APRICITAS [ENG] || Johan Liebert || Monster

Chapter 19 - The Delusion

The vegetable casserole that Johan had baked earlier was really good and Emiko felt that her previous malaise was slowly subsiding with the next bites, but it didn't improve her gloomy mood. She looked despairingly for a moment at the blunt knife lying on the table next to her plate, before looking up, suddenly realizing something - the young man was definitely following her gaze all this time, because now he was staring at her with a slight amusement, while calmly chewing his portion. Fortunately, he refrained from the comment.

"Oh, I would forget... Would you like some wine?" He asked calmly, which made her freeze, staring at him.

"...No."

'What the hell do you think it is, some sort of a date?!' She thought, losing control of herself again and unnecessarily tormenting her serving, eventually swallowing most of it at once.

"All right." He replied unfazed, then poured himself a glass of a red wine, which, by the way, looked quite expensive. They continued their meal in silence, for which, deep in her soul, Emiko was extremely grateful.

However, on the other hand, there were many thoughts and questions in her head, to which she chose not to get the answers after all, in order to keep the remnants of her common sense.

'Of course, the killers never caught my attention... I always liked... gallant, mysterious guys... and ummm...' Yes, it's true that Johan was downright terrifyingly handsome... and mysterious. It was such an obvious fact that the two plus two equals four. And not only mysterious. Intelligent. Resolute. Charismatic. Although, in fact, there were many such people...

Not. Not like him.

The young woman clenched her fist around the fork she was holding so tightly that her fingers turned white.

'But he's also a person who manipulates others. A cruel and heartless person. Well... he's a psychopathic killer that my brother and I want to... kill... WHAT THE FUCK.' The girl choked on a chewing bite of food and started to cough. After a long moment, when she was able to breathe freely again, she looked up to see Johan smiling at her over the edge of his empty glass.

"Was the food that bad?"

"Uh... no." Suddenly she realized with undisguised surprise that she had finished eating her portion and politely uttered the sentence out of habit. Complementing his culinary abilities in a positive way seemed highly incorrect, and even, in more ways than one.

For she felt completely ungrateful that he had fed her, because this whole meal was only a brief break in his current mental "game". She just wanted to get through this, and then... Well. She knew she would definitely not let him just leave after all of this, when he finally let her out of here...

"Hmm..." Johan was still looking at her, carefully observing her facial expressions and Emiko began to wonder with hidden horror, how much of what she thought was written on her face so that he could read it and use it against her in the least expected moment. She was never very good at hiding her feelings, especially when it was about serious matters for her. "You must be very tired, Emiko. Taking a nap at the top of the bookshelf must have been rather uncomfortable. You should get ready for bed. There is a toothbrush in the bathroom."

'I should...' She swallowed and stared straight at him with confused eyes. '...get ready for bed...?!'

****

Her hands were trembling almost unbelievably as she applied the toothpaste on the toothbrush in the bathroom. She brushed them quite violently, trying to suppress the fear that was slowly spreading throughout her body. She wasn't quite sure what she was afraid of... But the fact was, she felt fear.