THE GUARDIAN DEVIL

Chapter 42 "A Walk Towards Normality"

Lucifer's P.O.V

Up until now I never realized knocking a door could be this hard.

During every second of the last ten minutes that I have been standing in front of her cabin and watching the back of my angel; looking out of the french window that she loved.. whenever I mustered up some courage and raised my hand to knock, the fear of seeing the hatred in her eyes and to face the countless doubts I know would be present on my angel's face, crushed each and every bit of strength gathered.

No matter how hard I was trying, I just couldn't bring myself to face her.

I could feel my heart sink and the fearful lump forming again and again in my throat, but after a while, I somehow managed to finally knock on the door.

Confusion..anger..doubts..panic..dismay..aversion..loathing..disgust and hatred!

All the emotions I was dreadfully anticipating to see in my angel's eyes were effaced by the unpredicted yet the most serene thing to my eyes..her smile!

"Ohh you're here Lu-" she stopped abruptly; wiping away the smile that graced her face just a moment ago, but this tiniest change in her was enough to bring back the dreaded anticipation that was flooding inside me.

"I mean.. do you need anything Mr. Knight?" she suddenly rearranged her expressions and asked in a professional tone.

Phew! Relief!

"It's okay angel." realizing that the disappearance of her smile had nothing to do with me but the fact that she thought Dolivo was still in my office, I managed to gather the scrapes of my confidence.

"Is he gone?" she craned her neck tilting it sideways, trying to peek outside the door, but unable to locate Andrei anywhere, her eyes focused on my face looking for an answer.

But still feeling uneasy about the question I didn't know what to answer; yet that I knew I had to answer.. the only reply I could gain courage for, was a nod.

"I am so sorry Lucifer. I should have seen the blinds on the window before randomly entering your office. I didn't know someon-" releasing a deep breath, she suddenly started blabbering, but thankfully the smile on her face returned, calming a bit of my worries.

"It's okay angel. It's really okay." I assured her.

"Where's Asher?" she asked probably expecting him too, as he too was present in the office.

'Making sure Andrei doesn't get his eyes again on you.' I replied in my mind, remembering Asher insisting on personally sending off Dolivo.

"He had some work to take care of." I replied.

"Did you need anything?" Wanting desperately to change the topic, I asked remembering the excitement in her voice when she came to my office earlier.

"Huh!?" she exclaimed clueless of my sudden query.

"Earlier, when you came to my office!" I explained.

"Ohh! That! Actually I wanted to get off of work a bit early today, so I came to take your permission." she replied and paused for a moment.

"I have already finished my work for today, so there will not be any problem." she immediately clarified.

"That's not a problem angel. You can take the day off, but may I know the reason.. only if you want to tell!

"I wanted to go grocery shopping and buy some vegetables." she replied.

"But why do you need to go for it personally? The staff restocks the pantry daily and if you need anything apart from what they usually bring, you can just order them to buy whatever you want." I reasoned, not wanting her to worry about such trivial matters.

But what seemed more intriguing to me was the reason of her wanting to go to the grocery store. 

As far as I observed her during her stay with me, she didn't seemed too interested in cooking, not that it mattered to me in any way, but her sudden enthusiasm about her personally visiting the store, piqued my curiosity.

"Do you know how to cook?" I realized only after the words fell off from my mouth, how strange and rude that sounded, so I immediately opened my mouth to apologize and rephrase my curiosity, but before I could say anything, my angel replied, thankfully not getting offended.

"Umm.. Actually.. no! She replied innocently while trying her best to hide her embarrassment, but the blush on her face was so cute that a soft chuckle instinctively left my lips.

"It was my brother who did all the cooking as neither was I interested nor did I know how to cook. I barely learned to make a dish before.." she paused and after a second shook her head as if trying to throw away the unwanted memories that entered her mind without a warning.

"And since I've completed one month at my first ever job, I wanted to celebrate it with you and Asher. So I decided to cook something.. It was the only thing I could think of, and the ingredients in the pantry are not enough." she completed.

"Can I come with you?" I tried my luck.

"Really? Will you come?" to my surprise even after what she saw at my office, she not only wanted me to tag along, the delight that beamed her face was something that I think I can never get enough.

"After you." I gestured towards the door and followed her with a smile on my face and an indescribable pleasure in my heart.

It had been half an hour since we entered the store and though she still didn't put anything in the cart yet, she seemed to enjoy walking the aisles, just looking at the items displayed on either side, which might seem boringly normal to others, but I knew that it was something that she missed..something that she desperately wanted back in her life..the boringly normal life.

So without uttering a single word and interfering the world that seemed to be enjoying, I just walked behind her pushing the cart.

"Do you like broccoli?" she suddenly halted and asked out of nowhere.

Only then did I realize that we were already in the vegetable section and she was holding a broccoli in her hand.

Broccoli! Yuck! I just hate it!

"I h-"

"I love it!" Before I could express my dislike in the distasteful and aversive green, she suddenly turned towards me and stated with a grin.

"I love it too!" Not wanting to lessen the grin on her face even a bit, I replied. And to my elation the grin on her face got even bigger.

"I would really be in a pickle if you would have said that you disliked it.." she sighed with relief, but unable to fully understand what she meant, my eyes unconsciously squinted in confusion.

"The only dish I know to cook.." she paused and gave a sheepish smile, "Broccoli is the main of it" she explained.

An involuntary soft chuckle escaped my lips as she cheerfully put not just one but two broccolis in the cart.  

A/N 

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