Concern washed over Rhea after hearing the answer from her father. Her head looked down as she took a spoonful of rice and a small piece of pork. The spoon reached towards her mouth. Her mouth was closed shut and she slid the spoon away from it. Savory spread across her tongue as she munched the rice and pork. This process is repeated until her plate is empty.

Rhea reached for the glass and took a few gulps. After about six gulps, she placed it down gently. This process is repeated until all the water is drained from the glass.

After Rhea placed the glass on the same spot where she got it, her left arm swooped backwards and grabbed the back post of her chair. Her right hand formed a fist and her forearm was placed on the table. Then, as she rose into her standing position, her left hand pushed the chair back. Then, she walked to its back like a circle and gently pushed her chair back, with the addition of lifting it off the ground a bit. Then, she went out from the dining room to the stairs, leading to the second floor.

Once Rhea arrived at the second floor, the first thing she did was to go to the bathroom. Inside, she switched the light on. Then, she walked her way towards the sink, but not before pushing the door closed and pushing the middle of the knob, locking it. Right now, she’s in front of the mirror and the sink. Her right hand reached for the black toothbrush in the transparent, plastic cup with the other three toothbrushes used for her family. Rhea’s toothbrush has a purple design in front of it. At the bottom of it was the logo printed in black. This logo belongs to Colgate.

Rhea’s left hand reached for the Colgate toothpaste itself. Right beside the toothbrush plastic cup. This toothpaste has the dominant colors of red and white, but you can also see the other colors include Green, Blue and White. Rhea opened the toothpaste and placed its minty and freshening flavor onto her toothbrush. She closed the toothpaste and put it back where she got it.

Rhea opened the faucet, wet the toothpaste and she started brushing her teeth. After about five minutes, she’s done. She rinsed her toothbrush before her hand swooped under the running water. Now, the cupped hand was filled with water. It was reached to her lips and once the water was inside her mouth, she gargled for a few moments. Then, she pushed it out of the mouth into the sink through spitting like a faucet with running water.

After brushing her teeth, Rhea turned the knob, unlocking the door and left, but not before switching the light off.

Rhea walked her way towards hers and Ralpha’s bedroom where she could finally have time for herself. She shifted the black and purple electric fan up in the direction of herself in her bed. Then, she pushed the clutch knob to make it swivel. She pushed the electric fan on. A button with the number three on it.

As she heard the blades rotating rapidly, Rhea climbed up on the upper deck and laid down on her right side of the body. Her forearms and hands were lying beside her in front of her head and chest. Images of her own imagination and scenarios started running through her head. She allowed the air to enter her nostrils as she inhaled. Then, she pushed the air out of her nose, exhaling. She did this process in relaxation.

Meanwhile, with Ray, when he’s done with dinner, he did the same process as Rhea. This time, in the bathroom, he grabbed his own toothbrush. It was the same design as Rhea’s except that the color in front of it was light blue.

After he brushed his teeth, Ray exited the bathroom and headed his way to the master bedroom. Inside, there was a desk placed on the northeast corner near the door if you were sitting on the bed. As he sat on his office chair, he started doing the one thing needed for the sake of provision for the family. Managing the money incomes and his own few businesses. These businesses include The Tribe’s Guitars, Blue Leaves Ebooks and Ray’s Banana Chips.

Back with Rhea, her resting lasted until her mom and Ralpha came in. Her mind felt toned out of the scene as the two prepared themselves for bed. Soon enough, she saw that another electric fan — the one being chartreuse and black — was shifted in Ralpha’s direction. And like the first electric fan, the blades in the second one were rotating rapidly.
There was a click and the door was immediately opened. It was revealed to be Ray, whose lips stretched out a smile.

“Goodnight, my children,” he said to them.

“Goodnight, daddy,” Ralpha replied.

“’Night, dad,” Rhea replied.

“I love you,” Ray said.

“I love you, too,” both his children said at the same time.

“Goodnight,” Diona said, smiling at the children.

“Goodnight.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

With that, lights were out and the grownups exited the bedroom. Ralpha started drifting off to imagination, thinking about things like Godzilla, King Kong, T-Rex and other fandoms he’s interested in. Rhea, on the other hand, continued to breathe in relaxation. Unknowingly, her eyes were closed and she drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Rhea, Diona and Ralpha were sitting around the table in The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Located nearby one of the entrances in Cru Point. In Rhea’s perspective, she was holding her tablet with both hands. Right now, she was doing a Sonic roleplay with one of her online friends through Wattpad. Her lips stretched out a grin of interest as she typed a response to her online friend’s part of the story.

On her right was Ralpha, who was using his own phone for entertainment. Currently, he was on YouTube, watching videos such as Godzilla, Rabbids Invasion and Minions. And he did all this with his red and light blue headphones.

Ahead of Rhea was Diona, using her phone for entertainment. Right now, she was reading an online novel, which is related to something she calls a “Chinese Drama.” You might be wondering why they’re in The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Well, Ray had asked Diona for her, Rhea and Ralpha to meet him there. Diona wondered why, but she knew they had to wait for him here.

And while waiting, something rang in the three Daniels’ ears.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?!”

