3: Encounter

When Leilyn gave the boys the go ahead to take anything they wanted, they really thought she was joking. Until she proves to them that she isn’t.

Whatever they stare at for too long, Leilyn throws it into the trolley without hesitation. They try to convince her that those item aren’t needed, even though they clearly desired it, but Leilyn just cocks a knowing brow at them. The teens state that they thought it rude to grab too many things and they’ll feel guilty if she spends too much money on them.

Leilyn just gives them an amused and reassuring smile. She tells them that to her, money is nothing and she’ll gladly spend it on someone else other than herself, seeing as she doesn’t desire much.

It takes a lot of reassuring words to convince them to go all out. When they are done, Leilyn spends up to like a million. The boys choke at that when they see the receipts – from different shores they visited – and combine all into the total price. They are gaping in shock and Leilyn snorts at their dumbfounded expressions under her breath.

“Mrs. Leilyn, this is too much!” Rick exclaims.

“Rick, this is nothing. Wait until you see my bank account. This doesn’t even make a dent to.” She scoffs, batting her hand.

“But still!” Jason has a look of guilt on his face. “This is too much.”

“Hey~ Wipe those looks from your faces.” A wrinkle forms between her brows. “I told you guys that you should go all out. There’s no need to feel guilty. Besides, I wasn’t joking when I said this doesn’t make a dent in my account. I’m hella wealthy, ya know.”

The teens share a look of uncertainty between themselves before looking back at her.

“Now, come along. We still have Rick’s glasses to buy.”

And with that she walks away, not even giving them a chance to object. They share looks of hesitation between themselves before walking up to meet her, charts hovering besides them.

They purchase Rick’s glasses (a VERY expensive one. Its frames are made of gold and sprinkled with crushed diamond. Leilyn doesn’t do things half way) before they head out of the mall, and set off to the car. They carefully arrange everything in the boots of Leilyn’s car, making sure that the wet food stuffs aren’t close to other things. They are about to get into the car when an enraged voice calls out.

“Zack!”

The foursome turn around to face its location, frowns on their face.

Behold, Zack’s father – along with the woman Leilyn knew was stalking them for a while now – is striding over to them, his face twisted into a heavy scowl.

“What have I told you?! Stay away from this woman!” He pushes Leilyn out of the way, making her to stumble a little due to how harshly he pushed her and getting an exclamation of rage from Jason and Rick. “I’ve warned you to stay away from this devil and her agents! Come here! We are leaving!”

Zack looks so freaking terrified as his father got in his face. His arm is then roughly grabbed by the brute of a man, and before Leilyn could say anything, he’s being pulled away; his face twisted as if he’s in pain. Judging by how he’s being pulled like an unruly child, it’s no surprise he’s in pain. And for Leilyn, that’s a red flag. A familiar red flag.

Leilyn’s hand shots out, grabbing Zack’s father’s wrist, ensuring that her nails dig into his skin. The burly man yells, head turning to glare spitefully down at her.

“Let go of me you wrench!” He spits – literally – at Leilyn.

“After you.” Leilyn levels a cold look at him, increasing the grip she has on his wrist.

The brute hisses, his own grip on Zack increasing, causing the teen to whimper in pain. Having had enough, Leilyn surges forward, landing a chop to his throat. He chokes, letting go of Zack as a hand darts to his clench his throat. Leilyn doesn’t hesitate in bringing him down on his knees. She lets go of his wrist and aims two perfect kicks to his calves – not too hard to break them. When he’s down on his knees, she swirls and gets behind his back. She promptly takes hold of the arm that he used to grab Zack and uses her feet to drive his face into the ground.

“Ray!” The woman shrieks, making Leilyn, and a few pedestrians, wince at her volume.

“Move, and I’ll break this filthy arm of yours.” She says coldly as he begins to struggle. He stops, breath picking up.

People on the sidelines just stood they were and watch the commotion with interest and curiosity. If Leilyn heard right, someone has gone to call a nearby Enforcer. That means she has to end this quickly.

