Chapter 6.2: "And this seems like another bloody deja vu"

"How much is it, Miss?"

"Uhm, it's 2,796.50 pesos Ma'am," the female cashier politely replied after she punched all my purchases. I took enough money from my wallet and gave it to her. After getting the change and the things that I bought, I immediately left the department store.

It's been three days straight ever since my life became a commoner. And guess what? I've never been so happy not even once in my entire 16 years of existence. Yeah, I'm probably the only person in the world who's happy with my condition right now but it doesn't matter. We all have different views in life so our definition of happiness can be diversed as well.

I never thought that the dream I'm just secretly asking for to come true finally became my reality now. I live independently, I do the chores myself, I do the groceries on my own, and I also work to maintain the balance of the economy and to help myself get the basic necessities I need in order to survive. It seems that in an instant, my former princess-like life that was as boring as doing nothing has turned up like this. And knowing that nobody is keeping an eye on me anymore, I can certainly do anything that I exactly wanted to.

However, notwithstanding all the positivities, I will also admit that it is really very difficult to adjust in this situation, to be honest. If back then I could just throw away my credit cards and put it in the trash, now it's all about SAVING money because every cent is as precious as a gemstone. And I swear to God, this is the most challenging part of living as a non-rich person.

Everytime I went out and buy something, I've got to think twice or thrice before purchasing it. Or maybe plan ahead about calculating all the things needed and their expense — which is a usual commoner's technique known as "BUDGETING." And now that I come into this point, I finally understood that this budgeting thingy is indeed a bit of a hassle because sometimes, I have to set aside my cravings and avoid buying things I randomly like (which aren't really needed), and that's because I have to prioritize my bills as well as the food I consume in every meal of every day. But this isn't bad at least, through this experience I somehow managed to acquire a slight strategy of saving money wisely, unlike what I learn when I'm still at home with my doting parents and siblings who spoils me a lot.

Speaking of them, of course we are still in touch with one another through weekly phone and video calls. I always update them about my current status to lessen their weary. I'm still glad that they kept their word of not bothering me anymore in my decisions anymore as if they really have faith in me now. And since I was their only, MOST BELOVED youngest, they had no other choice but to do as I say. They certainly don't want to repeat the attempted suicide I did before, so they really should follow my requests.

If I only knew right away that the 'suicide' scheme is the only way I could convince let me out of my cage, then I wish I hadn't kept myself quiet for a long time.

And by the way — I had another problem, and this is about the HOUSE CHORES I mentioned earlier. As an intellectual elite who is not accustomed to washing clothes, cooking, washing dishes, watering plants and cleaning the entire part of the house, of course it became hard for me to accomplish those manual tasks every day. This made me ponder a lot of things that didn’t cross my mind before, especially about our maids and butlers who always do those work for me and for our family, 24/7 ASAP. I never thought their jobs are as handful as these. I'm not used to exhaust myself, I don't even sleep late or sweat excessively but now, I already knew what it feels like to exert a lot of effort and sacrifice on things like this. No wonder why some people living in this kind of state badly wants to become someone like us.

However, regardless of proclaiming that I am already a completely normal individual, my schoolmates still treat me the same and they still avoid getting approached by me, except for my circle of mongrel friends of course. And as for that hali-Maou, he doesn't bully me at school anymore but whenever we crossed paths, anyone can surely guarantee that there will be a fight in between us, just like cats and dogs every time they meet eye to eye. We even nearly get physical against each other in some rare cases but didn't happen because there's a thick line that separates us — and that is he's a man and I'm a woman, which is absolutely unfair. Yet so far, I'm thankful that he still had a sane mind on not harming me or harassing me in any possible way there is.

And this kept me thinking a lot lately. That I should quit hoping about mending our messed-up relationship because maybe, we're actually meant to be mortal enemies while we are still breathing here on the planet. But even so, I still think it would be so great if he magically became nice enough and ask me to be his friend.

But how? How to tame a monster? I think I've done everything I could to convince him that I'm someone he can be trusted but he's still hostile to me. The only reason why I fight him back because it is needed especially whenever he's blasting some hurtful words at me that sometimes go too far. However, I still can't blame him because I sensed that perhaps, he's dealing a pretty hard life which made him into this. Or he could also be just a sociopath who managed to escape from the mental hospital and I happened to be some random person he wanted to mess with because he's got loose screws.

