Ability Wielders 41 Christmas Day

Hayden, along with his family and Christopher, similarly walked to the square. Once they arrived, there were many people gathering around, the rows of tables surrounding the fountain in the middle filled with food. There were also tables scattered all around the village square.

Entering the festive square, the chairwoman of the village greeted them. The chairwoman was an amicable old woman that went by the name of Baek Jiyeon, offering for them to be introduced. As new people and foreigners, Hayden and family didn't dare to decline. What's the harm in knowing the people in your own village, regardless if it wasn't your actual home, right?

"Hey!" The chairwoman greeted a family of five with glee, hugging who seemed like the mother of the family. "This is the new family that bought old man Si's house, the Emperador Family. They're Filipinos."

Hayden and family shook hands with the other family. Christopher went back to back and translated the conversations between Hayden's parents and the other party's.

As for Hayden, he simply shook hands with the children of the two with a polite smile. Unfortunately, a 13-year-old boy recognized him, "Supremacy!? You are Supremacy, right? I'm a big fan! Can I take a picture with you?"

With a wry smile, Hayden nodded, obliging. In all honesty, Hayden was surprised that he hasn't encountered any hater yet, only supporters and fans. There were so many hate comments online, saying that Hayden was too young to be a gamer and all that, stating that he should study first.

Well, boy were they slapped by an article from a major online news publis.h.i.+ng firm when they published an article about Hayden's academic achievements and the fact that he was in a Scholar Academy, the most prestigious set of academies in Philippines' secondary education.

'Maybe that's the reason why there're no haters that has surfaced yet…' Hayden didn't want to get things over his head, hence, he simply dropped the matter, swearing to not think of it again. 'Let's just say that haters are merely waiting for me to make a single mistake, and that's when they strike…'

Moving on, Hayden shook hands with a girl of his age, who immediately became fl.u.s.tered when their eyes met. Hayden ignored this, smiling calmly. The girl was pretty for her age, probably even school belle-level, it was just that…Hayden had a girlfriend that had beauty that cannot be measured by common sense, basically, if it was in the medieval ages, Eun-ha's beauty could bring entire cities down.

He then shook hands with a person that was at least two years older than him, introducing themselves to each other. Due to the earlier commotion from their little brother, the three recognized Hayden, an up and coming celebrity in the world of gaming.

A few seconds of polite introduction and small talk later, the three bade goodbye to the family of five, with the chairwoman leading them to another family.

With that, the trio, plus Christopher, went on to be introduced to the dwellers of the neighborhood. In the middle of the conversation of the fourth family, which was a family of three, Eun-ha and her family arrived.

It appeared that they were already familiar with Eun-ha, numbing them from her beauty. Needless to say, there were still men of similar age and as young as Hayden that looked like frogs l.u.s.ting over swan meat.

'd.a.m.n, that Fox's Charm is really troublesome…' Internally, Hayden was cursing Eun-ha's otherworldly beauty and the pa.s.sive of her Ability, literally turning her into a woman that cannot be ignored no matter what.

The family of four of Eun-ha's family went around, greeting other families. Many men of the other families had flushed faces when faced with Eun-ha, causing Hayden to roll his eyes as he observed using Divine Perception while talking with his peers.

Minutes pa.s.sed, after being introduced to the family of three, they were brought by the chairwoman to the family of Eun-ha. When Eun-ha's father and mother laid eyes upon Hayden, they rapidly blinked.

Clearly, they recognized Hayden from the time he picked Eun-ha from her house. Because of this, Hayden involuntarily s.h.i.+vered. It was a good thing that he was used to Eun-ha's Fox's Charm, if not, he would have been too nervous to even greet her parents.

When Eun-ha and Hayden's eyes met, they smiled and nodded at each other. Suddenly, the chairwoman spoke, "This here is the most notable inhabitant of our White Canary Village, with little Eun-ha here being a world-famous celebrity."

Christopher translated what the chairwoman said, leading to Hayden's mother and father to be wide-eyed. Whispering to Hayden, his mother asked, "She's the one you're dating, aren't you?"

Turning to her mother, Hayden was panicking internally. How the h.e.l.l did she know? Did mothers have some kind of instinct that gave them this kind of power? "No, mom, she's not. She's an idol of the world-famous CHORUS, do you really think I have a chance with her?"

