The call ended right at that moment when the main door opened and Jack came out of the house and into the front porch.

“Hey bro, everything okay?” cheerfully greeted the lumberyard foreman.

“Jack, I’ll get used to that attention if you keep it up. Just warning you, I don’t think you’ll be happy with me if I reciprocate your feelings. I’m a pretty jealous boyfriend, hehe.”

“Yep, with that kind of answer, I can see that everything is back to normal. And that's good,” Jack replied with a small smile. “I thought your mood would be darker because of what happened to your motorbike.”

“I don’t know, I guess in normal conditions, I would have been really down, but now…” Eron looked at his cellphone, still in his hand then placed it inside his shirt’s chest pocket.

“What do you mean by that?” Jack asked as he leaned on the banister quite near his new hire.

“Well, Scorpia has been my friend in times when I was really lonely, but I don’t feel like that for now, I mean… I used to need her when I had fights with my dad and couldn’t handle staying at home, but then… here… with you worrying all the time about me,” Eron said as he fluttered his eyelashes while leaning closer to Jack.

“What the hell!” Jack laughed as he pushed Eron and stepped away. “Damn bro, are you sure I’m not your type? You seem to be TOO OPEN to me right now.”

“Nah, you’ll get used to me… but I really did mean it, bro… Miss Diwa’s care and company, the children’s interest and time, your trust and worry... I feel that I'm in a higher and even different level of comfort here, you know? It was really hard for me to ever feel like I belonged but now I’m starting to think I found it… Do you know what I mean, bro?”

“Yep, I do. I used to feel like that with my sister… We got along great, even if we fought sometimes. I like taking care of her even though she's older than me, since she was my only sister... Well, she IS my only sister. Also, for some reason, I still feel her out there, you know? I can’t exactly tell you how, but I know that she’s still alive. I just can’t tell where she is or how she survived…”

“You never told me what happened to your sister, man… I mean, if you want to… talk about it…”

Jack took a deep breath. 

His thoughts: “Why am I not careful with what I say to this guy? Am I so comfortable with Eron now to just open up topics that I don't even talk much about, except for very few people who knew me years before? Damn, I just met the guy a few days ago and I'm talking about the 'incident' that I don't even discuss with my parents these days. Ok, so I need to figure out how to escape this topic, especially since Eron seems intent on making me talk…”

“Nah, you’ll just think I’m crazy… At that time, many similar tales were told but now... Everyone would believe that I just lost it if I talked about it again. Most people think that she married a man in the city and just never came back... and Mom and Dad prefer it that way.”

“Your parents are not looking for their daughter who just disappeared? But they’re alive and healthy, right?”

“Oh, yes, they are still doing very well, living in the same house that they’ve lived in since they got married. It's somewhere on the other side of the village, bro. I’m the one who prefers to stay at the camp. I admit, it's not just to take care of the business. I guess I got used to living alone when I was still in college. And yeah, they’re not looking for her because they think she's dead. It’s not that she disappeared, it’s how she disappeared… Sometimes I wonder if I just imagined it… or if I dreamed it, and she is really living in the city with a guy that takes really good care of her. Maybe she's too busy being happy that she can’t come back here, I don't know...”

“So, if your parents think she died, then… have you heard anything about her? I know you said that you have this hunch that keeps you thinking that she’s somewhere out there, but besides that, anything else?”

“Nothing. Honestly, I keep asking around, looking for information, and checking all the news, online or printed... All sources that I can get, but nothing. Just once, I thought I saw someone on the street back in the city who looked very much like her, but that’s not possible…” Jack let out a long sigh and checked his phone, which suddenly vibrated. “Talking about my parents, I need to go see them. I’m glad that you’re out of the forest, Eron. Honest. You don’t know what kind of monster that can be lurking behind the trees. See you tomorrow at work, and hope you find a way to fix your Scorpia…” 

"Thanks Jack, I really hope I do."

Just as the foreman was about to leave, he stopped at the bottom of the porch's three steps and then looked back, “Oh, by the way… I'm kinda suspecting that what happened to your bike was not because of a wild animal or any kind of accident. You need to be careful; you know? Especially now that you live here at Di's Villa. I have a feeling that weirder situations might come your way.”

“Do you have SOMEONE in mind, bro?” Eron asked, standing straight and then walking a couple of steps closer to Jack.

“I can’t be sure yet. But believe me that if I confirm what I suspect… Well, I won't jinx myself. For now, just be careful. Some mad people might be around you even now,” the lumberyard boss said as he put his big and heavy hand on Eron’s shoulder. 

After receiving a nod from his new hire, the foreman-turned-friend then smiled and left.

Despite hearing the clear footsteps of his boss on the path, Eron could also easily hear the grass and bushes around the house as they moved in time to the cool night wind. With the strong breeze came the smell of the same person he noticed around his camp before, who was also the same stranger he sniffed out within the Villa's grounds. 

