"Gasp!" Isha sat up straight, sweating profusely, and her breathing became heavy as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Eshwar!" She exclaimed before running to the door.
CLUNK
KNOCK, KNOCK (4x)
'H-he is safe! Ye-yeah....' she reminded herself.
KNOCK, KNOCK (3x)
"Coming, coming...."
"Haa..." She sighed in relief after hearing Eshwar's voice.
CLANK
"Who in God's....." Eshwar opened the door.
He was scratching his stomach under the baggy black t-shirt, and his hair was all unkempt, with a horn shaped hair in the middle of his head. His expression instantly turned to that of a shook and worried.
"Isha?" he said in low voice.
"Huh?" She awoke from her trance when she heard her name and burst into tears.
"Eh? Um.. please come in first..." He invited Isha, who accepted without giving it a second thought.
"Sniffle..."
***
I invited her inside and forced her to sit on the untidy bed, offering her a glass of water and sitting in front of her.
'Wh-what should I do?' I thought looking at Isha cry like a child.
Her eyes were swollen from all the crying; I'm not sure where all those tears came from, but she cried out like it was the first time in years, and her swollen eyes made it even worse for me....
'She looks so cute, I don't know whether to laugh or be worried about her....'
"Um.... Are you alright?" I asked her.
'Does she look alright? What the f**k am I even asking when she clearly doesn't look alright!!!!' I screamed inwardly.
"Pfft... Yes, I'm alright, thank you." Isha said with slight smile.
'... Her... No, no... Yes, Buddha! Only pure thoughts... Do not remember the previous thoughts....'
"Goddamn.... it's dangerous..." I mumbled out, involuntarily.
"Huh?"
"No, nothing. Hahaha." I laughed trying cover up my blunder.
"Umm..." she fidgeted.
"Yes!?" I exclaimed too fast for my own comfort.
".... Can I touch your hand.... once." Isha asked.
"Huh?"
***
"Um.... Ah! Don't misunderstand! I'm just uncomfortable with physical contact...." Isha justified herself.
"Ah! Hahaha, is that so...." Eshwar exclaimed, embarrassed.
"Eh?" Which turned to shook after he understood what Isha just said.
"Yes, so if you're not uncomfortable, then..." She asked, fidgeting.
"No! Not at all, if I can be of any help." Eshwar offered his hand without much thought behind it, until...
"Then, excuse me.." Isha said.
She drew his hand closer to herself and began to poke like a cat at a fur ball.
'... its not uncomfortable nor nauseating.... its warm...'
"Whoa!" she exclaimed in low tone.
"Pfft." Eshwar held back his laughter before Isha furrowed her brows at him.
"I'm really sorry.." he bowed a bit and apologized.
"Hmph." She snorted and continued to poke.
'Mm.. I'm certainly not feeling nauseating....' she thought.
She began to poke his hand around every corner while slowly holding his hand above hers. She didn't miss his hand shivering for a split second and grinned mischievously before poking again. She noticed his hand getting warmer and lifted her head to look at Eshwar's face.
"Eh?"
Eshwar's eyes were wide open, his ears were completely red, and his cheeks were a little rosy; it wasn't until she noticed his colour had turned 'orange,' which meant he was anxious.
She looked down at his and back at his face with a wide mischievous grin before poking again, completely ignoring his anxiety, but his hand gradually turned cold, slightly steam rose from his hand but did nothing to her.
She was taken aback when she returned her gaze to Eshwar's face; he had turned to face the ground, covering his mouth with his hand while resting it on his thigh, and his ears and cheeks had turned rosy as steam began to rise from his body.
"Eshwar!" Isha exclaimed in shock, pointing at the steam rising from him.
"Huh?" he turned to face Isha and noticed that mana was leaking out of his body.
***
"Sh*t! F**k!" I cursed and took out a cigar from the subspace.
I placed it in my mouth and lit it with magic to calm down.
"1 second, I'll be back." I ran to the nearest window which was next to the table and smoked out of the window.
PUFF
"Haaa...." I sighed.
PUFF
"Are you alright?" Isha walked towards me and asked with a concerned face.
"Yes, everything is alright." I said with a slight smile.
'Only on the outside though...' I added inwardly as pain slowly started to engulf in me.
'Though somehow her presence relaxes it a bit.... Wait, it was like this the last time too, wasn't it?..... I didn't notice the symptoms until it suddenly got worse....' I realised.
"Can I ask what's wrong?" Isha title her head slightly.
".... Just the condition I mentioned last time, don't worry about it... It's nothing new." I said, trying my best to smile brightly.
'Wow, I think it's worse than I thought..... Because of fluctuation of my emotions?.... or did I slightly let go of my control over mana or something like that? Why though? I'm suddenly feeling many emotions which I don't understand..'
"Hm? Right! Isha check your system once..."
"Huh? Ok." She said and looked down on her status window.
PUFF
'Party.' I muttered in my mind.
[Skill: Party activated.]
[Added 'Isha Walker' as a party member.]
[Location of a party member is visible on a map.]
[New! Skill: Map [Rank: E] unlocked.]
[Map shows every area user has been to.]
"Hmm... good." I mumbled as I looked at the map, nearly 75 percent of which was visible.
PUFF
"Did anything change in your system?" I asked Isha.
"No, nothing." She said and shook her head.
"Really... Okay." I nodded and added few more people to party list.
[Added 'Quinn Walker' as a party member.]
[Added 'Henry Hale' as a party member.]
[Added 'Core Oliver' as a party member.]
[Added 'Louie Robbins' as a party member.]
[Added 'Arngrim' as a party member.]
[Added 'Anuke' as a party member.]
[Added 'Katline Romero' as a party member.]
[Added 'Vinny Grover' as a party member.]
[Added 'Katharine Glover' as a party member.]
[Added 'Violet Tyler' as a party member.]
[Added 'Gang Jiwoo' as a party member.]
PUFF
"If I need I can just put my enemies names to find them...." I mumbled.
'Wait!'
[Added 'Nhifrogr' as a party....]
[Error.... Deceased can't be added and Deceased will be removed from the Party list.]
'Ok, good.'
PUFF
[12 party members are added to the user's party list.]
"Thank you for your help, Isha." I smiled brightly ignoring the pain.
"No, no.... But what for?" she asked pointing at her system.
"I wanted to test something, don't worry it's not a big deal."
DING
"Hm?" my smartwatch rang and I checked what it was.
Katline: [Sir, can I meet you now? It's kind of urgent. I'm near the training room.]