Chapter 9
Chaotic Mass
"Ohh that's our online taxi right?, let's go i feel hungry after all this experience"
Walking first, Lucia approached the car that stopped in front of the salon,
Sophia sees the registration plate of the car and checks if it matches the car they're ordered, notices the difference Sophia wanted to stop Lucia but it's already late,
Lucia already in the left side of the passenger door.
Haven't got the chance to reach the door, the back passenger door opened and a girl around Eve's age came out and a familiar face came out from the other side.
Lucia realized that she's in front of the wrong car, trying to act like she wanted to pass the car.
She almost froze after seeing who the other passengers were, it's her coworkers!
Trying to stay composed she is forced to walk and pass them as if there's nothing wrong.
The teenage girl spotted Lucia and make a flabbergasted expression, gasping and ran towards her brother nudging him to look at what she saw.
The brother of course already noticed Lucia, he also acted the same way as his sister, both can't move their gaze from Lucia,
But finally snapped after Lucia stopped and looked back towards Eve and Sophia's direction.
Eve saves Lucia from a possible awkward interaction by calling her to wait for her, then Eve runs towards Lucia.
"Sister! Wait for me! Let's go, our car are right there"
By taking Lucia by the hand both walk away from the brother and sister pair.
The sister talked to her brother.
"Who is that beautiful older sister.. Wow she's look like an actress.."
The brother think that he have seen the younger ones before, but can't remember who they're so he only able to say
"Yeah… she.. Even better than the actress i saw in the movie, i don't know, maybe she is an actress?,
"Alright let's stop gooning at them, you haven't forgotten what we're doing here right?"
Still looking at Lucia direction, she answered half consciously
"Yeah.."
Looking at his sister not responding he yelled.
"Then move! What the hell are you doing… haaah it should be me who get stunned like that, but here we have you acting like that"
Flinched after hearing her brother's loud voice, the sister felt angry because she get surprised.
"Hey! Don't yell at me like that! Brother this is why you haven't been able to get a girlfriend!, hmph!"
Sophia passed the siblings to follow Eve and Lucia without giving them any look, the sister and brother combo finally walked away to continue their business.
Their car finally arrived, without further ado they entered the car with the same distribution seat like before.
Something different is happening though, unlike the last driver that are preferred to be professional, this one is really talkative,
Lucia as always chose to not join the conversation and preferred to think what should he plan next if something similar happened like those teenagers in the neighborhood.
'I should stay focused, especially now that we're almost arrived at city malls.
'I should expect something to happen, as the crowd gathers a lot of different types of people'
'Also with the information my sisters gave me previously I should be able to act better,
'Yeah… I don't really like doing all of this, but… I don't have much choice,
'I don't even know how to use all this new power except maybe to summon my wings and broader senses,
'So acting suspiciously will gather more attention, and with attention comes trouble..
'Aaaahh… what a tough life..'
Pondering without care about the surroundings and time, Lucia hasn't realized that the car already in the vicinity of the mall almost entered the front lobby.
The car stopped and they paid the driver, three of them passed the front lobby and went to the food court section, to go for lunch.
On the way to the food court, Lucia is already receiving more attention than before,
But because it's quite crowded because of the national holiday, everyone hasn't tried to talk to her yet.
After arrived on the food court, Lucia let Eve chose where and what they gonna eat,
Without much thinking Eve led her sisters towards an udon restaurant, it's a chain store that is well known in the country,
She never ate in this restaurant before so she's quite a bit curious about the taste, the sisters agreed.
Fortunately they still have vacant seats, but sadly it's separated into 2 tables, because the table only accommodates 2 seats.
Lucia tells her sisters that she will take a different table, but Sophia doesn't let Lucia,
Because if all the tables are full she might have to share that table with another customer that comes alone.
'Sister Sophia is right, i haven't able to really communicate with others since leaving the house, it will be awkward to have some strangers looking at me intensely while I'm eating,
'But sister Sophia herself also really beautiful…, let's hope if there's someone filled the vacant seat it would be a woman'
They immediately seated and get to order, the food came not long after, and they began to eat.
Fortunately the vacant seat on Sophia tables doesn't get filled by a stranger, though while eating the siblings still got some attention from other visitors.
After eating they paid the bills and finally went shopping. The clothing store is located on the third floor, so they have to use escalators.
Again, Lucia get a lot of looks from others, she at this point almost adapted to the attention and acted like an unapproachable person to deter any possible conversation.
