every time she tried looked at him, and witnessing how he breaks his stern demeanor to give a sweet smile to the weapon sitting next to him made her grit her teeth. The way he talks to his jet-black spade as though it was his lover, the way he brushes the dirt off of its blade with the smallest of movements as though he was a noble, and the way he leans forward as if he was listening to it talk before giving it a doting response made her feel like her soul freed itself from her body just to drag her back to safety. But with her doing her best to take one step at a time despite her breaths getting sharper and deeper, it wasn't long before she finally met the man's gaze.

"Uhm… I- excuse me, sir…" she mumbled, breathing in through her awkward smile before jerking her torso forwards as if she was inviting him in. "Could- could I be-"

The man didn't move and instead, he brushed the side of his purple hair with his fingers without taking his gaze away from hers. "That's so bad… even for my taste. Never do that aga-"

He looked like he was about to say something more, but he paused and peered at his weapon like he was confused.

"Umbrell, no." He scoffed and pleaded at the weapon beside him. "What do you mean? Look, I know what happened okay? I heard them talk and I-"

He froze with his mouth left open. Sana stepped back in wonder and gazed at the weapon herself, only to cross her eyebrows a moment later as soon as she noticed that the man was indeed strange.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, the last thing I want to hear from your mouth is you calling me a pedo-"

"-yes, I mean your cute mouth that has lips as red as the lilies, like the book, yes like the book we used to read together," he added, tightening his throat to force his voice to sound poetic. "But look, I'm not dense okay… I know what happened and I was about to give an appropriate response-"

"Uhm…"

"And you're mad about me calling her little display too bad for my taste? Of course, it's bad and I was going to tell her why and-"

His face crumpled. "No, I'm not thinking of anything and of course, of course," he reached in to touch the side of his spade as he was cupping someone's chin and followed, "no… I won't trade her for you… because you're my sweet angel and I would never-"

"Hello… Umbrell…"

He paused again before retreating back to his seat to wipe the nervous smile off his face with a towel. The man looked at Sana once again and after a moment of silence, he said, "She says hi to you too and now, she's being shy about it."

"Hello, Umbrell… again," Sana whispered as she played with her hands, still confused about what had just happened. "Ho-how are you doing…"

He glanced at his weapon and back to her in the span of a second but this time, he gazed at Sana with a face as if he was about to laugh. "Well, she tells me that you're very sweet and she's asking me to listen to what you're going to say. So, what is it?"

Sana gave him a nod and following on what she heard about them earlier, she planted her feet forward now with her chin raised with courage and asked, "Sir, would it be alright for me to be your little sister?"

A moment of silence resurfaced and made her dwell into the sea of embarrassment about what she just said until it was broken by him reaching out to give her a sweet pat on her unkempt head.

"Well, if Umbrell is fine with it, then so am I…" he said, before turning to Melvin who's still standing by the door with Mave nibbling his cup of milk. "So you got it chief, I'll help out but please do pay me this time,"

"This time?" Mr. Breen chuckled and stroked his gray beard.

"Well-"

They were about to share a good-hearted laugh as a celebration for this small victory obtained by Sana but then, they heard a sudden crack that went through the door to shove Melvin's heart away from his chest.

"Ah…" he said, coughing a mouthful of blood before bringing his pale and weakened eyes to Mr. Breen. "We don't have enough funds for repairs yet don't we-"

He was pulled out of the shop along with their door and after the sound of wood breaking upon crashing into the ground, a tall and smiling long-haired man clad in a thick dirty gray cloak entered the room. Mave paused and dropped his mug on the floor. His eyes wandered around the room in search for help and after passing through the guy beside Sana continuing his meals, he looked at Mr. Breen who still appeared to be unmoved while he did his best to hold his breath at the sight of this monstrosity.

"Wha… what are you doing?!" Mave whispered in panic as soon as he saw the old man counting his money.

"Well," he sighed. "Looks like he's right, we're going to have to live without a door for a while."

Still confused about the sudden display of apathy in front of him, Mave slammed his fist into the high table and shouted, "Your leader just died! And you're checki-"

"No, he didn't," Mr. Breen interrupted him without batting an eye.

"Are you kidding me? He got a hand through his chest! Do something! Please sir, please… he's coming for my sister! My-"

He continued to plead with his tears almost choking him, but then, he was stopped by a sudden wave of cold creeping fear that made his head turn. He gasped because there, he saw the same monster that bore a hole through a man's chest encased in a thick layer of ice bearing a light purple shade.

Then the man, who still seemed unbothered by everything finished his meal with a sigh. He placed his wooden spoon at the side of his plate and after wiping his mouth clean, he leered at the intruder and said, "at least wash your hands first before laying your hands on my little sister, you filthy maggot."