Chapter 180: Chapter 180

Brad turned so quickly that he felt a slight cracking sound in his neck, and he winced.

"Ouch!" He held the side of his neck, massaging it as his eye sought the owner of the voice that had gotten him to react that way.

A smallish-looking, thin man almost the size of Currey stood by him. Their expressions mirrored each other, almost making them look alike. However, in terms of looks, they were worlds apart!

While Currey’s most prominent feature was his long copper-like, curry-like hair, which he almost always had in a low ponytail, this man’s hair was short and dark. In fact, there was nothing remarkable or outstanding about him at first glance except for the way he and Currey were small.

They were like lanky teenagers with slightly grown-up faces. This did not make them look awkward, though; looking at them both was a little refreshing. The new man was very ordinary-looking, but Brad flinched when he met his eyes. Those eyes had an unfathomable depth that said the man was more than he seemed.

The irony of this was Brad would stand big and tall, and this new person, at least physically, stood no chance in combat with Brad. This would make one question why Brad was reacting that way.

Brad lowered his eyes, wondering why his heart was pounding. It was pounding so much that he felt a bit faint.

’I have never met this man in my entire life, but why am I scared of him?’

Yes, the simple ’good day’ that Murray had said, had invoked the very same emotions that Brad thought that he had shed.

Murray lowered his eyes, and the corner of his lips raised slightly.

’Murray?’ Shelby also thought and turned to look fully at the man who had come in with Currey, then she turned a questioning eye to Ian.

Gabriel, on the other hand, clasped his hands over his mouth and then sent a panicky eye to Shelby.

’Mama Shelby had told me not to talk of him to others!’ Not long after this thought, Gabriel did talk about him still.

"Do you know this young man, Gabriel?" Alex asked. This was the first time, Alex had ever addressed Gabriel directly, so the boy dropped his hands and then replied,

"Yes, he was always following Mama Sh-"

"What Gabriel means is that the man will follow Shelby as her bodyguard when I am not around." Ian stated firmly, cutting off the young boy.

Alex and Geneva let out sighs of relief. Their hearts nearly melted from Gabriel’s initial words! This made them glad that it was just childish talk.

Gabriel was aggrieved but then he sat back in his chair and then looked at Murray again.

’They can see him?’ He was puzzled as to how so, ignoring the cautions being thrown at him, he leaned over the table and asked in a very loud whisper,

"Mama Shelby, can you see him now?" Shelby paused, unsure of how to react since Gabriel’s words had been clear enough for all to hear.

"Of course, Gabriel! I can." She smiled gently at him, looking around to ascertain if anyone thought the question was weird. Still, when Gabriel tried to say something else, she shushed him.

"Eat your meal. Don’t you like the meal that Aunt Ava made for you?"

Shelby nodded fondly and that was enough to divert Gabriel’s attention.

Brad ignored the palpitations he was feeling and lowered his head so that his nose almost touched the meal he was taking. Nonetheless, he knew that he felt internally better in that position than to even think of looking at the man. He had no idea why, but he was not about to test the waters!

Ingrid followed along with all this, never much-paying attention to the two men who had arrived. Her hair was all over her face as if that hid her from everyone. However, even with this, her keen eyes never missed any detail of what was going on. Her eyes landed on her older sister’s, and she shook her head slightly as if to sympathize with Samantha.

"Good thinking, Ian, for getting her a bodyguard, but couldn’t you have done better than to get this man in a child’s body? Even a car whipping past would push him off the sidewalk!"

A few giggles went around the room, and even Currey turned to look at Murray.

’They had no idea about the kind of ’weapon’ Murray was!’

Ian shook his head helplessly at his mother’s statement.

"It’s part of the disguise, but do not worry, he can get the job done."

"If you say so!" Geneva looked Murray up and down as if still trying to assess him. Then she launched into interrogation mode. After a few minutes of tireless Q&A, she nodded and let Murray go.

