Guardian Evil

CHAPTER 6: Bully

“I HAVE TO GO NOW, MAMA,” Romina said as she fixed her backpack after she tied her shoelaces. She, then, stood up and walked out of their door.

After she gave the two food containers to Romina, her mother waved at her. “Okay, baby. Take care on the streets!”

Romina almost made a face and whined when her mother said those words. “If only I’m not able to see those apparitions,” she took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Yes, mama. I will. Bye-bye!”

As soon as she went out of the house, she looked at Luciel who had just gone out of her room and transformed into a teenage high school student.

“You just woke up?” she asked.

Luciel shook his head. “Demons don’t sleep, you know?”

“Ah, right. I forgot about that,” Romina slightly scratched her head. “Pasensya na. (Sorry)” she, then, gave the other food container her mother gave to her. “Here, mom gave it to you. I don’t actually know what you did to her to make her get fond of you, that she even let you hang out with me and even made you baon (lunch),” she squinted her eyes to him. “I told you not to use your magic or powers on her!”

“I didn’t, you know? It’s already my nature to charm anyone and because me, myself and I is already made handsome, you know?” Luciel responded, shrugging confidently at her.

“You just tempted Mama, that’s what. You’re a demon, after all. And don’t be so self-conceited, you know? You’re not handsome,” Romina said, teasing him.

“Really, huh?” Luciel muttered. She gasped when he leaned his face closer to him. “Am I not handsome?”

She stared at his brown eyes, which slowly turned into a faint red as he spoke to her. Before she could give in, she covered his face using her hand. “You can’t tempt me just to admit that you’re handsome, you know? Stop that.”

She then let him go and walked ahead of him.

“Aw, you no fun,” Luciel muttered as his gaze followed her. He just stared at her back and started counting. “In three… two… one.”

Romina hurriedly came back to him and went on his back, as if she was hiding. Luciel smirked at her antics. “Oh, what made you come back? Did you forget something?”

Romina looked at him like a scared puppy. “There’s an apparition on our way to school. Please tell him not to block us on our way. We need to go to school on time.”

Luciel chuckled at that. This human. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”

“We made it on time!” Romina exclaimed, as if she'd won in a race. “I never thought we'd encounter so many apparitions on our way here. Gosh, it’s so scary. If only I had not seen them just like before, I would never have gotten scared like that. I somehow am thankful that you’re here…”

“Yeah, you should,” Luciel said, proudly.

“…Though you’re one of the reasons why I have seen them until now, so I’ll give you my half-hearted ‘thank you’,” she grinned at him and walked ahead.

He shook his head. “Why are you humans so contradicting? It amuses me sometimes.”

Before he could even follow her, he saw her fall on the ground when she encountered three girls who actually overtook her path. When she fell, they laughed at her and, even from a distance, he could hear them calling her names and saying awful things to her.

“You’re so stupid!”

“Such a bimbo!”

“Bobo na nga, tanga pa. (She’s not just an i***t, she’s clumsy and dumb as well)”

Luciel frowned at how Romina just kept her silence while the three girls laughed at her. As soon as they finally left her, he immediately went to her to help her out. He gently touched her knees, dusting off the speck of dust on them, and he could see the bruises on her knees. She even stopped him because they might get someone’s attention.

“I’m not interested in human affairs like that, but who are those girls, and why are they laughing at calling you names? I have no intention of eavesdropping. I could just hear you from afar,” he asked.

“They’re actually our classmates. They’re Margaret, Denise and Carol. They’re friends and they love to bully people who they think that they’re weaker than them and I’m one of those people,” Romina sighed as she put her backpack on her back.

“Then why don’t you fight for yourself?” Luciel asked her again.

“I just don’t want to cause any trouble here, especially with Mama. And I’ll just wait for the time that they’ll grow tired of bullying me just because I don’t want to pay attention to them. So don’t worry much. You’re my guardian and I know that you’re concerned about stuff like this, but just keep not meddling in human lives,” Romina smiled at him and proceeded to walk ahead of him.

Luciel just stared at her back, his gaze following her as his brown eyes turned into a faint red once again. From his clenched hand, he slowly opened his palm and blew his black feather at Romina. The feather clung to her collar like jewelry. He, then, followed her silently.

“Hoy, Romina!”

Romina flinched in her seat when Margaret kicked her armchair. She’s quite thankful that she didn’t fall in her seat because of it. Timidly, she looked at her and her friends. “W-What is it?”

“Did you do the homework?” Margaret asked.

Romina nodded. “Y-Yes.”

“Give it to me then.”

Luciel saw it coming. No one was going to interrupt the two of them or to stop that kid Margaret because everyone was afraid of her. She came from a well-off family and was much more powerful than them because, yeah, she’s rich. And not just that, she’ll also threaten them that her father is a policeman, so no one really dares to come at her.

Unfortunately for Romina, her best friend Marivic who could stand up with her, was not there because of some errands that their teacher gave to her.

Luciel could obviously smell this kid’s soul—it was obviously full of darkness and jealousy towards Romina at the same time.

“Here… your notebook,” of course, Luciel knew why Romina woke up extra early earlier just to finish “another load” of homework from her bully.

Laughing, Margaret kept on patting Romina’s head using her notebook. It was a little painful because she used force on it. “Very well, very well. You’re doing a great job as my lackey.”

It seemed like Margaret knew that he was staring at her, so Luciel was already prepared when she looked at him. His eyes once again glistened in faint red and as he smiled seductively at the girl, the girl immediately blushed, tucked her stray hair behind her ear and smiled. She slightly bit her lower lip as she went back to her seat. She turned her head to Luciel once again before she giggled and talked to her friends about the assumption that he likes her.

Luciel couldn’t help but smirk, his fangs slightly peeked into his mouth.

“Humans are indeed pathetic.”

It looks like I’ll be having a good meal of tainted soul later.