Sadly… there's a 'bug' coming close to her, actually a bunch of 'bugs', and again it's a group of teenagers, with a ratio of ⅓ for girl,
The girls only looked from the side but several boys were already coming towards Lucia, acting curious the first boy finally called Lucia with a greeting.
"Excuse me!"
Lucia already noticed their attention, reluctantly she stopped and answered, she can feel that these boys are only curious about her, so she tries to give them a chance.
"Pardon me, I'm only speak in English"
It seems the boy already expected this answer, so he started talking in English, and asking the question they're all curious about.
"Miss.. Are you Perhaps an actress? Or an idol?"
'As I expected this question.. I guess it's because of my appearance, huft.. Let's make this fast'
"Actually, no. I'm not in any entertainment industry, is there anything more you want to ask?, it seems your friends still want something"
The girls from the group coming close with a phone in their hands, same with the boys,
Eve and Sophia trying to tell them that they can't take a photo or video without permission.
Because of the scene the crowd already gathered in their vicinity, some even took a photo and video,
While Eve and Sophia trying to refrain those naughty strangers from taking photos the crowd just became too much for them to handle.
'Damn! We're getting too much attention, I have to finish this fast or something bad might happen!'
"I'm sorry I have to go, Eve! Sister Sophia! Let's go!"
They tried to leave the crowd, but because of some misinformation spreading among the crowds it became a chaotic mess.
Some tell that Lucia is a foreign actress, some says she's an idol in training from korean agency, some even said that she's a social media influencer.
With this much crowd of course the mall security team will be deployed, but after seeing the security team presence it only further gives fuel to the crowd's imagination thinking that Lucia is actually what they're thinking.
Feeling overwhelmed because of the situation Lucia almost snapped,
Fortunately Eve and Sophia are there with her, she doesn't know what she will do to avoid the crowd if she's alone, maybe something drastic could happen because of her clouded mind.
The siblings of course panicked and try to get close to the mall security team,
After a bit of struggle from passing the crowd the security team shielded the siblings and escorted them to the employee only area, and to the VIP room for important guests.
Lucia's moods become really bad after passing the crowd, there's someone who touches her in inappropriate places, and after thinking that she gets furious because her sisters might experience something similar.
Now inside the room for VIP they finally were able to get some room to breathe, Eve talked first telling her feeling about the situation.
"Hmph! What they think they're doing! Mobbing us like that! Not only taking photos and videos without permission, they even touch us! Wait! Sisters, did you also get touched by the mobs?"
Sophia and Lucia reacted by the word of touch, both get angry and Lucia finally snapped.
"For godfucking sake! They also touched you!? Arrghhh! How do we leave the mall then! How about our plan!..."
Even though Sophia is also angry she chose to calm down and calming her sister down, also apologize to them.
"I'm sorry… I am actually expecting something like this to happen.. But I choose to give myself expectations of good outcomes. It's my fault… I'm sorry guys"
Hearing a confession of self blaming from Sophia, Eve and Lucia finally calm down and told Sophia that it's not her fault.
"No no no no sister! It's not your fault, it should be me who apologizes, because…
"I'm the one who has the idea to go to a mall.. We should just buy the clothes from an online shop.. I'm sorry…"
Lucia doesn't want her sisters to blame themselves, after all she thinks that all of them won't happen if her sisters come without her, so it's her fault for gathering the crowd's attention.
"Guys.. It's actually because of me, my appearance is the problem here, if only i wear some disguise we might be able to avoid trouble.."
"No sister Lucy… I don't think any disguise can cover your aura and your beautiful face, it might only give them some weird idea, like undercover actress or something"
Suddenly Someone knocked on the door and came inside. He looked like a manager from the mall and followed by a head of security.
The one who looked like the manager spoke.
"I'm sorry for the incident, I'm the head manager of this mall, please have a seat, so may I ask about your identity?"
After they sat on the sofa, Sophia feel the obligation to answer the question.
"I'm sorry, but we're just a normal civilians, we might have a foreign blood but we live in this country since our birth,
"I'm Sophia, and here is my younger sister Eve, as for her she's our cousin Lucia, she visited this country from Europe for personal goal,
"Once again sorry but I can't give you information about her other than her name, but i can guarantee that she not an actress or anyone famous, she only a normal civilians"
The manager feels a bit troubled after hearing the explanation, he doesn't fully trust Sophia's explanation, but deep down he knows why they're able to attract the crowd, after all they're just too gorgeous to walk without any private guard.
