Mazaròl Lions : Chapter 15 "Small Celebration"

        “Nice to meet you, Spec.” Sapphire says as she looks at Obsidian and reaches her hand for a handshake. Obsidian, who just heard his weird new nickname, only looks at Sapphire from her head to toe and finally takes her hand gently. “Do you mind if I call you Spec? Because your actual name is Spectrolite but that sounds too long.. right..?” Sapphire says with hesitation if that could offend him. “Not at all.” Obsidian who is now his name is Spectrolite simply replies. Ahh.. now my name is Spectrolite.. How about her..? Spec says and takes a peek at his side, the woman who he is watching for a while before these two showed up in front of him. She seems still asleep based on her arms still crossed and her head nudging to the side. “How are you feeling?” Sapphire asks Spectrolite which makes him look back at her. “Better I suppose.” He simply answers and for him it looks like she just came here for a small chit chat. Well.. why does she need to come with him?

Spec questions himself and looks at Elio who is avoiding eye contact with him. Actually Elio just stands behind Sapphire and looks around the room. Weird.. This doesn’t feel like a health care room or something like that.. Even the smell is a lot better. That is what is in Elio's mind at this moment. “But can you walk?” She asks once again with full of concern that everyone will notice it right away. When he gets that question, Spec tries to move his thigh that got stabbed. “Ughh..” he grunts in pain and holds his thigh. “Oh no!” Sapphire quickly responds to it as she is trying to help Spec to get back to his previous position. This action of hers makes the two of them, Elio and Spec, surprised but there is a difference between them. Spec surprises because obviously this kind of action has never been experienced before. For Elio, something and somewhere inside of him starts to get convinced that this person is actually showing genuine kindness. When Sapphire quickly moves and she accidentally lets out a loud voice, it wakes Onyx up from her nap on the chair. Onyx gasps as she looks around her to find that she has fallen asleep and there are two other people inside now. She looks at the woman who is helping Spec to lay down as she also pulls the blanket to cover Spec’s body. From these actions, Onyx only can look confusedly toward this woman. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” She says with an apologetic voice. The word ‘sorry’ is something that Onyx hasn't heard in a while ever since she came here. Meanwhile the other two just stay silent as Spec looks toward Onyx’s place and Elio looks at Sapphire who is helping Spec. “I’m sorry.. I shouldn't have asked you that before.. And sorry I woke you up..” She apologizes once again “Ahh.. I’m screwed..” She continues and scratches her forehead. At this moment, the three of them just stay silent while looking at each other, except Elio who is focused on looking at Sapphire as he seems to be observing her. Onyx is still confused how can the two of them, Elio and Sapphire, get in here as she is trying to figure out what is their condition right now and who is this person. Spec just stays silent as he is watching what this person is doing and figuring out what this person's purpose is. When he starts to think of those things then.. Why did she come here and she’s so clingy with Chalcedony? Wait.. what is his name now? He asks himself and eventually turns his face toward Elio who is looking at the woman who just helped him before. The awkward silence starts to fill in the room until Sapphire tries to lighten the atmosphere. “Oh, I forgot to introduce your new name to your friends.” Sapphire says to Elio as she is giving a signal toward him to introduce himself. Elio twitches one of his eyes and looks at the two of them who are now turning their faces toward him. We can’t be called friends yet.. That is the kind of face that Elio shows toward both of them and eventually they make the same expression as well. Since he has already been asked to introduce himself, he takes a deep breath and decides to talk to him. “Tanzanite.” Elio simply introduces himself and their reactions are not helping with the condition. Spec just nods his head meanwhile Onyx tilts her head and raises one of her eyebrows. Once again but this time it becomes a lot more awkward than before. “Alright..?” Sapphire says and looks at the three of them confusedly as it is breaking the silence “Good! I’m Sapphire, your leader of the team! Looking forward to working with all of you!” She says with high energy and full of excitement. Unbelievable.. Both Onyx and Spec say inside of them meanwhile Elio is trying to get used to it, no complaints from him. “Oh. Your name, I almost forgot to tell you.” Sapphire says and looks at Onyx, she is the person that is referred to.         “Nice to meet you, Howlite.” Sapphire greets her and makes the same hand gesture just like before. Hearing her new name, Onyx is taken back a bit but still accepting the handshake anyway. “Pleasure to meet you.” Howlite simply replies to the greeting. New name.. new position I suppose.. Howlite says inside herself and looks at Elio who is still staring at Sapphire and their hands. Why did he look at her like that? Seems she notices how Elio staring at Sapphire is a little bit different than anyone else. “Is it alright if I call you Howl? Or maybe Lite? In case it makes it shorter..” Sapphire speaks again and that makes her stop thinking her thoughts inside her mind. “Howl, please.” She answers and lets go of the handshake. Sapphire shows her genuine and big smile again which caught her by surprise again. “Well, looking forward to working with you, Howl!” She says with excitement. At this moment, Howl feels confused about how to react to the person right in front of her now. Sapphire looks back toward Spec