[IC] Messengers of Heaven and Hell

[QueenSei]

“Wow, really? You only eat Chinese food?” Abigail asked in surprise, pouting a little at the thought of having the same greasy food all the time. “Do you ever get tired of that? I mean, Chinese food is delicious, but I think I’d get bored of eating that if I ate it all the time...”

Walking over to her fridge, Abigail hugged her hair away as she grabbed the pitcher filled with cold water, placing it on the table before going to get two cups. Listening to Roman, she blushed slightly and giggled a bit. “You’re really charming, I can tell you that much. You’re also unpredictable, and strangely enough I like that about you.” She replied, coming back with the glasses. She started pouring water into both cups, before looking at Roman as he asked to talk more about herself. Shyly, Abigail let out a small laugh.

“Well, I guess for starters, my parents are both travelers, but my mom is American with Mexican descent and my dad is from England. I was actually born in Japan, when my mom and dad were living there for about a year or so. So because of that, I know English, Spanish, and I’m starting to learn Japanese.” Abigail explained, finally sitting down at her seat.

“Anyway, I hope the food is good. I usually just cook for myself most of the time.” She said timidly, starting to use her fork to poke around her food, taking the first bite. “I already told you about school, sorta. All girl’s boarding school, and some homeschooling, because of my parents and their careers. They’re both business people, or something like that. I think my mom is in marketing? I don’t remember.” Abigail took a moment to eat some more of her food, looking at Roman curiously. “What do you think? Is the food any good?”

[Rogue Sloth]

“That’s good to know,” Roman chuckled when Abigail said she liked how unpredictable he was. “I’ll do my best to keep you on your toes.” He shot her a coy wink and then dug into the food she had prepared. Bringing a forkful to his mouth, he chewed slowly as she went on to give him a brief explanation of her parents’ work and her life traveling abroad. He found it interesting that she had been born in Japan and moved to her family’s home country later on, and he wondered offhandedly if she had dual citizenship in both nations. Not being familiar with the laws in Japan, he was curious how that worked.

When she asked him his option of the dinner she had cooked, he nodded enthusiastically. “It’s great. I haven’t had chicken this good in a long time. You’re quite the talented chef, Abby.” As if to prove his point, he popped another bite of food into his mouth. He chased it with the water she had brought and then leaned back in his chair to meet her gaze across the table as he contemplated what to share with her about himself. It wasn’t that he was a particularly reserved person, but he wanted to choose information that would keep her interested so she would want to go on a third date with him.

“You know, it’s funny that you mention you were born in another country,” he said after a moment’s pause. “I’m actually from Brazil, myself, although you might not be able to tell. I’ve been told I don’t have much of an accent anymore.” He smiled proudly, recalling how he had worked hard to master English when he had been younger so American businessmen would take him seriously. Being fluent in the language had come in handy as he rose through the ranks of P.H. Co.

He went on, “I came to this country on a work visa when I was twenty, and applied for my EB-1A after three years of being employed at Precision Horizons—they manufacture and sell security tech to businesses in New York. The EB-1A, if you don’t already know, is a green card for immigrants with ‘extraordinary abilities.’ Basically, it just means I excelled at my field enough to be allowed to stay in the country.” He shrugged casually. “As long as I keep working in marketing and sales, I can’t be deported, and I’ll be able to make a living for myself in America. It’s a pretty sweet deal.”

Roman leaned forward again to take another bite of chicken before going on to ask, “So, how did you end up in the Big Apple if your family travels so much?”

[QueenSei]

Abigail smiled brightly as Roman complimented her cooking skills, making her blush slightly. "Thank you, I try my best. I always liked to make my own food, so I don't really go out to eat that often... That, and also I just don't know any good places to go to. I also don't like to go to food places by myself, I like having company with me. So you can imagine how happy I am that you came here." She said, eating some more food before her eyes grew wide as she listened to Roman's story.

"Whoa, really? I would've never guessed you were from Brazil!" Abigail exclaimed, really amazed. She giggled a bit after seeing his proud smile, which gave her the idea that he worked hard to perfect his English. Listening attentively, Abigail began to wonder what it was like to move into the US with a visa like that. A lot of hard work and tedious processing, probably. "I honestly don't really know much about visas and things like that, to be honest." She admitted, taking another bite of her food. "I moved a lot, like I said before, but sorta settled down when I entered highschool. As for the legal immigrant stuff, I don't really know how my dad did it, but I guess being an international business man for a very long time helped him figure out what to do for the whole citizenship deal in the States. So by the time I finally got to New York, I was already a citizen here and everything is okay. I stayed here with my mom while my dad continued to travel and do business, but a few months after I graduated, my mom started working with him again once she knew I was ready to go to college and stuff like that. It's honestly kinda complicated, all of this, but it's basically what happened."

Abigail took a sip of her water and sighed. "But the bad thing about moving a lot is just the fact that I don't get to stay long enough to be friends with people sometimes. I have only probably three friends, one of them being someone I met while doing charity work here. It's kinda boring not having friends.." Abigail laughed nervously.

[Rogue Sloth]

Roman listened patiently as Abigail delved a little further into her family’s past. From what she shared with him, it sounded like she’d had quite an adventurous childhood. However, he hadn’t come to her apartment to learn about who she was, or where she had come from. He just had one end goal in mind: Earn this gorgeous woman’s trust enough to convince her to spend a night with him, and then move on to the next. His jade eyes traveled from her face down to her body as she spoke, impatiently awaiting the time when he would get what he wanted from her. He knew he was going to have to invest some time into a few dates, but he hoped it wouldn’t take too long. There were plenty of other hotties in New York just waiting for a shark like him to come along. He couldn’t waste all his time on a single one-night stand.

When Abigail finished speaking, he looked up again to meet her gaze. Havin only partially paid attention to her story, it took him a moment to remember what she had been saying to him. “You know, you’re a pretty trusting person,” he said with an amused smirk. “You invited a total stranger into your home, and then told him you’re living alone in the city with no nearby family, and almost no friends. For all you know, I could be a murderer just waiting around to kill you.” He chuckled to himself and picked up a butter knife from the table, twirling it between his fingers. Setting his own ambitions aside, he almost felt pity for this girl. If she didn’t wise up to the fact that most people were selfish and only looked out for themselves, she was going to have a hard life in New York. There was no room for innocence or blind trust in the big city. She was going to have to learn to watch her back.

“For the record, I’m not a murderer,” Roman went on, placing the knife back down on the table and leaning back in his chair. “But you might want to be a little more guarded about that information in the future. There are plenty of people out there who are much crueler than me, and I can’t promise I’ll be around to stop them every time.” He winked at her as he referenced the time when he had saved her from the robbers not long ago. Seeing an opportunity to earn a bit more of her trust, he tagged on one more quip at the end: “Just do me a favor and stay safe, so I don’t have to worry about you when I’m not around, okay?”