I intentionally left my bike at my house because I wanted to take a short walk around the vicinity as I head home, although it’s already late at night. I find strolling relaxing most especially in this time of the day knowing that I can freely gaze at the beautiful and starry sky as my body is chilling with the cold, night breeze.

But yeah, forget about it. I should have just taken my bike with me earlier.

"Hey pretty lady, it's kind of rare to see someone as beautiful as you walking alone in the dark. Can we ask where you're going?" A skinny man staggering to walk from drunkenness suddenly went up to my face. I’m already used to encounter people like him because I work in a bar, but dealing with drunkards in this isolated kind of place is out of my field of expertise — with me only wearing short-shorts and spaghetti-strapped blouse which expose my fragile limbs before a potential jeopardy.

I was about to take another route to avoid any unnecessary measures when two more men showed up with the same drunken state. "Don't be shy miss, we know that you're lost. So why don't you come with us for a while? Rest assured that we will take you home after. Hehehe," the old man at my left creepily whispered to my ears.

"Err, thank you gentlemen but I know where I'm going. I don't need your help," I replied in a polite and tough front, enough to cover the tense building up inside my system.

I immediately covered my nose when the other man on my right blew the smoke from his cigarette at my face as if it was just a normal thing. Ugh, this baldy has the guts. Didn't he know that secondhand smoke is much more dangerous than firsthand and he's rude enough to puff that off at me?

"Oh wait, where are my manners?" The skinny man chuckled as he put his hands on his hips. "My name's Tonyo by the way, miss. Those two behind you are my friends and workmates, Iko and Abel. We're the barangay tanods in this area."

"I’m not asking," I answered in an insouciant manner, although my discourtesy might provoke them which will lead to even more problems. I just don't like it when people lie to me even when it's an obvious lie. I mean, if they really are tanods, then why aren't they patrolling now? They're not even wearing their actual uniforms, and even if they did they shouldn't be drinking liquor at this hour and walk around like hoodlums in the middle of the silent road.

(A/N: A Tanod is like a local safeguard that is tasked to patrol around a particular barangay o purok whether it's daytime or otherwise, depending on their shift. They are like police officers because they also prevent crimes along their area of responsibility.)

I decided to swiftly walk away but before I could even take a step, Tonyo pulled my arms and smiled at me as if he was just possessed by a demon. "Hold on miss, you're not doubting us aren't you? Don't leave us right away. We're just making friends with you."

"Tonyo's right miss. Damn, you're so smooth." The creepy uncle named Iko was about to touch my thighs but I immediately slap his hands off. I harshly withdrew my other arm from Tonyo as I glared at them.

"Sweet, this damsel is a fighter, man!"

"Stay away from me if you don't wanna get reported to the REAL authorities," I threatened them despite of shaking. What a great timing, they're so lucky that no one's passing around so I couldn't ask for help. This is gonna be a long scary night for me.

"Miss, didn't you hear what I just told you seconds ago? We are the patrol guards around here. In other words, we are the LAW." All three of them laughed afterwards. "So stop worrying about anything because trust me, we have no intention of hurting you. You're just gonna play with us."

"Well sir, I am not interested in any of your games or whatever you're referring to. Let me pass already because I have to go home."

"But the night is still so young miss, so come on. Don't be hasty. Besides..." He leaned forward and whispered something horrible in my ear. "We will make you happy too so you won't go to bed in a foul mood later."

"No! Get away from me you dirty rugs!" I spoke in english. Due to adrenaline rush, I pushed him away and took several steps backwards. I darted glares at them again.

"Woah, what a surprise to know that this young lady with us here tonight is a fluent english-speaker. Haw is yu todey miss? Ar yu payn tenk yu?" My jaws dropped when he also spoke in english with his strange, street accent. This guy is a pathetic meathead.

