NOIM; Connected Worlds

"You said you'll treat me a drink when I make a visit!" Alice shouted lightly, immediately catching the attention of the four. The group stared at Isabella with a questioning look on their face.

Silence...

'Tsch, this man... Don't tell me he doesn't remember?!' Isabella cursed inwardly glancing at Edizon with an irritated expression.

The woman in red raised her brow upon hearing this. Breaking the silence, she asked. "You know these two?"

*Crackle* *Crackle* *Crackle*

Isabella's knuckle clenched tightly, emitting some crackling sounds.

"Hehehe... Please don't do that. She's really good at beating people up..." Alice nervously said as she waved her hand warning the two women in front. The woman in red was starting to get annoyed. She was getting ready to retort but before she could even say something, Willam interjected...

"Excuse me, two ladies, I'm sorry to waste your time but I didn't expect that our friends would arrive today. We'll be going now." Willam said with a gentle face. Before both of them stood.

'What a good poker face.' The three ladies muttered inwardly. 'You guys think he's that good? Wait till you see his partner in crime do the talking.' Isabella thought to himself after he saw the reaction of the ladies.

Edizon took a step forward towards Alice and Isabella. He glanced at Alice before focusing his eyes on Isabella. 'It took you long enough.' He thought to himself. He then smiled at the two then asked...

"Shall we?" Edizon moved his arm across Isabella light pushing the left part of her back, guiding her to turn around before walking together. 'This man is really getting in my nerves...' Isabella was flushed red but she didn't do anything and followed along.

'She would've beaten him up already if she's in the right mind today...' Alice was surprised with Isabella's strange attitude. She has known Isabella for the longest time so she knew how Isabella treated men. Strange thoughts filled her mind as she watched the two walking together. She didn't notice that a man already walked past her, turning around before saying the exact same words with a gentle smile.

"Shall we?"

Alice rolled her eyes at the man. 'This guy can make such a good poker face he must be a womanizer in his past nine lives.'

"I'm just kidding comeon. Alice right?"

"Yes..." Alice nodded. Alice, shy as ever. She couldn't even utter a single word. 'Bella save me! this guy is charming me...' Alice thought to herself. She didn't notice that Willam already left her behind walking towards the two.

"Let's go." Willam said when he noticed that Alice was still standing there in a daze. Not even bothering to turn around.

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Back with Isabella and Edizon.

"If you touch me again, I'll beat you up!" Isabella threatened in a voice that only the two of them can hear. Edizon only smiled upon hearing her threat. Noticing the silent and awkward atmosphere she lowered her head and started asking stupid questions...

"Where are we going?"

"The second floor."

"Do you work here?"

"I manage the family business."

"Is this you're family business?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you use the second floor as an extension of the cafe?"

"It's hard to manage two floors and It is not that really profitable if we hire more people."

"What do you use the second floor for?"

"For when family and friends visit."

"How many friends do you have?"

"One."

"How many floors does this building have? You should add an elevator."

"That would ruin the old atmosphere of the building."

"..." The two at the back simply watched everything unfold remaining as a bystander for the whole time. Edizon answered everything like a teacher and Isabella was like a cheeky student who has so many questions. The atmosphere was simply awful between the two, Isabella kept asking obvious questions and Edizon answered everything without adding anything or asking anything back. These two were simply not good with the opposite sex. The two continued going back and forth as they were climbing the stairs. At some point Edizon started answering sarcastically.

"What do you use the third floor for?"

"It's for my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, I created her."

"..."

Isabella couldn't take it anymore as she threw a quick and heavy punch to Edizon's abdomen but before her punch landed Edizon already took another step up the stairs causing Isabella's punch to hit nothing but air. He leaned down towards Isabella, then extended his hand where the punch will land, gently lifting Isabella's hand preventing her to fall out of balance.

"Careful." Edizon said with a gentle smile.

Her face looked slightly embarrassed. She was played. She knew herself that she was genetically gifted compared to others plus having practiced a variety martial arts for the longest time, she could stand on par with Masters yet she was played by the man in front of him. 'Embarrassing...' She thought to herself.

The two saw everything clearly. Alice is a veteran gamer so her eyes were trained to spot on the most subtle changes while Edizon is a fighting maniac who practiced a variety of martial arts. Willam was surprised with how quick Isabella's movement was. He had been practicing for a long time so his judgement is completely accurate. He didn't expect that Isabella would be at such a level. Alice didn't mind it much. She simply thought that women were inferior to men physically, so Isabella getting overpowered by a man on the same level as her was bound to happen.

