Irreplaceable

Part 9: One, two, three... Stupid old man

After meeting Hancock, there was one noticeable change. Mihawk seemed less gloomy. One could say he almost looked cheery. Well at least Perona could. She was getting better and better at reading his small expressions and manners.
One time he got a phone call and disappeared into his study again. He had a slight smile when he came back.

- "Who was it?" she asked though it was pretty obvious by his demeanor.
- "Hancock."

Bingo.

- "You've been more cheerful recently..." She felt slightly jealous.
- "We've been talking. Sorting things out." He seemed genuinely happy.
- "Aha."
- "Actually we're going on a dinner next Saturday."
- "Great. Good for you." She didn't mean to sound bitter, but something about Mihawk moving onward in his life made her somewhat angry. It made her even angrier to know that the cause of it was his ex-wife.

- "It's not a problem is it?" He had picked up her sour tone and was cautious now.
- "No, I mean it's great! It's good that you two are reconciling. Horo horo." she cringed at her fake laughter. He looked at her calculating. She tried to act natural, but grew tense under his piercing eyes.

- "What is it? You've clearly got something on your mind."

Sharp as always.

- "Aah, well," she sweated a little and then lied, "I'm going to meet up with some friends on Saturday. They've been worried about me."

The last sentence wasn't a lie. She had only a hand full of friends and she wasn't that close with them either, but they had still send her messages, asking how she was.
- "I see. You were taking me for granted."
- "Huh? Oh, yes, sorry."
- "Don't be. I said I'd help you take care of Zoro." He looked apologetic. It was slightly annoying how he would take the blame on himself so easily. It's not his fault always.
- "You're being way too melodramatic. Leave being drama queen to me," she laughed. "I can just cancel."
- "No. It's good for you to meet up with other people too." Mihawk had a very serious look on his face. "We'll ask Moria and if he can't, we'll just find a babysitter."
- "Oh, yeah. Horo." She hadn't really thought her lie through. "It's nice to meet up with friends." She would figure out something. Maybe even go out with friends.
- "It's going to be good for you, trust me."

She wasn't so sure about that at all.

----

In the end they agreed that Perona meets her friends in the morning and comes back home in time to let Mihawk go to his "date". Perona huffed and pouted at the thought. Meeting Hancock was supposed to be a closure for them, not get them back together. Of course Perona had conversed with Hancock too, and having her as part of the family was a lovely idea, but her and Mihawk together was just no good. What if some old feelings got awakened? Hancock seemed happy with her new family and Mihawk was happy with her and Zoro.

Perona was sitting at a local coffee shop with Lola and Chiffon. Only they could come on such short notice. Cindry was doing some acting and Absalom was abroad, making a document on international alliances and secret deals. It was actually through Absalom that she had met her husband.

Absalom had forced her once to take part in a mixer with his friends. There had sat a nervous looking young boy next to a goth looking guy with tattoos. She had decided to tease the poor boy and maybe get a bit closer to the other guy, but when they had started talking she realized that he was actually kind of cute. And they had common interests. He liked to study old architecture and was studying to become a doctor, she liked spooky gothic things and was a nurse at a hospital. He had actually dragged the other guy there with him as support. They soon decided to ditch the whole group and go on their way to talk more privately. She liked him and he liked her, so setting up a date was easy. The rest was history.