Shrugging, his mother ignored Hayden. Meanwhile, Eun-ha, who heard of Hayden and his mother's interaction, looked away, her face wanting to burst out of laughter. Seeing this, Hayden exasperatedly rolled his eyes.

"Ahh, so it's him," Eun-ha's brother, who was standing beside her, whispered and teased. "You have pretty good tastes, Eun-ha."

"What are you talking about?" Eun-ha rotated her head towards her brother. This time, it was her turn to be disconcerted. "I don't even know him."

"Sure, sure," Eun-ha's brother smiled knowingly, nodding his head. "I believe you, I believe you."

"You…" Not paying attention to her brother anymore, Eun-ha saw Hayden looking at the ground, holding in his laughter.

On that note, the chairwoman introduced Eun-ha's family of four and Hayden's family of three. Glancing at Christopher, Eun-ha was shocked. What the heck? A Level 3 wielder as a translator?

When Hayden and Eun-ha were introduced, shaking each other's hands, Eun-ha looked at Hayden with confusion. Picking up what she was confused about, Hayden whispered beside her ear silently, "That's Kidlat, the a.s.sa.s.sin I told you about. He works for me now. His real name is Christopher."

Hearing this, Eun-ha blinked her eyes. Fighting two Level 3 wielders at the same day as a Level 2 wielder and even making the first one a subordinate? Where in the world would this situation occur?

"Nice to meet you, Hayden." Unable to make sense of Hayden's monstrosity, she opted to throw it out of the window. Eun-ha spoke, letting go of Hayden's hands. "Welcome to White Canary Village."

"Thank you, Eun-hssi." Hayden nodded.

In that instance, Hayden's ears picked up what he would call a 'disaster,' from Eun-ha's parents. Similarly, Eun-ha's face paled when she heard of this.

Their parents were actually talking about them, and how Hayden picked up Eun-ha for dinner! Hayden's mother shot a fierce glare towards Hayden, in response, Hayden crossed his arms subtly, his eyes pleading, "Don't, mom… just don't."

Thankfully, his mom did not talk about how he texted them that he was going to be late, otherwise, they would be in a whole other mess. Along with that, the two families… hit it off, talking about their lives. It looked as if… the two families tacitly agreed that Eun-ha and Hayden was good enough for each other.

Wearing an anxious forced smile, Hayden stared at Eun-ha, who stared at him as well. They were both breaking out in cold sweat. Abruptly, Eun-ha's brother wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders.

"You two, our families are already getting along this well, why not just reveal your relations.h.i.+p," Eun-ha's brother spoke bemusedly. "It's not like they're opposed to you two. It's not like you two's financial situations are bad. Little brother can most definitely already confer Eun-ha a good life even if she isn't a world-cla.s.s celebrity. One's a dependable young man, and the other is a beautiful woman, what else would parents want for their future in-laws?"

Hayden's face twitched. Although he was being praised, Eun-ha's brother was all too touchy-feely! Not even Daniel can wrap his arm around Hayden in this manner, and that was his best friend!

"Oppa," Eun-ha spoke, her tone containing faint hint of annoyance. "Can you not? You do know what would happen if people around us knew we were dating, right?"

"Hah! I knew it!" Eun-ha's brother spoke. The two fell for Eun-ha's brother's trap! "That's all I need. I'll leave you two alone now."

Watching Eun-ha's brother departing off towards a family, Hayden shook his head. 'Her brother… They really are related.'

With her brother leaving, Eun-ha was finally relieved. "Well, he's right though… Is it still wise to hide it with our parents?"

"What do you think?" Hayden honestly asked. "For me, I guess there's no harm if our parents knew… But for other families in the neighborhood... That's who and what I'm worried about."

"Hey," Eun-ha looked at Hayden. "You do know we can't keep our relations.h.i.+p to the public for the rest of our lives, right?"

"I know," Hayden nodded. Turning to Eun-ha, he said, "But do you really think it's not the right time yet? I mean, we've been together for, what, three days? The world isn't ready. You underestimate the power of rumors and how much people twist and exaggerate those rumors. On top of that, do you really think your fans would approve of you dating a 16-year-old? It would destroy you. I don't care if it was only me, but you, it would destroy you, the fame you've built, your reputation."

Thinking up to here, Eun-ha frowned. Hayden was right. Even if Hayden was considered an adult, he was still a minor, which he doubtlessly did not appear as. Taking a deep breath, Eun-ha spoke, "However, you do agree that we can reveal to our parents our relations.h.i.+p, right?"

