The Porter is Secretly an SS-Level Hunter - Chapter 12: Setting the Stone

“I am fine,” Neban answered; he was ready to leave. He already has his son, and he did not want this conversation to lead to what he doesn’t want to hear.

His father clicked his tongue at that before changing the subject, “Your mother and I have been thinking that it is time-”

Neban put his hand up, cutting off his father; he knew where this conversation was leading, and he definitely does not want to have that one either.

“I have people waiting. I have to go. Thank you, and bye.” He turned around, quickly walking away. He will text his father later on and apologize for his behavior, but he did not feel like it right now.

Neban looked at Theo as he walked them to Owain’s car. “Did you have fun today?”

Theo nodded, “We did a puzzle! It had 500 pieces!”

Neban gave him a small smile, “That is nice. Should we get a puzzle to do together?” He and his son barely did anything together. But now that he was a porter, he had the time to play with him. So, he would like to do a puzzle with Theo if the boy liked it.

Hearing that, Theo was nodding his head like crazy while shaking in Neban’s hold. “I would love that. Let’s do all the puzzles together!”

Neban chuckled at his son’s enthusiasm but stopped when he reached the car; his face was devoid of emotions. He opened the back seat as he set his son in the car seat, that was still there.

Once he got his son situated, he moved into the car, sitting by his son while Isona was on the other side of him. When Theo saw Isona and Wey, he smiled at them as he waved ‘hello.’

Isona was wide awake as she waved back, gushing about how cute Theo is. Wey nodded in acknowledgment instead. “We can go,” Neban told Owain.

Now noticing Owain, Theo told him ‘hi’ as Owain smiled back at him through the rearview mirror before driving to Neban’s house.

Neban leaned closer to his son, frowning at the car seat blocking him, but the coldness of it was better than the warmth of Isona and even Wey. He did not want the uncomfortable feeling of his stomach to come back.

During the ride, it was not a silent one anymore as Theo happily chatted away with Isona and Wey, who sometimes add in comments. It was funny when his son tried to get him to join in the conversation, but Neban would give a one-word response each time.

Sometimes he felt like he was the child, and his son was the parent.

When they reached his house, everyone got out, except for Owain. The man already had his overnight bag in the car to quickly drive off without wasting time; he wanted to go back to his home already. Before he could drive off, Neban grabbed his car seat before Owain could leave.

“Bye, everyone.” Owain waved bye once Neban finished and closed his back door. He drove off.

They walked to Neban’s front door as he pulled out his key to unlock while making sure he still had a good hold on Theo and the car seat. Once he opened the door, they walked in as he closed it behind them.

He set Theo down as he hung up his keys and put the car seat in the corner. Theo ran to Wey and Isona, grabbing their hands as he spoke, “Are you staying for dinner?”

“Uh,” Isona started, turning her gaze to Neban. Wey also looked at him, not replying to Theo.

A ‘no’ was on the tip of Neban’s tongue because he told himself he would not cook them food anymore after the noise they made yesterday. And he was planning to cook for his son.

Theo was giving him puppy dogs eyes, and Neban could not help but wonder what his parents are teaching his son because he could have sworn Theo has never been manipulative like this before.

He sighed, “I don’t mind. Stay if you want.”

Theo cheered, pulling Wey and Isona to the couch as he turned on the TV. As Neban started to walk away, he heard his son talking about showing them his favorite TV show.

Even though he was in his bedroom to change clothes, he activated [Absolute Senses] so he can keep an ear out for anything happening.

He went to his dresser to pick out some clothes to sit and cook in. Neban knew it was a waste of putting on clothes instead of taking a shower first, but he did not care; he could shower later.

Neban changed into a plain grey shirt with black joggers. He wanted to take off his glasses but kept them on because there were still people in his house. Once he finished changing, he walked out of his bedroom and saw Theo sitting in the middle of Isona and Wey.

They watched a murder-mystery show, that he and Theo binged-watched a few days ago; it was interesting. But Neban was feeling like he did something wrong with the looks that Isona was giving him. Her stare stated, ‘You let your son watch this?’

Was he not supposed to? Does he have to censor his son? Before on a parent article, he read that they tended to block their kids from many things on TV and the internet. His parents did not do it for him, so he did not do that for his son. Was that the wrong choice?

