The Bond

Ch 64

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

"Can't you two stop fighting?"

"No."

Lucy scowled in annoyance at the unison answer of the two men. She placed the broom she was holding in the corner of the room, then stepped closer to Ennard and Michael who seemed ready to argue again.

Then Lucy pulled each of their ears.

"Stop fighting!" Lucy said fiercely, she didn't care at all about Ennard and Michael's protests which were again in unison.

Ennard gritted his teeth in annoyance. "You—damn let go of your hand, Dawson!"

While Michael whined. "Lucy!"

"The longer I've known you guys, the more I know you're so childish," Lucy complained shortly after, releasing her grip with a heavy sigh.

"Rather than you, always fail in love matters."

Suddenly, Lucy wanted to hit Michael's head.

Ennard?

Surprisingly he seemed to be holding back a laugh.

"Whatever! You guys are really annoying." Lucy pouted, she took off her work uniform there—Lucy didn't really care that Ennard and Michael were with her, she was wearing an undershirt anyway. "By the way, Mike, we have a different work session next week."

Michael's brows knit together. "Eh? Why? I want to be with Lucy."

The girl looked at Michael with a sweatdrop. All she remembered was that the man seemed to be very distant from her at the beginning of their meeting for several weeks, even always showing an awkward attitude. She didn't know what made him change to the point that Mike was more active in talking and sticking to her while working.

"Supermarket policy," Lucy answered Michael's question. "Now get changed over there."

The brown haired man just puffed his cheeks, then took a change of clothes from the locker and headed elsewhere. Lucy watched Michael leave for a moment, then looked at Ennard—Ennard just happened to be looking back at her.

"Mike—"

"I don't know."

Ennard immediately cut off her words, Lucy felt excited to kick this man.

"I know what you're thinking, his change is terrible."

Lucy didn't understand why Ennard had called it a terrible change, but she didn't think much of it. It was likely that Ennard had known Mike longer than her, so perhaps Ennard had known Mike's traits and demeanor better before they met.

Shortly after, Lucy chose to go home first, after all Mike could go home with Ennard considering Ennard accompanied him to work today.

There were still a few things that made her curious about the two men. They seem very mysterious. Ennard and Mike. Lucy couldn't understand their background, why they'd suddenly moved, or even the blindfolds they were both wearing.

Everything felt odd.

Lucy was eager to ask about it, but if she tried to bring it up indirectly, they would surely look panicked and distort the topic. Lucy wasn't the type to be lied to.

However, the other, more positive side is that they are fun (ignoring how harsh Ennard was, of course) and accepting of her sexuality. So Lucy was at least grateful for that and didn't want to ask for anything else—having a friend who didn't care about her sexuality was all she wanted right now.

Mary might be a good friend, but she didn't like that about her.

Lucy kicked little pebbles that were on the side of the road as she walked back to the apartment, she had prepared a plan of what she would do at home; washing clothes, sweeping, mopping, then lying down and listening to the radio, enjoying the afternoon with full of relaxation.

She was walking while looking down, so she was surprised when she bumped into someone.

"A-ah I'm sorry," Lucy said guiltily.

"It doesn't matter."

Lucy heard a soft chuckle of laughter, she finally looked up only to find a brown haired girl with a pair of black eyes looking at her amused. Lucy could feel her cheeks heating up for a moment.

Although after that she looked back at the girl. "Are you new here?" she asked excitedly.

The girl in front of him nodded. "Correct."

Lucy's smile widened. "Then, nice to meet you! I'm Lucy Dawson!"

"Then are you Mary's friend?"

Lucy blinked at the question. "You know her?"

"Yes," the girl replied, her smile widening—Lucy suddenly felt very strange. "I am also a friend of Mary, my name is Alice Clark."

She felt she had heard that name somewhere, but where?

Alice Clark ...

"Do ... do you have any family or friends, whose name is ... Alice?"

Mike's question when they were just being friends suddenly crossed her mind. Lucy felt her heart stop beating for a moment. This bizarre feeling was getting bigger. She looked at the girl who introduced herself as Alice Clark with a puzzled look, she didn't really pay attention to Alice who was looking at her curiously.

"Miss Dawson? You are okay?"

Lucy pursed her lips, then nodded her head in response to Alice's question. "Nice to meet you," Lucy said quietly, her eyes moving downwards to avoid eye contact with Alice.

Alice smiled. "Nice to meet you too, Miss Dawson."