Chapter 128 - Another Offering
"In fact, everything that you told me just now is a good key. It\'s our key to take them down," I said.
"Huh? What do you mean, Em?"
"We are going to trap them, Noah."
"T—Trap!? You\'re going to trap them?!"
"Why are you so shocked? It\'s the best way to take them down. I\'ll come up with a plan later, but for now, I think you should endure it," I said.
Noah looked hesitant, but he nodded obediently in the end, "Well, I\'ll most likely try to hide in here, so they won\'t just find me and beat the heck out of my body."
"Yeah, that\'s a good idea. This place is a good hiding spot because nobody dares to come in uninvited," I said, assuring Noah that he\'d be okay in this club.
I wasn\'t sure if Logan would mind, though. I didn\'t think he needed to know about Noah staying here. He said that he hated humans so much, whether it was men or women. I bet he\'d terminate whatever mission he was doing right and return here just to kick Noah\'s ass away from his safe space.
It was just… very Logan, from what I imagined.
Noah and I changed phone numbers so we could stay in contact after this, "Don\'t forget to tell me if you see anything important, or you discover something that might help for this. I\'m here to help you, Noah."
"I\'ll try, Em! You know, talking about you sounds like I\'m talking to a queen! Hehe~"
"A queen?!" I was stunned by his statement. Nobody ever called me a queen, and I found it weird as well.
I preferred to be called the Mistress of Evil, like Maleficent, hehe.
"Yeah, you sound so magnetic. You also sound so bold! Honestly, staying with you make me feel safe. You\'re also beautiful. I bet there are a lot of men lining up—"
"Okay, stop. You don\'t need to sweet-talk your way out. I will help you nonetheless," I interrupted him, unable to listen any longer.
"But I\'m not sweet-talking my way through….\' Noah mumbled though I could still hear him.
**
Noah and I stayed inside the pottery club room for a while until it was almost dusk. He had to catch the last bus, and then we separated.
I returned to the house at dusk, with the sight of Grandma already entering the house.
Mom hadn\'t returned from her work yet, which was kind of regular at this point. She\'d often stay on her shift until late at night during busy days. Luckily, the overtime payment justified the pain.
"Grandma, did you have your dinner yet? It\'s cold today. I can make some warm porridge if you want," I said to Grandma, who was sitting on the sofa, watching some random tv show.
"Ah, no need, dear. I\'m full," Grandma said with a smile on her face. "Your future husband went here this afternoon, and he brought my favorite chicken and corn porridge."
I halted my step immediately. I turned my head at her and glared from behind.
I didn\'t want to repeat the same words over and over with my Grandma. Because I knew she\'d just ignore me, whether it was due to her stubbornness or dementia.
But I couldn\'t help to get frustrated by my Grandma.
"Grandma, why do you like him so much? He\'s literally a stranger. And I don\'t even know him."
"Oh, Emmy, my dear, you don\'t need to hide your relationship with him. He already told me that you two have been dating for about three months now."
"I never—" I choked on air as I couldn\'t believe that creepy man could say something like that so brazenly. As expected from a creep.
"Also, your boyfriend is so good-looking. I told him many times that he should star in a movie! But he just refused! Em, go tell your boyfriend to do casting for films!"
…
I sighed and then helped Grandma to her room, so she could rest. I made her a ginger drink to warm herself more because today\'s wind was chilly.
I returned to my room in a complicated mood. Because there was a flash of crazy idea in my mind just now about that red rose man.
That guy must\'ve been ultra-rich since he could get a box of high-grade crystal meth so easily.
It made me wonder why would a rich guy like him do something crazy like stalking.
But that wasn\'t my first concern right now. I had an idea, but that idea needed me to use a lot of money. Because the only way to trap those three, Thomas, Jorge, and Jackson, was with money, lots of it.
Of course, I couldn\'t get my hands upon 100 bucks easily, let alone 1000! How in hell I could get that much when I wasn\'t allowed to do part-time?!
So my idea was… get some money from that creepy red rose man to trap the three stooges.
"But will I actually call that creep and ask for money?" I asked myself. Because the answer was fairly obvious, honestly.
I was afraid that he\'d ask for something crazy in exchange for money. He asked for my worn plaid shirt in exchange for the box of crystal meth. Who knew what he\'d ask in exchange for money?
Bra? Could be.
Panties? Possible.
Socks? Depends if he had a foot fetish or not.
See? Anything was possible with that guy, and the more I think about it, the scarier it got.
"Should I call Logan instead? I mean, that rich brat is annoying as heck. But he still has the money," I thought.
…
Forget it. I didn\'t want to be a financial burden for him. The last chat I got from him was like… a week ago. And he said that he was on a very serious mission, that\'s why he was unable to call or text me often.
No, I wasn\'t sad at all, of course.
And no, I didn\'t miss him.
Hmph!
I continued thinking about the possibility, and then I got a call from someone. My heart jumped when I saw the caller.
It was that dreaded stalker, the Red rose man.
I hesitated whether I should pick up the call or not. I remembered the last time he called me, so I darted my eyes towards the window and looked down.
After realizing the red rose man wasn\'t standing outside, I was relieved and picked up the call.
__Phone Call__
"Hello?"
"Ah, my sweetheart Emmy! Why did you pick up so late?"
So late, my ass! I was only letting the phone ring for a while before picking up the call from him!
\'Why did you call me?" I asked straight to the point. I didn\'t want to play nice with him.
"Hm? I just missed you, my darling," the red rose man said boldly. "I keep dreaming about all the time we had lost in the previous world. I should\'ve come to your life sooner. I was so late that I broke down when I saw your corpse."
"Your death broke me, Emmelyn Jones. It got me worried that something might happen to you in this life as well."
"Oh, don\'t worry about your bullies in the last life. I didn\'t leave that world without taking some sweet revenge."
"Oh, you should see the face of Kristen Suite when I hang her body upside down and cut her neck just enough for her blood to get drained out of her body."
"Hehe—just imagining it got me so excited! I can handle them all in one swoop, but I don\'t want to ruin your mission, Em. This is your personal vengeance after all!"
…
Oh my god, this man was fucking crazy! I was astonished by how crazy he sounded just now. He didn\'t even faze when he said that, proving this man was a total psycho!
"You know, if you need my help, all you need to do is ask, and I\'ll surely help you in all kinds of matters! But of course, everything has its price, is it not?"
…
Yeah, he was right. Everything had its price. He asked for my worn plaid shirt in exchange for that crystal meth.
Of course, it was an extremely advantageous trade on my side, but the uncomfortableness that came afterward kind of balanced the trade for me personally.
"So, what do you think, Em? I know you need resources right now. I can always give you anything with a small exchange. Just call it a token of gratitude," the redress man said.
…
I was contemplating whether I should accept his offer or not. At this point, I had given up on questioning how in hell he knew I was in dire need of something.
He literally jumped with me to this world after my death. He might be magical enough to actually know everything that I did every day.
I took a deep breath and then said, "What do you want?"