This caused their heads to shift in Rhea’s right direction. Four ladies were involved in a scene. Three girls were now standing in front of the fourth one. The fourth girl’s back seemed to be pushed against the wall. Rhea didn’t know what’s happening, but judging by the words she barely heard, she assumed that the three girls were crumbling the fourth person into dust.

“What’s your big idea? You stole the table we were supposed to sit in in Krispy Kreme,” said the first teenage lady.

This first lady has long, diamond pink, straight hair with bright makeup, hot pink eyeshadow and rosy hot pink lipstick. Her hair was laid up until her waist. For her outfit, she was wearing a purple dress that laid up until her knees and matching high-heeled boots.

“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” said the fourth girl. “And yes, I did steal your table. I just didn’t know until you came.”

“Well, now you know. And we’re gonna give you a—” The second lady swooped her right hand forward while finishing her sentence in an equal verve. “—push to our wrath.”

The second lady had a long, red ponytail. The ponytail was tied almost at the top of her head and its color is maroon. This hairstyle was laid up until her stomach. She also had bright makeup with her eyeshadow being maroon and her lipstick being cherry red. For her outfit, she wore a ruby red shirt, tucked in with maroon leggings and black combat boots.

“Too bad!” The third lady paused for a moment. “So sad!”

The third lady had sapphire blue hair bun. She also had bright makeup, but she has sky blue eyelashes and blue lipstick. For her outfit, she wore a long blue dress that laid up until the middle of her legs. For her footwear, she wears sapphire blue flats.
The fourth one looked… kinda familiar to Rhea. She had tan hair and brown, straight hair that laid up until her shoulders. For her outfit, she was wearing pink shirt with blue jeans and black rubber shoes. As Rhea examined the features, her eyes widened in shock.

Based on the fourth girl’s features on her face and the tone in her voice, she recognized her as her best friend, Celia. Celia Andrei Rose Manzedillio.

Her mind told her to not get in the scene and cause trouble accidentally, but concern building up inside of her made her feel like she had to defend her best friend.

And so, Rhea checked on the response she was typing and after a few adjustments, she tapped the “send” icon and it was sent to her online friend. Then, she tapped the multitasking icon at the bottom right of the screen and swiped to the right to erase the recent screen. She pressed the home icon at the bottom center of the screen and pressed the power button on the top right corner of her tablet. Then, she placed it down.

Rhea rose into her standing position in the same way she did last night.

“Rhea, what are you doing?” Diona asked her.

“What I had to do,” Rhea replied to her.

Just as she was about to take a step forward, a male, familiar voice was heard. “Hey!”

Rhea turned slightly to her right. It revealed Ray in a quite different outfit. He was currently wearing gray Yokohama shirt with black pants and matching leather shoes. He was seen walking towards the scene as he continued, “What are you thinking about putting her down like that?”

Rhea decided to walk closer to the scene to listen to a conversation between her dad and the three girls. Maybe he’s gonna do some karate? she thought questionably.

“Well, what do you think?” the first lady said. Her hands were on her waist and her head was swayed upwards before it got back to an original shape. “We were just having a…” The three girls’ eyes turned to each other with their eyebrows furrowed and her lips, stretching out an evil smirk. “…normal conversation with this young lady over here.” At the last part, her head gestured to Celia.

“Let her go or I will call the police on you,” Ray said to them sternly.

“Are you kidding me?” the second lady said.

“No, he’s not,” Rhea finally said as she walked her way to her father’s left side. “We’re not here to cause trouble.” Her hands were laid on her waist as she continued, “But you need to spare her life, safe and sound. Because if you don’t… well…” Her arms were crossed. “…that would be a mistake.”

The three girls thought for a moment before they turned to each other with that same look given to each other a few moments ago. After another few moments, they turned back to Ray and Rhea.

“How about we offer a deal?” the first lady said.

“A deal?” Rhea asked.

“Oh, yes. A deal.” The first lady walked forward smoothly. Then, she circled around Ray and Rhea. From Ray’s right side of his body to his and Rhea’s backs. Then, from the backs to Rhea’s left side of her body. “We’re gonna have a contest where we battle against each other. And there’s only one way to do it.” She paused for a moment as she walked her way back to her original position. Her body swooped around back to where her front body was facing the two. “The Battle of the Bands.”

You can see the three girls smirking as she said this.
Both Ray’s and Rhea’s faces were plastered with confusion. Their heads turned to each other, then back at the first lady.

“If you win, we’ll let her go as you told us. And if we win…” she said. A pause occurred upon her before she let out a giggle, “…you’ll see.”

“Well, I don’t care about— uh, whoever you guys are. Because you won’t win,” Rhea told the three girls as she shot glares at them.

“Just keep on wishing~” The third lady said. Giggles and laughter of evil escaped from the three girls’ mouths.

With that, they walked away from the scene, their backs turned on Ray and Rhea.

We’ll see about that. And we’ll make sure we won’t lose, Rhea thought.

With that, both Ray and Rhea walked toward Celia and helped her up. After receiving acknowledgement from the latter herself, she went back inside Krispy Kreme.

At this point, Ray and Rhea knew the situation is dire. And it left Ray no other choice.