In the restaurant, customers could be seen doing their own stuff.
Levi walked towards Apollo who has his head laid on the counter, his palms are sweaty and a trace of fear could be seen in Levi's eyes, but his determination didn't waver, he took a deep breath and continued to walk towards Apollo.
His respect and admiration for Apollo are unfathomable, but deep within, he couldn't help but fear the guy, "B-boss..."
Apollo's eyes twitch, his dream of being a weak protagonist in those novels he has read has been disturbed, he glared at Levi, killing intent is hidden inside those sharp eyes of his, "What?"
Levi almost jumped, he felt the killing intent coming from Apollo, he didn't know what he has done to Apollo to make him glare at him like that, "C-can I have a loan?"
No matter what, he really needs this loan, he sucked up all of his courage just to say this sentence, the killing intent coming from Apollo still hasn't faded.
Apollo took out his card and handed it to Levi without hesitation, "Don't disturb me anymore."
'You're the restaurant owner, why are you like this? Aren't you supposed to be friendly to your customers!?' Levi hesitated on whether he would take the card or not, he thought of several situations on what would happen next.
The first situation is: After taking the card, Apollo fumed in anger, his aura began rising to an unfathomable level, the air in the restaurant began to tighten and people could barely breathe. Levi's vision darkened and died on the spot.
He shivered as he thought of that, the second one is: After taking the card, Apollo got back to sleep like nothing ever happened.
Levi looked at the card in Apollo's hands, "What are you doing? Take it!" Apollo commanded.
Levi almost shrieked in fear, 'I only want to take a loan, I don't want to die yet!', he shakily grabbed the card while looking at Apollo's face to observe what his reaction would be.
Contrary to his expectations, Apollo just snorted and muttered something under his breath, Levi heaved a sigh of relief and got back to his seat with Elizbeth. He already knows of his boss's attitude so he didn't dare to give back the card and just accepted it.
Elizabeth looked at her brother who was sitting beside her, soaked in sweat as if he jumped on the swimming pool and came back at the restaurant, "What... happened to you?"
Levi awkwardly laughed, he tries to change the topic, "So, where did you say you wanna go?"
Even though she had doubts in Levi, she still replied happily, "To the bookstore, I can't find what I want to find on the internet."
Levi was in a daze, 'Aren't women supposed to like dresses and jewelry?' he shook his head and got up from the seat, holding out his hand to help Elizabeth.
...
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the mall?" Levi asked with suspicions.
Elizabeth glared at Levi as if she wants to kill him, Levi looked back at Elizabeth, still confused, "Did you forgot that my body is full of scars?"
All that Levi wants to do now is dig a hole and hide in it, how could he forget that his sister is full of scars?
While walking towards the book store, a metal rod grabbed her sleeves and ripped it in the process, she didn't hesitate and immediately hid her arm, afraid that somebody will see her scar filled arm.
Her left hand pressed against her arm, what confused her is that she couldn't feel the scars she was so used to, she slowly removed her left hand and what greeted her is white flawless skin, she screamed as loud as she can in the side of the road.
Passers-by couldn't help but look at their direction, their eyes landed on Levi. He also noticed their gazes and felt awkward, he hurriedly went to his sister, "What's wrong?"
"M-m-my arm!!" she pointed at her arm, her eyes filled with disbelief, she knows her body, she even knows how many scars she has and where they are located.
Levi looked at her arm, feeling annoyed that he is getting accused of kidnapping, although the passer-by didn't deliberately say it, he could feel it in their gaze, his eyes landed on her arms, he couldn't help but sigh, "Come on, we have to go to the bookstore."
He already knows it's Apollo's doing, so he wasn't really surprised.
Working at the restaurant for a couple of weeks, he's already immune to all Apollo's tricks.
"B-but! My arm!" Elizabeth wanted to hit Levi so hard but she still wants answers to her question.
The reason why Apollo did this is that he didn't want Elizabeth's confidence to go down the drain, she is still confident about her self right now, but the longer she hides her body, the less confident she will be to go out, much less talk to people.
To women, their outer appearance means so much to them that they will literally do anything just to be more beautiful. If Elizabeth will someday be conscious of her appearance, she will be anxious to go outside, once that happens, she will isolate herself from other people.
Levi clicked his tongue, "It's the boss." he then grabbed her hand trying to lead Elizabeth
Elizabeth pulled her hand, "Why are you bringing the boss here!?" she asked angrily, Apollo has been nice to her ever since she came to the restaurant, he didn't even judge her appearance, so of course, she would be protective when Apollo is mentioned.
Levi rubbed his forehead trying to relieve his headache, "Just accept it, why are you so whiny today?" he couldn't help but chuckle at their conversation, even though he's having a headache talking to his sister, this type of conversations is all he has been wanting for the last three years.
Elizabeth pouted beneath her mask, she held her hand out, "Can I borrow your phone?"
Levi took out his phone and handed it to her.
She took off all the things covering her face, before, her face was covered with burn marks and scars. While closing her eyes, she made the phone face her.
Opening her eyes, she saw her face in the reflection, her face as smooth as a baby's bum, her lips so pink. She looked at Levi and back at her reflection then back again at Levi, her mouth agape, she didn't know if she was dreaming or not.
Elizabeth pinched her cheeks to prove it wasn't a dream, but she only felt pain when she did that. Looking at her reflection again, she still couldn't believe that it is her, her eyes that are like diamond began to water.
The people who glanced at her can't even take their eyes off of her, one guy bumped into a pole while looking at her, one got shouted at and slapped by his girlfriend, and one almost got hit by a car.
When they saw tears pouring down Elizabeth's face, they wanted to walk up to Levi and punch him for making their goddess cry like that.
"Let's buy you new clothes so that you could flaunt your beauty, haha." Levi couldn't help but tease her. While observing her these past few days, he couldn't help but notice that she is always frowning beneath that mask of hers.
Elizabeth wiped her tears and smiled, she held Levi's arm tightly and began to walk to the mall, "You're paying."
"I'm gonna buy a ton of clothes!"
Levi's smile immediately disappeared from his face when he heard her say that. Even though his salary is high considering he's just a helper in the restaurant, he couldn't help but pity himself. He couldn't even fully pay the loans from Kate and her friends.