and seems like she is thinking about his condition again by holding her chin. With the eye contract break, Howl looks at Elio first and he is still staring at Sapphire. Since she already knows how smart Elio’s brain works, she is expecting Elio to try to figure out and observe this woman in front of her as well. Anyway, what is his new name? She asks herself again and turns her face toward Spec who is throwing his face away from them before Howlite can notice it. “But… your wound is really bad, huh? Do you think you need to stay over a night here?” She asks him worriedly. Both Spec and Howlite look at her confusedly because of her actions that show her worriedness, genuine one. As Spec is trying to figure out her purpose, he will just go along with the flow. “Actually when I moved it just now, it didn't hurt as much as before. Probably just need crutches later.” He answers her question and right after that Sapphire shows a relieved face. “Thank god, the wound healed quickly.” She says while letting out a sigh of relief “Since your condition is not really good now, I think it’s better for me to cancel the plan.” She continues and reaches her phone out from her coat’s pocket. The word ‘plan’ quickly catches their attention and immediately turns their face to her with full awareness. Their quick movement of turning their head toward Sapphire of course will surprise her. She looks back to back from the three of them with wide eyes and confusion because they look a bit terrified right now. “Is there something wrong..?” She asks hesitantly. Both of them just stay silent for a moment as they are thinking of something with the worst case to happen. Elio gulps and decides to ask her what she meant by plan before. “Plan?” Elio asks her with a voice that sounds intimidating. “Yep. I planned to have a dinner party with the three of you to celebrate it together.” She explains and still her face looks confused. Right after hearing her reply, it makes the intense atmosphere and awareness disappear. Instead, it becomes like they just don’t or refuse to believe what they just heard. “Di- Dinner party..?” Elio hesitantly asks once again to make sure if he hears it clearly or not. “Mhm.” Sapphire simply replies and cutely nods her head three times just like a little kid which actually gives Elio another unexpected heart attack. To hide his embarrassment, Elio just looks down to his feet and puts his left hand on his face. Since Elio already asked her, it makes the other two don’t want to hesitate to ask her as well. “For what?” This time, Howlite is the one who is asking her. But her question only makes Sapphire look at her confusedly. “To get to know each other? I think it is not a bad idea to have a dinner party for celebration.” Sapphire explains and actually for her Howlite’s question is a bit confusing to be answered. That leaves the three of them silent again but this time the weight from their chests loosen from it. Even though Spec and Howl still feel a bit cautious, Elio already wants to throw those kinds of feelings away from him. Something is wrong with Elio the first time he meets this person. His heart is telling him to trust her but his mind is still looking for deeper information about her. “Are you guys okay?” Sapphire speaks up again and breaks the fountains of their thoughts. “Where do you want to have dinner?” Something that is never expected by the three of them, even the person who just said it. That question makes the other two look at him with a surprised face, it’s Elio who is asking for furthermore information about the plan. “Hmm.. actually I have two options for that and I wanted to ask that before.” She replies and turns her body so her right side is facing Elio. “I wanted to ask if you guys prefer to go outside or just stay inside the company for dinner..” “Both are fine for me.” Elio immediately replies, simply but it seems different. “But your friend’s condition turned out not that good..” she replies sadly and her shoulders slump as her heart is devastated. Looking at how this person in front of Elio acts like this, Elio doesn’t know if this is just pretending or this is how she truly expresses herself. Usually Elio can know it right away but this person is different, it almost feels like he is talking to Lucas right now. On the other hand, to compare her with Lucas is not quite right as well, just what makes him feel and think like this toward this woman.. “Maybe you can confirm them again while we are still here.” Elio says and points toward Spec. Watching how these two have a conversation, it makes Howl look at Spec but he replies with a face that has no clue as well. How come these two be so close? And he has never been that talkative before.. She asks herself while looking and observing them. “No.. I don’t want to feel bad because I ask them about it. It will sound like I forced them to come..” Sapphire says again with sadness. Just by looking at her reactions, Spec thinks that it is alright to accept it since his wound has already recovered a lot. He swipes away the thoughts of getting to her bait and reverses that this person is actually showing genuine kindness toward him as he needs to repay for it. “Worry not, chief.” Spec speaks up and that draws Sapphire's attention to immediately look at him. “A small celebration won’t be that bad, right?” He says with a smirk on his face. Right after he says that, the light on her face turns on even brighter than before and her smile goes from ear to ear as well. “Are you sure?! Do you wanna come?!” She says happily and approaches Spec closer to his right side. Spec nods his head as confirmation and Sapphire throws her hand in the air. “Yaayy!! Let’s have a dinner party!” She exclaims excitedly and slightly runs back toward Elio. While she is having her own small celebration, Spec looks at his left side to find Howl who is freezing up on her