"How surprising," Evan stated with a startled look before taking his seat next to Alexandra.
"What's so surprising?" Naomi asked, munching on some white rice. For today's dinner, the Duncans felt like having some white rice and fried chicken with some side dishes.
"It's rare to see all of you home so early." Evan smiled. He was so used to Naomi and the others coming home the next morning. Usually, it's just him and Amber at home.
"With how chaotic the city has become, especially here in Mount Phantom I am thinking of finishing my shift early from now on." Uncle Ben briefed with a sigh before lamenting, "It's a pity though since most of my profit comes from people coming home from work at this hour." He mourned, checking his watch to see it was nearly 7 PM.
"It's what the government says and it's best that we listen to them at times like these." Lionel sighed before continuing, "I have heard rumors at work yesterday that this new 'Authority' or whatever will be taking over the night shifts. Every other officer apart from this Authority is to be off duty at 8 PM from now on."
"Is that why you are home so early?" Rebecca raised her eyebrow, only knowing of this information now.
"That's right." Lionel responded with a nod of his head.
"I am actually home early today since it's my day off." Naomi joined in on the conversation.
"Must be nice being a doctor. It is my dream to see Sam one day become a doctor." Uncle Ben chuckled.
"You old fart, you say something similar every day. Last time you said you wished Sam would become a firefighter!" Amber replied harshly.
"That's— hey! Who are you calling an old fart!" Uncle Ben yelled, raising his fork and knife in protest.
"Now, now. Don't forget where you all are at. This is the dining table." Rebecca clapped her hands together to get the two attention, her eyes looking on with a gentle look.
"So keep your voices down or I will shut them for you." A menacing feeling exhibited from her back.
"Yes ma'am." The two replied in unison, not daring to look into Rebecca's eyes.
"Well as you all know, unless I have a client I am mostly at home." She huffed before paying attention to her food which was getting cold.
"What about you Amber, Evan, did you enjoy your day at school today?" Rebecca questioned, switching the conversation towards them.
"It was alright." Amber replied casually, nothing noteworthy seemed to happen to her.
"It was horrible. I have never felt so miserable in my life." As for Evan, he replied with a gloomy voice. He even lost his appetite at the mention of school.
"What happened?" Everyone asked the same thing.
"I got a zero in three of the four classes I had today!" Evan explained what happened. As he explained his emotions switch from anger, fear, anguish, and defeat.
"It's just some graded activities. What is there to worry about?" Amber did not understand his concern.
"You of all people won't understand! All you do is slack off, I have never seen you touch a book once!" Evan shouted in anger.
"What do you mean? I do my homework." Amber stared at Evan confused.
"I am not talking homework you—" Evan was about to retort her but saw Rebecca Duncan's gentle smile and couldn't help but swallow his words.
"Don't worry Evan. Unless the teacher hates you, they won't put it in your final grades after you graduate. It's not an exam after all." Naomi reassured him, understanding what he was going through.
"For real?" Evan looks at Naomi surprised.
"Of course!" She smiled confidently.
"Then that's relieving." Evan touched his chest as if he was having an asthma attack.
"I really don't see the big deal." Amber muttered to herself with a lowered head making sure no one heard her while she ate.
"What about you Alexandra, how was your first day at Mount Phantom High today?" Rebecca turned to see the blue-haired girl sitting quietly beside Evan like a shy wife who was meeting her in-laws for the first time.
Everyone turn to the elephant in the room a bit embarrassed. They were enjoying their chat so much that they forgot they had a guest.
"It was fine and please mother, call me Alexa." Alexandra stated casually as if she was already used to them.
She then moved her chair towards Evan and smiled while holding his hand with care and love in her eyes.
"I had Evan to show me around." Her smile was so beautiful it caused everyone around the table to become stunned for a few seconds.
'I literally saw you at school yesterday!' Evan stared at her speechless at how she could come up with such a straightforward lie so smoothly.
"Evan my boy hit the jackpot— ow!" Uncle Ben murmured out loud before being hit in the ribs by Lionel causing him to cough up whatever food was in his mouth.