“Listen well and listen closely, because I’m only going to say this once.” Leilyn starts, voice cold and devoid of any emotion, and eyes narrowed darkly. “You have no right to treat Zack the way you just did. He’s a human being and as such has the free will to make his own choices and mingle with who he wants to. You might be his parent but you have no say 90% of what he does, especially if you regularly use force as you just did. I’ll only caution you once Mr. Smith. If you try that again, or I see any mark on Zack, your life is automatically forfeited. And trust me, it’s not a threat, it’s a promise and I always keep my promises. Watch yourself.” She applies pressure on the arm, making the man to yell out in pain, before letting go and removing her foot from his head.

She steps away from him, and on time too, seeing as an Enforcer arrives a second later. With an innocent smile, she inclines her head at him before walking over to Zack, who has Jason and Rick on both sides of him, looking him over. Leilyn steps in front of him, a hand tucking a stand of hair behind her ear.

“Are you okay?”

Zack nods slowly, and Leilyn takes that as a lie. She sighs under her breath before nodding.

“Come on then. Let’s get going.” She says cheerfully; well, as cheerful as she could be in this type tensed situation.

She presses her thumb on the car’s activation pad, and once the computer confirms that it’s her, it opens the door for them to enter. Leilyn stands and watches as the boys step into the car and slides the door close.

Leilyn turns back one last time and levels a blank look at Mr. Smith, who has the shrieking woman comforting him, her eyes cold and her lips tilted in a mirthless smile.

“Do have a nice Easter, Mr. Smith.”

“Burn in hell witch!” He spits out, getting a dry chuckle from Leilyn.

“I’m quite flattered Mr. Smith, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. I’m not quit interested in outdated fantasies. It gets old.” She bats her hand dismissively, an amused smile on her lips. “Do have a pleasant noon.” With that being said, she gets into her car and drives off.

The way back is filled with silence. Leilyn keeps staring at the boys through the view mirror – Zack decided to sit in the back, in between Rick and Jason – making sure that they are okay. Zack has a solemn look on his face whilst Rick and Jason have looks of rage.

“I take it this isn’t the first time your father has been this unhinged?” She queries, tone impassive. The responding silence answers her question.

No one utters a word after that.

With how fast Leilyn’s going, they soon arrive at the curve in the road leading to her house. The gray, two storey building comes into view, all in its imposing glory. The gate slides open and she drives in. The lockdown sequence is then lifted, and the house opens back up. Leilyn options to park the car in front of the house, car turned sideways.

The foursome step out of the car and start picking up the items from the opened boot. Leilyn throws a side eye glance at Zack, catching the teen hissing in pain as he picks up two big bags. The front door slides open, allowing them to walk it.

“Drop them on the counter.” Leilyn says as they walk to kitchen, dropping the bag she had in hand on said large counter. She walks over to the corner of it, squatting down. The miniature medical cabinet comes out, exposing its contents. She grabs some bandages, oil and some few other things.

“Zack.” Leilyn calls out, stopping the three teens in their steps. “Sit down.” She jerks her head at a counter stool.

“Mrs. Xander, it’s okay.” The teen waves dismissively, a cheerful look on his face. “I’m fi- ouch!” He yelps, a hand darting to clutch at his shoulder. Rick and Jason flank both sides of him, hands out stretched, unsure of what to do.

“Sit, Zack.”

The teen acquiesces at last, taking a hesitant seat. Leilyn brings the medical items closer, standing before Zack.

“Please, take off your hoodie.”

Zack looks up at her in alarm, eyes wide in fear.

“Zack, I have to take a look at your shoulder. By the way you grit your teeth, it’s likely bruised or dislodged from its socket.” Leilyn says in an impassive voice.

Zack shares a worried look with the other teens, eyes questioning. After some seconds of communicating non-verbally between themselves, Zack gets a nod from both them.

Inhaling deeply, Zack slowly removes his hoodie, giving way for the singlet he wore inside. Even with the material on, Leilyn could clearly see the horrible scars littering his body.

