Part
I:
When
we went back to the crowds of people swarming around, we stopped by the shop of
an old lady who seemed to have taken a liking to us. I was nervous around her
at first, but I relaxed my guard gradually. She offered any of her items for
both of us for free but before I could say yes, Sky opened his mouth.
“Me
and my sister have to get going now. We’re sorry.” then he dragged me and Dash
away from her and her shop. I automatically faced him. “What is wrong with you?
The woman – ”
“Could
be dangerous.” he interrupted me. I stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment.
“Did I mention the word old?” I
asked. “Of course you didn’t. It’s just hard to trust people when I’m around
someone like you.” I didn’t think I could go any paler, but I think I did at
that moment. “What do you mean ‘someone like me’? You just keep saying these
mysterious things that probably make you think that you’re awesome and then you
end up screwing my brain.” He ignored my rant. How odd. “Uh, did I say
something?”
“No,
I just told you earlier that we don’t have to each other much, didn’t I?”
“Oops.
Sorry.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay. Sorry for being bipolar, I don’t
know why my parent raised me like this, but I can deal with it.”
“I’m
sure you can.” I stopped by an antique shop to my left. Sky apparently hadn’t
realized this and kept going but the handcuffs pulled him back so he almost
tripped backward.
“Jesus,
what now?”
“I’m
going to buy my souvenir.” I said as I led the way in, and my two companions
followed me. Inside, I felt the stuffy atmosphere that was thick with some kind
of perfume. Then the shop owner looked at us behind the till. She had a
motherly look on her plump face that was surrounded by her red hair. I suddenly
remembered Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter. Honestly, do I still have to explain
which book she came from? I don’t do I? They looked like they’ve been separated
at birth, if that was possible. She warmly smiled at us and said, “Welcome, my
dears. I seldom have young people in my shop these days.” She waved her arms to
the racks on her side and to the dozen others behind her. “You can see my
collection, go on.”
We
proceeded directly to the third aisle, not bothering with the first two, which
were full of American Indian cookbooks and biographies. We found intriguing
items throughout our browsing of the cramped store. Then I noticed something
sparkling up to the top of the seventh aisle that caught my eye. I think it was
a bracelet, but I wasn’t sure. I tried to reach for it, but my stupid growth
hormones were to blame. Sky was looking at me amusedly the whole time, like he
was a bloody king being entertained. I was getting desperate when my limbs –
all four limbs – were starting to scream in protest and I considered throwing
Dash up to get it when he said,
“Do
you need help?” his eyes were twinkling.
“Yes,
thank you.” I replied icily while scowling. He tiptoed up to the shelf and got
out the item without as much as a hair out of place. He gave it to me and I
examined it. It was simple but very pretty. It was a necklace, not a bracelet
as I thought earlier, with a beetle pendant. The metal beetle was hard silver
and you can distinguish the spots because they’re lighter than the body. I feel
in love with the piece of metal, right then and there. Sky suddenly said,
“I
think it’s a watch.” He pried the material away from my fingers and opened the
beetle’s wings. Inside was indeed a watch, indicating the time – almost 8pm.
“It’s
perfect. I’ll have it definitely.” then I looked at him. “And you?”
“I’m
good.” he replied. “Just go pay for it and let’s try to go home.” I hesitated.
“You sure?”
“Of
course I am.” he grinned at me. “I just don’t want to be attached to those
things, that’s all.”
“Attached
to what? No, wait – don’t. You’ll just eat my brain again.” he chuckled. “I
can’t do my job when something’s hindering me, that’s what I meant.” I raised
an eyebrow. “Hinder? It’s not like you’re going to buy a cabinet – ”
“I
meant you, Ryne. God, you’re so slow.” He sighed.
“Me?
Slow? How dare – ”
“You
can be smart, I know. I’ll explain the situation when we get back – ” I
practically leaped at him. “You’re going to tell everything?” I asked,
breathless. He looked at me sternly. “Let me finish, will you? I’ll explain it,
but no names and location. No anything. Just the situation.” I deflated then
stared at him. “I thought we were back to the first condition?” he just stared
off in space and said, “The more you know what you’re into, the better.”
Part II:
Part II:
We
got to the Marquette office in one piece. When we explained our problem, we had
a chopper reserved for us in a blink of an eye. But I think the ladies loved to
see Sky’s smile. We talked little when we got in, much less when we started
taking off. I patted dash’s fur, and then played the beetle I purchased with my
finger. The air was cold, as well as the air rushing through to the chopper’s
open doors. I guess the exhaustion from the walking just caught up with me, or
maybe it was the bipolar Sky and the things he would explain that daunted me,
but I just dozed off, despite the noise of the airborne vehicle.
-
He
looked at Ryne on her sundress, sleeping with her head tilted back on the seat.
