Red Room

10

A short while later, Moloch was browsing through the isles of the neighborhood's grocery store in search of the products on the list. After filling the cart, he stopped to check if there was anything left that he had to find. His scanning of the list was intrerupted by the presence of another person.

"Hey, can I help you?", a new male voice politely offered.

Moloch raised his eyes up to see a young man, a little older than him, in a light green uniform. So, an employee.

The stranger was rather good-looking. Just a tiny bit taller, but much better built, with midback-long, thick, brown hair, emerald green eyes and a fluffy goatee. Not to mention the warm smile that anybody would fall for. After eyeing him for a few seconds, Moloch felt a pang of jealousy, aware he'd never ever be able to look like that. For a moment, his insecurities regarding looks came back to him.

"Uhh no, thanks. I was just checking the list."

The other boy nodded.

Just as the customer was about to leave, he gently grabbed him by the arm, "Hey, uhm... hope this won't sound weird... I've seen you around these days and you look interesting. Do you wanna hang out sometime?"

Oh, wow, not even an entire week into the 'normal world' and there was already a person who wanted to be friends with Moloch! And he said he looked interesting too! That guy himself, who had the looks to kill!

Because of the period of silence, the young man started worrying that he'd said something wrong.

"No homo!", he quickly added, raising his hands before his face in a defensive manner.

That snapped Moloch out of his euphoria, "Ah, no, I didn't think about that! Sure we can hang out. But not today 'cause I promised a neighbor I'm coming over for lunch and he wants me to meet his granddaughter and... yeah..."

"Don't worry about that. I've gotta work until 10 o' clock today anyway. How 'bout you give me your number and we make plans tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"By the way, I'm Juho."

"Moloch, nice to meet you."

The two shook hands and exchanged phone numbers. Afterwards, each went on with his own business.

Back home, Joakim and Kataleya had arrived some time ago. He showed the girl her room and let her unpack. Just as he expected, she locked herself in there.

Let's not rush things, the man reminded himself, I have to give her some time to get used to her new surroundings.

From his experience with people, Joakim knew that it would take her some time to open up to him, being introverted like that. However, once he'd earn her trust, their relationship would develop itself smoothly. It was just a matter of time.

Truth to be told, Kataleya felt very uncomfortable there. Moving from a small, unknown town in the capital was always complicated, but the fact that she was going to spend 6 whole months with a man she'd just met for the first time made it even worse. She knew that man was her grandfather, but for some reason, she saw him as a stranger. Why? Because he behaved so formal. A handshake... Grandparents were supposed to welcome their grandchildren more cheerfully than anybody!

Mistaking her name added to the negative first impression as well. It kind of showed how much he cared about her. And judging by the way he was looking at her, he didn't really seem to like her. Ok, dreadlocks and facial piercings weren't old people's cup of tea, but he was her granddaughter and he had to accept her like that.

"Lunch is ready!", Joakim called.

At first, Kataleya wanted to say that she wasn't hungry, but she realized she'd have to go there sooner or later anyway. So she got up from her bed and headed for the kitchen. There, he was waiting for her with a huge pizza and 3 plates on the table. Wait... why 3?

"We'll have a guest for lunch.", he explained.

Was it that obvious that she was going to ask for the purpose of the third plate? Whatever. Grandpa ordered a pizza which was big enough to feed an entire family.

Kataleya wanted to take a slice, but the man stopped her, "You have to wait until everybody's here."

She looked at him rather puzzled, but her eyes showed a hint of offense. Noticing that, Joakim found the first flaw that he needed to work out with her: the lack of manners.

After some annoying minutes where the two had to look at the pizza, the guest finally showed up: an extremely pale boy with white hair and blue eyes. Who was he? And what did he have to do with her grandfather?

"This is Moloch.", Joakim explained, "Me and this guy have known each other for a few years and now he's living next to us.", he then turned to the boy, "Meet my granddaughter-"

"Kataleya.", she introduced herself before Grandpa would call her Katarina again, "Call me Kata."

They shook hands. Moloch took his time to study her. That girl was surely nothing like what he was used to. Honestly, she looked like a boy from afar, hidden under a t-shirt which was two sizes too large for her and an even bigger flanel on top. The skinny jeans exposed a pair of thin legs that one could only see up to the knees.

This one's gotta be particularly interested in fashion, he cackled to himself.

Still, he had to admit Kata had a cute face- chubby cheeks, big, mono-lided eyes and a small mouth. Adding the shortness to the equation, the result was that she had to be too poorly developped or something. If he remembered right, she was 15, but weren't it for the hair and piercing, she would have looked like she was around 10. Still kind of cute, though.

The teenagers took their seats at the table. They were sitting next to each other while Joakim's place was located on the opposite side. Most of the luch was silent because none of them could, or wanted, to find a subject for all three to discuss.

"What kind of name is Kataleya?", Moloch murmured. That was something only he should have heard, but his voice was loud enough to reach the girl's ears.

She instantly became upset. With his name, that guy was the last person to judge.

"Don't know, how about you tell me what kind of name is Moloch? Who raised you, Satan?"

Joakim sighed, rather amused. Those two would take a while to get used to each other.