Chapter 66 Love Interest

The rustling continued and Jayson's fingers tightened on the pistol that was in his hands. His eyebrows are angled down in deep concentration, ready if something would attack us or fire a gunshot. Li and the others are all so nervous as we all crouch down, turning off the light from the flashlight.
We let some minutes pass but no one came out or even called so we decided to be more at ease and think that maybe we were just too hungry that we hallucinate things.
"It's ok, Jayson. I think there's nothing outside. I whispered and everyone exhaled, continuing their work. Roanie touched her chest and sighed, as she put down the casserole she was holding. They have to make a fire first or maybe they'll use the induction cooker and set the spare battery of the car to make it work just so they could cook fast. It would take time to make a fire because we're all not sure yet if the woods around here are dry enough to use. Since this afternoon, it has been drizzling which made us all amazed and terrified at the same time, thinking it was acid rain.
"Okay, I'll cook something tonight and will wake up tomorrow to prepare more for breakfast and lunch and dinner so we won't have to make another stop and reach the border before sunrise tomorrow." Roanie declared and she organized the things she'll use, working on them as fast as she could because we were all feeling weak from hunger.
"I feel like I could eat this chair that I'm sitting on," Li complained, slumping on the wooden chair as he looked at Mona who was just sitting on the floor using a cloth she placed underneath her. Her eyes look sad and her head is bowed down as if she's looking tired but she has to stay up and wait until Roanie finishes cooking and she can eat. The multivitamins she gives us every day help a lot even though to make up for the lack of nutrients we need to stay strong in this journey. She's taking care of us all a lot, especially when someone gets hurt. I believe she'll be a great doctor one day and she has to study and work alongside Dr. Peterson because I can see that she'll be an excellent student to him.
It's just sad that the two aren't talking yet and seeing them behaving like this at each other isn't right.
Timothy's shoulder, thank god, is slowly healing and the bruises turned yellowish now, a sign that the internal bleeding had stopped. He's not helping Roanie using his one hand on organizing her things while I and Jayson am still wary of the noise we have both heard. I have no idea if it's just a hallucination of hunger but we still can't afford to take down our guards especially when we don't know this place. There might be Creepers straying here, waiting for their victims.
"Did you also hear it?" Jayson asked me, his eyes still sharp but his gun was already on his side, sitting there just in case something suddenly came up and threatened our safety. While Roanie and Timothy are busy cooking and Mona and Li ignoring each other, Jayson and I sit side by side, our ears ready and on high alert for anything that is sounding suspicious.
"Yes. I'm just not sure if it's just a rodent or something. There must be creatures that stay in this place, making shelter in the forest. We just have to make sure there are no ones that big enough to kill all of us here,"
"Like a bear? Leopard? Cougar?"
"Well, if it's somehow a cougar that doesn't eat men, I would love to meet one," Li commented on Jayson's answer to me, his lips curved into a smirk and I caught what he meant about it.
I just rolled my eyes at him and Jayson grinned also, shaking his head at Li's ridiculous words. What is it about men being attracted to women who are much older than them?
I squinted my eyes on Jayson.
His smile faded and averted his eyes on me, looking a bit scared of the reaction on my face. "It's just a joke," he reasoned out and scratched his forehead with the tip of his thumb. I sneered at him but I teasingly smiled, telling him there's nothing to be too nervous about because I don't mind what happened in his past anyway. I am just happy with who he is now and that he's here with me.
Roanie made delicious spaghetti and we all feasted on the food together with each can of coke in our hands. After getting full, the others got sleepy and the fire that Jayson lit with the use of the broken tables and wooden chairs on the fireplace was just so good that we all placed our roller beds. In front of the fireplace, trying to get rid of the cold of the night after a scorching hotness of the day. The weather these days is just so extreme that most of the people here who have bad immune systems fall into sickness, which usually are pneumonia and other lung diseases and skin infections.
"Thank you for the good food, Roanie. You saved us all." Li praised Roanie and she just smiled at him but her eyes flew to the direction where Jayson is sitting beside the fire, busy stroking it with wood. I was helping her with Mona to get rid of the paper plates and the cans and putting them all in a trash bag while she cleans with the rainwater that we had collected and are saving for cleaning the cooking utensils and to wash our faces and for other hygiene purposes.
It's so obvious she has her eyes on Jayson and it somehow annoys me but I can't blame her. He's just so handsome and cool and his green eyes are just so expressive and mesmerizing.
You will never think he was a cold-hearted assassin before because his face is just so kind and he smiles a lot. He also has a body to die for. I have seen him topless once when we were in the physical examination to enter bunker four. My eyes also caught him changing clothes several times, the mark of scars on them are just so beautiful. Because that means he went through a lot but he survived all of it for his mother. Maybe when his mother died, he had no more reason to stay in the Mafia's gang anymore so he went here to Arcania to start a new life, only to find out that his former boss sent his men to kill him.
Life is just cruel. It doesn't give people a chance to have a life that they wanted and just throw on struggles that sometimes, it's just good to give up.
But not Jayson. He's just a survivor in nature and whatever life throws at him, he faces it with courage and he's always ready to fight for the people he cares about.
And now he's actually my boyfriend.
I'm just happy because from strangers in a bombed airport, to a very good friend, and now, he's actually a person that I truly adore and love with my whole heart.
Roanie kept on looking at Jayson and I wanted to tell him about us but it was embarrassing on my part. I don't want to look desperate. It's hard to admit that I am threatened by her presence because she's good at handling guns and she's girlfriend material while I'm just good at killing Creepers.
I practiced cooking so many times before but I'm just as awful as I am excellent at my shooting skills.
Jayson looks at us and Roanie and I smile at the same time, making the atmosphere a little awkward.