Of all the people he could’ve been assigned to, this girl with seemingly
never-ending energy was given to him. He sighed. This was his first assignment,
and he’s still getting the hang of it. Gradually, he came to realize that he
should separate the working Sky from the friendly Sky. He doesn’t want this to
be a complete fiasco. Tomorrow morning, he’ll explain to her what mess this is
as discreetly as possible and he would’ve to train her. God, help me. They couldn’t have given him a more complicated
assignment.
-
I’m
hovering between sleep and consciousness, and then I noticed that my
surroundings were quieter. No chopper, how odd. I slept kind of long. After a
little while, I became aware of the back and forth motion and the feel of
someone’s strong arms at the back of my knees and on my back. Someone was…
carrying me. My mind protested sleepily. “Stop moving.” I said groggily. I
tried to open my eyes but deep inside, I really didn’t want to, so I stopped
myself and felt relaxed. “Carsh.” I heard myself saying before I went back to
my stupor.
-
His
brow scowled slightly without his noticing. Honestly,
he thought, she deserves so much more
than that guy.
12
hours later, 8am
When
I woke up, the first thing that registered through my brain was that I was
facing a broad back. A broad back where my arm was draped across. I was too
tired and it was really early for me to just freak out that I didn’t even
bother. When I felt him starting to move, I quickly pulled back my arm, cursing
it for doing such a stupid thing without my permission. I opened my eyes
properly and saw him facing me. He had his glasses on, which reminded me of
mine and I reached out for it and put it on. I feel weird. Sky was still
blinking sleepily, facing me and now that I have my glasses, my eyes were
widened slightly.
Even
in the early morning, he’s wrenchingly gorgeous. His hair was disheveled and
tousled from his skin had that early morning glow that made him look fresh.
Nice. Cozy. His green eyes also looked fantastic and rested unlike the other
night. He may have been a Greek god living in secret for all I know. He smiled
slightly.
“I
saw your arm. Felt it, rather.”
My
eyes narrowed. I’ll scrub my arm later until I’m bleeding. Well, not really, but you get the picture. “I think my arm betrayed
me.” I looked at the canopy of the bed and said, “It’s irrelevant anyway. You
told me you were going to explain.” I fixed my gaze at him.
“You
fell asleep. And just in case you’d like to know, I carried you all the way
from the ground floor up to the fifth on those damned stairs because the
elevator was broken. And you weren’t exactly feather-light – ”
“Why
do you even mind? I need food – ”
then I sneezed. He said, “Your sneeze is cute. But do you really have to do
that when I’m inches from you so you could – ” I sneezed again. I looked at
him, dumbfounded. I know now why I feel weird. “I think I have colds.” He sat
up on the bed and ruffled his already messy hair. “No, shouldn’t have colds.
You shouldn’t. I had the entire day
planned and – ” I sneezed again, and this time, I sat up and groaned. “My head
hurts.” He smacked his palm to his forehead and dropped himself back to the
mattress.
“Ryne,
you ruin everything.” Then he covered himself with the blanket again and
included his face.
“Me? Do you decide if you get sick or not? Will you just
please stop editing my life – ”
“Editing? I am not editing – ”
“Well,
what are you trying to do?”
“How
can you exactly edit someone else’s life, huh?” I sneezed in response. He
groaned as if he’s the one who’s sick. He has completely no idea what being
sick felt like. Maybe he doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. Okay that
was unfair. He looked at me with a critical eye. “He won’t like that you’ve
been sick under my care.” I almost cried out. That pronoun again? Screw English language. I sarcastically told him,
“Don’t
worry bro. I’ll cover for you when he
invites me to dinner in his mansion.”
He
looked at me flatly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I stared at
him, eyes wide. “You mean this person really has a mansion?” He shook his head
in disbelief. “ore like a palace, if you ask – ”
The
door suddenly flew open to reveal a bounding Dash. Sky automatically had his
gun out, arm around me, placing me behind him, and facing the door. I heard him
exhale his breath and toss his pistol to the cabinet. Dashy raced up to me but
the minute that I sniffed the air around him, I had a series of sneeze attacks.
I tried to push him away from me, but it seemed like someone drugged him to
personally make me die of sneezing. He licked my hair and I sneezed directly in
front of him. He whined and shook his furry head violently.
“Won’t
you even help me?” I asked him desperately. He looked at me with something
close to endearment to his eyes. Aargh. Before I could throw something to his
face though, he stood up and picked up Dash with one arm, and pushed me gently
back down on the bed with the other. “I’ll help you get better. Screw my plans
for the day, you need to recover first.” He pushed Dash away and tying him to
the cabinet door, while he was doing that I noticed something on my wrist.
The
sensitive skin that had been scarred yesterday was now covered by a Band-Aid. I
blinked. Now that was odd. He must’ve
seen the small wound and… yes, it was odd. I looked at my arms and legs then,
because instincts told me that something else is off. I even touched my face.
Something is horribly wrong. I got out of the bed and walked over to the
gigantic mirror and looked at myself.
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