The sun rises to welcome a new day. The people of Mount Phantom leave their homes to go to work, and the children walk joyfully to school - some looking like they wish to just stay home.
In the Duncan's House, in the room belonging to Evan Belmont, said person opened their eyes to the sun rays that hit his face.
"A new day." The boy yawned while stretching his limbs. Snapping his head to the right he saw Sam, the ghost boy sleeping soundly beside him.
"I guess everything was a dream." Rubbing Sam's head, Evan recalled all that happened last night. The red-eyed demon who came to claim their lives and the cool blue-haired girl who came to save them like a hero from a storybook.
"To think I'd still have nightmares about that demon coming back." Evan shook his head with a small chuckle. Everything that occurred last night felt like a dream and he was sure the demon didn't even know that Sam's spirit lived on.
"I mean how would he know?" Evan thought to himself before entering the bathroom. From his knowledge of demons, they are just dumb creatures who only think of feasting on negativity. He refused to believe that the demon would consider Sam to still be alive.
Ten minutes later, Evan came outside looking fresh, his hair done and his face bright. With his full red uniform on, he opened the door to the living room before heading downstairs.
"Good morning." He greeted. The first thing that entered his vision was his adoptive parents and big sister eating breakfast around the dining table.
Evan turned to meet the gentle gaze of his adoptive mother, her vibrant red hair framing her face like a halo. Her deep, dark eyes sparkled with warmth as she smiled at him. Her face revealed that she's someone in their mid-30s and yet her beauty which could be considered gentle made her look like someone in their early 20s.
Her name is Rebecca Duncan and she works as a Lawyer and is very popular in the field.
Evan then spun his head to turn to a man who looked at him sharply.
"I heard from little Amber that you came home late yesterday. Did something happen?" The man asked in a serious tone. He wore a pair of glasses that hid his black eyes which were quite scary. His brunette hair short, curled neatly.
Evan looked at the man he admired the most with a weary look. This wasn't the first time Amber tried to get him on his adoptive father, Lionel Duncan bad side. Lionel Duncan is in his late-30s and works as a Police Officer.
'That little girl.' Evan felt like cursing. In his head, he made up his mind to deal with her in the future even if it makes their current relationship worse.
"Dad, don't listen to Amber. You know how unruly she can be." Someone objected, defending Evan.
"Big sister Naomi!" Evan exclaimed feeling moved to tears. Naomi Duncan turned to Evan and showed a beautiful smile.
On the outside, Naomi Duncan is a calm beauty. Nothing can faze her to the point people begin saying she is detached from the world. She's also a very talented doctor, some even calling her a prodigy.
However, when she's with her family she's just like her mother, being a very gentle and kindhearted woman who cherishes her younger siblings and helps her parents when in need.
Just like her mother, she has vibrant red hair mixed in with her father's brunette hair that she tied into one ponytail. Like everyone else, her eyes were also black and she just turned 20 this year.
Like her father, she also wore glasses. But that didn't reduce her beauty in any way - some even saying that they add to her beauty.
"Very well. Just make sure you come home the moment school ends. The crime in this city has become a lot worse, especially in this community. I am even considering moving out of Francis Bay." Lionel Duncan chooses to listen to his oldest daughter, but not after giving Evan some advice.
"Oh and by the way, after you come home from school let's work on your kendo training." He suggested.
"As the future man of the family, you need to be able to protect your mother and sisters alright?" He said sternly.
"Of course, don't worry. With your training, there hasn't been anyone who managed to beat me! A mere stick is all I need to strike anyone down!" Evan puffed out his chest with pride. With the training he did with his adoptive father, he hasn't lost a battle once.
Against humans that is.
"Just make sure you don't go easy on me old man."
"Heh, this little one is getting cocky!" A vein popped out of Lionel Duncan's head. Evan's remark made him quite angry.
"Just you wait little man, I will beat you up till you can't walk tomorrow!" Lionel Duncan threatened as if he meant it, forgetting that it was supposed to merely be training.
However, Evan became excited and motivated. "I look forward to it!"
"Hey guys, no need to be so violent around the dining table." Naomi Duncan said, but couldn't help but laugh at how childish they were behaving.
Rebecca Duncan seeing how everyone was getting along also laughed. "You two are so cute, but shouldn't we get to the main topic now?"
"Eh? What topic?" Evan turns towards her only to see her smiling at him.
"Wait." But when he looked closely, she wasn't smiling at him, but smiling at the chair at his left.
"Oh my. It seems like I have become invisible. How could you treat your fiancé like this Evan?" An unknown voice came from his left.
When Evan turned towards the voice bad memories of what occurred last night came to him like a flashback.
