Zerah was damn right when he said that he will see me soon because he turned up at 'The Rasa' the next day, just as I got on my shift.
He smiled at me, and I gave a professional smile back, stabbing him thousand of times inside my head. He was courteous enough not to come and talk to me directly, as I tended to other customers. He seemed aloof and zoned out, and it made me oddly concerned. He held a glass of soda which looked like champagne in one hand, and a bottle, made to mimic a champagne bottle, in the other.
After about half an hour, his gloomy countenance got replaced with a brightly lit face. His eyes were eagerly on the door, as Sana entered.
I hadn't seen her in a while and when she walked through the door, my heart skipped a beat. She looked really good. And judging from Zerah's reaction, it seemed that I was not the only one who hadn't seen her in a while. He got up when she reached him, and they had a dramatic reunion with deep embraces and I thought I saw tears. One would think that they were separated by some kind of war.
"A Morning Glory, please," Zerah said.
"Make that two," Sana said, looking at me with a pretty smile, "Long time, Lisa."
"Yes indeed," I said, faking pleasant surprise.
"A strawberry sherbet," Zerah said sternly, "Lisa, ONE Morning Glory, and a strawberry sherbet."
"Excuse me?" Sana said, and frowned at him. He looked at her and they had an intense conversation with their eyes.
"Too much alcohol," Zerah said, "Steven would kill me if he knew."
She shrugged, "He won't know!"
"Oh, how can you underestimate Steven?" Zerah's whisper was hoarse, "He had a way of knowing everything! My life is at a risk because of you."
"Aw, but you love me," she teased.
"Well, yeah," he said, "but you don't want to upset the big bro."
She sighed and then looked at me with a faint smile, "Strawberry sherbet it is then, Lisa! The pangs of things one has to do for love, ah..."
She loved doing that to lighten the mood.
They looked so oddly cute together, to have petty fights. From what I gathered, the Steven guy was someone like a brother or father or any male authority for Sana AND Zerah, probably more Sana. Naturally, if they dated, Zerah would be accountable to that Steven guy. It seemed pretty intense to me.
"Here's your order," I said with a friendly smile, or what I thought was a friendly smile.
"Thanks," Zerah said with a wink.
I felt recoiled.
"thank you, Lisa," Sana said and then added quickly, "say, why don't you join us? There are less customers and I could ask Miss Carey; she's an old dear."
OLD?!
"That is such a good idea!" Zerah exclaimed, "That old hag wouldn't mind. She may seem rock like, but she's actually a kind person."
"OLD?!" Stella Carey's voice sounded from behind the three of us. I felt a chill go down my spine. In fact, we all did. Zerah and Sana looked at each other, their faces pale.
"Ah damn," Zerah mouthed.
"So who's an old hag?" Stella Carey said, eyes sparkling.
"Miss Carey," Zerah said, smiling sweetly, "it was Steven's ghost that possessed me. I swear to god that I would never call a gorgeous YOUNG lady such as yourself an old hag."
I witnessed a severe thrashing that day. Stella Carey took Sana, Zerah and I down to a dojo. Yes, a dojo. A damn huge dojo down 'The Rasa'. Legit.
Zerah and Stella Carey stood opposite each other, and they had a duel. Not an exact duel. It was simply Zerah getting beaten up by Stella Carey. It wasn't all that serious. They had fun, I guessed. And they seemed pretty close.
Sana and I stood at the side, letting them settle it.
"It's been a while," Sana said with a chuckle.
"Don't tell me this is common," I commented.
"it is pretty much. Miss Carey is a close family friend of ours," Sana said.
"Both yours and Zerah's?" I said.
It isn't all that weird now, but it was weird back then.
"Well, yes," she said, "It's a small world, you know. We live together, so it sort of makes sense."
She brought her attention back to them duelling, and laughed as they performed the tomfoolery.
And I, dumbstruck, pretended to be entertained.
"Hahaha"