Demons Beside You

“Mr. Chen, the frame and main body of your house is complete.” Felwood was calling Chen Zhao. “You can come take a look when you’re free.”

“Okay, I’ll come when I can.”

Fali grabbed a bear and joined Chen Zhao in Princess’ arms.

Ever since Princess came to their family, she became their personal sofa. Nothing was softer or bouncier than her body.

“Who called?”

“Mr. Felwood,” Chen Zhao said. “Our new home is almost done.”

“How soon is almost?”

“In about a month.” Chen Zhao thought about it. Only interior design was left.

“One more month?” Fali was a bit let down. No matter how this place was, it still wasn’t their home.

“We’re almost there. We’ll have a new home soon.”

Chen Zhao thought that it was about time to ask Bant about ordering furniture.

Just then, his phone rang again. “Hello?”

“Chen, it’s me, Winnip.”

“Winnip, good evening.”

Fali glanced at him. Why was her mother calling Chen Zhao?

“Is Fali beside you?”

“Yes, do you need to speak to her?”

“Just turn on speakerphone,” Winnip said.

“Hi, Mom.”

“It’s almost your dad’s birthday,” Winnip said. “Are you two free on the 18th?”

Fali glanced at Chen Zhao, who immediately nodded. “Yes, I’m free.”

“We’ll go visit Sacramento for a few days,” Fali said.

Sacramento was where the California state government was. The headquarters of Winnip’s supermarket chain was also located there.

After hanging up, Fali looked at Chen Zhao, asking, “Chen, are you sure you have time?”

“Of course. I promise.”

Chen Zhao hated Laurent. If possible, he obviously wouldn’t go celebrate Laurent’s birthday. However, he was Fali’s father. So what if Chen Zhao hated him?

Sacramento was only 600 kilometers away from L.A. It was only a one-hour flight. If they drove, it wouldn’t be over seven hours either.

“Should we drive there?” Fali asked. “This way, we can bring Princess and the others. If we go by plane, we’ll have to leave them here.”

“Sure.” Chen Zhao nodded. “Oh, I think we should get a driver?”

“Driver for what?”

“Drive the car, obviously. This way, we can play in the back.”

“Who would be willing to drive for us?”

“Faur, obviously. She can be our driver. Since it’s your dad’s birthday, she has to go too.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

There were still a dozen days before Laurent’s birthday though, so they weren’t in a hurry.

Next day.

After Fali went to work, Chen Zhao first went to the hotel to check on Risfar. He’d recovered quite well. After all, Chen Zhao cared for him personally and used his special ointment.

After that, Chen Zhao went to UCLA. When he reached the pool, someone came out hurriedly and crashed into him.

“You? You’re okay?” Kanter froze when he saw Chen Zhao.

“Oh, it’s Mr. Kanter. Are you ready to pay me back?” Chen Zhao smiled, but inside, he wondered what Kanter meant by “you’re okay?”

“I’m busy. Don’t have time.” Kanter looked like he was in a hurry.

Looking at his back, Chen Zhao narrowed his eyes. This guy was a bit weird!

Just then, Normans hit Chen Zhao’s back. “What are you standing there for? Procrastinating again?”

Chen Zhao shook his head. “Come on, let’s start today’s practice.”

Eveleigh had already changed into her swimsuit and had been waiting by the pool for a long time.

“Swim ten laps as a warmup.”

Two hours later, Chen Zhao brought over two servings of food. He’d prepared it himself. Of course, he’d also added some special ingredients to the food.

“Okay, this is your lunch.” Chen Zhao placed it before Eveleigh and Normans.

“This isn’t enough. Don’t you know how exerting swimming is?”

Eveleigh saw that her lunch was mostly fruits with a bit of meat and fish. This was definitely not enough for her. If she only ate this little, she would be exhausted by the afternoon.

On the other hand, Normans dug in without complaint. She was used to Chen Zhao’s tricks. No complaints or struggles were effective.

Plus, she’d asked for this training, so she had no reason to refuse or fight back. She knew that it was useless, just like how Eveleigh’s complaints were useless now.

After lunch, Chen Zhao had them continue to practice while he went to sleep in the RV.

“Normans, I’m still hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“No, stay here and practice. You were the one who wanted him to be your coach, but now you’re going against his orders.”

“I’m not going against his orders. I don’t have the energy to train. How do I train if I didn’t eat enough?”

“I’ll continue training. If you want to eat, go eat by yourself.”

“Fine. If that *sshole comes back, don’t say I went to eat… Just say I went to the bathroom.”

“I know.”

Eveleigh put on her jacket and ran straight out of the pool. She bought a bunch of snacks from the school supermarket and sat on the grass, ready to start. But as soon as she took a bite, she felt nauseous.

What was going on? Why didn’t she have an appetite?

It must not be her taste.

She switched to a sandwich, but she spat it out after a bite. She couldn’t drink anything either. She couldn’t eat any of the food.

How could this be? Why didn’t she want to eat at all?

Eveleigh wanted to cry. She’d spent so much money on snacks and had wanted to eat happily. In the end, she couldn’t eat anything.

Just as she was about to throw it all out, Beelzebub ran over, drooling with his tongue hanging. Eveleigh was pushed down. Princess had crashed into her from behind.

All of the food was scattered on the ground. Soon, Chen Zhao’s pet army started their robbery.

Eveleigh turned around and saw Chen Zhao standing there.

“Why are you here? I didn’t eat anything…”

“I know. Back to the pool. Start training again.”

After returning to the pool, Eveleigh felt extreme hunger—extreme hunger.

Seeing her get in the water, Normans swam over to her. “Did you feel like you couldn’t eat anything and then get hungry after you get back?”

“Yes…what’s going on? You feel this too?”

“No, I don’t, but I know this feeling. That *sshole put something in our food. If we eat behind his back, we’ll feel nauseous if we try eating anything. But as soon as we leave food, we’ll feel hungry. We can only eat what he agrees to or forces us to eat.”