“It’s a good day, isn’t it?” Ren said as he opened the curtains from the floor to glass window.
“It’s raining, though,” Leonel said, looking at his friend dead in the eyes.
“I feel that this day will be a good day,” Ren said, and as if on cue, thunder flashed across the dark sky, giving light to the silly smile on his face.
Seeing Ren on cloud nine, looking dizzy from infatuation, Leonel found it hilarious and wanted to laugh.
They were currently in Ren’s unit, waiting for the maintenance to finish, so they could immediately log into COVENANT to participate in the Halloween Event.
They were also celebrating Ren and Evie becoming an item. Leonel was ecstatic and very happy for his best friend.
Watching Ren act like a love-struck fool made him even happier . . . to the point of wanting to laugh.
Though deep inside, Leonel was jealous and envious of Ren. Just yesterday, he was a cold block of ice, but now, happiness radiated from his being, with imaginary floating pink hearts and invisible rays of lights that blinded Leonel.
“Are you really okay being with that guy?” Leonel asked Evie.
Evie’s face went red despite her massive effort to keep her expression neutral. She was embarrassed at how Ren was acting, though deep inside, she was happy as well.
Ren’s parents were also very attentive to her, making her feel shy. Just earlier, the couple peeked at her from the kitchen whenever they got the chance, and now, they were adding various food to her plate, never letting it empty.
Hearing Leonel’s words, Ren smacked the other party’s head. “What do you mean, okay?”
He then ignored Leonel and held Evie’s hand on the table, not caring about his best friend and parents that watched them with unblinking eyes.
“It’s such a beautiful day outside,” started Ren capturing Evie’s elusive gaze. At first glance, Ren seemed unaffected, but his eyes were melting, and his expression was gentler than before, making his parents’ jaw drop.
“It’s raining, though,” Leonel repeated.
“I think we should go somewhere. Eat lunch. Watch movies. Or go to an amusement park,” continued Ren.
“Like a date?” Leonel butted in. “But there’s a storm. See? Even the news said so. And I thought we’re participating in COVENANT’s Halloween event today?”
Ren took a deep breath and finally spared Leonel a glance. “What are you still doing here again?”
“Huh?” Leonel scratched his head. “I thought we were going to plan out which two servers to go to. Have you forgotten already?”
Just because you finally had a girlfriend, you turned amnesiac. Leonel wanted to add but decided against it.
Ren merely raised a brow. “We can just do that Halloween Event next time. There will be plenty of it in the future.”
Leonel gaped at Ren. He couldn’t believe that he would forget about everything just like that. It looked like his head contained nothing but romance now. Leonel thought to himself.
It was Evie who refused and pulled her hand from Ren’s hold.
“Let’s talk about which server to go to. I want to go to this Halloween Event. I’m rather curious, and this is going to be our first-ever Halloween.” What Evie meant was that it was her first time celebrating Halloween with everyone else.
But in Ren’s ears, it seemed like it was going to be their first-ever Halloween Event as a couple, so his slit eyes returned to normal as well as his good mood.
“Fine, then,” said Ren with a wry smile. It was not like he could say no to her.
“You’re becoming a totally different guy. Do you know that?” Leonel muttered.
“You’re still here?” Ren retorted back.
Evie ignored the two and looked at the list of servers that they could choose from.
“We should start discussing this event seriously,” she said. “Where are we going, and what items should we take? It says here that each player could only bring five items.”
Ren ignored Leonel and immediately addressed Evie’s queries. Since she wanted to go, then he would oblige her.
“As I said before, we should choose the event that would greatly benefit us since we can only finish two servers within the time allotted. We shouldn’t waste time in doing other servers if we couldn’t get anything worthwhile out of it.”
“So where are we going?” Leonel asked.
Ren then began to give his explanation on each server.
“Amongst the list presented, the first server is called the Frozen Heart. We’re going to face a banshee and a bunch of zombies. The second one is Abyssal Revenge, where we’ll face a group of evil nuns. The third one is A Man’s Sorrow, in which we will face a man who had a change of heart and sided with the devil.
