Chapter 198:Cafe Hijinks

Chapter 198: 198:Cafe Hijinks

"Hey Raymond."

Raymond flinched at her presence, a sign of lasting mental wound she had inflicted on him. Still anxious about whether she might suddenly choose that particular day to finally announce her punishment for his crimes.

Seeing her expression was still calm however, it seemed that today wasn’t the day yet. So be calmed down as well.

"What is it?"

"I’m gonna go out later, make sure to remind Erin not to forget her bag again."

"Where are you going?"

"Breakfast, then I’m headed to a New Elites club meeting."

"Wow. Can I join you?"

She raised an eyebrow at his enthusiasm.

"Why?"

"Ahem. As your Shadow, it’s my duty to follow you around where you go!"

"Huh."

She nodded, indeed. That did make sense, if they were about two hundred years in the past and Raymond was an actual Shadow who was raised from birth in order to serve her. She would have believed him fully.

Unfortunately for Ellen, the word ’Shadow’ only ever came out of his mouth when he was asking for something from her!

"Wow! What’s the real reason?"

"I haven’t eaten breakfast yet either."

He didn’t even stutter or hesitate when changing answers, at this point. The number of times he had lied like this was uncountable.

She shook her head, although she did feel quite amused internally.

"I don’t mind, but what about Erin?"

"She’s still asleep, she told me yesterday she wasn’t going to go to school today."

"She told me she was going though?"

Now it was Raymond’s turn to be confused.

"She told me that you already knew she wasn’t going though?"

"..."

"..."

The two of them just stared at each other for a while before deciding to just give up.

With Raymond’s teleportation magic, it was a simple five second travel time in order for them to arrive at their destination.

This time, the two of them were actually eating in the capital. Rather then inside the academy, normally only Raymond had permission to leave on the weekends but...

---

R:Yo big P, mind if my master (Ellen) also gets permission to leave the academy? I swear we won’t do anything bad. But we really want to try this new desert store that just opened up...

---

There was more to the message, but that was the gist of it.

He didn’t get a reply back, but the next day. A letter appeared on their kitchen countertop signed by the vice-principle saying that Ellen had been granted permission to leave as long as Raymond was with her. So that was neat.

"Table for two?"

"Yes please, do you have any more private areas?"

The two of them were quite high profile after all. If not for their reputation. Then for their looks.

It was uncomfortable to eat when there was so much staring, and money was a non-issue for the two of them anyways. Or at least, most of the time it was a non-issue.

"Yes but they won’t be available for at least another twenty minutes."

She sighed, "Just give us a regular table then."

While Ellen calmly looked over the menu, even taking a small moment to glance outside and enjoy the scenery. Raymond’s mouth was constantly open as he flipped through it ecstatically, practically drooling. It was times like this that Ellen had to remind herself the person in front of her was ten times older then her and some more.

The current cafe they were in was nice as well. The rising sun cast a nice glow, with only the subtle ambient sounds of other customers chit chatting, and calming music that soothed the soul. She also had a piece of eye candy to stare at whenever she got too bored. Truly a delight to all the senses.

She sipped on her black coffee, watching as Raymond enjoyed his monstrosity of sugar and cream and barely coffee.

Admittedly, seeing Raymond like this was very...

’...cute.’

Seeing some white whipped cream left on the edges of his mouth. Ellen’s mind wandered back to when he had first woken up, and wasn’t supposed to be active due to sleeping for so long. Thus, he was practically confined to the bed. With her taking care of him.

Without thinking, she leaned over the table, reached a hand out and grabbed his face. Using her thumb to gently wipe away the whipped cream from his mouth.

She said, "You had some whipped cream on you."

"Ah..?"

Her sudden touch made him freeze in place like a statue. Her long, cold fingers sending a tingle down his spine. Seeing his flustered expression, she grinned.

An idea immediately popped into her head.

Without another word, while maintaining complete eye contact with Raymond. She casually brought her thumb to her mouth, licking off the previously wiped cream.

"W-W-What are you—!"

’Why eat it?!’

Heat flooded through Raymond’s face as he blushed furiously. A stark contrast to Ellen’s calm expression as she tasted the cream. Smirking as she ignored his stuttering.

"It’s sweet."

Teasing Raymond...was really just too fun!

Ahh...such a thing really wasn’t good for the heart. But it worked wonders for the mind.

Just in time as well, their food finally arrived. Although the waiter gave a few strange looks to the two of them. Ellen just ignored that as well. She had practically grown immune to such things over the years. Although normally it was other staring at her in awe rather then the extreme judgemental looks she was currently receiving.

She slapped his hand away before he could eat it. Causing him to instantly slouch backwards. Truly, his recovery ability was amazing. Despite looking as if he was about to melt into a puddle a few seconds ago. He had fully recovered the moment he saw food.

"Wait. Let me take a quick photo first."

"Tch."

At such a scenic location, with three different delicious looking foodstuffs in front of her. It was the perfect opportunity for a good photo.

Ellen also made sure to tilt the camera up slightly, so it could capture Raymond’s annoyed expression. It was just too much of a treasure to not include, although maybe she shouldn’t post it online...just looking at some of the comments about Raymond made her wary.

A brief montage of her fighting off several dozen others played in her mind.

Ellen:Back off! He’s mine!

After several minutes.

"...are you done now?"

"Yes."

She smiled, instantly causing him to become wary. "Since you’ve had to wait for me. How about I make it up for you?"

Her hands moved swiftly, using her utensils to cut out a small portion of her own food before spearing it onto her fork.

She held it out towards him, her eyes glinting with a playful light.

"Say ahh."

Ellen had already done this for Raymond before, when he had just woken up. But that was when they were inside the academy hospital ward. Which was private with no one else other then the two of them usually.

