Chapter 149: Purpose discovered"What's this?" Wednesday asked, noticing a sophisticated, purple bag beside her seat.
Luke, who was driving while keeping his eyes on the road, glanced over and noticed the object Wednesday was referring to.
"Your gift. Did you really think I wouldn't get you anything for your birthday?" Luke replied, not hiding that he'd bought her something.
"I assumed you'd give me a present for my birthday," Wednesday said in her usual monotone.
After all, she had given Luke three gothic literature books for his birthday. Luke had also received gifts from the Addams family, Natasha, and his two friends, Xavier and Ajax. That birthday turned out to be the best of his life in both his lives.
"What I didn't expect was that you'd give me clothes..." Wednesday said with some disappointment as she felt the bag's soft texture. It could only be clothing.
She had hoped for a book, weapons, poisons, or something along those lines. Though she liked the necklace Luke gave her and held them in high regard, she preferred practical items over clothing or accessories.
"Hey, don't inspect it! That's cheating!" Luke exclaimed, pulling the bag out of Wednesday's hands. It was supposed to be a surprise, but now she already knew it was clothing.
"One glance was enough to tell me it's clothes. The logo on the bag is pretty obvious," Wednesday said.
"Tsch. You're the only girl who isn't happy about getting clothes as a gift. It's designer and very expensive, though your family isn't exactly short on money," Luke said, shrugging.
"Having a lot of clothes is a waste of time. I don't understand how girls my age find shopping for clothes entertaining," Wednesday said with a slight grimace. Her closet had few different items, with the same piece repeated multiple times.
If she wanted, she could fill an entire room with clothes using her family's wealth, but it would be the last thing she'd ever do.
"I'm sure this outfit suits your taste," Luke said, knowing that Wednesday's entire wardrobe was mainly black, with white as a secondary color.
Morticia had once mentioned that Wednesday was "allergic to color," which is why her uniform at Nevermore was black instead of indigo.
"Although..." he murmured, remembering the dress's length. That was the only difference from Wednesday's usual clothes.
"What?" Wednesday asked, having caught Luke's murmur.
"Oh, nothing important... By the way, are those two twins your cousins? Addams or Frump?" Luke asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Addams. Second cousins. Nick and Simon. Seniors at a normie school in New York. Both have orange auras, specializing in earth manipulation," Wednesday answered, as if giving a report on a target they were meant to eliminate.
"Their stone shields aren't bad," Luke remarked, recalling the two shields the twins had conjured quickly and effectively. Too bad their hardness wasn't enough to withstand Luke's telekinetic force.
If he'd hit them without it, he would've broken his hands. He could tell those shields would withstand multiple gunshots.
"They could improve, but they spend the whole year lazing around," Wednesday said with mild disapproval, though she still held her second cousins in high regard.
"Why don't they go to Nevermore?" Luke asked, refocusing on the road. Even on a straight path, it was better to avoid potholes if possible.
"They don't like studying, especially not at a boarding school. They keep saying they're free spirits or some nonsense like that. Plus, they constantly pull pranks at the normie schools they attend. They probably have more expulsions than the two of us combined," Wednesday replied.
In a few minutes, they arrived at the Addams mansion. Morticia and Gomez, with the help of Thing and Lurch, were setting up all the decorations for the birthday party that night. Wednesday looked at it all with a grimace, then went up the grand staircase with Luke toward her room.
"Darling, bring Luke down later to introduce him to your uncles. They'll be delighted to meet him," Morticia said, glancing up at the stairs.
"They just left to look for Nick and Simon after hearing that gunshot. Do you know what caused it?" Morticia added, clearly suspecting that they were involved in the deafening shot from a few minutes before.
Luke paused midway up the stairs, glancing at Morticia with Wednesday. He tried to keep a poker face. He was certain Wednesday's uncles wouldn't be thrilled to meet him after finding their sons unconscious in the woods with broken bones.
"I'll introduce him to the whole family later. I won't waste my time on multiple introductions," Wednesday said, continuing up the stairs without answering the question.
Luke followed her in silence, just hoping Pugsley wouldn't go crying to Morticia. The last thing he wanted was to get on her bad side. As for Gomez, he was sure he wouldn't mind. He'd likely see the incident as child's play.