This person he didn’t fully recognize yet, but he could now hear him and not just smell him. Based on the direction from which the sound was coming from, whoever was watching them a while ago was now following Jack. 

Eron's thoughts: “Probably someone else is going to take his place here tonight. At least I know it’s just surveillance and not really a threat. They don’t seem to be doing anything else for now, except just gathering information. Max, so manly of you to send your spies but such a cowardly little mouse you are that you can't even tell the lady how you feel. I’m sure you know she would reject you but then why the hell do you keep this weird fantasy of her being yours? Or is it that you’re just crazier than what most would believe?” 

The Charmer looked around and still tried his best to recognize their uninvited visitor since he had never smelled him before. However, as the scent got lost in the distance, he turned and walked into the house.

“I think this is a good time to try and finish sorting my stuff in my new room. I can’t believe that such a small number of personal belongings and clothing could take such a long time to arrange,” he said to himself, now walking through the first floor, climbing the stairs and then walking down the corridor that connected all the rooms.

He walked, still a little distracted, as he was thinking about the new information he just got from The Ogre. The former assassin then took his phone out of his pocket and started typing a message, as he walked up to his room’s door.

Just when he was about to reach for the doorknob, he suddenly smelled a strong scent of roses and strawberries and it hit him like an out-of-control cannonball. He took a few steps back to get his bearings.

“Oh no… it's only just day one and I'm getting hit HARD already…”

He stopped typing the message, and even tried walking back towards the room but he only got as far as the door itself. He stood frozen for a moment by the door of his new space, taking deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. 

Instead, he ended up taking full breaths of the amazing smells that he found irresistible and was really so fond of now. 

And the effect on him was beyond his control...

As he stood by his door, torn between what he should do and what he wanted to do, soon enough his heightened senses also allowed him to sense and almost see what was happening on the other side of the Diwa's wall. 

Unfortunately for him, the images that started going through his mind were too crystal clear for comfort.

Warm water cascaded over her naked body. Her hands roamed over her soft, flawless golden skin, sliding the bubbly sponge up and down, and around her torso. The soapy slippery substance covered her skin little by little and the smell mixed with her own body's natural scent was overwhelmingly seductive. 

Eron felt he was so close that he felt that if he extended his hand, he could easily caress one of her voluptuous breasts. maybe lick one of her nipples while whispering against her skin how good she felt when she's that close to him. 

In an effort to control himself, the boarder then opened his eyes, trying to avoid any more of those images that were slowly making him go crazy. He then tried with all his might to step forward into his room as he opened the door, but along with that single step, the sound of the shower intensified and the scents were overwhelmingly stronger.

“What kind of soap can have a smell THAT strong… and oh… so good…” he thought, still continuing to inhale deeply.

He started calculating distances, wondering if he could just wolfspeed to the farthest corner of the room then he might be far enough from Diwa's private bathroom so he wouldn't be affected by all the things that were happening inside her shower. But as he was sensing this out, and while his manhood was almost immediately and continually reacting to all these sensations, he realized to his chagrin that his room's farthest corner was probably not going to be far enough.

“Oh, hello Eron!” Macky was just leaving his room, which wasn’t that far away, and Eron tried even harder to hide the hard-on that was more and more obvious by the second. 

His body froze, but his mouth was quick to reply, “Hey Mack! Where are you going?” 

“I’m doing some homework so I just stopped for a moment to get a snack. Would you like anything from the kitchen? I mean, I’m going there right now.”

“I really would love to have some strawberries right now… I’m badly craving for them for some reason,” Eron said with a nervous chuckle. “But don’t worry, I think I’ll wait for breakfast and have some then.”

“Oh, okay. Uh… is there anything wrong with your room?”

“Huh? Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re right at the door, but don’t seem to want to walk in. Just wondering if you saw a spider or something. I don’t like spiders either but I can help you take it out if you need me to,” Macky explained while smiling at Eron, whose heart kept melting at how welcomed and appreciated they made him feel.

“Thank you, Mack. For now, it’s not a spider. I think I got too distracted with a text message that I was sending to an old friend of mine. Male… friend… that I forgot... about my walking... into my room." Eron replied, adding some more of his nervous laugh. "At least I didn’t enter a bathroom or go to another floor, hehe...” 

“Oh, I see. Okay then. Careful with the walls, mama always says we shouldn’t text and walk because we might crash into a wall,” the boy said, smiling and then walking away towards the stairs on the other side of the floor. "Or fall down the stairs…"

“Yes, I would choose to fall down the stairs right now. Oh, goddess, why is this situation suddenly so HARD…” Eron mumbled to himself as he watched Macky go down to the first floor. “Right now, if I crash into a wall, it would probably be this one which is Diwa's room and I’d just walk through and take her in my arms... Oh damn it, might as well...”

Eron closed the door behind him and zoomed to the farthest edge of his bedroom. He had managed to take a blanket on the bed on his way to that corner and had now wrapped it around himself to try and keep his senses in control.

Good luck with that...