The man extended out his hand over the table to shake hers as she was looking away.
"Forgive me, I'm Matthew… Matt for short. What's your name?"
"L-Lucia."
"If you don't mind, can I ask why you're alone here? Just that I noticed you've been here for a while now."
Lucia smirked. "You've been stalking me, huh?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed, her obsession had failed her again.
No case of stalking should be addressed in such a sensual tone.
If truly he was stalking her, she should be irritated but that was not the case, Lucia was enjoying her new company.
Matt chuckled and shook his head.
"No, no. That's not the case, Lucia," he said as he pointed to the NERVE tower that was opposite the MoonBucks cafe where they were at the moment.
"I work there, so I could notice you… seeing how everywhere is made of glass."
Lucia almost spewed the juice in her mouth.
She blinked more times than usual and her eyes gaped at Matt as he spoke.
"You work there?"
Matt laughed.
"Why are you so surprised? Are people not supposed to work there?"
"It's not that. I just did not expect it."
Matt called for the waiter before shifting his attention back to Lucia.
"You're funny, Lucia. I like that in my women."
Lucia's blood raced inside her veins and her heart dropped into her stomach on hearing Matt's words.
She had planned, at first, to act hostile towards him since he was a stranger but the young man was ready and armed with words that were strong enough to break down her walls.
His flirting weakened her to the knees and made her more receptive to him and their little first meeting of chance turned into a first date.
—––
Meanwhile, at the home of the Vances.
Damon was immersed in the graphic book with black and white colouring that he was reading.
As he eagerly flipped through the pages, reading through quickly until he reached the last of the black and white pages.
Not knowing that he had finished the volume, he turned in anticipation of a new page only to see 'The End' looking back at him.
Damon's face had a crestfallen expression and sighed before closing the book.
As if it couldn't get worse for an otaku like him. "They are on break next week?" he complained. "Who does that after such a crazy chapter!"
At first, he was annoyed. But now, Damon was pissed at both the manga artist and the publishers.
"Damn it! Now I have to wait for two weeks. Argh!"
He brooded over it. Although disappointed, he was amazed by some of the characters in the particular chapter of the story that he just finished reading.
"Damn, But Soro and Zanji were epic today. What the hell! I hope Ruffy finds The Piece though, won't make sense if he doesn't and if they pull that friendship bullshit in the end… argh!"
He had just finished the recently released volume of the undying manga classic, The Piece.
Damon preferred to read the manga classics because, in his opinion, they had better stories and were crafted with patience as an ingredient for their storytelling and worldbuilding.
He could not just get enough of them but the downside was that getting hold of the classics was difficult… and costly.
The stores that had them put them up in batches, and hiked the prices, so they could make as much money as possible.
"Next chapter is in two weeks, I guess I have to wait for them to publish it. Well, till then, I still have to catch up on Konan the Detective and Saw Man."
He dropped the manga volume on the table, beside his phone and picked up his phone instead.
He pressed his phone aimlessly for a hit before clicking in a few numbers as he dialled Beth's number again but still could not reach her.
He dropped the phone and got up to cover Nate, who had dozed off already, with a blanket so he wouldn't catch a cold.
"It's almost 5 o'clock and she's not back yet, and no calls. That's unlike Beth."
Meanwhile, unknown men had arrived at the Vances' neighbourhood snooping around.
They had in their hands, pictures of the three Vance siblings: Beth, Nate and Damon, and were asking questions.