A few moments earlier.
"Mmm, mm?" I woke up from a comfortable yet "enlightening" sleep; it was the most comfortable sleep that I had in, like, a million years, I guess.
"Who is that man?" A loud hoarse man's voice sounded from the living room.
"Don't tell me you are in a live in relationship?" Another angry yet sweet woman's voice sounded.
"Hm? Who?" I mumbled in a daze, woke up, and walked towards the living room. I noticed Katline standing in front of her parents with her head down, while Katharine stood near the kitchen, and Seol So-Young stood at a corner..... I stared at her while trying to calm down the rising rage.
"Y-you! Who are you?" Katline's father, Kane Romero, asked while staring at me.
"Huh? Me?"
***
Kane Romero and Lanna Romero rushed towards their daughter's house, saw three young women fighting against the small horde of demons, and soon Katline and Katharine stopped fighting, teasing the female elf that they didn't know. At the way Katline giggled and teased the elven woman, they understood that she was the "friend" their daughter talked about.
They smiled slightly when they realised that they were worried about in vain.
"Katline, you shouldn't tease your friend like that." Lanna said and hugged the grumbling elven woman while Kane killed all the demons in the sector.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Uncle, Aunty." Katharine greeted them with a polite bow. Lanna and Kane suddenly remembered the incident where her parents were killed; though they felt pity, they didn't show it on the outside and zoomed towards her, hugging her tightly.
"Hello, Katharine, it's been so long since I have seen you; you have grown up into a fine woman, I see." Lanna spoke in a proud tone while staring at Katharine from top to bottom.
"Yes, aunty, thank you." Katharine hugged them slightly and replied politely.
"So, who is this beautiful lady?" She asked and turned to face the elven woman while her hand was still over Katharine's shoulders.
"Ah, she is Seol So-Young, we rescued her from the.... back alleyway when she was being bullied by some men." Katharine replied. Though suspicious about the gap in her sentence, Lanna didn't pry in any further and looked at Seol So-Young with a concerned face.
"Are you alright now?" Lanna asked Seol So-Young, and glanced at Katline after Seol So-Young nodded her head.
"Baby, won't you greet your parents?" Lanna asked with a dejected look and tone.
"M-mamma!" Katline yelled, faking delight to the best of her ability, but of course, a child's acts cannot be hidden from a parent's eyes.
Lanna furrowed her brows at her daughter, who was acting very strangely. Katline glanced at Katharine and eyed inside the room, and as if understanding her friend, Katharine turned stiff, Lanna, who still had her hand over Katharine's shoulders, noticed that and her frown deepened.
Kane, who noticed everything while standing on the sidelines, frowned and spread his senses wide, concentrating mainly on his daughter's house.
"!?" He soon felt another presence in the house, and his eyes opened wide in surprise and confusion. Confusion because the "safe house," rendered with his mana sense when he tried to peer into the house without the permission of the house owner.
Noticing the changes in her husband's expression, Lanna looked at Katline from the corner of her eyes and smiled brightly on the outside, but unfortunately for Lanna, everyone noticed the ominousness she tried to hide behind her smile.
"My daughter~ won't you invite your parents into the house?" Lanna asked, and though she made it sound like a question, Katline knew that it was more of a command.
"Hahaha, haha, ha."
*
"...."
"...."
An eerie silence descended in the living room after Kane and Lanna saw a handsome white-haired man sleeping peacefully in their daughter's bed.
"Pfft, ahem, ahem." Seol So-Young held back her laughter with tears in her eyes. Katline glared at her from the corner of her eyes, but since she was in front of her parents, she couldn't even curse at her.
"You better explain what's going on, Katline Romero." Kane asked in a strict tone, making Katline flinch.
'I am sorry, but I can't just let this be....' Kane thought inwardly.
*
A few minutes later.
Kane and Lanna were more suspicious of Katline's relationship with the handsome man in Katline's room because of how reluctance she seemed to speak; they didn't stop her from dating or anything, but living in the same house was still forbidden, at least until they married.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBut to keep a man in the same house without even knowing what he had in his mind was something only a naive person would do, though they trusted their daughter and knew that she won't do something stupid or something that would put the Romero couple at shame, they obviously couldn't trust an unknown man whose intentions are unknown, and that too a handsome man, who had the charms to have any woman he desired to.
Kane couldn't handle his daughter's silence and the expression as if she had done something wrong and yelled at her, "Who is that man?"
Though surprised by her husband's sudden outburst, Lanna thought she should back him up on this: "Don't tell me that you are in a live-in relationship?" She asked, and her words not only surprised Kane but also Katline, who had a pained expression on her face. Kane absolutely hated to see that look on Katline's face; he got so angry at her, for not even trying to explain herself, that he couldn't hold it in anymore and raised his hand at her.
Lanna noticed that he wasn't taking things in with a sane mind, and when she was about to stop him from acting so rashly, she noticed him raise his hand at Katline, something that had never happened before, and now he was acting like that at his own daughter, because of an unknown man. Though she wanted to stop him, she was a bit too slow.
Suddenly, both of them felt a strong killing intent that wasn't exactly directed at them, but due to the pressure that bore down on them, they halted, glanced to the side, and noticed the handsome white-haired man standing at their daughter's room's pathway with an expressionless look on his face.
"Y-you! Who are you?" Kane asked while pointing his finger at the man, who had a confused expression on his face.
"Huh? Me?" He asked and tilted his head in confusion.
"E-Eshwar!!" Katline finally opened her mouth with tear-filled eyes, and though they felt guilty for acting like that, they wanted to see what expression the man would make when he saw tears in their daughter's eyes; that would tell them what the next course of action would be.
"Eshwar!!" Seol So-Young suddenly exclaimed with a delighted expression on her face, hopped towards the man and hugged him tightly.
"Ai, get off!" The man called Eshwar said to Seol So-Young in a commanding tone, but that woman simply shrugged it off and continued to hug him.
"So-Young! I'll kill you!" Katline yelled and rushed towards them, showing her claws like that of a cat's. That was entirely out of Kane and Lanna's expectations; they hadn't expected to see something like this in their lives, never. They were looking at a scene where three women were fighting over a single man. Though Katharine didn't act out like the other two, from the jealous and envious look on her face, it was clear that she too wanted ignore everything, rush over and hug him.
"Katharine. Help me." He said in a burdened look on his face, though delighted to hear her name being called, Katharine simply walked towards him and joined in the group hug.
"Haaaa...." Eshwar sighed, raised his hands above his head in surrender, disappeared, and reappeared at the other end of the room, escaping from the clutches of those crazy women. Katline's parents' eyes widened in shock because they couldn't even catch the sight of the man's movements; it was too fast and efficient. Then they suddenly noticed his expression, which turned serious, and without any forewarnings, he jumped out of the window and zoomed out towards Sector Seven.