"What he's trying to say is Evan is lucky to have you." Lionel corrected Uncle Ben while staring at him seriously.
"No father, uncle, I think I am the one lucky to have Evan." Alexandra continued smiling, not bothered by Uncle Ben's comment.
'She's perfect.' Everyone nodded at the same time before their attention moved to Evan.
They stare at him with sharp, serious gazes.
"You better not let this girl go or I will be the first to kill you." Lionel expressed, imitating a famous game character as before.
"I second that." Uncle Ben agreed.
"I also agree." Rebecca smile became even more gentle.
"I agree too, though I wouldn't dare to do such a thing to Evan." Naomi joined in.
They then looked at each other before laughing, the atmosphere filled with the joy of being around family.
"I am going back to my room." Amber was the only one who did not seem to enjoy the mood as she quickly finished eating and went back to her room.
A couple minutes later it was 8 PM, the Duncan Family excluding Amber chatted a little more with Alexandra, and after a round of talking, they seemed to understand her better, growing very fond of her.
"When I saw Alexa and Amber around the table I thought they were going to fight, it appears like Amber has some restraint." Evan back in his room uttered to Sam.
Sam nodded in agreement. They both could tell Amber seemed to hate Alexandra as much as her dislike for Evan.
"Well, let's finish this up before going to bed." Evan went around his desk and sat on a chair before checking the time to see it was still early.
Taking out his math book he sighed. The math teacher chose to give him special treatment today by giving him extra homework compared to the other students in class.
"Well, at least I only have math today." He said, trying to encourage himself.
"And I have you to help me." He continued, patting Sam's head who was good at math, better than him a matter of fact.
At 10 PM, the two finished the math assignment. It was so much, that it took two hours to complete.
Evan was dead tired when he completed the final question but also relieved.
"Good thing I have you Sam to help me." He praised the spirit in white-garment.
Just as he was planning to prepare for bed he heard a knock on his room door.
"Who could it be." He muttered to himself before opening the door to see Alexandra at his door.
"..."
Evan stared at her in silence. She was wearing pink pajamas which in Evan's opinion both did not match her but also looked perfect on her body.
Noticing Evan checking her out she smirked. "Do you like what you see?"
"Pink doesn't suit you." Evan turned his head sideways with a slight blush.
"Mhm, sadly I did not bring any changing of clothes with me. These belong to big sister Naomi. I tried asking Amber since I was sure her clothes would fit me, but she kept on ignoring me." She explained.
"Sorry, Amber can be like that sometimes. Especially to... strangers." Evan apologized on behalf of Amber.
"I don't mind it. I am used to being surrounded by hate." She shook her head before barging into his room unnoticed.
"Hey! Why are you coming into my room?" Coming to his senses, Evan yelled.
"I am your fiancé. Is it strange for us to be sleeping in the same room?" Alexandra questioned with a confused look.
"So very strange!"
"I am not talking about sleeping in the same bed you know?" She tilted her head while covering her mouth at how dirty Evan's mind was.
"It's still strange!" Evan continued, "Why are you even here?"
"Why did you not use one of the weapons in your father's dojo against the demon?" She suddenly asked, catching Evan off-guard.
"You know about it? Well, I was afraid it would not be enough." Evan replied, scratching his head.
"Afraid? Those weapons can't compare to that iron knife you used. They are far more durable and could possibly cut its hard skin." Alexandra scoffed at his logic. The iron knife Evan used was made with poor material, its purpose was to cut vegetables and meat after all.
Meanwhile, Lionel's swords were made with the richest of fine and rare materials making them very difficult to break.
"So you were watching all this time?" Evan did not answer, instead, his eyes turned cold as he posed a question of his own.
"Indeed, but don't think I could help you at any time." She said before sitting on his bed. "We were in two separate worlds, only with a space-related spirit would I have a chance to enter the demon dimension."
"Luckily, you answered to Lan in time. She can break space-related abilities. Though weak, it allowed me to enter the space created by the demon." She stated with amazement at Lan's powers.
"Speaking of Spirits it's about time we start getting prepared to summon your spirit."