酷视

"Are you sure this is going to be enough?" Fay asked, raising the decorative bag made from a thickened and chalked paper, taking a glimpse inside.

And with how we ended up drinking about twenty bottles of Leinei\'s wine back during the party… her worries were pretty much backed by her ability to drink.

To drink only a slightly alcoholic wine, though, not the forty-proof booze that aged for years in the wooden barrels to gain its color, taste, and strength. And that\'s where I sourced my confidence that those six bottles we brought would be enough.

After all, they only needed to last us a single evening, as the clerk promised to organize the delivery early in the morning tomorrow!

"Hmm…" I muttered, thinking how I should reply so as not to spoil the fun of watching her react to the drinks stronger than anything she likely had ever chance to taste.

Then, a small smile appeared on my lips as I leaned my head and looked slightly down and to the side, at Fay\'s face.

"What, do you have some plans to get me drunk and then devour me in the bed while I can\'t defend myself?" I asked jokingly while making the face of a scared young schoolboy currently sitting on the sofa in the office of his dominatrix teacher.

Fay raised her eyes and gave me a long look, before slightly raising the corners of her lips in a thoughtful smile.

"Perhaps…" she admitted lightly, lowering her eyelids while she stared at me judgingly, probing for my reaction.

"You don\'t need to get me drunk for that, though!" I laughed out, fully defeated by her small, flirtatious smile. I then let go of her hand and reached out, bringing her into a small, side hug. "I\' \'m happy to embrace you anytime," I added, just to drive that point home while my shoulders continued to shake under the influence of my chuckling.

Yet, as fun as it was to just walk through the city streets hand by-hand with Fay and while carrying the drinks we were going to get wasted on once we would come back… The moment my chuckling stopped, my soul filled with anxiety.

The nicely lit streets vanished from my perspective, replaced by the multitude of dark and shadowy corners where some sort of danger could potentially lurk.

The wide, open space of the street changed from nice and peaceful, to dangerous.

Bit by bit, I recalled all my worries regarding the source of the aura that we encountered. After that, I started to worry about what sort of crazy, desperate move my aunt could conceive in her stupid head…

In the end, by the time we finally reached the bottom of the huge skyscraper where we now lived, I was fully on edge, tracking every tiniest movement with my eyes and ready to intervene at a moment\'s notice.

\'I think it\'s quite likely Makary sent someone to look out for me. Maybe that\'s where I get this sense of unease from?\' I thought, pushing the huge, glass-doors of the building open and making my way inside while nodding hello to the massive, muscular man serving as a guard today.

"Welcome back, mister and miss Wozniak," the guard lowered his head in a polite greeting. "I\'ve unlocked the lift for you, so please enjoy your stay."

Just like the man said, we couldn\'t just enter the lift and reach the floor where my penthouse was. As the apartment occupied the very last two floors of the entire building, the lift required the approval of the man on the guard\'s duty to unlock its ability to reach the topmost floor.

"Thanks," I nodded my head back. "I hope you will have a calm shift."

Soon enough, we boarded the lift and as we waited for its doors to close, I felt Fay grab me by my arm and tightly grip her fingers on it.

Whoosh!

With a small, relatively small noise, the doors of the lift closed before the vehicle started to move up at a growing but only mildly uncomfortable speed.

"I don\'t think I will ever get used to this feeling," Fay muttered, her fingers digging even deeper into my flesh when the lift reached its top speed and climbed one floor after the other.

"Don\'t worry," I turned to the slightly whimpering girl, charmed by yet another side of hers I could rarely experience. "I\'m here," I added while bringing her into a deep embrace.

At first, I intended to simply hold her close all the way up, but as my eyes moved down to the bag I still held in my hand…

"Actually, I might have a better idea," I spoke, only to look inside my bag.

\'Johny Daniels and Jack Walker,\' I thought, taking but a second to decide, before settling on the fancier of the two bottles.

"Do you want a sip to feel better?" I suggested, tearing the cork off the bottle before passing it over to the girl.

"Are you sure?" Fay asked, reluctantly pulling her face away from my chest. "You were so set on waiting until we get back home…" the-place-MVLeMpYr

"Just a sip for now, to lift your worries," I encouraged the girl and watched with amusement as she grabbed the bottle with a sigh of hesitation. "I didn\'t want you to drink it before because there is a simple way to make it even more delicious. But if it\'s just a sip…"

Not holding back any longer, Fay fixed her grip on the bottle and took a short swing. Yet, rather than swallowing the thick liquid, she washed the insides of her mouth with it first, set on fully appreciating the taste rather than just throwing it down her throat.

Fay\'s eyebrows raised. She lowered the bottle in her hand and looked at it, taken aback.

"I\'ve never had anything even remotely as… strange as this," she muttered, making it really hard for me to read from her face whether she liked the drink or not. Yet, when the small \'ding\' of the lift filled the cabin before the doors started to open, it was my turn to smile.

"See?" I pointed out while taking the bottle out of Fay\'s hand and grabbing it instead before leading the girl through the private corridor toward the main entrance of our penthouse. "You stopped thinking about the lift," I pointed out, opening the doors, and letting Fay through before closing the back.

"And now," I added, instantly directing my steps towards the open bar of the main living area, "let me show you how it should be served, for sipping it directly from the bottle is practically a sin!"