"Alright.. I'm chose to trust your explanation, we won't try to get your personal information, but please trust our security team to escort the ladies outside"
Heading the manager's instructions Eve want to ask for a request.
"Manager.. Is it possible for us to buy some clothes first? We haven't got the chance to do that because of the crowd… please..?"
The manager feel a bit reluctant to let these ladies outside for long, but after some thought he gave them an option.
"Hmm… it might be hard to go shopping now, how about us providing some personal shopping experience by bringing the store here,
"It's also an apology for the trouble that happened before, we will contact the store you choose and ask for a discount for you"
The siblings are really grateful after hearing the offers from the manager, after thanking him and telling which store they're buying from,
The manager finally leaves the room after calling someone to tell the store manager about the situation.
Feeling that she had to talk, Eve gave her opinion about the situation.
"Huft… it's a blessing to have a private shopping experience..I'll be happy If not because of experience from before.."
Lucia still isn't in the mood to joke so she chooses to only nod and smile weakly to respond to Eve.
After thirty minutes of waiting the manager finally came back and now a woman followed him, she should be the store manager.
The woman was wearing a blouse and short formal skirt indicating her high and formal position within the store. She carried a big tablet in her hand.
"Hello ladies, I'm here to let you choose the clothes, I'm sorry but we can't bring everything from the store,
"So please have this tablet to look for our catalog, we will bring the sample of the clothes you're interested from the store"
After politely giving the tablet to Sophia the store manager backed up to give the siblings some space.
The selection and buying session take almost two hours, because of the difficulty of bringing the clothes from the store and the actual fitting session.
Eve decided to buy a one piece dress with a color of shy pink. It's a really cute one piece dress that matches Eve's appearance really well.
For Sophia she chose to buy a cardigan with brown color.
As for Lucia she get quite a lot of things, from a set of five pair of woman underwear, a one piece dress with with dark purple color, three genderless shirts, a chinos pants for girls, a low rise pants, two formal pants, two formal white shirt, and followed by a blouse with the same color.
Their total cost of shopping is over 2 million rupiah or $200 USD, even after discount it still cost a lot.
The shopping is done and they thanked the mall manager and store manager for the privilege they're received, and apologizing for the trouble that happened before.
Sophia want to order an online taxis but the store manager immediately offered them a ride with her car.
"Guys how about hitchhiking on my car?
"I already finished my work here and it's time to go home, we're all ladies so it's more comfortable that way right?
"Ah! I am also a bit curious about your story, so just think it's as the payment of the ride, how about that?"
Sophia a bit reluctant to accept the kindness, they already make a lot of trouble here,
But after thinking about the possibility of another problem if they choose to order some online taxis she asks her sisters about their opinion, and they all agree.
"Thank you for the kindness, we will accept the offer, ahh I'm Sophia nice to meet you"
The store manager also give her name back with a smile.
"the name Helen, nice to meet you, and don't worry about the ride, ohh how about you guys?"
Eve smiled and gave her name with a small bow.
"Eve! Thank you for the offer lady Halen!"
Doesn't want to appear rude Lucia also gave her name, she finally speak in bahasa Indonesia feeling inappropriate to speak in English after receiving a kindness.
With a polite smile she gave her hand for a shake
"Lucia, nice to meet you lady Halen, sorry for the trouble.
Receiving the handshake Halen smiled back and tell them to wait for a bit, she need to take her stuff from the store.
After waiting for a couple minutes she finally back and finally leaving the VIP room followed by security team as an escort.
They choose a backdoor hallways for a staff to reach a parking spaces on the basement, fortunately there's no crowd on the basement.
The car parked not too far from staff only entry as it's also a staff only parking spot, after thanking the security team the siblings entered the car.
Leaving the basement Helen began the conversation with the siblings, not long after passes the intersection near the mall, an explosion take place on a government building near the intersection.
Helen able to avoid the explosion and began to accelerate leaving the vicinity of the chaos, she turn on the car radio to look for an information of what causing of the explosion.
Four of them have a tensed expressions, but able to calm down after entering a toll highway, Lucia immediately use her phone to look for an online information.
After ten minutes or more the radio finally giving information regarding the explosion.
< "Explosion happened inside government building at the xxxx road near the city mall, the cause of explosion is suspected because of a superpower used by an awakened,
"The suspect of the explosion is still hiding within the building.
