Chapter Four: Men of Vice (Part 2)

I swore to God, hearing that thunderous roar waking me up, I had never sprung out of bed so freaking fast in my entire goddamn life.

"WAKE UP, B*TCH!!! WAKE UP!!! THE GREAT LEO HAS SACRIFICED HIS PRECIOUS TIME TO COME AND WAKE YOU UP, SO WAKE THE F*CK UP!!!"

However, normally I might have wanted to scream 'Shut the hell up! Who the frick do you think you are, my mama?!' and face the consequences. But in a situation such as that, I didn't even feel like complaining.

He just woke me up from my worst nightmare.

"Goodness gracious... All the other Hunters probably be thinking about numerous ways to kick your ass by now..." As I was saying all of that with my eyes half open, my hands were also rubbing my own face. So this was the feeling of waking up in a strange place... Even though I knew full well where I was, I still needed some time to get myself together.

"Pfft! F*ck the other Hunters! I am the only one you should care about~"

And then I had to ask myself if the audacity of this tomcat was really the first thing I had to face in the morning... It quickly pulled me out of my half-asleep state, but at the same time also made me want to go back to sleep, hoping I would wake up without seeing this kitty.

"Alright, alright... I only care about you..." So I decided to mutter those words at his face, hoping it would satisfy him.

As a result, the atmosphere around us became all silent, which could only mean Leo just went completely quiet.

"..."

Such a reaction got me skeptical, and I couldn't help but take a look at his expression for once 'Um... Did I make a mistake?' I asked myself in my mind.

So when I saw that his face was all red from ears to cheeks like some ketchup just got spilled on his entire head, I must admit that I was utterly dumbfounded.

"S-Smart of you, Stupid Adel! You only care about me, as you should! That's right! HAHAHA!"

I swore his voice was shaking so goddamn much, it sounded like he was standing on a building with an Earthquake happening nearby. 'Wasn't this kid trying to flirt with me earlier?' 'Why got awkward all of a sudden?' Those questions did arise in my head, having witnessed such a strange phenomenon.

Well, would it be so wrong of me to assume that... this kitty doesn't really know how to socialize? Despite talking like a flirt?

Forgive my curiosity, but I guess I should try testing the waters by poking him a little bit.

"You better not lie to me tho, Adel! I can smell a liar, you know that, right?!"

"OK. I won't... By the way, did Nagisa send you to pick me up?"

"What?--" His kitty red eyes then widened in that instance he heard my question.

"So you came here all by yourself... What for?" 'Because you want to see my morning face?' I did have to hold myself back from speaking the latter.

"O-Of course, I came here by myself?! The great Leo doesn't take orders!"

"Then what for?"

I wasn't so sure if I poked him a bit too much or not, but Leo seemed to be taken aback at that particular moment. His mouth was left open, then he crossed his arms. Probably I did make it sound too much like an interrogation...

"What are you trying to pry out of me, Stupid Adel? Don't you take a shower everyday in the morning? There's no bathroom around here. Who's going to take you to the bathroom if it's not me?"

After that, it was I, myself, who then got taken aback. How did he know that--

"Hey, how did you know that I take-- Have you been stalking me?!"

That was indeed personal information he got there, same as last night that he said he knew about me falling asleep at work on a daily basis. No way the Hunters would be able to look it up on the meganet 'How often does Adel Ozwald take a shower? Does Adel Ozwald fall asleep at work?', let alone searching the database of the company I worked for.

"Oh, I know so much about you, Adel. Unlike you who doesn't seem to know himself..."

"Leo, don't joke with me on stuff like this. It's not funny. Have YOU been stalking me?"

"..."

"It doesn't matter if it was the Hunters' order or you just don't take orders and been deliberately stalking me. Have you BEEN stalking me?"

"..."

The moment Leo just went quiet, refusing to answer my questions or even emit a sound, as if this stalking issue was so trivial, he couldn't bother to do so, I could literally feel the heat crawling up my temples.

Oh, it had been so long that I don't get mad at someone!

"Where's the communal shower? I will walk there myself." I could feel my face tense up as I was speaking those sentences. Sometimes it was just too hard to pretend to be unruffled. Before I knew it, my body was already on its way to the guestroom door, and when I saw that Leo was standing in the doorway, crossing his arms, obviously blocking me from exiting the room, I found myself unable to even think of the exact word to express how mad I was.

"No way I will let you. Those men will try to eat you as soon as they see your pretty face."

"I am a man, and I am not pretty?! How could you say things like that to my face?!" As I was talking back to him and standing tall before him, I also found out that, in fact, I was slightly taller than this kitty, maybe about 3 inches taller, it was not much but still taller indeed. Therefore I quickly used that fact to my advantage without a second thought, my body was towering over him, and he had to look up to meet my eyes.