“The fourth one is the Study of Death, in which we will battle a lich. The fifth one is Maria Labo’s Army. We will have to survive a night in the mountains with all sorts of creatures lurking in the night before facing a folklore monster. The sixth is the Dark Nun’s Church. It’s just like Abyssal Revenge. The seventh server is The Mad Lab. There, we will be inside a multiple-story house together with creatures altered with science before facing the mad scientist himself.
“The Eighth Sever is the Thirteenth Hour, and I think this is the scariest out of all the servers. We’ll be trapped inside a Victorian Haunted Mansion, as you see in movies. The Ninth Server is the most interesting because of Dracula’s Castle, and we’ll be mostly facing vampires while navigating the maze mansion. And the tenth . . .”
Everyone was waiting for Ren to finish and held their breath, but the latter just shrugged and said, “I don’t know anything about it. It must be a random encounter. We should avoid that at all costs. Nothing is more dangerous than something you don’t know.”
Leonel’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s disappointing. I thought for sure that we would go to number ten.”
“You sure?” Ren looked Leonel in the eyes and smirked. “It might be the scariest of them all.”
Leonel laughed and looked away. “On second thought, we should do that Dracula’s Castle or something. It seems like the easiest.”
Evie had other thoughts, though. Her face was shining more than usual, and there was a curiosity in her eyes that wasn’t there before. “I think we should go to the Thirteenth Hour.”
Leonel choked and gaped at her. “Aren’t you scared? Ren said that it’s the scariest.”
Evie only nodded. “That’s why we should do it. I think it would be fun. It’s Halloween, after all. We should do the scariest of them all,” she said with great enthusiasm, and coming from her, that was something.
Leonel and Ren looked at each other. They then realized that Evie . . . liked horror stuff.
Leonel weakened and shivered like an old man. “G-good luck, Ren.”
Ren gave a half-shrug. “I’m not afraid of horror stuff. Rather, we should vote with the items we could get.”
Ren then proceeded to explain the items they would acquire. Amongst the servers, they agreed that Dracula’s Castle and The Mad Lab had the most rare items.
Even though Evie really wanted to go to The Thirteenth Hour, she had to think of the group.
“We can go there if we have the time,” said Ren, squeezing her hand.
Evie’s face brightened, and her face broke into a small smile. “Really?”
Ren nodded, and they stared at each other for a whole ten seconds. Imaginary pink hearts and bright flashes of light knocked back Leonel and the other people watching.
“Get a room, you two,” Leonel muttered. “And there’s no way I’m going to that server.”
“It’s fine,” said Ren. “It’s just going to be the two of us then.” It’s like they were going on a date. He got excited at the prospect more than getting rare items.
Leonel read Ren’s mind, and he whispered to himself, “What’s so romantic about ghosts? Way to go — having your first date in a haunted house.”
“So, who’s going to come with us?” Evie asked, changing the topic.
pAnDa (nov)e1 Leonel looked over the ceiling and thought. “Isolde will come with us. Her guild still blames her for their blunder at the Guild Wars, so she would rather come with us than face their scrutiny.”
“How’s she feeling?” Evie asked.
Leonel beamed. “Don’t worry about her. She’s fine. She’s got thick skin. And she probably wanted to come with us because, a hundred percent, I bet, she wants to escape from her responsibilities again.”
“I-is that so?”
“Ragnar will come with us, too. As well as, Sumeri and Nikolai,” Ren added.
“Only seven of us, then?” Evie asked.
Leonel opened his mouth but then closed it again. He scratched his head before he decided to say it anyway.
“Actually . . . can another player come?”
Ren and Evie both flicked their eyes at Leonel.
Leonel scratched the back of his neck and said, “Do you remember Roz? That guy from the restaurant before. The one with the whole Lira incident.”
Ren finally remembered. “What about him?”
( . . . continuation on NOTES)
