Callea kept of shoving spoonful of food into her mouth because she couldn't think of gross and scary things during dinner to negate the captivating view of Deive's smile at her while they were eating. She just focused on eating a lot to her deep frustration.
"Hmmm ... this will ruin my diet. Homecooked meals make forget about discipline in food," Deive moaned after slurping bulalo or beef stew bone.
"Food is supposed to be devoured and enjoyed," Callea assured.
"I'm in trouble with my gym instructor. This bulalo is to die for."
"Marina cooked that one."
When she took Marina under her roof, she saw her potential in her cooking. She was so good that even just a simple vegetable soup could taste gourmet-ish. That was why she had fun teaching her her grandmother's recipe and some recipe of her own.
"She's good. How long have she been here with you? "asked the young man.
"Two years."
"Why did you get her as your helper?" he asked casually.
Her eyes became sharp. "Marina is not a hired help. She's a friend. She is my companion."
"Really?" he asked with disbelief.
She tightly held the steak knife and pressed her lips. What was he trying to imply? That Marina should not be her friend because she was a hunchback? Was she stooping low in his opinion?
So Deive was no different from the cruel people outside. They judge people base on their appearance and now on substance. She loathed superficial people. Marina was a good person. Why should people judge her because of her deformity? As if she wished to be born a hunchback. Too bad. Marina thought Deive was a nice guy.
Deive looked alarmed and stopped eating. "Hey! Don't get me wrong. I do not judge your friendship with Marina. But it is just you two in this huge mansion. What if some robbers decided to come here? Who will protect you?" His concern looked real.
"Thanks for the concern, but no one would dare come to this place.
It helped that people thought her home was a haunted house home. It was so notorious that even thieves won't set foot on the place. It would be difficult for them to take large antique furniture in the mansion. It was not easy to steal. There are no precious heirloom or money there. Everything she needed was arranged by her grandfather - from paying the utility bills to supplies. She also knew that her grandfather placed guards to watch over the mansion. She was okay with that as long as they remained invisible and won't interfere with her life.
Callea sighed with relief. It was comforting to know that he was not judging Marina. Marina was her friend. She won't allow anyone to hut her friend.
"According to your grandfather, you don't leave the mansion at all. What do you do when you're cooped up here?" he asked with curiosity.
"I have online classes. I am taking up Creative writing. Because I like to make graphics novels. The old books and the library helped me enrich my imagination. I am also working with several novels. So I have a lot in my hands. "
She didn't mention that she was a glowing graphics horror novelist. Her published graphic novels had followers on only in the Philippines but also in other countries. Her publisher Philippine-based only but was able to get other readers abroad. Thanks to the Internet.
But she used a pen name to hide her identity. Only her publisher knew her information. While she was a mysterious artist to the rest of the world.
"What are you currently working on? Romance? Fiction? Political satire? "
She smiled sheepishly. "I will tell you once it is published." She was not comfortable showing it to someone else once her works were still raw. Even in Marina was forbidden to see it. It was included in her eccentricities as an artist. "How about you? You work for Hontiveros Coco Industries you, right? "
"I used to work for our family business. Not anymore," he informed her with a sad voice.
"Then what do you do now?"
"A professional bum," he answered with a gloat. "That is why my grandfather is giving me away. Is it okay for you to marry someone like me?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. There was also nothing she could do because her grandfather wants her to marry him. Even if he was a terrorist, she would marry him if that was the only way to ensure to get the mansion.
"If its okay with you too eat the sweet potato tops and other vegetables in our backyard, then I am cool with it."
His rich laughter echoed inside the house. She was stunned. Suddenly there was life and light inside the mansion that had not been heard for a long time.
"You will feed me potato tops and grass? Great!" He tapped the table. "So, it means I have to learn how to grow weed from now on."
She looked away from him, her heart constricted. She loathed his smiling face. She loathed his laugh. It touched her gloomy heart. It was not good.
"If you are tired of sweet potato tops, you can dig for sweet potatoes underneath. We have lots of root crops here."
"Don't worry. I'm not with Hontiveros Coco anymore but I am working on a project with some of my friends. A pirate cruise ship. "
"Wow! So it was like an old, dusty pirate ship like the one on Pirates of the Carribean?" Callea's eyes sparkled when she thought of the skeletons of dead pirates rising from the depths of the water to wreak havoc to the world. There were underwater treasures guarded by a giant monster. It was exciting! They finally had something in common.
Deive shook his head. "It would be an elegant floating hotel. I really want to travel the world when on board the ship. I think it is cool. " It presents the palms. "Do you want to go with me when we married?"
She looked at his stretched hand. It was a splendid invitation for any normal, starry-eyed woman who was in for a romance with a handsome man.
She smiled a bit. She was not directly refusing his offer to travel on his cruise ship. She had no plans to get out of the mansion and travel the world. The world was too vast and too cruel for the likes of her. She was happy to spend the rest of the life inside the mansion, away from the crazy world.