Departed With A Belly {1}

I Can't Understand You

West nodded immediately. "You're when he's drunk, so how about we- "Let's bring him to my place." Norwood deep voice. "You've heard him call word, he's going to come after me Norwood and Alaric were longtime knew West and Claudia.

Coupled with his reserved nature, during conversations and would get up, though, his tone made it hard Just like now.
Meanwhile, Claudia was staring at always felt disliked by him for some reason. But he's good friends with Al, so maybe it's just my imagination.

West was at a loss for words and spoke up for her, "Al's drunk and might not even remember what he said when he wakes up. Why do you have to take it so seriously?"

After he said that, he giggled and looked toward Claudia.

"Plus, you're also a man, so you can't be as meticulous as Claudia when taking care of Al. I think we should send him to her place."

Norwood did not say anything further and looked at West with his dark gaze. "I said, send him to my place. If you're worried, you can stay at my place to take care of him." At that, West argued, "Norwood, why are you-"

"It's fine, West. Let's just go with Norwood's idea and send Al to his place" Claudia smiled. "Norwood is more mature than us, so it'd be better if he takes care of Al tonight. I wasn't thinking straight earlier."

Once she finished her words, she gave Norwood a kind smile, but inside,
she was furious. Norwood was one of Alaric's best friends, so she did not want to offend him, as doing so would only make things hard for herself. Naturally, she would not hinder herself like this.
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Following that, everyone helped Alaric to Norwood's home.

Once they finally helped the drunken man settle down, Norwood said, "It's the middle of the night, and it's not appropriate for a young woman like you to stay with three men. West, send her home."

West was dumbfounded. "But didn't you say that we can stay over to take care-"
Before he could finish, Claudia interrupted him.

"West, let's go. Norwood's right. It's not appropriate for me to stay here." While scratching his head, West sent her home accordingly without another word.

After sending Claudia home, he plopped onto the couch at about 2:00 AM. When he saw Norwood coming out of the room, he asked, "How's Al? Is he doing okay?"

Norwood grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge and drank it before setting it down. "He seems fine. He hasn't woken up."

"Cool." West felt relieved but soon
thought of something and pouted.

"Norwood, I can't seem to understand what you were thinking tonight. You
knew Claudia likes Al, and Al likes her back, but why did you stop us from
bringing him to her place?" While sweeping his gaze across West, Norwood replied, "If your brain is still intact, you wouldn't think of sending a married man to a single woman's home."

"So, what if we did? It's not like you don't know what's going on with Al. He and Victoria aren't exactly married anyway."

Norwood stared deeply at West and questioned, "How do you know that?" After a scoff, West replied, "Of course, I know. Let's not talk about anything else but what happened tonight. You called her and said Al was drunk, right? Then, you asked her to come over, but what happened? Did she appear? I didn't even see her shadow."

When mentioning this matter, Norwood felt confused. When he suggested Victoria come over, her attitude did not sound like she was unwilling to do so, so why did she not show up?

The truth was, while West was sending Claudia home, Norwood phoned Victoria again. This time, it took him two to three calls before reaching her. Then, he noticed her voice had turned cold, and her attitude was completely different from before."What's the matter?"

While he was surprised by her sudden change in attitude, Norwood seemed to have caught on to something and asked, "Did you come over? What did you see?"
The other side was silent for a moment before speaking up again.

"I didn't head over. Since you're with him, please take good care of him." After
saying that, she hung up.

At first, he thought Victoria was a relentless woman, but it took him a while
before he finally realized the meaning behind her words and began analyzing what had happened.

If Victoria did not head out as she said, she would have asked about what she 'should have seen' when he asked her that question instead of keeping quiet.

Also, she would not have said she never went out in such a tone.

When he returned to his senses, he heard West still complaining about her.

"How can such a cold woman compare to Claudia? Claudia is Al's savior and almost gave up her life to save him back then. The scar from that incident is still on her hand. If I were Al, I would marry her."

"Are you combining favor with feelings?"

"Why can't I? Claudia is so pretty. Any man would fall in love with her, let alone a man she saved. So, what if I mixed them up?"

At that, Norwood did not intend to argue with him and returned to his room.
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The long night passed.

When Alaric awoke the next day, he felt a dull pain in his head.

Even his ability to think had turned sluggish as he looked at his unfamiliar surroundings and sat up.

"You're awake." Norwood placed a glass of warm water before him. "Drink up."
Seeing that it was him, Alaric felt a little disappointed but also relieved.

He pursed his lips before finishing the glass of water in one go.

After he finished, he held the glass in his hand while frowning. Moments later, he looked at Norwood. "What happened last night?"

"Have you forgotten? You were drunk, so West and I brought you here." Alaric was dissatisfied with that answer and frowned, but he did not say anything.

Since he did not speak up, Norwood did not say anything either and simply stared at him. As his good friend, he was eager to see how long Alaric could hold in his question.

Like how Norwood envisioned, Alaric looked up at him after not hearing what he wanted to hear. Something was concealed in his eyes as he parted his thin lips to ask, "What happened next?"

Norwood answered seriously, "What happened next? Nothing." Alaric stared at him with his dark eves upon hearing that.
At that moment, Norwood seemed to have suddenly remembered.

something and said, "That's right. She came."

"She?" When Alaric heard that, he perked up his ears, and his previously dimmed eyes suddenly brightened a little.

"Yes. She said she wanted to look after you, but you asked me to bring you here, so I did."

Alaric frowned. "When did you become so obedient?"

"I have no choice but to listen to you." Norwood exasperatedly added, "After all, bringing a grown man like you to her home will affect her image."

Hearing that, Alaric finally realized something was amiss. "Who is the 'she' you're talking about?"
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Published on: November 9, 2023
Word count: 1224 words