Chapter 76: Poar (12)

Even if someone suffers heartbreak, the morning still comes. When Charlie, clutching his gloomy heart, got out of bed, the world announced the day had arrived with the sound of chirping birds. The sun high in the sky and the green meadows seemed to dismiss the romantic acts Charlie had witnessed last night as mere dreams.

Hanson, who had been lying next to him, was nowhere to be seen. Charlie grabbed the banister and hurried downstairs.

“Did you wake up?”

“Yeah.”

Jack was eating breakfast at the first-floor dining table. He flipped through the newspaper with hollow eyes, taking a bite of soft bread topped with cheese. Famished from skipping breakfast, Charlie cautiously approached the table and watched him eat.

Without looking up from the newspaper, Jack offered the bread basket to Charlie and said,

“Eat up. Lorena made this for you and me before she left.”

There was one sandwich in the basket, and next to it, a wooden cup. The wooden cup was filled to the brim with milk, its sweet aroma wafting gently, assuring him it was fresh. Hungry, Charlie sat down at the table and looked at Jack.

Jack was chewing bread while looking through the newspaper. He shifted slightly, leaning over to peer at a section beyond the crumpled newspaper, where he could see the words [Help Wanted/Job Openings]. Charlie asked,

“What’s ‘Help Wanted/Job Openings’?”

Jack stopped reading the newspaper, looked at Charlie, and said with a smile,

“It means they’re looking for someone to work. Lots of people want someone to do their work for them, and they’ll pay for it.”

“Are you working too, Jack?”

“Yep.”

Jack answered curtly and went back to chewing his bread. He gave off a vibe that he didn’t want to answer Charlie anymore, so Charlie couldn’t ask further. Starving, Charlie took a huge bite of the bread stuffed with lettuce, meat, and cheese. The soft bread and the meat juices generously moistened his mouth, which had been dry from sleep.

Chewing the salty-sweet mouthful, he washed it down with a gulp of milk, the creamy liquid mixing in his mouth to create another layer of flavor. Charlie, unconsciously smiling as he ate, noticed Jack watching him and smiling.

Charlie stiffened his face as if he hadn’t been smiling and said,

“Why, why are you smiling?”

Jack shook his head, not explaining why he was smiling. Instead, Jack looked up at the ceiling and said,

“I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve eaten breakfast at this hour.”

“Are you drinking again today, Jack?”

“I’m not. I won’t be drinking anymore.”

Jack said, shaking his head. He then picked up the glass of water next to him and gulped it down. Seeing him drink it like it was alcohol, Charlie straightened his back, putting some distance between them. Jack returned to the job listings with a more cheerful expression after drinking the water.

Charlie chewed his sandwich, glancing at the sofa. Beneath the sofa, which had been making creaking noises all night, the floor was scratched. Staring at the frantically gouged floor, Charlie felt his gloomy mood start to resurface. Frowning and shaking his head, Charlie quickly finished his sandwich.

“Eat slowly.”

“Thanks for the meal.”

Charlie downed the rest of his milk in one go and stood up. Jack waved goodbye to Charlie while looking at the job listings. Charlie put on his clothes and looked at the sofa once more. The strange feeling he had buried during breakfast welled up again.

On that sofa, Evan had been grinding against Lorena. He writhed suggestively in a wild, bizarre pose, making Lorena let out strange noises.

Charlie couldn’t trust Evan. He hadn’t liked him from the moment they first met. He’d been leering at women with a sly gaze, and his eyes were especially dirty when looking at Lorena. If such a man was allowed to stay close to Lorena, he would surely do something bad to her.

“I’ll protect her.”

The melancholy that had accompanied the pre-dawn mood faded with the morning sun. Now, Charlie’s mind was filled with the baseless conviction that Evan was suspicious and, therefore, a twisted sense of justice urged him to get rid of Evan.

It wasn’t that Charlie liked Lorena, of course not. It was because Evan seemed like a very bad and suspicious person, and he wanted to protect Lorena from him.

Charlie nodded and turned, running towards the house.

No, he ran towards Evan’s house.

Isn’t that how it always goes in fairy tales? Villains always hatched sinister plots in their homes.

Sticking close to Hanson’s ranch fence, Charlie cautiously headed towards Evan’s house. Hanson always nagged Charlie to help out on the ranch. It was sound advice for his future, but Charlie didn’t have time to waste on ranch chores right now. It was time to sneak into a house harboring evil schemes, just like a knight in a fairy tale, and uncover the whole truth. Charlie had the perfect scenario playing out in his head.

In Evan’s house, Charlie would find suspicious evidence. He’d expose Evan as a person with wicked and sinister thoughts, and Evan would be dragged away by the guards. Lorena, saved by Charlie, would blush and say to him,

[Thank you, Charlie!]

Then, with a crimson face, she would kiss Charlie. They’d hold hands, play together strolling through the meadows, and Lorena would teach Charlie swordsmanship and training. When Charlie grew up, they would naturally get married and have children.

Charlie’s face flushed red.

“Charlie! Are you running errands?”

Standing idly by the gate, he was startled by the villager’s shout and pretended to do nothing, putting his hands in his pockets and whistling. Seeing his nonchalant act, the resident pulling a cart nodded and walked away, and Charlie thought he’d gotten away with it.

There was no more time to waste.

Now was the time to sneak into Evan’s house and find proof that he was a bad person.

