"Guys... you... you come!" Still in stammered Lily exclaimed pretending to be excited to hide her nervousness about whatever she was about to do upstair.
"Of course! We;re looking for you!" Bruno said with a hurtful tone he tried to hide. "What are YOU doing here ?!" He asked back.
"I... I...."
"She wanted to buy another bottle of my potion," Sukraj was one who answered. "Since she doesn't have any money, she offered to warm my cold bed."
Lily could only lowerened her head as she had no more face to the both men, especially to Deathstalker.
"Look..." Deathstalker finally broke the silence that lingered more than a minute. "How many bottles you're willing to give us for that orange ?"
Sukraj thought for a few seconds. "Four. Five.... No... no.. Six... six," Sukraj corrected himself when he saw Deathstalker was about to take back the orange. "Six. That's my final answer."
Deathstalker turned to Bruno and whispered, "How many you got ?"
Bruno whispred to answer, "Two."
Deathstalker went enclosed toward Lily. "Do you think twelve days is enough?"
"No," Lily whispered back. "I barely get any information these few days."
"Hey... why are you guys whispering ? Two bottles will give you six days. You have found her, so you can spend those six days for touring around," Sukraj saud. "Unless..." He frown with suspicious,"You lied to me and have other mission. Am I right ?"
Despite answering him, Deathstalker unchantanly grobbed his back and took out a stip of something. He then unwrapped its plastic and bit it.
"Hey... what's that ?" Sukraj asked in curiusity.
"What? This ?" Deathstalker asked. Sukraj nodded. "Oh... this is just a pork jerky. It's my snack time," He said unchantantly, deliberately acted not to notice Sukraj changed f expression when he heard his answer.
"P... p... po... pork ???" Sukraj asked. This time, not only his hands that were trembling, but his whole body was shaken hard. He almost failed to catch the jery that had been bitten by Deathstalker.
sukraj smelled the jerky and he started to cry. He even felt his knees could no longer able to support is body, so he threw his body on the couch. "I... I... love... loooove... pork. God... it was my favorite. But... but.... since... since... I am here.... I... I force... force my self.... to be ve... vegan... so... so... I won't... I won't be.... cannibal..." He was struggling to tell his story in between his sob.
"I know," Deathstalker said uchatantly. He then took back the jerky from Sukraj's hands and took another bite. "Now tell me... How many bottles of potion you have in your stock, then I will tell you how many jerky I'm willingly to give you for them."
In rush, Sukraj went to a room. Couple of minutes later he came back with a suitcase-like box in his hand. He put it on top of the table and opened it. The box was full with tiny bottles.
"These are all I have now. Thirty two bottles. I can make them again, but it will need six days for the potion to be ready. So... so... I can only give yoi thirty as I need the two bottles for my self," he said. "I'm telling the truth, I have no more potion left," he added when Deathstalker said nothing.
"I can give you one new pork jerky for those thirty," Deathstalkr said while tapping his finger onto his lips.
"Two, please..." Sukraj pleaded. "I want to give one to Ling Ling. She has never eaten meat for the rest of her life."
Deathstalker frowned as he acted like he mind.
"I will give you another ten... twelve... I will give you another twelve in the future if you still need them," Sukraj hurrily added.
Deathstalker sighed. "Okay, dael. Two jerkies for these thity and twelve more in the future," he then told his decision. "But yo have to promise me to give one to Ling Ling."
"Of course. She is my child. I love her," Sukraj said.
Deathstalker took out two strips of pork jerky from his bag while Sukraj enclosed the box. Sukraj then handing the box to Deathstalker while receiving the jerkies, still with trembling.
"Thank you... thank you..." He said repeatedly.
Deathstalker took three bottles out of the box and gave to Bruno and Lily each before gupled one conten for his own.
"Nice doing business with you," Deathstalker then said before telling to his two partners, "Let's go."
"You can keep the orange as bonus," Bruno said to Sukraj
"Thank you so much," Sukraj said his gratitide again, "May your mission be successful, whatever it is," he added before letting himself out from the house.
----------
The three of them walked on the dark street, The potion was not only camouflage there scent, but also made there sight clearer in the dark and the gravity felt lighter.
"I can't believe you're finally back," Lily said in excitement.
"I had to," Deathstalker responded with sight still on the road.
"May I know why ?" Lily askd.
"No," Deathstalker shortly answered. It made Lilu clamped her lips.
They were in another silence moment for several minutes until Bruno asked, "Have you... done it with him ?"
Lily shrugged. "It's none of your business," she refused to answer. Bruno could only gulp to hear it.
There was no other word spoken between them. They just walked towad the town. Turned out Sukraj's house was on the outskirt of the town. It was about couple of miles later they finally arrived at the town.
Surprisingly to Ceathstalker and Bruno, the town was very lively even though it was already late at night. There were people passing by on the road, some even flew above their heads.
"Don't they sleep ?" Bruno hissed.
"They sleep at daylight," Lily answered.
"Wow... what a jetlag we're going to have here, Bro," Bruno whispered to Deathstalker that just grinned to respond.
"The hotel is this way," Lily told them the way. She timidly glanced toward Deathstalker before continued, "I... I told the hotel owner that I came here to find my husband."
"And your husband is... ?" Deathstalker asked.
"Y...You"
"So now, after you 'found' me, what excuse should you give to the owner when he asked you why we ar still here ?" Deathstalker asked again.
"I told him that you're here for research. So... we can just say that your research here is not done," Lily answered.
"What kind of research ?" Deathstalker asked agaim.
"The food supply chain kinda," Lily answered. "Is it good enough ?"
"What if I'll be just another ordinary guest ?" Deathstalker bargained.
"I... I already showed him your picture," Lily said, lowered her head down. "He... he asked for it... He wanted to help me finding you back then. I couldn't say that I didn't have your picture, that would be too weird, right ?"
Deathstalker didn't say a word.
"Well... ?" Lily fearfully asked for his confirmation.
Deathstalker sighed. "Just don't dream us will be together again or I will be willingly to be in a bed with you."
"But... but... as husband and wife, we should be in one room," Lily pursued.
"To be honest... I can not promise not to kill you as you asleep," Deathstalker said in cold.
"Death !!" It was Bruno who was shouting in shock hearing Deathstalker's threat, while Lily in instance hid behind Bruno's back.
"He was just joking," Bruno pursued Lily to not be afraid. "Why don't you lead us to the hotel."
In hesitant, Lily walked in front of Bruno and Deathstalker to lead them. Around ten minutes later she murmured, "We're here..."