Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

James had never known boredom like this before. He lay sprawled out on a bench in front of his shop, watching the world pass him by. People bustled about, busy with their lives, while he had nothing better to do than provide unsolicited commentary on everything and everyone.

It was a scorching Monday afternoon, and James, the self-appointed judge of humanity, was in full swing.

"That woman still owes me money for the last piece of furniture I made for her," he grumbled to himself. "Couldn't afford to pay me my balance, but look at her buying ice cream for her kid? Selfish and annoying." He shook his head, as if personally offended by the injustice.

Then, a rather plump young lady rushed past him. James raised an eyebrow.

"She's too fat. Should start dieting, or no man will like her for her outer beauty," he thought. Then, in a rare moment of enlightenment, he added aloud, "Well, everyone cares about inner beauty these days. As long as she's slim on the inside, she should be fine."

At that very moment, an unfortunate insect made the grave mistake of stinging his right cheek. James retaliated immediately, swatting it to its untimely demise. Rest in peace, noble warrior.

His attention then shifted to a woman in black and white across the street, buying groceries. He sneered.

"Now that one is slim on the outside but very fat on the inside. Inner beauty my foot. It doesn't apply to her at all. She should just maintain that outer beauty, maybe a married man will take her in as his last wife." He gestured dramatically with one hand while the other served as his pillow, his expression sour, like someone forced to drink lime for the first time.

And just like that, his mind drifted back to an incident from a week ago…

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A Week Ago

As the only carpenter in the neighborhood, James was the go to guy whenever someone's furniture decided to fall apart. A week ago, he had been called three streets away to fix a faulty wardrobe for an old customer.

When he arrived, he knocked on the door. Once. Twice. Ten minutes passed. Nothing.

At first, he thought no one was home, but he could hear faint movements inside. Just as he was about to give up, the door finally creaked open, revealing the slowest-moving human he had ever seen.

James blinked.

The girl standing there yawned in his face loudly, unladylike, and without a shred of remorse. She wore an oversized black shirt that reached her knees, looking like someone who had been in hibernation for at least a century.

"Who is it?" she asked sluggishly, as if answering the door was the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life.

James squinted. He knew the family that lived here. Every single one of them. And this girl? He had never seen her before.

"Where's Scarlett—" he began, but before he could finish his sentence, the girl suddenly sat down. Right there. On the floor. Like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

James was stunned.

For a split second, he swore he saw a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. Almost as if she had been expecting someone else and was devastated to find… well, him.

"Wow. This person must have a PhD in laziness," he thought, utterly appalled.

If there was one thing James couldn't stand, it was people like this lazy, entitled, and completely shameless.

Just then, a familiar voice called out cheerfully.

"Ah! James, you're here already. How convenient! I was just about to send one of my kids to call you over."

He turned to see Scarlett's mother approaching.

"Scarlett's Mom, welcome back. How are you doing?" he greeted her politely.

"I'm fine! But why are you still standing outside? The door is open," she said curiously as she walked closer. She could clearly see the door open from afar, meaning someone from her family had clearly opened the door for him. Her eyes landed on the girl sitting on the floor, but instead of being surprised, she simply sighed... like this was a completely normal sight.

"Jade, you finally got out of bed! I thought you said you were going to sleep for a month straight and only wake up to eat? It's only been a week!" she teased, before grabbing the girl and dragging her inside.

Jade groaned dramatically.

And mumbled, almost as if no one could hear her, "Who said I was getting up? If not for this senseless man knocking on the door for ten minutes straight! Doesn't he know that if no one answers, it means no one wants him there? What a stupid man." She glared fierce at the unknown guest for disturbing her sleep marathon.

James froze.

Did she just… insult him?

And that glare of hers, he could have sworn a fiery glint flashed through those pretty eyes.

Oh, she mumbled it, but the volume was very much set to "I want everyone to hear me."

He was ready to give her a piece of his mind, but Scarlett's mom subtly signaled him to let it go.

James took a deep breath. Hear no evil, see no evil, and peace shall reign. For the sake of his sanity and his upbringing he decided to pretend he hadn't heard a thing.

With a bang, the door shut behind Jade. Scarlett's mother turned back to James with an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that. Please don't mind her. A lot of unhappy things happened recently, so don't blame her."

James shrugged. "It's alright, Mrs. Shawn. We've known each other for years. No need to apologize... I'm not angry."

(I am absolutely angry.)

He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So… where's Scarlett? Haven't seen her in the past week. And who's that girl, anyway?"

He honestly didn't care about the girl nor whatever was going on in this family. But, he was a gossip lover. And gossip lovers fish for gossips themselves.

Scarlett's mother let out a long, tired sigh. "A lot of bad things have happened to our household recently. Maybe some other time, I'll tell you about them. For now, just help me fix my daughter's wardrobe."

James nodded, though his mind was still stuck on the annoying girl named Jade.

This was definitely not the last time they'd meet.

But he really wanted nothing to do with that evil spirit.

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