Hanson had gone into the barn to move hay. From the outside, there was no sign of anyone in Evan’s house. Charlie crouched down, carefully opened the front door, and stepped inside.

Creeeak, creeeak, creeeak

And then, Charlie froze at the familiar, chilling sound coming from inside. In Evan’s house, as old as Lorena’s, the same nightmarish sound he’d heard at dawn was playing again. As if mocking him, the sound seemed to beckon him closer with an increasingly urgent and passionate tone.

Creeeak, creeeak, creeeak

“Haa…! Ahh……! Ah, Daddy……! Ughh…! Hmm……! Good……! Ah, cum inside me……! Ah……”

Creeeak, creeeak, creeeak

“Ah…! Ahh……! Ughh……! Aaaaaaaaahhh…!”

Charlie moved forward cautiously. With each step, the wet slapping of flesh and the creaking intensified, reaching a crescendo like an explosion before fading. By the time Charlie reached the door at the end of the long hallway, the grating sounds were gone.

The sounds leaking through the crack in the door revealed two sweaty people, a man and a woman, entangled and kissing passionately on the bed. The woman’s clothes were disheveled, and the man wore only his shirt, his lower body hidden beneath the covers.

“Hngh……! Mmm…! Nngh……! Phew……! Ah……!”

The woman underneath was named Alice. She had fiery red hair and, Charlie thought, was pretty, though not quite as pretty as Lorena. And on top of her was Evan. Evan had acted strangely with Lorena too, and now he was kissing and clinging to Alice.

“Bad guy……!”

According to Charlie’s common sense, a man and a woman should only love each other. All the protagonists in the novels he’d read did, and fairy tales always ended with a prince and princess falling in love. A knight kissing another princess after saving one was a very bad and dishonorable act, often leading to divine punishment.

“Hngh…! Nngh……! Ah, Daddy…! I love you……!”

But Evan seemed completely unfazed. No lightning struck, nor did storms rage. No witch appeared to turn Evan into a pig, nor did the world turn upside down. There was no God here right now.

Only Charlie could punish the wicked Evan for his infidelity. Charlie quickly turned and burst out the front door. Alice and Evan looked up briefly at the sudden commotion nearby, then turned back to each other and resumed kissing.

“Must have been birds.”

“Maybe a cat.”

“A cat? Can you make a cat sound while spreading your legs?”

“Pervert……!”

“You won’t?”

Alice blushed, hesitated slightly, then spread her legs on the mattress, curling her hands like a cat’s paws. She pursed her lips like whistling and let out a thin sound.

“Meow……!”

At that moment, Evan felt his last shred of self-control snap.

“Ah, fuck it. You’re not getting any work done today.”

“Ah…! Ahh……! Nyaang……! Ahh……! Ah, Daddy…! I, I have paperwork……!”

The two of them, completely forgetting the intruder from moments ago, plunged back into sex. Alice’s unfinished paperwork still lay scattered on the desk.

“Lorena!”

Lorena, diligently moving hay on the ranch, beamed as she saw Charlie running up breathlessly. Even though Charlie thought his connection with Lorena was severed, her smile made his heart pound.

“Lorena!”

Still, Charlie pretended nothing was wrong and called her name loudly again. Lorena set down the hay bale and said,

“What’s up, Charlie? I’m a bit busy right now. Can we hang out after work? I woke up late today, so everything’s behind schedule.”

Charlie shook his head. He spread his arms wide in front of Lorena and said. His legs, expressing his urgent emotions, fidgeted restlessly.

“No……! Lorena! Th-there’s something you need to know!”

Lorena glanced at her watch, then nodded with a smile. She sat down right there, meeting Charlie’s eyes. Charlie averted his gaze, noticing the slight glimpse of Lorena’s cleavage, and said,

“Oh, I went to Evan’s house today……!”

Hearing Evan’s name, Lorena blushed. She cleared her throat and looked at Charlie anxiously, which Charlie didn’t like at all.

“I went……!”

Lorena, seeing Charlie hesitate, pressed him slightly,

“You went? Why, what happened?”

“E-Evan! He was kissing that girl, A-Alice!”

“Huh?”

Charlie, his face flushed red, shouted again,

“Kissing! Mouth-to-mouth kissing!”

Lorena’s eyes widened as she looked at Charlie, then she started laughing. After laughing for a while, Lorena shook her head, patted Charlie’s head, and said,

“Charlie. Alice and Evan are father and daughter. It’s normal for fathers and daughters to kiss if they’re close.”

“A-and! He said ‘I love you’ too!”

“……Isn’t it natural to say ‘I love you’ to family?”

Lorena’s words made Charlie freeze this time. Charlie’s eyes widened, his body trembling as he asked Lorena,

“Th-then……! Do you love Uncle Jack too, Lorena?”

Lorena nodded, smiling.

“Yeah.”

Charlie clutched his head as if he couldn’t believe it and asked again,

“Kissing too? And hugging tightly?”

“Yeah! He doesn’t do it much these days, but I believe he will again once he gets his energy back!”

“Ugh…! Ughhh……!”

Charlie’s mind superimposed the images of Evan and Alice with Lorena and Uncle Jack. Charlie didn’t want to imagine anything further. Realizing the horrifying secret of the father-daughter relationship that only he hadn’t known, Charlie wailed.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

“Ch-Charlie?”

Of course, Lorena, clueless, just tilted her head.