"You—" Sweat began dripping down his face, his eyes shaking with fear as the sudden realization hit him - what happened last night wasn't a dream, but something that actually happened.
The blue-haired girl, that's right - the blue-haired girl smiled at him causing Evan to gulp. Even though he was sweating moments ago, her crystal-like blue eyes somehow managed to charm him enough to calm him down.
"What are you doing here?" Gaining back his senses, Evan asked with a wary smile.
"I came to visit my fiancé and future family. Why? Did you not want to see me?" Her blue eyes showed a hint of sadness when she came to this conclusion.
"I don't even know who you are!" Evan yelled, rising from his chair in anger before slamming his hands hard on the table, shocking the Duncans.
Moments ago Evan was acting like he normally does, but the moment his eyes landed on the girl he became angry.
The blue-haired girl sighed as if expecting this before saying in an unhappy tone, "It seems like your parents didn't tell you about me."
"What?" At the mention of his parents, Evan's anger receded.
Seeing him calm down the blue-haired girl introduced herself, "I am Alexandra Warrens from the Warren's Family."
"And what does this have to do with my parents?"
"I am sure you know how successful your parents were. The Belmont Family was once the dominant business figure in Francis Bay. Being the most populated city in Saint Louis, my family wanted to spread their business here." She stated before continuing, "However, no matter what they did. The Belmont Family, your parents suppressed us until we eventually became desperate. In the end, my parents came up with the idea of selling me to the Belmont Family in order to rise in Francis Bay."
"The Belmont Family agreed and after that, the two of us became engaged." She concluded, raising her teacup to take a sip.
"When you say it like that, you paint your parents as cruel business entities," Naomi uttered shocked. She just like Evan did not know that there was such a story.
When she saw Alexandra coming to their home in the morning claiming that she's Evan's fiancé she and Amber didn't dare believe it. It just sounded so unreal, like straight out of a romance drama.
However, her parent's next actions left the two stunned. They greeted her happily and welcomed her into their house as if what she said was true!
She whispered to her mother, Rebecca to confirm and the word that came out of her mouth startled her.
"Did we forget to tell you?" At that moment Naomi could only believe what she heard was the truth. In fact, she was happy to welcome a new little sister to their family after hearing she would be staying with them until she graduated high school.
Amber took it differently, she didn't say a word and only barged out of the house, but the Duncans knew she was quite pissed.
"How do I not know anything about that?!" Evan asked, feeling a headache coming. It seems like the pain caused by the demon last night has yet to ease.
"Well, you weren't born yet. I myself was only a year old." Alexandra placed her tea down before answering.
"Uncle Lionel, Auntie Rebecca is this true?!" Evan turned to his adoptive parents hoping they would say all of this was some sort of sick prank.
"It is. We were there when it happened." However, their responses weren't to his expectations.
"This can't be real! How could my parents plan my future like that when I wasn't even born yet!" Evan held his head with both hands and blurted to himself as if he had gone mad. His shout was so loud, that he woke up Sam from his deep slumber.
Sam ran down thinking Evan was in danger. Not spotting any sign of danger he looked at Evan confused.
He then listened in on their conversation, his eyes shortly lit up with a happy expression as he raised his hands in a thumbs up at Evan as if saying, 'Amazing bro!'
'It's not like that!' Evan seeing his thumbs up felt like crying at this point.
"And you agree to this engagement?" He directed his question towards Alexandra.
"I don't see why not." She answered casually.
"But... you surely don't have any feelings for me right? I am not even handsome to begin with!" Evan uttered word for word. As he mentioned, he wasn't particularly handsome, but he also wasn't ordinary – striking a perfect balance between the two.
"It's my parent's wishes." Alexandra replied with a sincere look.
"But my parents are gone! Their businesses crumbled with their disappearance. Not even the money they made during when they were alive survived." Evan really wanted to shed tears right now. He admitted that Alexandra was stunning and he was easily charmed by her beauty and would even dream of having someone like her as his fiancé, but all of this was too sudden for his liking!
"As I said, it's my parent's wishes and I must oblige." She insisted on keeping this engagement.
"What the f—"Evan was utterly speechless at this point.
"No cursing in this house young man." Rebecca Duncan commented with a scary face causing Evan to shiver. At that moment, Evan felt an indescribable, invincible aura emanating from beside her.
"You brat, didn't I tell you..." Lionel Duncan closed one eye and gazed sharply at Evan with his other eye, intimidating a popular character.
"Hesitation is defeat."
Evan paused, his brain processing the words Lionel Duncan just quoted before he bellowed, "You play too many games, what does any of that have to do with this old man!"