Chapter 224 223. Unexpected (2).

"...."

After a long gap of awkward silence.

Katharine snapped out of her daze and forced a smile at Eshwar; she hadn't expected to see him here.

"You don't have to force yourself." Eshwar said and glanced at Katline, who nodded her head.

"I'll be in the room; you can call me if you need anything." Eshwar said as he walked towards the room inside the cosy house.

CLUNK

"...."

"...."

"....I'll go get you something to eat." Katline said and walked towards the kitchen, acting as if nothing was weird with Eshwar going into a room in her house.

"....does Eshwar live here? Isn't this your house?" Katharine couldn't hold back her curiosity and mumbled with a low tone.

"....It is mine or should I say he gave me the necessary AP." Katline said with a small smile.

"Since everything was messed up, I asked him for help, and he bought me a house, saying I should return at least half of it." Katline explained.

"....is that so." Katharine agreed with that reasoning and continued to ponder her plan of action.

'Now that I think about it, wasn't he the only one that visited me today? Jiwoo, Vinny, and Violet have been strangely out of contact....' She wondered as she walked and sat on the couch. Though Katline too hadn't come, she didn't include her because Katline had said that she wouldn't be able to come to her today because of some work.

"Here." Katline placed a plate filled with food, but the amount of food was too much for one person.

"Katline.... I can't eat that much...." Katharine chuckled lightly and said while pointing at the food.

"Oh, sorry, I did it out of habit...." Katline blushed slightly and made up a half-a*sed excuse.

"....habit of eating a ton?" Katharine asked with a chuckle, it was definitely lifting her mood.

"No! We eat in a single plate...." Katline yelled but stopped herself mid-sentence.

"Huh?" Katharine furrowed her brows at Katline.

"N-nothing." Katline pouted and sat next to Katharine before holding her hand.

"...." The house turned silent after those words, but it wasn't awkward; Katharine gradually took the plate in front of her and began eating. She was reminded of her mother, who used to feed her while she played in her childhood, which continued even after she had turned into a switch cadet; she would get fed while she swung her sword without caring for the food in her mouth or her mother's care, but now that had lost all meaning to things like that, she was now regretting that she couldn't enjoy them when they were alive.

"Hic....hic...." The living room was filled with the painful hiccups of Katharine, who was sobbing uncontrollably while eating the food. Though Katline felt bad for her, since she couldn't understand that pain, she just stroked Katharine's back in hopes of comforting her so that she could let out all of her stressful emotions.

​ "It will be alright." Katline mumbled with a soothing voice and hugged Katharine, who had stopped eating food.

CLUNK

"Haaa...." Then suddenly, Eshwar walked out of his room with a deep sigh. He was now wearing a black baggy t-shirt, trousers, and home slippers.

"...." Katharine stopped crying as both of them stared at Eshwar, whose hair was all messed up.

"Tsk." His gaze landed on Katharine and he clicked his tongue.

"I am trying to get some goddamn sleep...." He mumbled under his breath and walked towards them before sitting in front of them. He then suddenly grabbed Katharine's hands and stared at her in the eyes. Katharine flinched and pulled her hands, but since Eshwar was stronger than her, she couldn't free her hands from his.

"Katharine." Eshwar called out, Katharine shuddered and stopped struggling, and even Katline was surprised by his actions but didn't say anything out loud.

"Why are you crying?" Eshwar asked, and even though the answer was obvious, they couldn't answer him.

"You do know that your crying won't do anything except bother people like me." Eshwar said. His words pissed off Katline and depressed Katharine even more. Katline, who wanted to scold him, stood up, but before she could continue...

"I only cry when I want to forget about something, and I hate it when people don't just cry once and keep on crying for all their lives, and from what I see, your case is the latter." Eshwar said.

"Though I know I'm different and you are different, I don't want to hear you crying out loud like this. Go to the room with Katline, lock it, and cry with your face buried in the pillow." Eshwar said. His words were so calm that it was quite scary. Katline then glanced at Katharine, who seemed not to have heard even a single word that Eshwar just spoke.

'.... there it is.... the hiccup is gone again, at Eshwar's words this time too....' Katharine thought while staring at Eshwar in his eyes. She had heard all of Eshwar's words and had pondered them, but they sounded like a bunch of nonsense. It was as if a kid was trying to act mature in front of an actual adult, but not a single one of them was consoling her; instead, it even made her more depressed.

(AN: If only she understood that not a single word that came out of his mouth was meant to console her.)

"Haa... sorry, I don't even know what I was trying to say; I just got too irritated by all the sobbing. Sorry, you can continue." Eshwar said, got up and sat on the couch at the other end, pulled Katline and made her sit in the middle of him and Katharine.

"!" Katline's eyes then shot wide open when she saw Eshwar lean on her shoulder before falling asleep; she let out a few dry coughs and continued to comfort Katharine, who had started to sob again as she remembered her parents.

Katline could feel Eshwar's face twitch from time to time; after a while, she made him lean on the couch, walked in and out of her room, bought her earmuffs with her, covered his ear, and made him lean on her again. Katharine slept while sobbing, and Katline too slept with her head leaned on Eshwar's; at that time, all three of them had slept on the couch.

*

The next morning.

The first to wake up was Katline; she opened her eyes and froze since she felt a pair of big hands holding her from behind. Since she was familiar with the big hands, she didn't make any noise even though she wanted to scream, because the hands hugging her were definitely Eshwar's.

He had hugged her like a body pillow, with his left hand between her legs and his right hand around her neck. This was the first time something like this had happened, and she didn't know what to do because she was almost choked to death when she acted all surprised before.

"E-Eshwar...." Katline whispered because her gaze halted at a certain woman's figure, which lay on the ground with tears in the corner of her eyes. Yes, while Katline and Eshwar were sleeping on the couch, Katharine had fallen to the ground and was sleeping on the cold ground.

"G-get up." Katline was having a hard time holding back her voice; if he moved in a weird way, she would moan loudly, and that was something she wasn't confident in holding back. She then thought of pushing him back in hopes of getting his hands off of her because Katharine could wake up any minute and she wasn't ready to explain everything.

'...1....2....3....' She counted inwardly, leaned back, and soon felt his breath on her neck; a pleasurable shiver cruised through her body, and she blushed violently; as a result of that shiver, she jerked abruptly instead of moving slowly, and...

"Anh!!" She moaned loudly. Because of her moan, Eshwar jerked back and abruptly pulled his hands before sitting straight with his eyes closed while trying to open them; it was the same with Katharine, but as soon as she tried to sit up...

BUM

"Ack!?" She hit her head on the table, rubbed the top of her head and rubbed her eyes trying to open them which shut tightly due to the tears which had dried all night.

"...." Eshwar gradually opened his eyes and gazed at Katline, who was blushing violently with her hands covering her face. He then tilted his head slightly, his head covered in question marks.

'Ahhhh!!!!!' Katline screamed inwardly in embarrassment as she peered at his face through the gaps between her fingers.

"Let's go....we had planned to go to the spawning grounds...." Eshwar mumbled while scratching the back of his head. He was speaking as if he wanted to go on an early morning walk.

"O-ok."