"Why leave? You can work from here, Angela," Granny commented. "The house would be livelier with you here."
"It's alright, grandma!" Angela replied, turning her gaze towards Jack. "Besides, I don't want to make things uncomfortable for Jack."
Jack spat out water at her remark. Granny looked at him and then and Angela before smiling.
"Why would I be uncomfortable?" he asked, wiping his mouth. "I was plenty comfortable last night."
"Oh? Is that so? You're so comfortable around big sister, aren't you?"
Angela gave him a mischievous smile before going back to chatting with Granny like nothing happened.
Big sis, my ass! Should you really calling yourself that after what happened last night?
"Stop saying weird things," Jack replied, rolling his eyes.
The more they bantered, the more Granny's smile widened. She didn't know what happened between them, but she wasn't as clueless as they assumed her to be. After all, she was youthful too once.
Ah, young people. They have so much energy.
Honestly, Juan was growing fast and she wouldn't mind another pair of grandchildren, even if they weren't biologically related to her.
"Don't worry, grandma! Now that I'm here, I would visit often," Angela spoke. "Perhaps stay a night or two as well."
She winked at Jack, who just rolled his eyes. Despite that, he felt a bit of attachment to her. Not like lovers, but as friends… with benefits. That was the term to represent their relationship. She got to have her fun, and he got money from it. Win-win!
"Come on, I'll show you out."
"Oh, what a gentleman. Though you weren't so gentle—"
Jack quickly covered her mouth and lifted her up while smiling awkwardly at Granny, as if pleading for her forgiveness.
She noticed him and chuckled before gesturing them to go. Only after forcing Angela out did he put her to the ground.
"Wow, you're strong!" Angela commented, smoothing over her uniform. "But we already know that, don't we?"
Jack shook his head, wondering if the money he got was worth keeping her around. However, his thoughts were interrupted when Angela pinched his waist.
"Ouch! What the—"
"Don't tell grandma about last night, or else!"
"You're the one spilling the beans—!"
Before Jack could speak, Angela's hands dove into his pockets.
"Got it! Oh wait, that's the other thing…"
"Yeah… the other thing. Do all cops harass people like this?"
"No, you got yourself a special deal."
She grinned before pulling out his phone and quickly entered her information.
"There you go," she said. "Now you can call me anytime you want and I'll entertain you. But don't make a habit out of it. Big sis can be busy sometimes."
"Why would I—?"
"Alright, see you later!"
Jack smacked himself as she drove away in the car.
This woman is going to be the death of me.
—x—
Jack took out the manual from his inventory and flipped through the pages. Since Granny was visiting the neighbors and Juan was at school, it was the perfect time for him to get done with his daily quest.
The first move to learn was called Slip. Like the name suggested, it was a move to dodge incoming blows.
Jack analyzed the diagrams while reading the short lines squeezed in between.
"Step one, stretch your neck," he read from the manual. "Will this really help? Well, it's not like I got anything better to do."
Jack began following the illustrations to the tee. At first, it felt weird, not because it was difficult, but because it felt useless.
"I feel relaxed," Jack smiled. "It's not too bad!"
Next came shoulder rotations, aimed to loosen his shoulders for quick and easy movement. The exercise itself was simple, like before. He only had to roll his arms forward in a circular motion ten times, then repeat the same in the other direction for both hands.
Finally, it came to the feet movement. All he had to do was to stay put with his feet firmly planted into the ground, and his knees slightly bent to pivot in any direction with little effort.
"Imagine a punch comes straight, move your shoulders and tilt your head to either right or left. Don't overdo it. Keep it so you can return to your initial position when needed. Repeat this ten times in each direction."
Jack did as written, but with no one to throw a punch at him, it looked like he was doing a weird dance, that too, without music. It was a good thing he was doing it when he was alone, or else he'd had died out of embarrassment.
It took a while, but eventually, he was done with the practice. Drenched in sweat, he flopped over the mattress, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, he remembered he had a few things to deal with.
He picked up his phone and went through his contact list. He needed to contact everyone on there, except for Angela, since he had no business with her… for now.
"Let's go with him first… Hello, Mr Mehra. No, everything is fine. I was just calling to remind your family about the dinner. Yes, I have the time. You don't have to worry about that."
"I s-see," Mehra replied. "Anika has… shit… I'm sorry, something fell on my foot. As I said, Anika has been looking forward to it."
"Oh, that's good. I was wondering if you can ask you daughter if she has any place in mind?"
"Y-You can take them anywhere," he replied. "I, hmm…, I don't mind. But I hope you don't splurge… on them."
"Not at all. I'm new to the city, so I don't know any good places to dine. That's why I asked."
"That's good… I tell you what, I'll ask her and hm… tell you about it in the evening? I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Yes, you can inform me in the evening. Alright, goodbye."
Jack disconnected the call but felt weird after. Something felt off with the way he was panting and the blaring music in the background. The noises were identical to the ones he heard in the entertainment district.
Not my monkeys, not my circus.
Whether Mehra was visiting the entertainment district was none of Jack's concern. Well, maybe he could use it later to his advantage, but for now he took a mental note of things and contacted Cindy.
Since he now had some money, he could repay her for the clothes and clean up and be done with her.
"Yeah, let's do that first."