“My sister is…” Norbert muttered. His lips stopped moving right as he was about to fully rephrase what Mathew said a moment earlier. He then squinted his eyes. “The hell do you want with Carol?”
There was no aggression in the officer’s voice. His face was deprived of shock or fury.
Or rather, his expression became completely blank, devoid of any emotions that could give Mathew a hint over how to proceed.
“You see, this is a topic that’s already agreed upon,” Mathew said, crossing his arms over his chest. “And do you want to know the only reason why I’m telling you about this?”
Norbert didn’t bother to respond. He squinted his eyes even further instead, forcing Mathew to accept it as his reply.
“A threat?” Norbert finally pried open his mouth and attempted to guess. Yet, with his mouth now moving, he could no longer keep the emotions boiling in his soul from surfacing.
“Not at all,” Mathew countered, shaking his head. “It’s nothing more but courtesy.”
‘If I let him think he can do something about it, this could turn into a pretty massive conflict later on,’ Mathew thought, gritting his teeth. ‘If this was a game I would only need to gain enough favor with a random NPC to invite her into the group. Why does real life need to be that damn complicated?’
Norbert stared down at Mathew’s face. Yet, as seconds passed, the expression on his face mellowed down a little.
“And what plans you might have towards my sister?” the officer asked while slowly raising his right eyebrow. He then raised his hands and crossed them on his chest. “Because judging by how you brought this topic up, it’s not something I will be happy with.”
“And you would be right,” Mathew replied without even a moment of hesitation.
‘I can feel your stares, you know?’ he thought, trying to ignore the blatant glances of all three girls in his group.
“Because I’m going to sleep with your sister in a way she never slept with anyone before,” Mathew revealed. Yet, there wasn’t even an iota of gloating in his tone.
Mathew simply stated the facts.
“And why is that?” Norbert asked while showing a slightly unhinged smile.
“You are taking it better than I expected,” Mathew ignored the question and praised the officer. “Would you mind telling me what this question of yours is supposed to achieve?” he then asked, putting the pressure back on right away.
For a moment, Norbert simply stared down at Mathew’s face. And then, as if something clicked deep in his soul, he heaved a deep sigh while lowering his eyes to the street. Only after all of that did he raise his eyes back on Mathew.
“This isn’t the world that I know. And regardless of how infuriating it might be, you do seem to know more about it than anyone else,” Norbert pointed out. He then lowered his hands and allowed them to fall to his sides right as he took three steps forward and stood right in Mathew’s face. “That’s why I want to know what I’m missing,” he said, looking right into Mathew’s eyes from just an inch away. “What makes fucking my sister so important you are willing to split our little group from within.”
Norbert slowly uttered his words, still keeping his face uncomfortably close to Mathew’s. Yet, after but a moment of silent confrontation, Norbert took a step back, leaving Mathew’s comfort zone.
“First off, take a look around,” Mathew suggested. He then calmly waited for the officer to follow his advice. “Now tell me, what do you see?”
“A deserted city? Empty streets? The three girls of yours?” Norbert listed out the things one could observe in their immediate surroundings.
“Good, you are not blind at the very least,” Mathew said with a sigh. “Then look at, how you called them, my girls,” he requested.
“Are you trying to find a means to beat me up?” Norbert asked instead, raising his eyebrow in a mocking expression. He then squeezed his facial muscles, making a weird face. “Oh look, he is looking at you the wrong way, now I have to beat him up for disrespecting my girl!” Norbert acted out the role of some stupid punk. “You will have to try harder than that,” he then mocked, raising his chin as he looked at Mat’s face.
“I’m not trying to bait you at all,” Mathew remarked, shaking his head to the sides in disbelief. “I can’t believe you… Wait, I’m not acting like usual so it would be wrong for me to expect you to know I wouldn’t do something like this,” Mathew admitted after a moment of reflection.
And so, the young man raised his hands in the motion of surrender.
“My bad here, I admit. But I also promise that’s not my intention.” Mathew lowered his hands. “Now then, can you look at them? In a way, a man would?”
“Matty…” Nadia muttered, blushing a little when she felt Norbert’s stare all over her features. “What are you…”
“This is an important lesson for you too, so I need you girls to bear with it for now,” Mathew countered before Nadia could even express her displeasure with the situation.
“Okay, I looked at them,” Norbert said after a short while. “I guess you lucked out with this apocalypse as I see no feasible reality without it when you end up with bombshells like them,” he then added, still keeping up his mocking front.
“Then, I need you to answer one simple question,” Mathew explained, his tone indicating he was nearing the crux of his point. “And I want you to really think about the answer. At the same time, I will assume you are not a delusional virgin either,” he introduced several rules to his logic.
“Sure thing,” Norbert replied, crossing his arms over his chest again. “I don’t see the need for it but go on.”
“The question I want to ask you now is simple,” Mathew said, taking a step forward. This time, it was his turn to intrude upon Norbert’s personal space. “With all three of them eager to suck me dry every night, do you really think I would bother adding another thirsty chick to my group if I didn’t consider it absolutely necessary?”