Dearest Anonymous, Let Me Be

Chapter 42: ARC 2 - The Woman in the Painting

Umi truly thought that Ezekiel would pay no attention to her existence—at least not until the week after.

Yet, who would ever expect that during the middle of the ongoing ghost auditions, just a day after their first meeting, Umi's mind would go bananas when the man suddenly made an entrance?

As soon as Ezekiel announced his presence, along with an enthusiastic child on his side, the ghosts who were peacefully lining up instantly avoided them as though they were carriers of a plague.

Robert immediately ran around like a headless chicken in a poor attempt to organize the hollows once more. It was only until Umi gave instructions that the manor was shortly cleared of any signs of outsider ghosts.

Since she was already caught lounging in the grand foyer, Umi eventually chose to be as cool as a cucumber as she observed the man who was digging up holes in the front yard.

"How in the world did he arrive to the conclusion that gardening in this manor is an exciting hobby to pass the time?" Umi's eyebrows started to twitch on their own as she folded her arms over her chest, her hat securely covering her eyes, but the frown on her lips was hard to ignore.

Rara's head jerked to the side as he took a quick gander at his brother. Like a puppy wagging its tail, he giggled shortly after, "My brother is a hard-working person."

Presently, Umi was forced to babysit an overexcited child as Lucian was in the kitchen cooking up something for lunch. While both were at the porch coloring Rara's art book, Ezekiel had his focus on building his own empire of bougainvillea flowers on the side that Lucian hadn't touched yet.

Umi attempted to open her senses to have a feel of the man's Spiritual Energy, but somehow, she can only grasp a minimum amount that was average to a normal person. Even though she was quite relieved that he wasn't here for evil motives, his sudden visit was still a mystery. His actions only made his brain of a puzzle harder to solve.

Under the luminous sun, Ezekiel's sullied white shirt stood out among the colors of green and purple, the sleeves on his arms were rolled until the elbows, and his black suit was slung on one shoulder. His dark hair was tousled due to moving around since an hour ago. With impeccable eyesight, Umi can even trace the beads of sweat on his forehead and neckline, vividly glistening with every ray of the orange dot above.

The hollow tried to peer for longer, a poor operation to discern his true intentions, when the man's blue eyes suddenly looked towards her direction, a twinkle of amusement was apparent on those two ocean orbs.

Umi held her breath as the man suddenly walked forward, his suit was on his hands as he used it to wipe the dirt on them, his steps light and unhurried.

"I see you've been staring at me," his words caused Umi to choke with air.

"No, I was most definitely not staring at you," the woman still had the audacity to insist the opposite.

Rara suddenly butted in the conversation, "It is not good to lie, Miss Ivy."

"See? This boy was not taught to lie," Ezekiel mused as he dragged a chair from the side to join their table.

"I was not staring."

"A witness said you were."

Before Umi can react, the man threw the suit on his hands to the side, revealing a tiny pot of bougainvillea flowers. With a faint thud, he put it on the table, right in front of the woman.

"You need a little color in your raven appearance."

Umi fought hard to resist the urge to smile, "Does the color purple suit me then?"