"This will be your new mistress." Currey pointed out Shelby. They went through some ’formalities’ as if the two had never met or even knew of each other.

Murry dropped to his knees at once, bowed towards Shelby’s direction, and shouted,

"I WILL SERVE YOU WITH MY LIFE MI-LADY!"

"You scared me! What is this? The 1880’s?" Geneva rolled her eyes, and her husband laughed!

"You are supposed to be a bodyguard. Of what use are you if you are dead! Silly!"

"I’m sorry, ma’am!" He replied meekly.

"I get your enthusiasm, but stay alive and do the job, geez!"

Shelby giggled. She had also been startled initially, but Geneva’s words had broken the ice.

"I’ll leave my safety in your hands then, Mister."

"At your command, Milady!"

"Here..." Ian said to Shelby, drawing her out of her trance and her focus on Murray. Shelby did not know how she felt about the presence of the man in front of her especially after his outburst.

Even from her first day in the Thornston estate, Gabriel had told her that this man followed her all around. She also knew that his words were not empty words as the rest in the room thought. From the small glimpse she had seen of Ian’s world, Murray’s words were more than probable. This did not change what her thoughts of that situation were, though.

’What changed? How can I see him now?’ Before Ian nudged her, her head was filled with this and many other similar thoughts. Even though she had shot Gabriel’s questioning down, it did not mean that, she had not thought along the same lines.

Ian placed an assortment of delicacies on her plate, and she frowned. She wanted to taste them so much but knowing that Ian did not make them, she was in for another ’sawdust taste-like’ moment and she hated it.

"Come on, be a good girl and eat it." Ian urged her on. Shelby wished she could say no, but with Geneva there, she dared not. Besides, she also knew that she had eaten worst things back in her own home so who was she to decline that.

"I’ll kiss you right now, if you do no-"

Ian never completed his sentence before Shelby shoved some into her mouth. She paused and then her eyes glistened in both tears and amazement.

’It tastes SOOOOOOO goooood!’ Unknowingly, her head bobbed sightly to the sides as if she was enjoying some lovely song. She closed her eyes and chewed the piece of meat slowly as if it were the last bite left in this world.

Ian chuckled on the side and then urged her on.

"Wait, I can taste it?" She whispered as her eyes rounded up in surprise.

She was curious but also hungry for more of that delicious food. Ian leaned over, pecked her on the lips, licking off a little food particle left on the side of her lips. He watched as she turned all red.

’What is it with him and all these public displays of affection?’ She lowered her head as the adults around laughed at her reaction.

"You should eat too..." She encouraged and Ian turned to his plate and helped himself to a few bites of the food.

Just then, Shelby stopped eating., placed her fork down and then called out,

"Yes, sister-in-law,"

"You should stop calling me that and refer to me by my name."

"I wouldn’t dare do that, sister-in-law."

Shelby shook her head and stopped pursuing that.

"I thought of the ’gift’ that I would like from you."

This was enough to snap Brad out of his stupor from seeing Murray.

"What is it, sister-in-law? Just name it! A car? Or do you want the real estate under my name? Even my shares will be o-"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I want you to teach Ingrid to play a musical instrument."

Brad paused and looked at Shelby as if she had grown a second pair of eyes or something.

Just then, Ava rushed in, but seeing that the whole family was there, she stopped in her tracks, her hand clenching her phone tightly.

Elsewhere and in T-Vino Island main township, a group of young men sat around a computer and expertly edited a video, preparing it for mass release.

’That chick is so pretty!’ this was the sole thoughts in all of their minds. Ambiguous sounds flooded all around them but they were used to this.

Another young man entered the room. He was a newly admitted student at the medical school and did this editing as a side job to get extra money for his upkeep.

However, when he entered, and his eyes landed on the main individuals in the videos, his heart skipped a beat!

"What in the world?!" He blurted out to the annoyance of all in there.

"Shhhh! Why are you shouting? Do you want us to be caught?"

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