Chapter 42: Unexpected Phone Call
Even though they paid for the whole year upfront, the paperwork and purchase finalisations would still take time. That’s why Godric and Mina had no choice but to return to their crooked house on the outskirts and repair what they could.
"Ugh! It’s not like we’re gonna get the deposit, man!" Mina hissed as a piece of wardrobe she’s been trying to tape together fell apart for the fourth time.
As much as Godric wanted to leave the place in a ’liveable’ state, Mina wasn’t wrong in her statement.
Not because of the damage, which if they truly wanted to, they could repair, but because of the shadiness of their landlord. He was a man who, just like the debt collectors, preyed on those in need. Just like anyone in the city’s outskirts, for that matter.
When life hits you down, it’s hard. But when life hits you down and you end up in the city’s outskirts where everyone is out to get you, getting up is basically impossible.
Seeing Mina’s struggles, Godric walked over to the wardrobe and, with three nails and a hammer, he hammered it together.
"Here," he said, already walking away toward the kitchen, where most of the damage was.
Mina’s lips pursed, and a small frown settled on her youthful face. "You couldn’t have done that earlier?"
"If I did, you wouldn’t learn that tape doesn’t fix everything."
Mina’s frown deepened.
Around her room, in which they were standing, nearly everything was fixed by tape. It was her go-to solution, going as far as calling it humanity’s greatest tool.
The two of them continued fixing the house for the rest of the day, until it was time to eat.
Neither of them went out to get groceries, so the only thing they had was two cups of instant noodles. Mina’s favourite thing in the world, after tape that is.
They ate in relative silence until a loud chime rang from somewhere nearby.
"Oh?" Mina raised a brow as she put the spoon down and patted down her pocket. "I wonder who it is."
She looked down at the screen for a long moment.
"Huh? I swear I heard something?" she murmured mostly to herself.
Godric didn’t pay it any mind until he suddenly remembered he had a phone too.
"Ah, it’s probably me," he said as he reached for his pocket.
Mina’s face flashed with surprise. "What? Since when do you have a phone?!" She basically jumped to her feet.
"It’s nothing much. Someone just gave me their old phone."
"Old?!" She pointed at his phone. "It came out two months ago! It’s the latest phone there is!"
Godric blinked. "Is it?"
Raven had told him it was her old phone. As reluctant as he was to accept it, Godric hadn’t thought much of it. People gave away their phones all the time, or so he heard.
But a new phone? Released merely two months ago?
Wait...
A sudden realisation struck him.
He assumed the wallpaper was there because it was Raven’s old phone. But if it wasn’t, then why was it there?
At the same time, he looked down at the screen.
There, a message from ’Raven’ appeared, still with a bright red heart next to her name.
Overly curious, as she always had been, Mina rushed to Godric’s side before he realised she had moved and they both read the short string of messages at the same time.
4 Hours ago: "Stop ignoring me!"
1 Hour ago: "Hello????"
Just now: "I’m starting to miss our time in the dungeon gate..."
For a long moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Mina’s head snapped toward him, her eyes wide with barely restrained glee.
"You have a girlfriend?!"
She staggered back as though she’d been hit by a truck.
"She is not my girlfriend. I barely know her."
"I’m starting to miss our time in the dungeon gate? Do you know what that means?!"
"It means she’s probably bored and has nothing better to do."
Just before Godric locked the screen and stashed his phone away, Mina caught another glimpse of it, this time not focusing on the messages.
"Wait! Is she set as your wallpaper?! And you put a heart next to her name?!"
She burst into a teaseful laughter. "I need to tell mom! No! I need to tell everybody! Oh, nobody’s gonna believe this!"
Godric looked at her kind dismissively.
Who even is ’everybody’? It’s not like he even knows anyone!
"Go ahead," he said, waving his hand as he rose to his feet.
Her laughter slowly died down as Godric left the kitchen.
"Wait! It’s your turn to do the dishes!"
She lingered for a moment and realised Godric was either too far to hear or simply ignoring her. The latter being the most probable one considering how small their house was, she pouted.
"You’re lucky you’re in love! I’ll let it slide this time!" she shouted before turning around to do the dishes.
In his room, Godric sat down at the edge of the bed as he unlocked his phone for the second time this evening.
He had put it off for too long.
It was time to remove that damn heart and change this wallpaper before more misunderstandings happened.
He never had or actually used a phone before getting this one, but it couldn’t be that hard.
Or so he thought.
He navigated to contacts, which took a minute, then tapped her name.
Nothing happened.
He tapped again, harder, as though the device had simply failed to notice. But again, nothing.
Godric frowned. "Why the hell do people even use these things?"
Tapping all around the screen, he cursed the rich people who invented this cursed thing until his fingers suddenly landed on something they shouldn’t have, and a loud ringing sound echoed through the small room.
His eyes snapped wide.
The sound lasted only a second, as though the girl had been waiting for this moment the entire time, before the ringing suddenly disappeared and a soft female voice spoke from the phone’s speaker:
"Hello, Lover~"