I was about to say another insulting response when the ugly uncle pulled me again and this time, all of them are holding me in place

"Hey! Let go of me you dirty old dudes! Somebody! Somebody heelp — HMMMMMM!" Someone covered his filthy and sweaty hands on my mouth to prevent me from screaming. I tried to squirm out of their grasp but I failed, they're too strong enough for me. And it is only then when I realized that they were already dragging me inside a dark alley.

Am I gonna die? Is this the end of me?

In just a split second, all my hopes rise up when another guy came into the picture and beat the assholes up who were trying to abduct me. They all fought in one of the shady corners in the street so I didn't get a glimpse to see the guy's face. I quickly picked up the plastic bag of groceries I had bought from the story before looking at their direction again.

And this seems like another bloody déjà vu.

Same type of surroundings, same number of opponents, same gestures and fighting moves. This flamboyantly reminded me about what happened months ago, when I stalked Maou and caught him fighting against those three unknown thugs. And just as I was currently thinking about him,

He appeared right in front of me.

"Let's go!"

"H-Hah?" I absentmindedly gawked at him for a while before looking back at the three ugly 'TANODS' lying on the floor.

So it means, he already...?

I was planning to say something until he tugged me and ran fast before I could even fully analyze the whole situation. I turned around and realized that the three got up and began chasing after us even though one of them couldn't even run properly. Out of fear, I followed Maou’s pacing in running and later, we managed to get away from them.

We stopped by a small and concrete two-storey house. He led me through but he quickly left me sitting on the sofa of the living room just to go out and lock the gate. After a while, he went inside the house again.

It was only then that I calmed down and snapped back to my senses.

"Where am I? And why did you take me here?" I asked him as I stood up. He shut the door closed and curtained the windows.

"You're at my home."

"THIS IS YOUR HOME?! WHAT THE — HMMM!" He immediately covered my mouth with his hand while eyeing at me.

"Can you fucking lower your voice? Those old bastards out there chasing us might hear you and follow us here! And if that happens, I will definitely offer you alive!" he taunted me before putting his hands down.

"ARGH! This is so fucked up!" He sat down on the sofa and then touched his arm with a large wound. I bit my lip so hard before kneeling in front of him and leaned closer to check on it.

"Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Why?"

"I-I'll treat your wound."

"Tss, it's upstairs. Inside the bathroom over the sink."

"All right. I-I'll just take a moment," I told him before rushing to the location he said and took the medicine kit. I hurriedly climbed downstairs and approached him again.

"Ouch! Just take it easy, damn it!" he complained while I'm in the middle of treating his wounds.

"I'm sorry," I replied while trembling. I can’t think clearly, probably because of the aftershock and slight trauma of what almost occurred earlier if he didn't showed up sooner.

He sternly looked at me. "Hey, are you okay? Is anything wrong with you?"

I shook my head as I focused even more on applying medication to his wound, not until suddenly he caught my arm and made me glance at him back.

"Let me finish this. Just sit right next to me."

"O-Okay." I followed his demands like a puppy and then bent down to sit beside him. There was a moment of silence around yet he was the first person to break it.

"Why did that happen?"

"E-Eh? What do you mean?"

He turned to me. "Why are you walking alone in the middle of the night? You know that it's dangerous, don't you?"

"Uhh, because..."

"Goddamnit! If only I didn't happen to walk passed that street and have enough sympathy to help you out, you probably would have been feasted on by those goddamn assholes! You stupid stunt!"

"B-But..."

"You know what, out of all the rich people I can certainly name of, you're probably the dumbest shit of them all. You shouldn't go out of your house when it's already this late at night, you cunt! Look what happened, how can I take you back to your house now? You don't have a private service car or anything, and I don't have my motorbike because you had it on your nest! You're idiocy is goddamn annoying!"

"I am sorry—"

"If you haven't strolled around wearing that fucking piece of outfit, then maybe you wouldn't draw those motherfucking maniacs' attention which will save you away from inducing trouble to yourself! But guess what? You didn't thought of that! Why? Because you're a dumb shit! You're the stupidest retard of all! And now, I'm goddamn injured because I had to fucking stand up for you and your goddamn stupidi—"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! IT'S ALL MY GODDAMN FAULT SO SHUT UP!" I even mimicked his iconic swearword because of my irritation. He went silent because of that. "I'm fucking sorry, okay? I didn't mean to BOTHER you! I'm also SORRY if I'm a goddamn dumb shit because I've been a stupid retard my whole life! I'm also SORRY for being such an idiot in your perspective, knowing that I didn't even forecasted something like that to happen!"

