Cassidy nodded her head in affirmation, but she still looked pissed. They deserved something worse. Aena thought of the sizeable fork and shuddered. Was that not bad enough?
Seeing the lingering malice on Cassidy's face, the man's expression softened.
"I can't do anything besides that," he glanced toward the officers who were dragging the three men out like sacks of potatoes and gave a helpless smile. They were on Academy grounds, so they couldn't make any moves toward current students.
"Anything else is outside my jurisdiction. But is there anything else you would like right now, I'd be happy to accommodate you. If it's within my ability, of course."
Cassidy was about to shake her head in refusal, but then she stopped and looked at Aena. Aena didn't know what that look was supposed to signify.
"You still want it?"
Aena tilted her head in confusion. She questioned with her eyes, staring back into Cassidy's.
"The foie gras."
Oh right, Aena had asked for that earlier. All the action between the time she asked and now had caused her to forget that she was actually quite hungry. Her stomach still throbbed, but it wasn't due to hunger.
She was hungry but her appetite was absent. Her stomach being drilled probably didn't help that. She shook her head to let Cassidy know.
The man in the white suit observed the interaction between them with interest. He repeatedly looked between the two. Aena shifted under his gaze. Examining him more closely, Aena noticed he had a fine mustache just like the rest of the waiters, and he stroked it with his pristine gloves.
He didn't say anything and just stood there, watching. Neither did Cassidy. Aena couldn't really tell if they had an amiable relationship or animosity toward each other. Maybe that was just due to Cassidy treating everyone the same. Puzzling over that thought, Aena was struck with a revelation. Didn't Cassidy treat her differently?
Cassidy bowed politely—or at least the best she could while supporting Aena—and headed for the exit. The drama was over.
"Cassidy," The voice resonated behind them in a soft voice. Aena recognized it as the rich uncle figure. Cassidy halted.
"Visit me sometime, will you? Ah, I'm not forcing you or anything, just feeling a bit wistful. Feel free to bring your…" He hesitated for a few moments before settling on "partner."
"I wish you, and her, all the best. It's something you sincerely deserve"
Cassidy didn't turn around, but Aena saw the set line of her jaw and the firmness in her eyes. The man's words were genuine and filled with a kind of paternal warmth, like the father she never had. Aena shot a look back, seeing the man with his arms limp at his side, an affectionate smile plastered across his face as he raised an arm to wave at Aena.
The security squad stepped out of their way, and they exited the dining room which they had entered only an hour ago. At that time, Aena definitely didn't expect whatever the mess she had just been through to occur. That was one hell of a dinner..
They continued onwards to the main chamber with the vaulted ceiling. The butler that had welcomed them in seemed concerned seeing their condition but bowed and wished them a good night, but not before handing Aena a mint as if it was going to help her condition. Yet, despite Aena's physical pains, she felt comforted as she popped the candy into her mouth. She let out a deep breath, feeling warm inside.
"Don't I need to pay?" Aena suddenly jolted upright from Cassidy's shoulder, wincing in pain at the sudden movement. Cassidy looked at her.
"Don't worry about that."
Aena slowly began moving forward again. It weighed on her mind, since she had promised to do so, but the circumstances had certainly changed, so she did as Cassidy said and pushed it to the back of her mind.
They carefully trodded down the grandiose steps when the staccato of footsteps came from behind them, followed by deep, heaving breaths.
"Oh, man! That was quite the eventful night, wasn't it?"
Aena turned to see the short-haired boy standing at the top of the stairs, hands on his knees and panting hard.
"Hey Aena, Cassidy, thanks for sparing my ass back there. You know, I'm really not with them. They kinda dragged me along you know? And I found myself in such a predicament. Although the food was pretty good, I gotta admit. By the way, where yall heading?"
Neither Aena nor Cassidy responded. Aena had to commend his bravery, or stupidity. He evidently had the guts to voluntarily approach Cassidy again. For what reason though, she did not know. It was clear that Cassidy wasn't in the greatest mood, let alone her normal standoffish personality. Did this midget have a death wish?
"That's cool. So it's great to finally meet you guys in person! Birds of a kind gotta flock together, you know what I'm talking about? Hope we can get along more in the future! Help each other out!"
"What are you even talking about?" Aena questioned. Birds of a kind? He looked genuinely puzzled at Aena's question.
"Yeah, we're classmates. Rutherfield's class?"
Aena just stared up at him dumbly. They were? He didn't even look familiar. A look of realization came across his face. He pulled back his hair, and Aena could finally recognize the persona he was at school. That made more sense. The three idiots wouldn't find a servant from another class—they wouldn't be able to exploit him as much. The astounding part was that the boy usually had his hair combed up and was as recluded as Aena herself, nothing like the absolute sensation this guy was.
"You sure are… different."
"Oh, yeah. For sure. The hair and everything. I don't like to be recognized when I'm outside, so-"
"Your personality."
He laughed. "No… I mean, I'm usually the same. It's just when I get nervous, I kinda start rambling, you know? It just kinda happens." He gave another nervous laugh.
He continued onwards despite their silence and continued to talk about the randomest classes. Aena couldn't even say it was like Emmy's rambling. At least Emmy talked about stuff that was actually interesting and coherent.
"Hey," Cassidy interrupted his story about that one time at WcDonalds.
"Yeah."
"Shut up."
"Oh. Okay."
He clammed up, and Cassidy began to pull Aena forward, intending to leave behind this waste of time.
"Um… well… you see, I'm in a bit of a pickle!" he yelled behind them, startled. "They won't be happy when they wake up, and I was wondering if we could be friends?"
Cassidy didn't stop.
"Wait! I can be your servant! I promise I'm useful! I can clean, I can cook, and I can, er, kinda fight!" Seeing that his desperate persuading didn't work, he made one last effort. "I'm gay! So you don't have to worry about anything! Aena is all yours! I can give you money, you don't even have to explicitly do anything" he shouted. "Please? Just treat it like a trial period."
Aena raised a brow at his rather strange convincing. She was pretty sure he was bullshitting. But money? For free? She would take that any day. Sensing her change of heart, Cassidy also looked at her. Aena mouthed "Why not?" and Cassidy thought for a moment. She nodded a fraction, and Aena went ahead and spoke.
"Very well, but only for a while… er…"
He waited for a moment before realizing that Aena just didn't know his name. He seemed a bit miffed about that, pulling on cant-you-at-least-remember-my-name face.
"... It's Brent."
"Okay, Brad. Give me the dough and we can talk later, but no guarantees." She put on her best business face before flipping back her hair with her free arm.
"Peace."
And they began walking again. After a while, she looked back to see him still there, trailing behind. She frowned.
"Stop following us," Cassidy added with a glare.
He raised his hands in submissively and scampered off. They were finally alone.