feet. He smiles to her and mimics his lips to say ‘it’s alright’ Honestly, Howl already trusts him after all they have been through together. From the way he just comforts her, she decides to accept the offer as well. “Okay then shall we go now? Whoops.. I need to help you stand up.” Sapphire says and runs toward the health care cupboard to take out crutches. While Sapphire is on her way taking those things, Howl helps Spec to sit up. “Ahh..” Spec grunts a little bit from the pain. “Are you sure you're alright with it? You don’t need to push yourself.” Howl says worriedly and it feels like a blessing for Spec. “It’s fine. Just a little bit of cramp from laying down too much.” He answers firmly as don’t want to make her worry anymore. “Here you go.” Sapphire says and gives him the crutches. She wants to help Spec but Howl stops her to do so. “It’s alright. I will help him.” She says and shows a little bit of her smile. Howl’s bold action catches both Sapphire and especially Spec of guard. Both of them feel surprised but Spec has raging butterflies inside of him. “Oh thank you, Howl.” Sapphire replies with a smile on her face and takes two steps backward “You’re so kind.” she adds with a compliment. “Heh.” Howl scoffs at it, thinking that it is just a fake one “It’s normal.” She continues, trying not to be too suspicious around her. But the way Howl just reacts to Sapphire, her smile doesn’t disappear or even fading away a bit. “All set! Let’s go to the company’s fine dining!” She says and drags Elio’s arm with her which makes him blush a bit from it. Thankfully, the other two are busy with their business and don’t notice the red color of Elio’s cheeks. All of them head to the lift and Sapphire chooses the third floor of this building. Once they arrive at the floor destination, there is always a double check system which is the room only filled with the lifts and identification check. After doing the double check with Sapphire’s identity, they can’t believe how fancy this fine dining place in this company looks like. The design is spectacular with cozy dimmed lights, tantalizing smells come from the food buffets, and the room is not that big probably because only limited persons can access this place. One of the waitresses approaches and leads us to where the table has been reserved by Sapphire. “I already ordered the menus here. If you guys want anything from the buffer, feel free to grab it. I recommend the ice cream, they have Haagen Dazs.” Sapphire says with a wink as the group starts to get their seat. Just a couple of minutes, they still stay silent from the amazement, the foods come in by the waitresses. It is not only one dish for each person but there are 5 huge portions, different with one and another, to split it with the four of them. Everything and anything here looks perfect. These are freshly out from the kitchen and the smell is more luxurious than the food buffets. Their mouths can drool at any time now but they try to hold it. “Eat a lot and carefully, okay? You guys can get anything you want. The menu is over there.” Sapphire says and points at the open kitchen of where the chefs are. “How much is the cost of these things?” Howl asks curiously and looks at Sapphire. “Free. Everything that this company gives is free. Not even a single cent.“ Sapphire replies firmly with a grin on her face. It makes the three of them almost drop their jaws on the table just by hearing her answer. Eating lots of these things with high quality as well without paying anything is such a heavenly treat for them. Ever since they got here, they never thought they were allowed or able to order such a dish like this. “Shall we eat now?” Sapphire says as breaking the silence and giggles cutely. She probably notices that their faces right now are really showing their emotions. Three of them respond with just a nod and they start to eat peacefully together for the first time. As for Sapphire, she doesn’t let anyone stay quiet. She always finds a way to at least talk or ask them anything hence the atmosphere of their table feels a lot more lively together. They eat and talk a lot and the time marches by quickly without them noticing it. “Oh shoot.. It’s almost curfew time.” Sapphire says as she looks at the time on her phone. “Curfew?” Howl asks her, somehow she has a lot of appetite. She is the only one who is still munching on food, an ice cream for dessert she said. “Yep. It’s like bed time when we were kids, right?” Sapphire says jokingly and giggles. At this moment, Elio doesn’t know how he feels while watching this person he just met today. There is a big probability, for the first time, he is going to ignore his thoughts and go with his heart instead. “Alright. I will lead you guys to our room.” Sapphire says and stands up from her seat. The word ‘our’ almost makes Spec spurts out his drinks from his mouth. As a result of him trying his best to hold it, he coughs a lot. “Ey, ey! Drink carefully!” Sapphire scolds and gives him a napkin. “Sorry.” Spec says as he is taking the napkin from her but his thoughts don’t stop thinking about her word before. “Sorry, Miss Sapphire.” Spec calls her after wiping his mouth off. “Why did you apologize twice?” Sapphire replies and giggles from what Spec’s actions “And please don’t call me miss.. That sounds awkward..” she adds. Spec nods his head as it is giving a confirmation to her request before asking the question of his curiosity. “Can I ask what you mean by our room?” Hedeepened the word ‘our’ when he is asking the question. “Oh I forgot to tell you guys again.” Sapphire says and puts her phone back into her pocket “We are all going to live together from now on.” She continues with a wide grin on her face. Live together.. The same thing comes across both Elio’s and Spec’s mind. “WHAT?!” Both of them shout at the same time they get their sense back from their thoughts.