DELIVERY

"Son of a dinosaur!"

Butler John was taken aback when he caught sight of Shantal's state. He almost spilled the tea that he was carrying on the tray due to his shock

The other party almost looked no different from a panda, with the presence of heavy dark circles around her eyes. Perhaps due to her excitement, sleep eluded her last night. As a result, her eyes looked like they were sunken.

"I can't sleep."

She mumbled as she took the cup of green tea from Butler John.

"I could guess as much as that."

He seconded the girl right away and then added,

"Careful, it's hot---"

But his warning was a second late because Shantal already scalded the tip of her tongue.

"This is hot!"

Shantal squeaked as she put the cup down in a hurry. Some of its content spilled on the glass tabletop, but she could not care less.

"Just as how a tea should be."

Meanwhile, Butler John retorted as softly as he could. He deliberately spoke in a whisper as he did not wish for the other party to hear his response but Shantal was still able to hear him anyway.

When he turned his head at her direction, he saw that Shantal had her eyes narrowed while looking at him.        ________ (- _-") __________

At the same time, she was also sticking her tongue and making a futile attempt to fan it with her bare hand.

Butler John knew that he was about to receive a verbal lashing from his young mistress so before Shantal could even give him an earful first thing in the morning, Butler John already made a wise move.

He knew well enough that anything about package arrival and order deliveries could do the trick of uplifting Shantal's mood, so he started with that.

"We received delivery early this morning. In the mea----"

Yet before Butler John could even finish what he was about to say, Shantal already cut him off in mid-sentence.

"Where are they? Bring them to me this instant."

Shantal ordered right away and judging from the change in her expression, it was apparent that the thought of her scolding Butler John was already pushed at the back of her mind.

Butler John, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of relief after his success of diverting Shantal's attention into something else; with that, he was able to avert the crisis for himself.

"Young mistress, the items that you are requesting are being sanitized as we speak. But I believed that they would arrive any minute from now."

Butler John  declared and just as when he was done talking,

'Knock... knock...'

The sound of someone knocking against the wooden door behind them interrupted their conversation. As a result, both Butler John and Shantal ended up looking at the direction where the sound was coming.

Shantal who could not wait to see her order closed the distance between her and the door. She walked towards it with hurried steps.

But disappointment soon clouded her features when she found out that what lied behind the door was not exactly what she was anticipating.

"Hi, there cous! How have you been?"

And before Shantal could even give her an answer, the other party already pulled Shantal in close proximity and purposely let their cheeks touched.

Meanwhile, Shantal was left with no choice but to force a smile as she greeted her back.

"Good morning Jodi. It's nice to see you again."

Shantal tried to inject as much enthusiasm into her voice when she said that. All the while fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

If there was one person that she did not wish to see, it would be this cousin of hers.

She badly wanted to stay away from her as much as she could. But just like a common cold virus, the other party was simply hard to avoid.

Especially when her Aunt Mathilde, Jodi's mother, made it a point to always visit her once or twice a week.

Jodi was like that of a typical 'know-it-all' person, thanks to her above average IQ.

More often than not, Shantal would always end up being compared to her, as they used to attend the same school.

Shantal was not one of the smartest in her class, but at least she was known as one of the school belles. She was the beauty, and Jodi has the brain. They each have their own forte.

But growing up, the comparison between them also became increasingly competitive and it was for the same reason why Shantal grew less fond of Jodi as time passed by.

"You should have seen my Arvin. He is the complete embodiment of the word gentleman. He could definitely be a great guy, only if he was not a robot"

Jodi continued to blabber around, talking about the Android Partner that she purchased recently. But Shantal only watched the other party's lips moved. She could not hear a word from what she was saying, mostly because she was not paying her cousin any heed in the first place.

It was only when Shantal saw someone entering her room again, this time with a box in his hand, did she put an effort to make a reaction.

"Excuse me, Jodi. I just have to take this."

She told her cousin and without waiting for the other party's response, Shantal headed to the door to receive the package.