Contrast that to now, with several dozen others sitting within earshot of them. Ellen wasn’t even trying to hide it or be subtle.

"Well? Don’t keep me waiting, we’ve gotten quite a few looks you know~?"

Ellen waved it around in front of him, her smile only widening as time ticked by.

Raymond clenched his fists. It was exactly the fact that they were receiving looks that made him hesitant to do anything!

’𝖭𝗈...at this rate. I’ll get tied up in her rhythm!’

Anything but that!

He already knew that Ellen herself was strong on the offensive, but weak on the defensive. In other words, he had to somehow turn this situation around back onto her.

His brain clocked into overdrive. Time seemingly slowing down as he drew up an idea in his head. For him, several minutes passed, in reality it all happened in the span of only a second.

Instantly, he calmed down. Entering a state of tranquility as he rested his chin on his hands.

"Ahh~"

Despite having now calmed down. The look in his eyes still gave away his current emotions very easily. Their gazes clashing as they both glared at each other with a very bizzare mix of competitiveness in their eyes, and a smug grin on either of their faces.

Ellen wasn’t stupid either, recognizing his game plan here.

To put it simply, since their table was decently large enough for the two of them. If Raymond positioned himself here right at the very edge, then Ellen would have to be the one to stick her hand out in order to feed him. Rather then him being the one to reach his head forwards.

’Not bad...’

Indeed, she had no choice but to play along here. If she held her hand here any longer, it would have started to look weird.

She leaned over the table, aiming for Raymond’s wide open mouth.

As a small payback however, she proceeded to do it again two more times. Before doing it one last time with a vegetable she knew he disliked just for good measure.

"How is it?"

"It’s good."

She sighed, reluctantly conceding this grounds to Raymond.

He looked at her with an expectant gaze, eagerly asking her.

"Aren’t you gonna eat?"

"I...!!!"

Ellen paused, staring down at her fork which had been thoroughly contaminated by Raymond. Her face quietly heating up as the realization slowly dawned on her.

Her eyes flicked between it and Raymond’s smug look several times.

"What’s wrong? Not hungry anymore?"

"You...!"

No wonder, so this was the real trap all along!

His first part was just a minor trap meant to lure her into a sense of safety. While the real trap was this...this...indirect...

Even Ellen had to give props to him for this one. She hadn’t thought about this problem when she decided to act. Now she was fully reaping what she had sown. The worst part was that Ellen had even further amplified the problem for herself, because of her own pettiness. She had done it not once, not twice, but four times in total!

Well played indeed Raymond.

And what she ordered was the type of thing that required both utensils to be eaten. Using only her knife was impractical and was definitely bound to get her some weird looks. But most importantly, even if she did use only her knife to eat. It was like practically handing over the win to Raymond, and she couldn’t accept that. Just imagining how he would act now that he finally got another one over her was ticking her off.

"Don’t tell me you’re going to ask for new utensils?"

"...I’m not."

Ellen clenched her fist. Solidifying her resolution, there was a reason she used to have the willpower-attunement after all!

***

"Haha, they’re such a cute couple aren’t they?"

"Tch. They’re taking too long to finish."

He scowled, his mood having soured considerably the moment he saw the two of them acting all lovey-dovey.

Working during the weekend, on a public holiday, during peak hours was bad enough. Now he had to see this sight constantly reminding him of his own loneliness. He had already known they were going to ruin his mood the moment he saw them walk in. A guy and a girl together on a weekend eating together? The only explanation was that they were either siblings or dating, and he heavily doubted the siblings part.

Dammit, just seeing the two of them quietly blushing like that. Flustered as they smiled at each other and fed each other. It made him feel real ugly.

’What’s so good about love? They’re probably just with each other for their looks anyways.’

Comforting himself with that thought. He quietly pulled out his phone when he went on a smoke break later that day. Opening up social media before angrily typing out a massive paragraph on why he hated excessive pda.

And post!

---

Why do couples feel the need to show their love so openly?? This annoying couple at work keeps sitting there and acting all annoying as they feed each other. Blushing and acting so shy, the two of you are basically fully matured already yet you still act like kids! We get it! You two like each other! Why not do it in a private place at least?!

->Damn, I feel you man.

---

In only a few seconds, he already received a reply.

Just seeing those four words gave him an unbelievable sense of camaraderie. Truly, only people who had suffered the same pains could understand each other the best.

’Thank you! Brother!’

He tapped on the blank profile. Only for his face to immediately contort.

Originally, Raymond’s social media was completely blank. Choosing to never do anything with it, mainly because he didn’t see a need to do so.

He just used it to see what others were doing, his daily life wasn’t exactly interesting enough (by his standards) to consistently give updates about what he was doing.

With a lot of coaxing from Lily and the others in the Coffee Club however, he had gradually been trying.

At first, just a picture of a strange looking bug he saw in the academy. Pictures of viral foods that he had tried and a small review. A recording of his hands skillfully playing the piano. And finally, some behind the scenes of his modeling photoshoots. Which naturally included his face. Something the man naturally recognized immediately.

"What the f*ck!"

Aren’t you the guy I saw? What the hell do you mean by ’I feel you man’?!

Rage flooded his body again. His fingers rapidly typing out a reply, before decisively tapping block the moment he hit sent.

One of his coworkers tapped his shoulder,"Hey, get off your phone already will you? The boss might get angry again like last time."

"I just finished anyways."

Putting his phone away, his emotions slowly cooled down. He returned to the table where the two had just been. Based on the leftovers, he could even tell that it was mainly the girl who had been feeding the guy. After so long of working a 8-6, he had already become a master detective when it came to analyzing food scraps.

"Tch."