Chapter 216 - What Do You Mean?

"Wait, you only need to picture me alone?"

Trisha snappily asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Teren answered while setting up the camera on his phone. Since he didn't have the chance to explore the camera earlier, he was now having trouble looking through his phone.

'I know how to edit pictures on a computer that is believable enough to fool others but why is this so complicated for me?'

Teren thought while Trisha looked at him with a blank look. After a moment, she snapped and took the phone.

"Hey-!"

Teren was caught off guard before Trisha raised the camera and turned on the front view.

"Cheese!"

Snap*

"Eh?"

There was a flash, making Teren blink. After rubbing his eyes, Trisha handed him his phone.

"There, finished."

Teren looked at his phone and saw the picture where Trisha have a wide smile as if she's having fun.

'Is this out of consideration to not make her friend worry? Or is this out of pride to not show her weak spot to others?'

But whatever the answer is, Teren muttered.

"You're awfully lax towards your torturer."

Hearing this made Trisha smirk and slowly shook her head.

"This is nothing. I will overcome this and become stronger. If this continues, it's either I'll die or completely break down because I'm weak, or, I'll become stronger and will get my revenge on you."

"..."

Teren watched Trisha walk in the direction of the basement. She's going there by herself.

'Did she finally understand that this is for her own good too and she's giving consent? Or... is that just her nature?'

Just like Trisha, Teren let out a smirk too.

'Thanks to that, I feel less guilty about what I'm about to do.'

Teren didn't go to Trisha when she returned to her temporary settlement. He went to the kitchen after asking Josh where it is. Since Josh pointed him where it was, he took that as permission to use it.

He went there and of course, cooked dinner. After more than an hour, he packed some of it into a box and went to the basement. Arriving there, he saw that Trisha was just laying down on her bed while being in deep contemplation.

"Hey"

Teren called out.

"Hm? You're still here?"

Trisha got a little unnerved, thinking that another 'session' will start again so soon after the last one. However, Teren just presented her with a box of food. She got a sniff of it and immediately took it.

"I thought you forgot to give me my food."

It was just her rambling since she didn't expect Teren to be there in the first place.

"At the very least, I will still provide you with daily necessities."

"Heh, you talk big as if you're the one cooking these delicious meals."

Trisha scoffed, sure of her words, while opening the box that made her salivate. Teren raised an eyebrow while sitting down after taking his bag.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do you mean?"

Trisha frowned.

"I'm the one who cooked that."

Teren felt uncredited so he revealed. Trisha just laughed it off at first but after a moment, she asked after gulping her first bite.

"Stop lying. There's no way an inhuman being like you can cook." she rudely pointed the spoon towards Teren.

Teren just shook his eyes and shoulders before standing up.

"I have something to discuss with the siblings earlier. I'll see you later. Just place that in the sink and drink tap water."

Trisha ignored Teren and continued to eat.

A moment later, Teren met Josh and his elder brother. The two were deeply concerned about what he wanted to talk about. The elder brother had so many questions but his little brother have a tight lip.

"I've cooked too much earlier, you can eat the rest." Teren first said before sitting down on a chair.

Currently, the three of them were inside the elder brother's office room. In this big house, of course, there will be an office room. Meanwhile, the owner of the house, the elder brother was standing together with his younger brother while the guest was sitting.

"Sit down."

Teren said and finally, the two sat opposite him.

"If you don't want what I cooked, you can just throw it away."

Since they were not replying, Teren assumed but this immediately made them shake their heads.

"Ah, no, no, we will definitely eat them." the elder brother said.

"Okay, but that's not the only thing I want to discuss. Actually, what's your name?"

"Jomar, Sir."

"No need to call me Sir, I have the same age as your younger brother."

'No, I think it's better if I call you sir.' Jomar thought as his brows twitched.

Teren then professionally continued.

"I actually want to discuss business. Josh informed me earlier about your predicament."

"B-business?"

Jomar looked at Josh with the face of 'what did you tell him?!'

Josh just looked away while Jomar felt betrayed.

'You wouldn't tell me anything but you already told this man our trouble.'

He internally sighed before asking-

"What of it, Si-... Teren?"

"Can I know the name of your rival company?"

"It's Wolfang Corporation..."

Jomar just felt a headache saying this name. Meanwhile, Teren was a little shocked.

'They didn't even remove the word wolf. Just how much does Alph like wolves? I wouldn't be surprised if he would keep one as a pet.'

"Can I know the current state of this rivalry?"

"It's... hah... our side is losing traction just because the two of our firms provide similar benefits... how can I explain this simply? You could say that their startup is just too strong. They have so many supporters and capital, to begin with. It's shocking how they got that so much support. And as you know, in the market, investors and traders are not bound to any contract so they can pull from our firm easily and jump to another firm that has greater potential."

Jomar explained in one breath as if he had memorized it already.

"Okay, I understand."

Teren nodded which made Josh internally question-

'He does?'

"How about this? I propose that this Wolfang Company let itself absorb into yours."