Chapter 38 A Starting Tension

"What are we going to do now, Harriet?"
I glanced at Li when he called my name and looked back at my spaghetti and took a mouthful of the pasta. I don"t know what to say to him because I really have no idea what to do next. What I just know is we can"t stay here too long because we have to move. Good thing we found a map in this store. Jayson calculated the time we will reach the meeting spot at Zone twenty-three and it"s surely a very long ride. I wish the car we found could do it because we"re not sure if we will find any car along the way if the engine of the vintage car we have will give up in the middle of nowhere.
Timothy cooked the spaghetti. All the ingredients are present in the store so instead of torturing out kidneys with the chips Mona and I took from the shelves, he looked for something that he can make out of the ingredients available and yay! He"s a really good cook!
"Oh, heavens! Tim. You cook like a pro." I complimented him and he gave me a humble smile. I dug into the spaghetti more and took mouthfuls. "I wish I could cook as good as you. Where did you learn? I thought rich guys don"t cook their own food."
"Well, I learn a lot of things on my own because I don"t like servants hovering around me. It"s my dad ordering everyone to have their eyes on me since I do a lot of crazy stuff when he"s not around."
"Hmmm... What kind of stuff?" I got really curious. Although my focus was on Tim"s interesting life story, I could still see Jayson slightly glancing at us, too embarrassed to admit that he"s also interested in Tim"s story.
He snickered. "Like the time there"s a beggar near our business building. I was only seven back then and because my father left stacks of NAR paper bills inside his car, I took a handful and sneaked outside the car and gave it to the beggar. The man snatched me upon seeing the huge money on my hand and the silly seven year old me didn"t know I was already kidnapped." He rolled the spaghetti on his fork and ate it. "Good thing my bodyguards saw him just before he put me inside a sack."
Jayson burst into a suppressing laugh thinking it was funny but when we didn"t, he straightened his back while leaning against the wall and cleared his throat.
"Is that why there are bodyguards always around you? That must be traumatic." I uttered with sympathy. It must be hard that you can"t live your life the way you want it because ever since he was born as the son of the richest man in Arcania, his life was always threatened by criminals who wanted to kidnap him for ransom.
"My people in Aisea won"t believe that I am with the son of the CEO of Flitzenberg Corp. They would kill anyone to lay a hand on you and ask millions of NAR money from you daddy." Jayson made fun of the word daddy and Tim got upset. He placed the food carefully on the ground and as fast as my eyes could follow, he grabbed Jayson by the neckline of his shirt, his hands curled into a fist.
I was startled by Tim"s sudden action and stood together with Mona and Li.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Li tried to stop them but Tim didn"t let go of Jayson.
"Hey, Tim, Let go." I calmed Timothy down but he is too mad to release Jayson from his grip. Jayson looked down at him with a taunting stare.
I am starting to lose my patience. With heavy feet, I walk inside the tent and take the rifle. With my sharp eyes glaring at them, I cocked the gun and both of them stopped pushing each other like kids and looked at me with an incredible look in their eyes.
"You don"t have to kill each other if I"ll fire this gun and let all the Creepers hear it. They"ll do the work for you!" I hissed at both of them and with a scared look, they released each other and walked away. They sat at the opposite side of the tent.
"I think you"ve gone too far, Harriet." Li murmured to me and took the gun away from me. He"s scared I"ll actually do what I had threatened.
"You boys must sort that out." I told them. I feel like I"m scolding two small boys and made me miss Carl more. I remember how I used to scold him when he refused to clean his toys or organize his things on top of his study table... I suddenly felt bad but I won"t let them act like this among themselves. We"re a team. We won"t survive all of these if they keep on acting like children to each other.
I sighed deeply. "Let"s just collect all the things we need and get out of here. Those corpses are starting to smell and we can"t ... we can"t stay too long because the people in those two armored cars must be waiting already." I explained to them, my lips trembled upon remembering my family. "I-I"m so sorry guys if you drag in this kind of uncertain circumstance again... I told you not to come—"
"Shut up, Harriet. We all chose to help you." Jayson answered me in an apologetic tone while fidgeting on the hem of his shirt.
"He"s right." Timothy agreed and stood from his seat. He can"t look at me straight. He looked like a kid being scold for shattering a vase accidentally. "Besides, my dad is in that bunker too, Harriet. I also need to see him. He"s been pleading on wanting to see me in person."
"Yes. And I"m after the technology of that bunker." Li smiled at me as if they"re all trying to cheer me up and not make me feel guilty of what"s happening to us right now.
I know they"re just trying to make it look like they"re doing it for their own interest but I feel they really care about me. Even Mona gave me an encouraging smile.
Feeling shy, I gave them a smile and grabbed the trolley beside me. "Who wants to help me shop for our needs until we reach Zone twenty-three?"
"I"ll help. I want to make sure it"s not just chips and chocolates," Timothy volunteered, raising his hand and giving me a smirk.