"The government already deployed a special terror unit to handle the situation, but the standoff still happened, it seems the suspect doesn't want to surrender…
"Listener! Just now the suspect launched another attack and caused a big explosion!
"We don't know the current status on the site because our team are getting evacuated from 300 meter radius, we will keep in touch with our team in the location for more information, please stay tune" >
Four of them keep silent while hearing the radio, an audible gasp comes out from their mouth, everyone take time processing the information,
The silence finally breaks when the radio sound fades in the background, Helen finally says something.
"What a tragedy… Fortunately we didn't get caught in the explosion and hopefully there's no civilians becoming victims because of this terrorist attack.
"Huft… I should call my coworkers after we arrive at your house, btw are you guys fine?"
Even though she's the youngest, Eve is able to display a formidable mental fortitude, she was able to respond with a smile, of course all the siblings are able to overcome the incident,
But… it might be different if the situation involves a plane crash.
Lucia gave her opinion regarding the terror attack.
"Yeah it's indeed a tragedy…, this might change the course of history..
"As we know humanity just received a mystical power from an unknown source, and… depending on each person what they're gonna do with that new power is quite concerning..
"I don't have much faith in our government but I think they will issue new regulations for awakened people"
Meanwhile in her mind
'Sigh… what a bane…
'I am just getting used to becoming a woman and now… another problem occurred,
'Damn! If the government ordered some new type of identity registration for the awakened or a whole population I'll be in a pinch!'
Sophia didn't give any comment, it seems she's too focused with her phone, her expression is a bit tense.
Now their conversation changed from talking about the siblings to talking about the future,
After an hour or so they finally arrived near the siblings home, they gave their gratitude and bid farewell to Helen.
They finally entered the neighborhood, because Lucia still isn't in the mood for talking or doing anything she just passed all of the neighbors home without gave any cares,
Some of the neighbors see her but they choose to keep their mouth shut after looking at Lucia's grim expression, but they finally speak when they see Eve and Sophia.
Lucia didn't give any care though, she just passed all of them while Eve and Sophia stopped because of the neighbors' curiosity.
Finally standing in front of the door Lucia give a long sigh, then opened the door,
Feeling tired she almost fell to the mattress but chose to have a change of her clothes.
'Finally home… Now I can stop acting…'
'...F*ck! What a stupid thing this is! How in the heck something bad happens all the time! Can you give me a break!!? Damn god!'
Now finally back to personal space Lucia now can act like she used to and back to Lucius.
'Right.. Don't forget who you truly are..
'Yes, I'm Lucius, I'm a man,
'My goals is to get my body back, learning woman stuff and doing all of that is only for achieving my goals, never forget this or i might lost my identity in the process'
Lucius now calmed down after a bit of self reflection, he went to the bedroom to fetch clothes for the change and entered the bathroom,
Noticed that his body is a bit sweaty he decided to take a shower.
Now he's almost used to see his new body, there is still a bit of a strange feeling but he's able to set them aside and finish his shower.
Finishing out by drying his body with towels, he almost forgot something…
Sophia tell him that he has to put the new underwear they bought, it's for his own good, after all not wearing a bra might alter and ruin his body in a long terms,
And she also said it might hurt when moving around without bras, especially because his size is quite big and really needs support so it doesn't get saggy.
Reluctantly Lucius finally braved his heart and get the pair of underwear from the packaging after sneakily taking them from the living room wearing only a towel wrapped around his body, then run back to the bathroom.
Already received the information of how to wear them, he's able to wear it with a bit of adjustment, feeling the difference after, he know why it's important to wear them now.
'Ahh I see…It's really helping my back to support this breast, actually it's also more comfortable.. Ugh.. What a troublesome feeling..'
'Let's finish this up and get some dinner to eat, sister Sophia and Eve should be done with the neighbors conversation now,
'I'm a bit tired but i guess I'll be the one who cook for dinner, i don't want to bother sister Sophia after all of that'
There's not much to cook for dinner, just a simple stew and a couple of side dishes like fried tofu coated with batter and a fried fish coated with thin egg batter.
Sophia and Eve already take their shower and they finally ate their dinner together, not much to enjoy but for them this is like an everyday meal,
Of course they cook different meals from time to time, but the essence is the same, simple yet hearty meals.
Everyone still isn't in the mood to have a deep conversation, so they goes with their own personal time.
Now Lucius is alone sitting on his mattress, thinking about what should he do next.