"Of course," Hayden's face became grim. "They're already conversing about us anyways, it's much better to come out clean in these types of situation."

Focusing her attention to both of their parents, Eun-ha's countenance became solemn, which turned to happiness upon hearing of Hayden's logical kind-of-enthusiastic explanation next.

"Hey, at least one of the greatest hurdles of a relations.h.i.+p has been overcome, right?" Hayden shrugged. "Our parents are getting to know each other, with the chairwoman leaving them alone as she knew they're hitting it off. Mhm? Oh, they're relating to each other of how it is to have children that are successful in such a young age…"

The two laughed hearing the conversation between their parents. Following that, the night was beautiful, with raucous cacophony of conversations all around the square, the sound of Korean Christmas carols ringing out from the speakers, and people enjoying the food the numerous families brought for the potluck.

Especially the case for Hayden's and his mom's three enormous platters of Filipino food, liempo, pancit malabon, and lumpia of three different types, one stuffed with chicken and veggies, pure veggies, and the type that was termed as 'dynamite.' Those three platters that they cooked were cleaned in a short half an hour it arrived.

Meanwhile, Hayden and his family ate Korean cuisine of the various households. In total, there were over a hundred households living in the village, one could only imagine how much food was in the square. At 11:59, the people stopped eating and started counting down till it was Christmas.

When the clock struck 12:00 AM, the entirety of the village shouted 'Merry Christmas!' Hugging their respective family members in the process. The… 'real…' party began afterwards. And what was that 'real' party? Games for the young ones…

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h…" Hayden cursed in Filipino so that people around him wouldn't understand. "Why are there games?"

"You don't have to join, right?" Christopher precipitously voiced himself, startling Hayden a bit. "I mean, it's for the kids, why are you getting so agitated?"

"Well, I hate games like this even when I'm not playing in it…" Hayden muttered. In his eyes, these games were absolutely immature and a total waste of time. As time pa.s.sed, he formed an innate sense of disgust for childlike games. "I… Just hate it all…"

"Something tells me you're not like this in the past." Christopher turned to see Hayden's parents calling him. "Oh, you continue… Hating on those games, I'll have to translate more for your parents."

Christopher was right. Hayden was once an extrovert during elementary, the life of a birthday party, one that was beloved by people. That was when he got in Makati City Scholar Academy. His three years of not being in possession of his Abilities and isolating himself changed him greatly, transforming him into a reclusive introvert.

Reminiscing the past, Hayden suddenly thought that if it wasn't for his Divine Perception and Indestructible Devil, he wouldn't be here. Activating Divine Perception, Hayden glanced towards a direction and saw Eun-ha, chatting up with people every now and again.

This time, Fox's Charm didn't affect him at all due to the intense grat.i.tude that welled up within him. Smiling to himself, he sighed. "Things have been extremely good lately… What was that saying? Regression toward the mean? From here on out, there's no way things can get any better… I have to be prepared for the worst… Once things settle down, and I feel everything is normal, that's when the scales would tip again… With my luck, there's no way that things would go my way ever again… More so with the looming threat of that d.a.m.ned Kamay ng Lagim…"

In that instance, he noticed Eun-ha smiling warmly at him, mouthing 'Merry Christmas' to him. He did the same prior to looking away. The games began, with the kids of the neighborhood playing. Hayden's face twitched a bit.

'Ahh, if I don't possess Divine Perception that keeps me calm, I would have noped out of here the moment I heard the word 'games.'' Hayden yawned from boredom, sitting down on a table whilst his family was still out there, socializing with the different people living in the neighborhood, with Christopher translating for them.

He fished his phone out of his jacket and took off the gloves he was wearing. He was browsing his social media account when a notification popped up, it was from Eun-ha.

Opening it, he read the message. "Hey, you're bored out of your mind, aren't you? Want to get out of here?"

Hayden kept his phone and found Eun-ha sitting on her family's table. Many men continued ogling her time and again, admiring her beauty, yet not making a move, probably thinking that Eun-ha was way above them. But that's the thing, people want something that they can't possibly have, the desire paradoxically building up the more they realize that they can't get someone.

Sitting beside her, the various men started to send chilling glares towards him. It was the same ones they shot towards him when the two of them appeared to be close when they were introduced to each other by the chairwoman, albeit, more fervent.