Still, being taller doesn't equal being stronger... I could sense from his indifferent face that he didn't feel threatened in the slightest bit...

"You don't understand, Adel. When you understand, you won't even question what I've been doing. It needs to be done."

The second he finished those words, it was then that he let out a smirk.

Before I could even blink, his rough hand had already reached for my neck, and then his finger stroked my skin, pressing on my pulse.

Suddenly, some strange sensation got sent all over my body, it was a feeling so sweet I almost let out a weird sound. My eyes opened wide in bewilderment, and my legs immediately wobbled. For a swift moment, I felt so lightheaded, like I was losing control over my own self.

W-What in the world--?

"You know, this sweet scent of yours, I am not the only one affected by it." As Leo whispered those words onto my neck, I felt exactly like I was being cornered by a growling lion - even worse, a hungry one.

"Just like me... So many men, all the men, would ask for your 'blessing'. And you think you can walk out of this room alone? Without me paving the way for you? ME, the lion who has always been feared by everyone? How arrogant of you, Adel Ozwald~"

When the lion's fangs eventually moved close to my pulse, my body was shivering all over, I tried so hard to keep my heartbeat steady, try not to fear, but to no avail, Leo had already growled at me like an animal as if his mind got taken over by his raw instinct, his prey drive got stimulated by my fear.

"As soon as you look the other way, you will get bitten, and those men's bites will be much worse than mine... But I guess you need to know first how bad my bite would be so that you'd learn to take my advice~"

"Leo, please, no..." In such a desperate moment, I didn't really know what to do, except for pleading, oh, I had always been good at pleading.

Back then, the bullies all loved to hear me plead, so I kept pleading and pleading every day, but even so, their demand never ceased, no matter how much I pleaded.

So, in the end, I... Ah... What did I do?

...

I stopped pleading.

"Get the f*ck off me, Leonardo Rhys!"

"...?!"

Before Leo's lips could press on my skin, suddenly the realization came to me, and my eyes immediately widened, I realized what I could do, and my foot took the action.

I kicked the sh*t out of Leo, right on his abdomen.

And I guessed I must have caught him off guard since his demi-god body did stagger because of my kick, his eyes got so wide, it was obvious that he was shocked by what just happened.

I, too, was shocked by my own sudden retaliation. It was out of pure instinct.

At that moment, we both looked at each other in the eyes, standing at least 2 feet apart, none of us seemed to think of making another move. We just... froze.

"Adel, I--"

"No, stop it right there, please."

And that was indeed brave of me to interrupt Leo in the middle of his sentence. The boy seemed to get shocked for the second time, his once again widened eyes told all the story, and he looked at my face in disbelief.

Hence, I took a deep breath and utter the words "I'm coming with you."

His tensed body then loosens itself almost immediately, from being on the verge of snarling at me to keeping his calm, such an instant reaction did assure me that I was on the right track.

Well, making him stagger once doesn't mean I would win in a brawl, after all.

"But it's 2050. I don't need a knight in shining armor, or a brave lion, whatever. Please, no matter how sweet I smell, don't treat me like that... I'll stick to your side, but please, just..."

It would be smarter of me to keep pleading, after all.

Leo when he heard my plea, his eyes were narrowing down, showing an apparent sign of doubt, but at the very least, he seemed to return to his usual self... assuming that him not trying to eat me was his usual self.

"Fine. As long as you stay by my side... and not run off anywhere else." said the boy who then scoffed at my face. One of my eyebrows did raise itself at the words 'Stay by my side'. Such a choice of words made me curious again and again, but of course, I wouldn't risk questioning him at the moment. Not now, not too soon.

"I assure you I'm good at sticking to someone's side, Leo."

"Oh... Are you?"

"...?

"Never mind. Let's f*cking go. If you still want your shower, it's now or Nagisa will make sure you won't even get to take a crap."

Last but not least, as the boy said all of that, his hand then grabbed my hand and lead me out of the room, without a single word asking for my permission. And yes, I was super confused and struck dumb by his action. The only thing I could do was to blink rapidly at our connected hands while my body was being dragged toward the hallway.

"W-What are you doing?"

"What? I can't even hold your hand?!"

Seriously, I almost choke on my own saliva, hearing such a blatant question.

"No! But why should you???"

"And why should we not hold hands???"

"Well, we've met like... last night???"

"Are you suggesting that one night isn't enough for you to feel something for me???"

Good God, in all my 25 years of life, I had never had someone take an interest in me before, right, but if my first date was gotta be like this, then I'd rather be a virgin until the day I die.