ELENA POV—
After making my decision and gathering all my courage, I looked at him in the eye. As soon as I saw him looking back at me, I averted my gaze. Ok, that was a bad idea. I screamed internally. I can try to be brave but I am not brave enough to look him into his eyes. It would be foolish. Not only that but also, he would find that I am scared of him. It would be weird to explain why I am afraid of him, as we don't each other, at least in this timeline. No, I need to say something and it's not written anywhere that you have to look at the person in their eyes while you talk to them.
Yes, I can do it. I stuttered, "Y-yes, I-I am al-right. How... are y-you? I-I am... fi-ne, t-thank you." Fuck!! I kicked myself mentally. What the heck am I even saying? Andrew coming to my rescue, said, "I think Lena is intimidated by our size, brother. You are a giant. Can't you talk more softly to her? Look at her," he pointed towards me, "she is afraid of you, brother."
I raised my head to see Ivan's reaction and by the look on Ivan's face, I could certainly say, he is offended by Andrew's words. He grumbled, "I am talking with her as softly as I could. It's not my fault, she is scared of me. Generally, people are only scared of me, when they know about me and I don't even know her. This is our fast meeting!"
"Huh, look at Lena's face. You must have met each other somewhere and you brother, must have scared her." I was wrong. Andrew is not rescuing me; he is pushing me into the pit of snakes itself.
Ivan yelled, "I don't know her, understood. This our first meeting, I told you. Why don't you believe me? It's not my fault, she is scared of me." Ivan turned his gaze towards me and calmy said, "Ms. Lena? Fuck that, let's just call you Lena. Answer me, Lena. Have we met each other before?
Averting my gaze back to the floor, I shook my head and whispered, "No, I-I haven't s-seen him b-before." Yes, I didn't stutter that much and said an almost perfect sentence to him. Hearing me words, Ivan looked relieved. Wow, he is trying pretty hard to maintain his image of good brother. If I didn't know anything about him, I would say he is just a normal brother who is concerned for his sibling.
Andrew scoffed, "Don't look relieved, you idiot. It's worse what Lena said, brother. If people are just getting scared by your looks, I don't what to say about this. Either you are ugly or you have a terrible personality. Personally, I would say the latter is correct. You have very similar genes to me." After completing his sentence, Andrew nodded his head as if he was agreeing with his words.
Ivan's eyes twitched and he smiled in anger. He said, "Why you?!" Saying this, Ivan and Andrew started arguing with each other.
Now, that I remember, Ivan... he didn't have any brother in my previous life. From, what I knew, he was the only living member of the Ramonford family. I don't have much knowledge on his family. The only thing I know about his family is that his family is some kind of royalty. I never ever heard about someone called Andrew, much less anyone as Ivan's brother.
It means either he was long dead before the end the world, or for some reason, he was missing before the end of the world. Honestly, I dislike both the options. I mean how can any of those happen to this little boy. He hasn't yet seen anything. I can clearly see that Ivan really cares for his little brother, though it doesn't change between us. Suddenly, someone pulled the sleeve of my dress. I flinched and jerked my hand away. Upon seeing, it was Andrew. Oh! So, he was the one who pulled me.
I said, "Oh, Andrew, I am really sorry. I didn't know it was you. I thought it was someone else. I am genuinely sorry."
Andrew shook his head and said, "No, Lena, it's fine. I just wanted you to ask that if you have any work to do or you want to tag along with us."
Ivan agreed, "Yes. Ms. Lena, if you want you can tag along with us. It's the least thing we can do to thank you for helping Andrew. Feel free to join us."
No, I mean literally nope. I don't want to along with Ivan, even if I really like Andrew, I don't want to anything with Ivan. I just want to stay away from him.
[*Ding* Time Limit: I hour Left]
Alright, I have plenty of time left with me. I made a gloomy face and said, "I am really sorry, Andrew but I have some work to do. Maybe we can meet some other time. I have to go"
Upon hearing my words, Andrew looked dejected. At that very instant, Ivan suggested, "I say, we could follow Ms. Lena instead. I mean, if she doesn't have any problem with it."
Andrew perked up and said, "Yes, Lena, can we? Please, pretty please?" If that wasn't enough, he gave me a massive puppy eyes dog look. Fuck it. This kid really knows how to make things in his way. I sighed, "Fine. You two may tag along."
Andrew gleefully hugged me and said, "Yes! Thank you, Lena."
Ivan said, "Where do you want to go Ms. Lena? I know about all around here. You can trust me; I will certainly be a very good guide."
Andrew nodded and said, "Yes, Lena, my brother knows everything around here. Tell us where you want to go?"
Why the hell Andrew is saying yes in every sentence? Ah, you know what, forget it. I said, "I want to go to a pawn shop." During all our conversation, I was still not looking at Ivan. It seems I can talk somehow without stuttering if I don't look directly at Ivan.
Ivan said, "Very well, I know where that shop is. Although I am surprised that you want to go there. I mean, it's basically a deserted shop. It has almost zero customers. Still if you want to go there... it's fine. Please follow me."
It seems I don't have any other option but to follow Ivan. I can take the help of the status but it would be fishy, if I know the way for someone who has visited here for the first time. I nodded and followed Ivan together with Andrew.
Within an interval of 10-15 minutes, we reached at that shop. Entering the shop, we found it to be filled with zero customers at all. Wow, it really is an empty shop.
Ivan boasted, "See, told you. No customer at all." That's the old Ivan talking, I see. Now, I am in doubt myself. Is this the shop where I could get that ring? Or maybe am I in a wrong shop?
I mentally asked, Status. Is this the right place?
[It's the right place, host.]
Ok, I am at the right place. Suddenly, a man entered into our view. He was a bald man, wearing a simple shirt and a blue pant. He said, "Welcome to my shop, young fellas. My name is Tom. Tell me what do you want to buy." It's time to buy the ring.