"You move well..." Isabella replied before slapping his hand away. She had no choice but to submit.

"I used to work at the bar downstairs..."

"Hahahahahahaha." The two couldn't help but laugh when they heard William's reply. Alice almost spat out the strawberry in her mouth from laughing.

Isabella glared at Alice before grabbing her as they sped up towards the second floor. The two followed along chatting as it was nothing happened.

"Bella... Ouch... Ouchy... Guys save me... Wuwu..."

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The two guys, as they were walking up the stairs.

"What do you think?"

"She moves fine. Her body is well coordinated. You would've been rolling down if you were hit since you're not accustomed to taking hits. It's just that she didn't expect that you were capable or else she wouldn't stumble like that. Your thoughts?"

"She's Adorable."

"..."

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The eyes of the two ladies wandered around as soon as they arrived on the second floor. Isabella couldn't help but be in love with this place. The place was filled with old but neat wooden types of furniture. But unlike downstairs, there wasn't even a hint of coffee in the air here. The rest of the place was occupied by a lot of paintings and a few figurines. There were also a few dining tables and chairs. They also have a mini bar at the side for guests. Like Edizon mentioned, the second floor was a place to accommodate friends and family. They settled down at the table nearest to the window.

"Where's your drink?" Edizon asked looking at Isabella.

"I left it downstairs... I'll go get it."

"Nevermind. I'll make you one." Edizon didn't ask for the flavor and directly headed to the bar. After a few minutes, he returned with a drink in his hand.

"What flavor is it?"

"Macchiato."

'I don't like sweet stuffs...' Isabella muttered before taking a sip. 'This is good...' She thought to himself secretly taking a look at Edizon as a light touch of red can be seen on her face.

Silence... The scene was filled with silence once again. It has been four years since then plus they have barely interacted with each other.

"You guys are gonna go play NOIM right?" Alice asked breaking the silence.

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What happened four years ago...

'Left here... Then right... Another left after two blocks...' I muttered thoughtlessly while following the directions on google map.

Tsch, where the hell is this coffee shop? Why am I here anyway? I should be playing video games with Alice. If only that man didn't invite me. Wait why do I have to go...

A few minutes later.

'I'm here anyway, I'll just go take a look.' Standing outside of the shop I saw Edizon and Willam chatting by the window...

Where are the others? Why is it only the two of them... Wait... What? Why is he leaving? Seeing Willam about to exit the building, I immediately hid behind a parked car. Maybe he's setting me up for a date with... No, wait... I clearly saw Edizon asking the other club members... He did this... He... Maybe he likes me...

My thoughts were in disarray at that moment. I slapped my face lightly to calm myself down and walked back and forth a few times. Only then a thought suddenly hit me. This scheming bastard!!! I kicked the car where I hid from to vent my anger before rushing to leave the block before calling a taxi.

*wang* *wang* *wang*

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Cafe Orathoria, a few seconds later...

*wang* *wang* *wang*

"What? No!" A terribly enraged man shouted.

Seeing the huge dent on his car, the owner of the car shouting hysterically at the two security guards.

"Who did this? You don't know? Did you not see that the car was attacked in your property? Do you even have CCTVs in this place? I want to see who's responsible for this!"

As the manager of the Cafe, Edizon rushed outside to calm down the situation.

"Manager!" The two security guards were relieved as they saw Edizon approaching.

"Calm down. Why don't you come back inside. We'll serve you another drink while I retrieve the CCTV footage in the meantime." Edizon said in a kingly manner leaving the mister no choice but to follow.

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Cafe Orathoria, Restricted area

Reviewing the CCTV footage... "It was you..." Edizon was smiling as he reviewed the CCTV footage. After a minute or two, he came back outside.

"After reviewing the footage it turned out that your car was damaged by an unidentified wild animal. You may call the animal control department for these types of problems." Edizon said nonchalantly. Showing the video on his laptop.

Looking at the video there was a pink animal roaming around the parking area after a few minutes it charged towards the mister's car throwing itself before stumbling on the ground and rushing away...

"..." The two security guards and the mister was speechless.

"The drink is 200 pesos while the video is 300 pesos if you want a copy."

"Wait... I have to pay for the drink as well?"

"Yes."

"..."

'Manager is so ruthless...' The two security guards gulped. From this day forward they swore to never slack off again.