Flower felt the air around her running away from her the moment Anthony said those words. Her heart felt heavy and she was immediately short of words, not grasping exactly how to handle the situation.
Flower couldn't even look at Anthony's face. She felt like drowning herself in water and committing suicide just to get out of this situation she was intertwine in. Even Julius her fiancé whom she truly loved and was engaged to, couldn't say such despicable things to her face. Although her and Julius had shared some intimate moments together, however they had never had sex. Now hearing Anthony saying this words to her was overly embarrassing to her.
Flower folded her lips, she couldn't say anything else, more like she didn't know exactly what to say next.
She pinned her eyes down to her food and filled her mouth up with food, acting as though Anthony hadn't just said anything. She totally snubbed his presence, making her eye contact only available to the plate of food on the table.
Anthony who was seeing Flower's every action couldn't help but chuckle to it. He chuckled and wiggled his head. His face appeared extremely innocent as though he wasn't the mannerless man that just uttered those words.
"Flower?!" Anthony called.
Flower hated it abundantly whenever Anthony said her name. 'Darn it! Can't this shameless scoundrel let me enjoy my meal in peace? He seems to always derive joy in messing with me. How am I even supposed to view him now when he just said those despicable words to me just now?'
Flower sluggardly lifted her face up with a red cheeks. She wasn't able to maintain eye contact with Anthony so she hastily looked back down.
"Yes," she said and let her mouth do the talking instead of her facial expression.
"Don't forget that you still owe me for allowing you to meet your dead colleagues," Anthony uttered casually, "I had given you today as the deadline, so I'm still expecting my reward. A promise is a dept, so don't forget that you have promised to pay me what you owe me or I'll have to just make myself choose what I want."
'Crap! I've totally forgotten that I had promised him a reward for allowing me to go yesterday, how could I be so forgetful?' Flower thought.
"I didn't forget," Flower fabricated a lie, "I'm still working on it, I would pay what I owe as I have promised earlier."
"Splendid!" Anthony said, at long last, his face finally switched from an expressionless one to an evil smirk, "Have a good day then."
With that said, Anthony teleported away, dispersing into thin air in an eyeblink.
Noticing Anthony's absence, Flower heaved a sigh of relief. This as to be the most relieving sigh she had ever heaved throughout her entire lifetime. She closed her eyes and relaxed her head on the edge of the table. She tried to calm herself down and let her racing heartbeat return back to normal.
'I don't even know what to give him yet. I don't know what he likes, or even what he needs and what he doesn't have that he might need. I simply can't let him take whatever he wants from me. Not a chance!'
'I'm afraid I already know what that scoundrel will demand from me if I let him choose for himself. He's such a pervert! Heavens save me from this man.'
Flower pondered inwardly, she couldn't even consume the remaining food which she had packed. Her appetite had utterly been stolen away by Anthony's words.
Flower hissed silently with a furrowed eyebrows. She took off her beanie and tried to massage her head, hopefully, it would relief her of the stress her mind was involved in.
'Swoosh.'
Flower heard the curtains of the dining room being shifted aside. Then Regina came in. She walked towards the round table and towards Flower slowly.
Seeing that Flower was massaging her head, she moved to the table and dropped the medicine and first-aid box which she was carrying. Then she moved closer to Flower and helped her in doing so.
"Does your head hurts?" Regina asked, "Look I've brought your medicine, it'll relief you of the pain and headache."
"A little bit," Flower said wiltingly.
Regina withdrew her hands from Flower's head, she then brought out the medicine for her. Flower used the medicine and gulped down some orange juice to take the bitter taste away from her mouth. Flower then wore back her beanie on her head due to the cold.
Then Regina help her to apply some antidote on her wounded legs which she had encountered whilst running away from Anthony yesterday. Flower thought back to the incident and became embarrassed once again.
Regina helped Flower to apply the same antidote on the wounds which she had sustained from the helicopter accident with her dead colleagues, Amanda and Julius. Although they were starting to heal, however, the marks, openings and scars were still quite visible.
"All done," Regina said giving a contented sigh, "Soon you wouldn't be able to feel any headache and body pains too, trust me."
"Thank you, Mrs Regina," Flower said.
"You're welcome, Young Lady," she replied, showing a delicate smile as always. "Are you done eating?"
"Sure, I am," Flower nodded.
"Okay," with that said, Regina began to pack the leftovers back to the kitchen.
Seeing this, Flower instantaneously got up and helped her in doing so. Packing and arranging the plates and leftovers, then she followed her and they walked side-by-side.
Alongst the way to the kitchen, Flower proposed a question;
"Um… Mrs Regina. Do you know what sort of things that could be presented as gifts for Anthony?"
"I want to thank him for saving my life and I don't know what to gift him with you see…" Flower lied. No one could blame her, this was the only presentable way to lay down her questions in Regina's present.
"Oh," Regina sounded, "Well… I can tell you for sure that he loves to drink morning dew. He doesn't drink ordinary water, neither does he eat what we eat. I'm sure you would have noticed that he wasn't eating or drinking anything while you were having breakfast together, right?"
Flower nodded, she was a little bit stunned by this. Regina knew Anthony so well like a mother knows her child. Flower was even more surprised when she heard that Anthony doesn't drink water. She was wondering if a type of person that doesn't drink water would have survived till this extent. Indeed it was unbelievable.
Seeing the surprised looks on Flower's face, Regina smiled. "Young Lady, don't be so surprised. He's not a monster, he's also an human being with emotions," she stated.
However, Flower didn't know the reasons behind her words. Out of nothing but profound curiosity, Flower asked;
"Then what does he eat?"
"Young Master goes hunting for himself and whatever he catches, he eats it raw. He only likes to eat raw meat with a pungent smell of blood, but don't worry about him, he can survive for weeks without eating anything," Regina stated with a calm face.
"Oh!" This was the only thing that Flower could utter. 'No wonder he swallowed that poor lizard in whole. He's such a strange scoundrel. Hopefully, he won't devour me like the lizard one day,' she thought.
They've gotten to the kitchen, thus, Flower dropped the plate on the nearby basin. She saw that Regina was doing the dishes, therefore, she helped. Flower was the one rinsing plate and cleaning it with a towel, while Regina was the one washing it. After washing it, she would hand it over to Flower for rinsing.
"So you're saying that I'll have to catch morning dew for him drop after drop?" Flower asked, "…and it's even almost afternoon already. I need to give him today, and even if I decide to catch morning dew for him drop by drop you people wouldn't allow me to go out."
"Yes you would have to catch it for him drop by drop, it would be more special that way," Regina assured, "But lucky for you, I can share with you the ones I had caught for him earlier. You can just present that as a gift to him, he would think you caught it yourself. How's that?"
Flower grinned widely, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She recited and jumped slightly in the air.
Regina chuckled, "It's in the container over there," she pointed, "You can put some in the water bottle and take it to him, alright?"
"Alright!" Flower replied. "Where do you think Anthony would be at the moment?" She asked. Flower had a slight guess that he would be in his museum of arts. Notwithstanding, she didn't want to be too presumptuous in assuming such. Besides, it may turn out that her assumption was wrong.
"I don't know," Regina said honestly, "But if I'm to take a guess, then he would be in his…"
Flower interrupted Regina's words by completing the sentence for her willingly, "…painting room," she said.
Regina smiled, "That's right, Young Lady," Regina assured. "It seems you're starting to know him better, isn't it?"
"I… I guess so…" Flower said hesitantly, with a slightly bended lips.