"Dear... Who is this young man?"
I raised my eyes to the huge man still standing right within the doorframe that formerly housed the doors to my apartment... The very doors that Claire kicked in and sent crashing into the wall of my place.
'Yeah, it seems to be her father...' I thought, connecting enough dots to arrive at this conclusion.
But, despite having Claire rest her right hand on my shoulder... it wasn't the fact of her father catching us in this potentially problematic position that worried me.
'Didn't she mention how she herself wasn't in a spot to break the taboos?' I thought, gulping my saliva down while alternating my eyes between Claire's likely dad and the girl herself. 'And that man is a cultivator, he's one for sure. And quite the strong one at that!'
Bit by bit, things started to make more sense.
"Claire..." the man spoke out again, this time his voice growing colder.
But the girl... didn't seem to have any interest in replying.
From the man's perspective, she simply lowered her head and stood frozen with her hand on my shoulder. But from my perspective...
'Wait, could it be...?'
Looking down at Claire's suddenly panicked face, I realized that in her bid to rush to my place to stop the stream... she likely failed to consider the possibility of her father following her here!
"Dear, I've asked you a question."
There was no hostility in the man's voice... just yet. His cold and focused expression alone, however, was enough to fully transmit maybe not his intentions, but the mood the situation before his very own eyes was putting him in.
"T-this..." Claire gulped her saliva before picking her chin up and peeking at my face as if searching for inspiration in my confused expression. "The encounter I've talked about..."
"What the hell is going on here?!"
As if the situation wasn't messy enough, yet another voice joined in on the fray. And as weary and high-pitched as it was... just the tone of this voice was enough to send a chill down my spine.
'Oh shit...'
Behind the man, a tiny, old woman suddenly appeared with the look of heaven's fury written all over her wrinkled face.
And in this single flash in which I've noticed her, the handbag in her hands... It no longer looked like a simple article of woman's clothing but a mighty weapon ready to smite the gods themselves!
A point that the old woman rushed to prove after merely taking a glance past the kicked-in doors.
"YOU!" Shrieking, the woman waved her hand before slamming her handbag straight into the man's side.
Not only did she take him by surprise, despite openly telegraphing her attack, but her strike proved heavy enough to actually make the massive man... twitch in response to it?!
"Who the..." Claire was just as surprised as me while lacking the same level of terror that was present in my soul.
Right... while she was merely surprised by the appearance of someone gutsy enough to attack her likely-to-be father, she missed the crucial knowledge that was the source of my terror.
This old, oriental lady was no one else but my landlord! She was both the owner and the manager of this entire building. And now that she saw one of her precious doors broken, kicked off its frame... With the might of an angered lioness, she proceeded to defend her heritage with a total disregard for her own safety.
"Who do you think you are to bash my doors in?!" The old lady screamed out from the bottom of her lungs while her handbag continued to fly all over the place, striking the man's body whenever he showed even the tiniest opening.
His thigh, his side, his arms, and even his face - the old lady accurately struck them all, not giving the poor man even a second to rest or to explain himself.
"What business is it of yours what the young-uns are doing at their own place?! Your daughter is her own person, not some tool for you to use and control as you desire!" The old lady continued with her chastizing, likely crafting the story of what happened from just a few details she noticed before going full rage mode.
It wasn't the landlady's fury that was the biggest surprise for the moment, though. In fact, I knew this granny well enough not to be surprised by her reaction almost at all!
But the same couldn't be said about Claire who, while watching her father getting mercilessly beaten up by the old lady... smirked.
"That's what he gets for trying to stalk me!" Claire suddenly announced with joy, only to then burst out lighting.
And it would all be great... if not for her vivid smile only serving to remind me of the events of yesterday's night.
"Okay, that's enough!" Either due to his patience running out or maybe prompted by his daughter's reaction, the man at the doors finally moved.
For a moment I was worried he would strike the old lady down, snuffing her life out with an off-handed slap...
But no, he still controlled himself and merely grabbed the bag while it was heading straight for his face again.
"I have no idea what kind of misconception you have, Grandpa, but I merely chased after my daughter when she made me drive her here and then stormed out of the car. As for what's going on here, I'm as clueless as you are!"
Despite holding the old lady's bag, Claire's father didn't use it to retaliate against all the beating he suffered from her weary hand. Instead, he just held it in place as he stared the granny down, only letting go once the expression on her face softened up.
"Oh..." the landlady muttered, taking a step back as she realized she just tried to beat down an innocent man merely worried about his daughter's antics.
But then, as soon as her eyes turned over to the broken doors... The rage in her eyes reignited.
"I can tell it was my daughter who destroyed the door, so I will be sure to compensate for all the damages..." Claire's father quickly added, easily reading the expression of the granny and the meaning hidden behind it.
"Hmph!" The old lady scoffed before raising her chin and looking up to the man's face along the line of her own nose, acting all high and mighty despite the tip of her head merely reaching up to the man's solar plexus.
"And with that said..." Claire's father finally turned his eyes back to the insides of my apartment. For a moment, his eyes lingered on Claire, who continued to tremble under the aftershocks of her outburst of laughter, only to then move his eyes to scan my room again before finally locking his sights down on me.
Yet, right as I got myself ready to address whatever accusations he was about to levy my way...
"He's the gu... He's the encounter I mentioned last night," realizing that the time for laughter was gone, Claire quickly recomposed herself and came up with the answer to the question her father posed all the way before his showdown with the old lady.
"I see..." the man muttered, only for his eyes to sweep the insides of my apartment again. As they locked on the very device that I properly finished during my unconscious meditation, it actually lingered on it for a moment.
'So that's what he's going to ask me about, huh?' I thought, preparing myself for the series of questions that were likely to follow.
For who else could Claire have in mind when mentioning how she herself was blocked from freely breaking the cultivation taboos if not her cultivator father?
'I wonder if I will have to get the police involved,' I thought, suddenly starting to regret my decision to turn my phone off earlier.
"So that's how it is..." the man muttered once again before shaking his head and turning his eyes over to the girl. "Now then, how about you explain why you kicked the doors to this poor man's apartment before barging in as if you owned the place?"