"And that's because you're stupid!"

"What did I just say?!" I snarled back. "Fine, you're right! You are always right, and I am always wrong! Are you happy now?"

"Are you kidding me? How can I be fucking happy in this condition? Do you see the bruises darkening on my face? And do you see this big wound you treated on my arm?!"

"DO YOU ALSO SEE THESE PAIR OF BIG WIDE EYES GLARING AT YOU RIGHT NOW HUH?"

"ARE YOU FUCKING MAD AT ME? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE ANGRY BECAUSE I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO'S GODDAMN MAD HERE AND NOT YOU!"

"THEN STOP HITTING ON MY NERVES TOO! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

"DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME AS IF YOU DON'T FUCKING OWE ME ANYTHING! I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE BY PUTTING MINE AT RISK AND NOW THIS IS WHAT I GET IN RETURN? YOU DIDN'T EVEN SAID THANK YOU FIRS—"

"WELL THANK YOU, JERK! SALAMAT! GRACIAS! ARIGATO! MERCI! KAMSAHAMNIDA AND ALL THE FREAKING THANK YOUS IN THE WORLD! THERE! CAN I GET MAD NOW?" That’s the last thing I yelled before we stopped squabbling even without breaking our deadly eye contact against each other. This gorilla is really pushing my buttons harder to the core, it's aggravating the hell out of me. I know that I really should be grateful towards him but at the same time he also makes me wanna despise him even more for the rest of my life because of his attitude where I couldn't fathom which planet actually came from. I don't even know why he always had this habit to destroy my mood and sanity. And even if he saved me indeed, he would still hurt me through his harsh words which is almost equivalent to someone harassing me physically. His rudeness is really too much to handle.

"H-Hey! Bansot, come back here!" he called me out as I started walking towards the door carrying my groceries. "Where are you planning to go?"

"Isn't it obvious yet? I'm heading to a place where I won't see a gorilla like you anymore! I'm going back home alone!"

"Are you hearing your fucking self right now? Do you want those perverts to come after you again, huh?"

"I'd rather face those old punks again than staying here because I can't even stand a single second without losing my composure at you and your damn... h-horrid face!!"

"Fuck you too! Why, am I not also losing mine with you and your ugly bun-like hairstyle?! I should have just ignored you on that street instead!"

"Yeah, I wish you should have too! I couldn't sleep at night if the last thing that I'll see before closing my eyes is your face! I'll get nightmares because of you!"

"You cunt! I am too handsome to cause you your stupid nightmares! But yeah, go ahead! If you don't want to stay here until morning, then fucking don't!"

"Oh, is that an invitation? Because if it is, shouldn't you ask your guest more politely?"

"You're not a guest here, you're a PEST! Get out if you want! I won't give a damn on you anymore!"

"I don't care about you either! I hope you die soon enough!"

"I also hope you get shrunk even more and grow a fucking lump in your ass!"

"Hah! What did you say—" My words trailed off when we both heard the creaking sound of the door opening. Fearing that we might have been tracked down by those maniacs who tried to force themselves on me, I immediately ran behind Maou.

"Ahh! Rapist! Help!"

"Shut up, damn it!"

"Rapist? Who's the rapist?" My eyes widened in awe when an unfamiliar woman came inside Maou's house. She was wearing something strange and her long and shiny hair was purple. She wore thick, drag make-up upon her face but her long and flashy nails truly hooked my attention. Based on her posture, I think she's still about 6 feet tall even without wearing his 4 inches high heels to elevate her height. She's carrying a hand purse and a plastic bag that looks like a take out order from a fast food chain.

Who is she? She looks like a model.

"Oh, Chlogna. It's good to know that you're home."

"Yeah. And who's that girl with you by the way, babypooh?" she walked towards Maou's direction and hugged him intimately while looking at me, as if I was an evil, dangerous creature.

Hold on, what did she just call him? Baby-what?