Feeling the soft touch of the blanket covering my body, I opened my eyes with heavy lids as I slowly woke up. With my vision blurry, I stared blankly at the ceiling above me. Slowly, my mind came back online after the long sleep.
“Weird dream…” I mumbled quietly to myself, staring at the faint light coming through my window, the rising sun bathing me in its warm glow. My room was already illuminated by some of its sunlight, making it look like a bright sunny day outside in the winter. I stretched my arms and legs as I sat up on the edge of my bed, groaning slightly due to the stiffness in my joints from sleeping so long.
I then remembered what had happened during my dream just before I woke up. It appeared to be another episode of realistic dream I had since now, however this one was different. This time, I felt the presence of otherworldly entity else visiting inside my mind while experiencing something that was out of the ordinary.
“Azrael, huh?” I commented under my breath, recalling how I met a mysterious woman named Azrael, who is also called to be ‘Lady Death,’ by some. In any case, a dream is just a dream, nothing more than that. There is no way for me to know if such a thing will ever happen in reality…
However, I need to enjoy this one day off from work. Time to take a shower and head down to the kitchen downstairs to grab breakfast. Hopefully, Eve or Clover is currently making breakfast right now. I could make it myself but eating food made by others is a more enjoyable experience of testing new recipes and cooking methods.
As I headed towards the bathroom to clean myself up, I decided to brush my teeth before doing anything else. Once done with brushing my teeth, I removed my clothes and set them aside, taking a quick shower. The warm water feels nice as it poured onto my body, relaxing me after the long hours of sleep.
Having finished cleaning myself, I dried off using a towel and dressed up the clothes I formerly put aside. After getting changed, I wasted no time heading downstairs in the kitchen where I saw Eve preparing breakfast for everyone.
On the occupied chair near the table was no other than Clover himself, mindlessly reading the newspaper in his held hands. His eyes were half closed, almost as if he was half-asleep or too focused, probably both. “Good morning,” I greeted him, greeting him in return with a small smile while Eve turned around to face me.
“Morning, Adam.” She responded simply, her voice barely carrying any tone at all before returning back to her cooking, pouring the ingredients into a pan over the stove. Clover glanced my way, seemingly aware of what I did and said but did not care about it. He then returned his gaze to the newspaper, not saying anything for the time being. I decided to sit down next to Clover, taking a seat opposite of him, forcing the leprechaun to look away from the paper.
“Oh, its ya lad. Hows the beauty sleep, arty?” He asked with a casual tone, looking towards me as he spoke. I gave him an awkward grin. “Good, I suppose. Just woke up, actually. Waiting for Eve to finish up preparing our breakfast?” Just when I told him, Eve was already done with cooking and started to serve the food onto our plates.
What she served us was rather extraordinary. It was a delicious homemade meat loaf comprised of pork mixed with chicken together and vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and green beans. On top of that, there is also fried eggplant on the side and some sort of cheese sauce made from mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar.
As she sat, Eve looked back at me and Clover before speaking out loud. “I hope you two enjoy your meal today. I was worried if this would be edible since I have never tried making something like this.” She said while I gave her a thumbs up. “You are quite talented for someone who has only been here for just a day,” I added in complainant, causing her to glance away and blush lightly.
“T-thanks,” Eve replied, smiling awkwardly after hearing my complimenting remark on her skills as a cook. The three of us then started eating the delicious breakfast that she just prepared for us. It tasted so great that Clover himself had to admit it was delicious. We ate our food silently until we were finished with the meal.
Clover, Eve and I stayed quiet afterwards until Clover broke the silence by saying “well, I’ll be damn lad! Eve,” he turned to her with a silly smile plastured on his face, “you are one good lass! This breakfast is fantastic!” He said, clapping his hands together. Eve slightly smiled and nodded, agreeing with him.
“Thanks, Clover.” She responded softly, trying not to disturb the mood. As I glanced at her, I saw that she was…content with what she accomplished just now. It is as if she was experiencing emotions for the first time in her life.
It is truly a beautiful sight to behold of seeing this other side of hers. I am glad that her humanity is blossoming like a withered flower slowly blooms into a lovely flower once again. That made me strangely glad to-
Gah! What am I thinking? I shouldn’t consider Eve to be someone like a friend, I justn’t…because losing someone I cared about is painful. I cannot bear to lose another loved one, especially if they are dear friends or family. It would break my heart even more than before and the pain would grow exponentially.
No, I should stop thinking about her that way, that same goes for Clover. All I see them is useful allies, nothing more, nothing less. But I cannot help my other side, thinking they are my friends, but that is all. They have to understand that I do not want anything else from them aside from their cooperation during times when I need them most.
I am a cold-hearted man with dark thoughts and feelings towards others because I do not wish for any attachments nor long-lasting friendships. The only thing I care about is trying to make a living in this garbage place of a city, right?
