Chapter 136 - Do You Know Who?

The landlady came back at night during dinner time and she had a bright green umbrella with her that she neatly folded and kept on the broken umbrella stand that was still manageable.

"You were really out?" Hecathe asked with surprise as he looked at the woman who had returned so late. 

He had only come down to see whether the Landlady had returned or not but it was still a surprise to see such perfect timing.

The woman smiled as she heard him and instead of giving a straightforward answer to the question, she asked him back, "Am I not allowed to go outside?" 

Hecathe pursed his lips into a thin line as he heard this and looked down at the woman's eight legs as he asked, "I don't know. Are you?" 

The landlady chuckled as she heard this response and shook her head as she spoke, understanding what Hecathe was probably thinking about, "It doesn't matter. There are not many people outside in such bad weather." 

"You sound like you're in a bad mood. Did something happen?" Hecathe asked with a small frown. 

"Bad mood?" The woman repeated as she tilted her head and spoke with a small smile, "How can that be? I'm actually in quite a good mood today." 

Hecathe found that a bit hard to believe as he saw her face that looked rather tired. 

"Are you sure about that?" Hecathe didn't drop the topic as he asked. 

The landlady nodded her head as she closed her eyes and spoke, "I'm actually in quite a good mood. After all, I just got to meet someone that I've been wanting to see for a long time now." 

Hecathe was a bit surprised as he heard this and his surprise was not caused by the fact that the woman had gone to meet someone. Rather, he was surprised by the fact that the woman was lying so straightforwardly without any guilt. 

She was certainly not lying about the fact that she had gone out to meet someone nor was she lying about wanting to meet that person for a long time now. She was, in fact, Lying about her mood for some reason. 

It was crystal clear that she was not feeling as happy as she said she was. 

"It's not any of my business so I won't ask who it was but you should probably not go out in such weather to meet people," Hecathe spoke with a sigh, sounding a bit worried about the woman, "You could easily get sick." 

The landlady chuckled as she heard this and nodded her head, "I never knew you were such a caring person." 

"Cause I'm not," Hecathe shrugged his shoulders as he stated. 

"Then I guess I really should listen to you since you're usually not this caring," The woman spoke with a soft chuckle and didn't wait for a response from Hecathe as she continued, "I'm quite tired today so I won't be making dinner. I'm sure you can manage on your own. Is that okay?" 

Hecathe nodded his head as he replied, "That's okay. I already came here with the purpose of cooking dinner. If you want, I can cook some for you as well." 

"I appreciate the offer but I'll pass for today," The woman smiled as she spoke and didn't bother waiting around as she headed up the stairs. 

Hecathe looked at her moving back and he couldn't help but feel uneasy. 

He didn't know whether this uneasiness was caused by the fact that the woman was climbing the stairs with all her eight feet or by the fact that the woman looked as if she was covered in a dark aura of depression. 

"Is it okay to leave her like this...?" Hecathe muttered a question to himself but in the end, there was nothing else that he could do. 

She had already said that she was okay so it would be meddlesome of him to go and pester her further. 

Hecathe sighed as he started cutting up the vegetables and decided to make dinner. 

He had certainly lied when he said that he had come down to cook dinner. The real reason why he had come down was to check whether the woman was back yet or not and if she had cooked dinner or not but now that he saw how tired she was, he decided that it would probably not be right to expect her to cook dinner for them.

At the end of the day, cooking was not something hard to do and even though Hecathe wasn't a professional at it, he was still not as bad as LeiLei who could burn a perfectly good chicken sandwich into such a state where it looked as if it had transformed into charcoal. 

After the woman was gone, LeiLei came down the stairs and looked to be a bit confused as she kept glancing back. 

"Sir, what happened to the landlady?" LeiLei asked with an apparent frown on her face and it seemed that Hecathe wasn't the only one who had noticed the weird behavior and depressing aura that the woman displayed. 

Hecathe pursed his lips into a thin line and shook his head as he spoke, "She probably had a bad day but refuses to tell us the details." 

"Did you ask her about it?" 

Hecathe nodded his head as he informed, "But she refused to say anything. It's better to let her be." 

"That's... A bit shocking," LeiLei spoke as she sat down on the dining chair, "She's usually very lively and open." 

"That's true," Hecathe frowned as he muttered, "I wonder who could it have been..." 

"Who could have been what, Sir?" Lei Lei asked as she tilted her head in confusion. 

"She went out to meet someone," Hecathe sighed as he spoke, "Seeing as how she's so depressed, I wonder who it was." 

"She is in a bad mood because of someone?" LeiLei asked with a bit of surprise and Hecathe nodded his head as he confirmed it.

"That seems to be the case." 

"And you're not going to ask her anything about it?" 

Hecathe frowned as he heard this question and instead of giving a straightforward response, he asked back in turn, "Why would I want to invade her privacy? Not everyone can be as shameless as you."

"..." LeiLei pursed her lips into a thin line and didn't dare say anything against that. 

Hecathe shook his head with a sigh as he ignored the girl and focused on cooking. 

"Do you want me to help, Sir?" LeiLei asked after a minute as she saw Hecathe working. 

Hecathe immediately shook his head as he refused the offer strongly, "No need." 

"But isn't it too much work for one person alone?" 

"It's okay!" Hecathe forced himself to smile as he exclaimed, "I am used to it and you should rest some more. Didn't you exhaust yourself to the point where you passed out?" 

LeiLei pouted as she heard this and nodded her head as she responded, "That's true, but at least, I was able to help you, wasn't I?" 

Hecathe was a bit taken back to see this reaction and he couldn't help but chuckle softly as he nodded his head and responded, "You did a good job." 

LeiLei smiled brightly as she heard this and looked to be genuinely happy. 

At the end of the day, LeiLei didn't bother Hecathe, who peacefully cooked edible dinner for everyone. 

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The rain got strong and Zail looked up at the sky with a frown as he waited on the sidewalk which provided a shelter for him. 

"It's getting late," He muttered with a sigh as he looked around. 

He didn't bring an umbrella with him and he felt that it was probably not a good idea to run in the rain so the only option he had on hand was to wait for the rain to stop. 

Most of the people had already gone back home and he was the last to stay behind and close the restaurant before he also got ready to head back home. 

The man patiently waited for more than twenty minutes and the rain still showed no signs of slowing down. 

"You there!" Somebody called out to Zail and Zail immediately frowned as he turned to see that it was someone that he had never met before. 

Zail looked at the man up and down and his eyes widened slowly as he recognized the Mecha-suit that was worn by the man that had called out to him. 

The mecha-suit approached the man and made him gulp anxiously. 

"W-Who are you?" Zail stuttered as he asked, feeling a little intimidated by the man that was wearing the nine foot tall mecha-suit.

"Do you live around here?" The mecha-suit asked with his deep voice and he certainly didn't sound too happy. 

Zail gulped as he nodded his head a bit reluctantly and honestly answered the man, "I do." 

"Good," The mecha-suit responded and took out something from his pocket before showing the poster to Zail as he questioned, "Have you seen this guy around?" 

Zail looked at the face that was printed on the poster and he couldn't help but feel as if the boy depicted on the picture was a bit familiar.