♕♚An Assassin's Faith♔♛

Chapter 47

Alfred Tenjin returned to Hawaii. He returned to his foster parent's modern mediterranean architecture house accompanied by a pool and a picnic table. He was home... But as dazzling and beautiful Alfred's house was, he was never really fond of it. It didn't feel like a home. It was big, empty and lonely unlike St. Peter's. No surprise; Alfred's parents were out holidaying again. Alfred was home alone. But Alfred was used to minding the house and being alone; his parents never paid much attention to him.

Ignoring his fear of being alone, Alfred lightly smacked his face and opened up his laptop. He tapped on a few keys, checked if his small black mic was working and joined the ongoing video chat. Several familiar faces (some with very questionable backgrounds; Justus have the Eiffel Tower as the background whilst David had a stack of books beside him, wearing glasses and had some sort of psych ward as his background??) popped up on his laptop screen and their voices filled Alfred's deserted bedroom.

"Man quarantining sucks. I miss the days where I can go out and scream at people."
"Justus, this isn't quarantine. We are simply isolating ourselves from others."
"It's the same thing though Heather!"
"Justus, you are wrong. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Quarantine is, and I quote, 'a period of time during which an animal or person that might have a disease is kept away from other people or animals so that the disease cannot spread'. We don't have any diseases."
"Billie you want me to travel through time and space to kick down your door and smack you?"
"Justus, stop."
"Fine Erwin."
"Having lawyers as siblings must be nice Gary. You can never get bored watching them bicker. I wonder if there are any moments which you can take photographs that can speak louder than words..."
"No Adalbert. And that's not possible."

Hearing some Quintessentials' trivial chatter, Alfred loosened up, feeling more at ease. He didn't feel as lonely as before. "Aloha," Alfred finally spoke up. Everyone fell silent before they all let out a massive cheer. "It is him, the King of Converse, Alfred Tenjin!" Sabrina cried out, "with the every so popular diplomatic polyglot who studied abroad in more than ten countries by our side, we shall never have a moment of silence. Quintessentials of many possesses various foreign vernacular as their mother tongue; they shall converse with Alfred in ease! But alas as the saying goes, Silence is Golden. Alfred; please give us mercy and allow silence to fall every once in a while."

"Stop it Sabrina, you're making me blush," Alfred laughed nervously, feeling his cheeks flush in embarrassment. "There's no need to be so humble Alfred. Sabrina is telling the truth," Britannia said calmly as her webcam displayed the literate braiding her hair, "to be able to converse with people all around the world... You are truly amazing." "Not really. All I want is for my parents to acknowledge me," Alfred mumbled. The polyglot forgot he was talking into the mic. Everyone fell silent. David Moon, who was reading a book of some sort, fixed his reading glasses and gave Alfred an intrigued look and a smile of amusement.

As if the moment couldn't get more awkward, a little gloink was heard. A boy with styled wavy black hair and dark brown eyes behind his glasses appeared. He wore a white t-shirt that reads 'Sh*t Happens' in bold black text and a gaming headset. The Quintessential Therapist Jack Huan (who wasn't in the same class as Alfred so he doesn't know him well. Akamai requested the therapist to check up on every class of Quintessentials) stared at the camera strangely, as if trying to read the atmosphere, before talking. "Did something happen?" He asked. Alfred sighed in response. "Sorry," Alfred quickly apologised, "I ruined the mood."

"No no no. Alfred it's fine," Acasia reassured, "and hey Jack. It's been a while since we last saw each other. You didn't show up in the meeting on about Maria.... No matter. How are you?" "Greetings, it's nice to see you again." Heather said with a nod. "Hi," Jack grunted, "yeah imagine not attending the supposedly important meeting. Couldn't be me honesty.... not. I had a long shift and I overslept. And I got lectured by Akamai for it but it is what it is." He paused before staring at the screen, narrowing his eyes.