HA3 2.1 – Cartel
Five past fifty in the evening, Hide already sat in the living room in Hanna’s apartment. He wore a t-shirt and trouser, being accompany by a cup of tea and peanut butter cookies, while doing school work using his laptop. Then, he heard someone opened the front door and he immediately went to check it.
It was Hanna, as expected, but she had dark clouds all over her face. Without many words, Hide helped her to take off her coat, spray some disinfectant on it, and then hung it in the cap stock.
“Hide, let’s postponed the dinner date,” Hanna said briefly.
“Got it,” Hide calmly replied. “But, have you eaten something? I can fix you a light meal, if you haven’t.”
“I don’t think I have the mood to eat right now. I just want to sleep after taking a bath.”
“Okay.”
Hanna then went straight to bathroom, while Hide changed into shorts before returning to living room. It was easy to tell that Hanna had crappy day. He was very curious about it, but he didn’t know how to nicely ask about it.
In the end Hide chose to stay silence. He would wait until Hanna ready to talk about it. As for now, in casual mood he resumed his school work. He was not too tired today, so he used his time as best as his could to study.
And time flew before finally Hanna came out of the bathroom, and she didn’t go to bedroom to sleep but go to living room and sat in the sofa next to Hide.
“Hide.”
“Yeah.”
“Pampering me,” Hanna said with demanding tone.
“Pampering you?” Hide turned his gaze to Hanna as his eyes widened.
“Yeah,” Hanna said in flat tone. “I feel like shit right now. I need you to comfort me.”
After slightly nodding his head Hide put his laptop on the table. “Wait for a moment.”
“Mhm.”
Hide then went to bathroom, and returned while carrying a pillow, small flashlight, tissue, cotton butt, baby oil, and ear cleaning set.
As he put the pillow in his lap Hide said, “Let me clean your ears.”
“My ears are clean,’ Hanna said while skeptically looking at Hide.
“I know, but cleaning your ears will help you to relax.”
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After a moment of silence Hanna said, “Okay.”
It was clearly visible that Hanna was reluctant with the ear cleaning, but Hide said nothing. Then, right after Hanna put her head on the pillow in his lap, Hide immediately massaged her right ear lobe before carrying the ear cleaning gently.
A moment later a smile bloomed in Hanna’s lips as she enjoyed the ear cleaning, and Hide did it without hurry. He spent about twenty minutes to clean Hanna’s right ear before applying baby oil in a way that feel so good.
After that, he switched to clean Hanna’s left ear. At this point, Hanna was already as happy as clam and fully relaxed. Her foul mood was gone without a trace. Then, finally Hide completed the job.
“How is my ear cleaning? Do you enjoy it?”
“I do,” Hanna cheerfully replied. “And it will be perfect if you do it for another round.”
“The cleaning motion will irritate the skin in your ear tunnel if I overdo it.”
“It’s fine as long as we don’t do it too often,” Hanna argued.
“Instead of another round of ear cleaning, let me massage your feet.”
“Huh…” Hanna looked at Hide in wonder as he asked, “Do you know how to give a feet massage?”
“Let me try it first. Then, you can evaluate it.”
“Okay.”
Hide then asked Hanna to lie on her belly while he took a stool and sat next to Hanna’s feet. After pressing Hanna’s right sole using his fist, Hide started the massage right away. His opening move was putting his thumb next to each other in the middle Hanna’s right sole before gently pressing forward alternately.
This motion was like two small feet walked across Hanna’s sole. It didn’t produce health benefit, but it felt so good and it made the sole relax.
“It feels so good, right?” Hide asked as he repeated the thumb walk.
“Mhm,” Hanna happily replied without letting go the pillow from her hug. “You do it perfectly.”
“I see.”
Once Hanna’s sole became relax, Hide then gave it a light stretching and decompress up to her toe, before going for her ankle, calf, and back of her knee. Overall, it was easy massage. Hanna moderately but regularly exercised, ate healthy diet, and gave her body proper rest, so she didn’t accumulate tiredness or stiffness in her muscle.
In total, Hide needed only twenty minutes to massage her right foot, before switching to her left’s foot and repeated the procedure. Then, with a face as happy as clam Hanna got up and sat crossed leg in the sofa while hugging the pillow.
“Hide, you should tell me earlier if you know how to give a proper massage.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do. It feels so good and refreshing.”
“Glad if you like it. Let’s do it again later,” Hide happily said.
“Yeah,” Hanna happily agreed.
“Now, do you want me to fix a light meal or something heavier maybe?”
Hanna instantly tilted her head to the side and fell into ponder. A moment later she said, “Let’s just hit snack bar or street stall.”
“Do you want to drink?”
“Yeah,” Hanna firmly replied. “Now after I think about it, it’s been an age since the last time I go out for a drink.”
Big question mark instantly appeared in Hide’s forehead. “Are you saying you don’t go drink with your colleagues from Beauty & the Beast?”
“After a narcissistic prick started to stalk me, I stop going to any drinking gathering because he or his goons always showed up, made some nuisance, and my mood instantly go south.”
“What if the prick shows up again this time?”
“He won’t. He was not in this world anymore.”
“You didn’t hire someone to kill him, did you?”
“I didn’t,” Hanna firmly replied. “He was son of mafia chief, fatally wounded in a gunfight to rescue the family elder, and then someone assassinate him in his bed in the hospital.”
Hide had a hunch about the identity of the prick, but he fully realized he should keep it for himself. So, he only said, “I see.”
“Well, let’s go then. I know a good nearby snack bar.”
“Okay.”
With ease Hide agreed to Hanna’s idea to drink outside. It would be easier to talk about her crappy day when she had some drink. Not to mention, he also wanted to have some beer for himself.
Wasting no time, Hide and Hanna changed their clothes. Hanna wore a t-shirt, casual trouser, Manchester city’s jacket, and sneaker. Hide also wore casual clothes and jacket like Hanna, but he concealed carry a small knife in his lower back.
When he just started his second life and his body was still as weak as fuck, Hide wouldn’t feel safe to go out without his silenced P365 and a set of various knives. But now, even though he was still far from reaching his peak of physical fitness, he was confident enough to handle non-firearm threat with a small knife and a small bottle of sleeping med he made.
After drinking a bottle of anti-hangover, the two then went out in happy mood. And as she said, Hanna truly knew a good nearby snack bar. It was located only 100 meters away from Blue Orchid’s rear gate. It’s simple snack bar in middle of quiet small road that connected two main streets, but it was bustling with visitors.
Hide actually often passed the snack bar on his way to Hanna’s place. However, he never thought Hanna was a regular in this place.
“Both draft beer and craft beer in Cartel are excellent,” Hanna happily said as she looked at the snack bar with sparkling eyes. “The drinking snack is also cheap but delicious.”
“I see,” Hide calmly replied.
The two then went to open air table in the side yard. A moment later, a waitress came over to their table and Hanna immediately put a good amount of order. It seemed she was on the mood to drink tonight.
*****