The Grand Mistress

Chapter 220 - Sweet Smile

"A pet?" Hawk asked to confirm it.

"Yes, my cat," Feather smiled wide when she said it. "When I was still in the white mansion, my dear pet Cat died so suddenly without reasons and it broke my heart. This was the reason why I had always loved that name. Also, my cat is a fat one so I always wanted to be called fuzzy Cat,"

Hawk did not reply but had rather looked at Feather with blank expression. In his mind were further questions that he wanted to ask but Feather's answers made him choose not to. 

"Hawk…" Feather called for him because his eyes went more searing and she cannot stand against his gaze anymore. His call seemed to have woken up Hawk but instead of answering her call, the man immediately stood and slowly went for the door like he was lost.

Seeing this reaction, Feather was confused, "Wait…" 

"Rest for now, I'll get back to you when in time," Hawk told her and went out the door. Outside, he silently traced the long hallway, helpless and miserable.

He was wrong. Very wrong.

In a moment, the hallway seemed to have moved and made him feel dizzy that he staggered for a few minutes. He held his aching head and supported himself by placing a hand on the wall. It felt like he was losing all the life in his body.

"President," Mr. Blue who accompanied him that time saw this and immediately got worried. "What's happening? Do I need to call your doctor?"

The man thought that since Hawk just recently recovered from his injury, he might have gotten dizzy because of it. 

"No," Hawk halted his attempts. "I can bear it,"

Hawk attempted to walk further like normal as he didn't want to be assisted but when he did so, his mind went turning and after a few minutes, he collapsed.

"President!" 

****

Hawk didn't know what was going on. He could hear some voices but couldn't understand what everyone was saying.  When he opened his eyes, all he could see was blinding lights and blurred faces. He wanted to get up and checked what was happening but his body was so weak. Also, there was a strong force that was pulling his eyes to close, pulling him to sleep.

Before he closed his eyes however, the face suddenly became clear and what he saw was the face of the young Simione looking down at him with a smile. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and it felt so comforting.

"Cat," He called.

"Hi Spin!" The girl replied and ran away from him. Not wanting to be away from her, Hawk got up and followed her through his eyes. He saw her climbing on the wall and evaporated through the thick branches. It was the tree that connects to the walls of the white mansion, the one he used to climb to be able to get to her.

With the intention to follow the girl, Spin charged all his might to run and climb, wanting to follow where she went and when he was able to climb safely, he saw her at the corner looking carefully at the leaves of the big tree.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he noticed that she was dedicatedly checking on some random leaves as if there was something in there that was worthy of her attention.

"Shhhhh…." She hushed him down. "Come here and see this,"

Without hesitation, Hawk walked slowly to her and looked onto the thing that caught her attention. There in the leaves was a thick skinned caterpillar that was lavising itself from the leaves to feed himself.

"Hey, stay away from that!" Hawk tried to pull the girl away as he knew it was a dangerous creature. It might look tiny and cute but when it gets into your skin, you'll definitely have an allergy. "If your touch it, you'll get hurt,"

"Shhhh…I know," Simione told him. "I was just watching it,"

"That is one hell of an ugly creature, it's not worth watching," Spin expressed as the girl seemed to be unbothered by the harmful insect. "Besides, it's dangerous,"

"I know okay," Simione pouted and allowed Hawk to pull her away from that corner. Sighing deep and frustrated, she settled bored on the floor and played with her feet that were hanging on the air.

"You shouldn't take interest in things like that," The boy told her as he sat beside her.

"Caterpillars are interesting creatures, you know," Simione replied, glaring at him. "I just wanted to see it transform,"

Her last words pique Hawk's interest and so he tried to ask her about it, "Transform?" 

"They became butterflies at the right time," She replied, now with a smile. She had read from her books about the life of caterpillars and how they become butterflies. "Don't you think that's a wonderful thing? Just imagine that fuzzy ugly creature…at first it looks for ugly and nobody wants them…but when the time comes and they transform into a beautiful butterfly,...everyone suddenly likes them and the best thing in all that is that they can fly….fly and flutter beautifully…"

"You like caterpillars that much?" Hawk asked as he noticed how delighted she was when she told him the story. Her honey-colored eyes were glimmering with thorough amusement and adoration while the smile in her lips did not fade even once.

"Well I just love the idea that something so ugly can transform into something beautiful," She replied.

"I see.."

"This is the reason why I wanted to be called Cat," She added to Hawk's surprise. 

"Huh?" Hawk's eyes went big. "I thought Cat was your real name,"

"Well, I don't like my name so I need to have another name, we are all entitled to the names we like afterall," She reasoned. "Besides, the boys here don't use their names. If I'm not mistaken, Spin is not your real name right?"

"Hmmmmmm," Hawk refused to answer, not that he didn't want to tell her the truth but he was afraid to commit another mistake. Even though Simione and him were close, he had not constrained for fully revealing himself and who he was knowing that he and Butler Gah's life were in danger. One wrong move from him could lead to something dangerous and so as much as he wanted to,  the situation does not allow him to.

"You don't need to answer if you like," Simione replied. "I know the boys does that all the times, even Dough's name is not Doughs but he used that because he doesn't like his name,"

She made him comfortable by referring to their other friend whom she knew. Dough actually was the grandson of the white mansion's caretaker and he knew Simione very well. They were great friends as when Simione started living in the white mansion when her grandmother got sick there was no other child in the mansion aside from him. Dough was actually older than her and because he was fond of the girl and felt pity that she can't play outside, he found ways so that she can be friends with the other village children without jeopardizing her identity. Afterall, the people in the white mansion had strange identities he himself did not understand.

"So your name is from the word caterpillar?" Hawk chose to confirm this rather than give an answer to her question.

"Uhmmmm…yes…" Simione proudly replied and went shaking her head slowly.

"Well suits you," Hawk replied but then went on teasing her. "But I think I shall call you fuzzy Cat from now,"

"Why is that?" The smile in Cat's face went away because Hawk's voice suggested that he was thinking of something funny.

"Because …." Hawk answered but his laughing only made his next statements fall into a mumbling.

"What?" Simione's face grimaced, not liking Hawk's silly laughter.

"It suits you well since your cheeks are ever so chubby," Hawk teased and even went as far as pinching the girls two cheeks to emphasize the stored fat in there. 

"Ouch! Stop it!" Simione frustrated and flushed an angry look. "I'm not a fuzzy Cat!"

"Yes you are! Ha ha aha aha!" Hawk made fun of her and this time pointed a finger in front of her nose.

"I don't care!" Simione pouted this time and acted hurt, ready to cry. She was still a girl of seven right then and so her tolerance for Hawk's teasing wasn't really that strong. Besides, she felt bad being called chubby, especially that she wanted to be a ballet dancer. 

"I was just kidding," Hawk withdrew his teasing when he saw that she was about to cry. He ten patted her head continuously to comfort her. "Besides, you shouldn't feel bad being called a fuzzy cat because you see, they transforms so ever beautifully afterwards,"

"Into a beautiful butterfly,"

"Do you think I will become a beautiful butterfly after?"

"You are already beautiful to me," Hawk replied and gave her one sweet smile.