Hayden could not blame them, eyeing his surroundings, he shrugged, gazing upon the numerous men as if saying, 'Hey, no one's making a move, I can't?'

With that, the men were stunned. They picked up Hayden's message and knew themselves that Hayden was right. And with Hayden 'making the first move,' they were ashamed of making the next or wanting to clash with Hayden. Their thoughts? 'f.u.c.king h.e.l.l! That guy is so handsome! How the f.u.c.k can I even compete with someone with those looks?'

Perceiving this, Eun-ha chuckled. "What kind of an introvert are you to make those men stand down in that manner…"

Watching Eun-ha laughing when she glanced at Hayden, the men lost all sense of hope and gave up.

"Hey, a man's got his pride. If I can't even do that, what kind of a boyfriend am I, right?" Hayden nonchalantly said. "So, when are we sneaking out? I'm miserably bored."

"Idiot," Eun-ha gently whispered. "There's the Christmas dance, don't you want to dance with me?"

"Personally?" Hayden touched his chin. He candidly expressed himself, "I would, yet, the spotlight would doubtlessly be focused on us, and I don't like that."

"Aww," Eun-ha turned to him, acting gloomy. "I wanted to flaunt that I was in the arms of such a handsome guy. Well, I guess there goes that idea…"

Listening to this, Hayden closed his eyes and took a deep breath, written all over his face was, 'Really? You're going to do this to me?'

"Oh come on! You want to shut them down completely, right?" Eun-ha punched Hayden playfully, much to the consternation of the men holding onto that last flicker of hope. Was their G.o.ddess really going to be s.n.a.t.c.hed by Hayden that easily?

"Fine!" Hayden rolled his eyes, acting helpless. Eun-ha laughed at Hayden, to which Hayden laughed as well. "Jeez, noona, such a show-off."

"What's wrong with showing off my boyfriend?" Eun-ha sent a knowing look to Hayden. "This is the first time we'll be able to dance without much suspicion. You know?"

"I think otherwise." Hayden disagreed. He teased Eun-ha. "Once they see the longing gaze you have for me, suspicions will certainly arise."

"You brazen fellow!" Eun-ha punched Hayden's arm for the second time. She couldn't argue with Hayden at all. "Fine. Let's just get out of here, tsk."

"Finally!" Hayden rejoiced. Eun-ha left first, informing her parents of what was about to transpire. Whispering to them the reason, they looked at Hayden with sharp squinted eyes and nodded slowly.

Following Eun-ha, Hayden informed his parents as well, saying that he was going to hang out with Eun-ha.

"You dare lie to me?" Before he was let go, his mom scolded him. "If the chairwoman didn't introduce them to us, and for her parents to see you picking her up, you wouldn't have told us, have you? But… I can't blame you, with the popularity of your… date…? You were right to be careful. Good job, and good choice. Don't forget to give us grandchildren as soon as possible."

"Mom," Hayden was astounded and horrified. What the h.e.l.l was his mom talking about!? "I'm 16 years old. Why can't you be like other parents who doesn't even want their children to do the 'deed?' I'm still a high school student, you know?"

Laughing, his mom shooed him away, signaling for him to go do whatever he wants. He strode out of the party under the watchful gazes of the men. A text message from Eun-ha told him that they should meet at their usual meeting place for the past few days, which was Hayden's house's roof.

Ensuring that there were no humans around in his immediate vicinity, Hayden took off his clothes and unfurled his wings, flying at subsonic speed. Arriving at the roof of his house, he saw Eun-ha, lying down.

Landing, Hayden laid down beside her, let her squiggle to his bicep to make it her pillow, and kissed her.

"This is the best Christmas I've had in years," Hayden said. "Thanks for making it the best."

On that note, the two spent time hanging out in this manner, enjoying the night sky. Opportunely, it was a peaceful night, allowing the two to have a moment of peace.

Meanwhile, on a distant shadow from a wisteria tree, the shadow flickered, which went right under Hayden's and Eun-ha's nose. A man materialized about a kilometer away, wearing a white creepy smiley mask and light ninja armor. It was The Stalker! (1)

"Yep, he really is in a relations.h.i.+p with that Level 4 wielder…" The Stalker's hollow voice sounded agitated.

…..

1 Stalker – In the past few chapters and when introduced, I referred to Stalker as simply stalker. I'm going to change that to The Stalker from her one out as it sounds… Natural, I guess? Anyways, that's that.