"You don't seem very happy about your birthday," Luke commented as he entered Wednesday's room and closed the door behind him.
"I'm not a fan of birthdays," Wednesday replied, sitting on the edge of her bed and staring at Luke.
She didn't like being the center of attention or having so many people crowding around for her attention. She knew that no matter how much she didn't want to celebrate, her relatives would show up, so she'd given up on not celebrating her birthday a long time ago. The only thing that would solve it would be running away.
Luke nodded, not offering any further comments. As for him, he didn't like being the center of attention either, but he couldn't deny he felt a bit jealous seeing Wednesday's parents decorating the whole house with smiles to celebrate her birthday.
"Here. Happy sixteenth birthday, cara mía," Luke said with a teasing smile, holding out the bag.
"I told you not to call me that," Wednesday replied with a cold expression as she snatched the bag from his hand.
"I'm just kidding, and I do it when we're alone," Luke said, amused, as he sat beside Wednesday, who was already opening the bag and pulling out the delicate dress.
"Truth often hides behind silly jokes... until it stops being funny," Wednesday said as she carefully examined the dress.
Luke's mocking expression changed at Wednesday's comment, and he fell silent, thinking seriously.
As Luke stood silently contemplating the sentence she said, Wednesday was able to observe the dress in peace. She liked the design.
The dress was dark-toned with fine white vertical lines, giving it a great sense of elegance, which was to her taste. The collar was wide and pointed, evoking a retro style, and the sleeves
were long.
Everything was perfect until she noticed the length of the dress.
"It's very short," Wednesday commented with a slight frown. She really liked the elegant,
classic style of the dress.
Too bad it was too short for her taste. Her thighs would be visible, and she wasn't a fan of that. If she had to fight, it would be very uncomfortable.
"I didn't notice when I bought it... If you want, we can go exchange it, although there aren't any longer ones," Luke said, pretending to be clueless.
Wednesday stared at him and knew he was lying. It was obvious to her what his intentions were, but she didn't say anything.
She got up from the edge of the bed, the dress in hand, and walked to a door that led to a personal changing room in her room. She entered, closed the door, and a few minutes later came out with the new dress on.
Luke looked at Wednesday, surprised. He thought she wouldn't wear the dress since she wasn't a fan of changes, but here she was, standing in front of him.
The dress was fitted to her body, accentuating her figure and cinched at the waist. Her pale legs stood out more than usual, as they were never visible. Luke couldn't help but stare at
them.
"My face is up here," Wednesday said, walking toward Luke, and with a hand, she lifted his gaze to meet her eyes.
"Uh... I know," Luke said, trying to sound calm, though it didn't quite work, causing Wednesday to smile slightly. Searᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"You like my legs, huh?" Wednesday said in a mocking, sharp tone.
"W-what? No, that's not it!" Luke immediately denied, but his tone was far from convincing.
It wasn't his fault. Despite Wednesday's delicate figure, her body was trained to the limit. She was muscular, not a skinny, bony girl.
Luke couldn't understand why she made him so nervous about these things. It had never happened with any other girls he met in the past. There hadn't been many, but he wasn't inexperienced. Yet, in front of her, he felt like one.
"You can look if you want. It doesn't bother me," Wednesday said, sitting next to Luke again
on the edge of the bed.
"Oh... thanks, though I'm your boyfriend. I should have that right," Luke said, turning his
gaze toward that part of her body. Wednesday rolled her eyes, unable to believe how
shameless he was.
After a few seconds, Luke returned his gaze to Wednesday, who was also staring at him,
wondering when he would stop looking at her legs.
"Are you really going to wear it?" Luke asked.
"Yes. It's not bad to change things up once in a while," Wednesday replied.
"I'm glad to hear that. It'd be a waste to return the dress when it's the only length available,"
Luke nodded, secretly pleased.
"Try to make your intentions less obvious next time," Wednesday said with a slight smile, crossing her legs. The movement drew Luke's gaze.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." Luke said, crossing his arms and slightly closing
his eyes to hide it a little more.
...
Ten minutes before nine in the evening, Gómez called Luke to his office. It seemed like he had something to tell him, so he followed him to his large office while Wednesday waited for the
guests, not too happy.
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