When Lucas counted the second finger, he raised the rolled paper in his hand and slammed it down on the floor where the chocolate wrapper was. Unfortunately, his movement was too huge that the roach was alerted before the paper landed on its crispy brown shell.
It flapped its thin wings and flew to the ceiling where it stayed for a minute. All it heard were the human chatters and sharp scream from below.
"Ahhhhhh!!!!! It flewww!! It flew!!! It's huge and alive!! I'm going to be eaten alive!!!!" Ivy panicked when the roach slowly crawled towards her room. Before she could react and shut the door to her room, the roach invaded.
"It's inside my room!!!!!!!!" She slapped Lucas on the back and nearly wanted to roll him like a bowling ball to her room.
"I'm on it! I didn't volunteer to be the representative!!! Why am I doing this??" He chanted as he raises the rolled paper like a sword and charged into her room to eliminate the intruder.
"That paper is useless! Use something else. The paper already bent!" Ivy reminded him about the awkwardly crippled roll of paper in his hand that was nearly crushed just now.
"Oh lord, I lost it! Where did it go?!" Lucas scanned her room frantically, trying to complete this free labor task. He searched and searched until something moved by the opened window.
"It's right there!!!!" Ivy pointed towards the window where the roach could be seen resting at the edge.
"I got it! I got it!" Lucas took off his shoe and tossed it at its direction, but his aim was rather off. His shoe bounced off the wall and back to his foot.
As his frustration grew, he started grabbing random items and started throwing it to the other side of the room. From the whole Pokemon plush family collection ranging from large to small to other toys she had neatly piled in the same area - everything was being thrown towards the insect. Incredibly, not even one object managed to get close to where the roach was sitting. It looked as if the roach was enjoying an afternoon tea with playful entertainment.
Finally, Lucas grabbed a rectangular object and swung it at the window. This time, it accurately took the roach and tumbled down outside the villa.
"Phew. All... done...We don't even need to clean up after the corpse." He wiped the sweat off his forehead, putting up his palm for a high five when he met Ivy's speechless expression.
"What's with the expression? I got rid of the roach. Shouldn't you be happy?" He looked around and realized the mess he made in her room. He quickly reassured her that it could be easily tided up. However, she didn't mutter a response.
She took a few minutes to react. "Uh..HAh...Haha...So.. you killed the roach... with what?"
He looked around her room and scratched the back of his head. "Uhm, I don't recall what it was. I just remembered it was not quite thin and rectangular shaped. It was nice and cold to touch too, like metal."
"That's my laptop." She covered her face with her fingers rubbing her forehead. A migraine was stirring in her head as she thought of the files she was working on and hasn't yet saved because the program wouldn't permit it until the task was completed.
"Oh! It's your lap- YOUR LAPTOP?!" He nearly stumbled when he repeated her words. If it was a regular laptop, he could at least afford to repair or buy her another one. However, the one she had was likely a limited edition one given to her by her family's business, which may not be available in the market yet.
"Uh..how much is the laptop?" He wiggled his fingers in the air, hoping it would be at an affordable cost.
Ivy smiled wickedly with one raised finger.
Lucas patted his chest when he thought it was a thousand bucks. He took out his phone and was about to transfer the amount to her when he heard the total amount it costs.
"Fifteen thousand." She raised all five fingers in her other hand.
"....and which edition is this laptop?" He held his phone in place, not daring to budge the slightest.
"The newest edition that has not been launched to the market. I was supposed to run some tests on the laptop's system and send a report to my uncle as a review. Because of its cost, we only got one created so far, which was used to swat a cockroach flat." Ivy eyed the window where her device took a full skydive ride.
"Let's have a deal. I'll tell my uncle I sabotaged my laptop by accident if you tell me where Chloe really went. I know she did not go training this morning with her luggage." Ivy knew something was wrong earlier, but couldn't figure out where it felt weird until Lucas appeared at her door looking for Chloe.
"Well, your laptop is not really my business if you break it down carefully." Lucas tried arguing his way out of responsibility. 'Gosh, why is she always so sharp? I can't give her Chloe's location, or I'll really be doomed. Not like this isn't already a dead end for me.'
"Continue." She let him speak his point of view.
"First of all, I wasn't here to kill a roach for you. Second of all, I didn't even know I was tossing your laptop out the window. Since my task was to help you get rid of the roach, which I did. Then, only the results should matter." He leaned his weight on one leg.
"Oh? Well then, let's start with the roach, shall we? Let's go all the way back to the past of when my villa was roach free. It was an idiot who decided it was a great idea to bring his roach farm to our villa one day and leave the lid opened. The roaches somehow accidentally crawled out and since then, we've had roach issues. Exterminators come and go, but it always comes back." Ivy brought up the past incident to remind him on who made the roach mess.
"Also, the chocolate wrapper in the hallway is not mine nor Chloe's. My parents do not snack up here on the second floor. As for the brand of this chocolate bar, I believe you are most familiar with it. Didn't you have one last week in Chloe's room? I wonder what that roach came for." She raised two fingers as she made her second point.
"Finally, you came this early to my house to look for Chloe and she wasn't here. The moment you stepped into my house, you have volunteered yourself as always to smack roaches. So what is the difference between before and now? What? Cause Chloe isn't here so you think you can let a roach run around near her room? I can give her a message and see what she would love for you to do to the roach." Ivy clicked on Chloe's message, seemingly about to start typing to her.