“Aye, Adam! What do ya think of her cooking lad?!” Clover asked me, snapping me out of my reverie. “This girly is quite good at what she does, ain’t she arty?” He added on his own words. I nodded, agreeing with him while contemplating what to do with these two.
Noticing my focused expression, Clover asked what I was thinking of, his voice was soft and almost sounding worrying judging from his tone, “Adam? You alright there arty, ya appear to be pondering about something?” He said, squinting his eyelids slightly as he spoke.
I paused for a moment, then finally responded, “Clover, what should we do today? You see, I do not have work today and neither you do. So, why do not we go around the city and look at things that are interesting, like-“
“Aye! You should have said that from the start!” Clover interrupted me with an excited tone, “That sounds great, arty! Let’s get going already! I was always curious to see new sights of this city since it has been a while since I last went out.”
He seemed very eager to leave and explore New York City, which is understandable seeing how much he spent staying in my house. But I had other plans for us, “Eve, what about you?” I turned my face towards Eve who was sitting on the other side of the seat, “You coming along?”
She gave me a nod before responding, “I’m…interested. I was always curious about this city myself. If that is okay with you?” She said, her voice trailing off after that question, giving a slight frown as she awaited my response.
Why the hell not? Wasting my day off by spending all of the time in the house is boring, so exploring the world outside the walls would be nice, especially when the sun is already up and about. It feels good to go out into the fresh air instead of being cooped up inside the cold and dark confinements of my home.
“Alright, lets go,” I said, standing up, followed by Eve and Clover as we exited the house before closing the main entrance of the house. I can feel the chillness of the morning breeze hitting our skins while Eve was barely have any interaction with the coldness, but she did not complain or show signs of discomfort. Instead, her hands were clasped together tightly, hiding her own warmth.
After entering the red sports car and starting the engine, I turned on the heaters to help keep us warm as we drove away from my house, heading towards a road that leads to Manhattan. Expected of a big city like New York, the roads are busy with people moving around in cars and pedestrians walking in random directions.
I eventually managed to find a parking spot at the public side walk, but sadly; there was parking pay meter machine right next to my car. I sighed lightly, exiting the vehicle without saying any comment and walked towards the pay station to insert some money to avoid getting a ticket or worse, have my vehicle pulled out. When I checked how many per hour I can leave my vehicle parked, the limit was three hours only and cost around three thousand dollars for three fucking houses.
What the fuck. This is bullshit. Why is the city so goddamn expensive and greedy? I could understand if it costs a hundred bucks an hour, but not this much!
Shit! I can’t lose that amount of money, I still need to buy supplies, food and other stuff before we even start our journey. What am I going to do now…
“Adam?” Eve called out to me, her voice sounding worried, “Is everything alright?” The presence of Clover and Eve behind me caused my body to stiffen up, making me look back to them as they stood in front of my car while waiting for my response.
I heaved a sigh, feeling a little embarrassed because I had been spacing out and was not paying attention to how long I had been contemplating, “yeah, I think we have a problem,” I said, shaking my head slightly. “The city has these parking meters that are way too expensive.”
Clover tilted his head curiously, staring at the pay station for a few seconds before he asked, “what is with it lad? You appear troubled about something.”
I chuckled softly, scratching the back of my neck as I shook my head again. “Nah, aside being expensive; I just cannot pay it off. I am not wealthy, you know,” I explained, looking away from him and towards Eve. Eve stared at me for several seconds, her face blank and emotionless. Her eyes slowly widened as she looked down, “then we are unable to leave our car here?”
I nodded my head, looking back to Clover who appeared lost in thought for a moment. He then scratched his cheek lightly before asking, “oi, Adam. Does this weird little machine accept coins, arty?” The Irish leprechaun asked, trying to make light of the situation as he would always do.
Wait, don’t tell me his paying for it? Actually, come to think of it; leprechauns always have a stash of gold hiding somewhere in their house or wherever they live. It is not surprising if the Irish mythological creature has some cash on them, because in legend, these Irish little bearded men are said to possess a wealthy amount of gold in their pockets or whatever.
Plus, these parking meter machines do accept coins and cash, not just cards. “Yeah, why you ask?” I replied as Clover showed me a sparking gold coin with his extended hand towards me, his face grinning at my own surprised and bewildered expression, “this would cost a fortune my boy, use this shiny gold coin of mine and insert in the machine, that should be enough to cover all the cost.”
I looked back to the pay station, seeing the small slot where people can place coins into it. I then took out the gold coin from Clover’s hand and placed it into the slot, feeling the smooth texture of the gold against my fingers. After a few seconds, the screen then shows me how much time is left until the timer reaches zero.
I turned back at them, seeing the crossed armed Clover grinning at me while Eve was surprised and bewildered like I am, “you have more of them, I believe?”
Clover nodded his head, showing me another gold coin. “Yep, plenty of ’em,” he replied happily, flashing me a grin, “but you cannot keep these for yourself now, eh? They are mine, arty.”