The boys stare closely at her face, waiting with bated breaths to see an expression related to disgust. But none came. Leilyn’s facial expression is as blank as a paper, going together with her currently impassive eyes. The woman simply takes up his arm, giving the entire appendage a thorough check up. She lightly taps Zack’s shoulders, getting a hiss from the teen. She raises his arm up slowly, getting a pained grunt from him.

“Hm… your arm is slightly banged up.” Leilyn says softly. “Luckily, he didn’t dislodge it from its socket.” She grabs the oil and pours a generous amount into her palm. “I’m gonna give your shoulder a light massage; to get the blood flowing well, and also easing you from a painful night.”

While she massages Zack, Rick and Jason went back to the car to grab the remaining stuffs. They make two more trips back and forth and when they came back with the last bag, Leilyn is in the final process of bandaging Zack’s shoulder.

“There, all done.” Leilyn nods with a smile, sitting up straight to admire her work. “How about your back? Are any of the wounds making you miserable?”

“How did you-” Zack looks at her in shock.

The scientist just gives a soft, knowing smile before gesturing at her body. She stands up with a grunt, getting behind his back. She raises up his singlet and examines his back, humming as she does so. Once again, the boys notice that she isn’t moved to disgust, not even to Zack’s heavily scarred back. She just goes on to gently probe his back with her finger, watching Zack for any reaction of pain.

“So, some of these scars are just scars, while some seems to be recent.” She drops the singlet down. “Excuse me for a second.” She proceeds in going upstairs, leaving the boys to their thoughts.

“Why do I feel like she knows?” Rick asks.

“With scars like that, I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t.” Jason mutters.

The boys stayed in calm silence, nervously awaiting Leilyn’s return. They don’t have to wait for long seeing as she arrives five minutes later. She has a change in clothing consisting of an indoor sports bra and a low waist, thigh high shorts – holding what seems to be a tub of cream. When she opens it, the aroma that whiffs out of it and into the air is that of a soft herbal aroma, with a hint of mint.

“Here, hold this.”

Leilyn hands the tub over to Jason, who’s the closest to Zack. She lifts up the singlet once more, hanging it over his head. She scoops a generous amount of cream into her palm, smoothening it in both palms until it’s smooth and glistering on her palms, before rubbing it on Zack’s back first, and after that, she focuses on his chest.

“This will lessen the intensity of the scars, as well as heal any wound on the back. Give it some few hours and your back won’t feel uncomfortable anymore.”

Once she’s done massaging the cream perfectly into his skin, she brings down the singlet. She takes back the cream from Jason, capping it and dropping it on the counter. The woman grabs the medical items and returns them back to their rightful position.

“Mrs. Xander-“

“Don’t.” Leilyn cuts Zack off. A soft smile and a fond look takes over her expression. “Don’t force yourself, kid. You are not ready to tell a stranger.”

“But Mrs. Lyn! You’re not a stranger!” Jason protests.

“You three have only known me for two months, three weeks and five days.” She points out in a deadpanned voice. “So technically, I still am.”

“Mrs. Xander…” Zack has a crushed expression on his face.

Leilyn, still donning on a soft smile, turns to him. She gently grabs his chin, lifting up his head. She gently swipes away some stray bangs away from his face with her other hand. “When you are truly ready, I am here.” She lets go of his chin and pats his head softly. “Now, let’s put away the groceries and start with our lunch.”

The teens nod with smiles of their own, although Zack’s own is wobbly.

“Zack, do be careful not to strain your shoulder, okay?”

The teen nods, eyes brimming with tears.

The teenagers and Leilyn have fun making the meals. They attack different tubs of ice cream of their choices and cookies while they work, providing distractions for themselves by joking and teasing each other. Come 7:23pm, everyone is filled to the brim and relaxing in the living. Leilyn and Rick are in the kitchen tidying things up and ten minutes later, they join the other, each holding a small paper bags in both hand containing cupcakes.

When the clock hits nine, the boys bid Leilyn goodbye and she watches them leave on the new hover boards she bought for them today, the new voice recognition backpacks containing their gifts on their backs. She waves them off, wishing them a goodnight. Once she couldn’t see them, she walks back inside, unaware of the eyes watching through her gate.