He glanced at his son, who was explaining the show to them while a smile was still present on his face. Theo looked happy, so he ignored Isona’s stares and made his way to the kitchen to start dinner.

He decided to make spaghetti. Neban hoped he had the ingredients to make it as he looked around his kitchen. When he pulled out all the things he needed, Neban was relieved to see that he did.

He silently thanked his father because he was the one who went grocery shopping for him. He was surprised when his father showed up a few days ago with bags of food. Neban could have gone shopping himself, but his parents told him that he never got healthy things.

It was annoying most of the time, but he was grateful nonetheless.

Neban started cooking, occasionally peeking into the living area to check on his son. An hour or so passed before he finished cooking. When he said that food was ready, he already heard his son jumping off the couch and running towards him.

Instead of hitting his leg like last time, Theo stopped in front of him while looking up at him with a toothy grin. Neban bent down, picking him up to take him to the dining area. Once he set his son down, he said, “I will be back with your food and drink.”

He walked back into the kitchen, already seeing Wey and Isona making their plates. There was a plate next to Wey that had spaghetti in it. When Wey noticed his gaze on the food, he spoke, “I made this for your son. I hope that is fine?”

Neban hummed as he grabbed the food, then opened the fridge to get a water bottle. He walked back to the dining area, setting the plate and water bottle in front of his son while tucking the corner of a napkin in his shirt. The utensils were already at the table.

When his son was good, telling him ‘thank you,’ he walked back out to make his food. On his way to the kitchen, Wey and Isona were already making their way to the dining area. He moved out of the way for them.

He made his food while grabbing a water bottle for himself. Neban checked the kitchen before leaving, making sure he turned off everything. When he saw that everything was fine, he made his way to the dining area.

Everyone was already digging into their food when he walked in. He took a seat next to his son, sighing when he already saw pieces of noodles in the boy’s lap. ‘He eats like his grandpa.’ Neban thought as he picked up the noodles off his son and dropped them in a napkin.

He heard Isona laughing while his son was giving him an apologetic look. He ignored it because he did not mind the mess most of the time. Neban turned towards his food and focused on eating.

At least Wey and Isona were not moaning about how good the food was.

****

Neban bathed and changed Theo before putting him on his bed; the boy was sleeping, holding onto one of his pillows. Neban always used that as a substitute when he did not automatically join his son.

He walked into the living area, stopping when he saw Isona in a short satin nightgown. The top part of it had a v-line, that did not cover enough in Neban’s opinion. The bottom part had a small slit that would slightly open when she moved her legs, her bare legs.

Her blonde hair was wet as she was in the middle of drying it, and when she turned towards Neban, she smiled at him. “Hey.”

“H-hi.” His voice cracked as he awkwardly answered. He looked away as he started to rub his chin, “Are you spending the night again?”

“Oh, yes. I am sorry I did not ask right away. I was getting ready to go to your room to ask.”

Good thing he walked out of his bedroom because he does not need her going to his room dressed like that. “I do not mind. Next time, ask.”

Then he paused when he said that. ‘Next time,’ he thought, ‘why did I say that? There is no next time.’

And before he could take back what he said, Wey walked into the living area with no shirt on and some pajama pants that were hanging too low. He glanced at Wey’s chest, noticing the man’s muscles while he had tattoos on his arms. Neban quickly looked away, staring at the wall.

He thought the new sword he got was a siren, but Wey and Isona were the real ones.

“Y-you are staying too?” His throat felt dry; he needed water and possibly escaping this room while he was at it.

“Yeah. I apologize for not telling you right away. I wanted to take a shower first. But is it fine, it is already late, and I thought it would be best to stay. But I can go if you want.” Wey answered.

“Same,” Isona added.

Neban could not look at either of them as he nodded; he needed to leave this room right now. So, he quickly turned around, only to trip along the way. Wey and Isona made their way to him, grabbing his arm to keep him from entirely falling.

He felt something soft and hard, pressing against both sides of his arm. The feeling from the car was coming back, and he felt uncomfortable all over again. Activating [Shadow Travel], he disappeared from their hold and made his way back to his room.

Isona and Wey looked at the space where Neban used to be, and then back to each other when they heard a door slam close.

“What was that?” Isona asked.

Wey shrugged, not knowing what to say.

They both let it go as they walked to the guest rooms.