Chapter 4: Bad News

Right after Professor Meyers' nerve wrecking lecture ended, Livingstone exited the hall and tracked down Yue. Her whereabouts were quickly located as they flashed across the screen of his device.

The pointer on the device highlighted her location. She was at the cafeteria.

Minutes later, he trooped into the cafeteria. Yue's maroon coloured hair was the first thing that captured his eyes. The dark brownish red colour of her hair contrasted deeply with the bright hair colours around her. Like the other students before her, she was in a queue, ready to buy her lunch.

Sending her a short message through his ontel, he watched her raise her wrist gently to her eye level, and read whatever new message she'd received on her device.

He watched her actions. He saw her move a finger on the screen of her device, then raised her head slowly with a knowing smile. Resisting the overwhelming urge to wave at her, he watched her throw her eyes around.

Yue spotted his figure immediately. He was slouched against the door of the cafeteria with a faint smile on his lips. Sending him a vigorous wave, she lifted her wrist a little above eye level, and made an eye gesture at her ontel.

The consistent vibration around his wrist, alerted him that he had received a message which was yet to be read. Swiping the home screen away, he opened her message.

Yue [1:04pm]

"Hey, I'm getting us lunch so get us a seat. See this as a token of my gratitude. xo"

Casting his eyes around for a seat, he spotted one - and at a perfect location to be exact.

"Sure. The fifth table on your left to the window," he typed, pressing send afterwards.

Upon receiving it, she looked back at him and raised a thump at him.

Walking over to the table swiftly; he dropped his bag on the empty seat to his right, sat down and began to view his surrounding, with his hands clasped together on the table.

The cafeteria was overly modern and as usual, it was filled with a cacophony of loud chatter and excited laughter. Each table had a cosseted huddle of people raising their voices to be heard above the din. The lunches weren't much to look at, but the desserts were great. He cast his eyes about, as if in a wandering daydream - but in actual sense; he was taking note of who associates with who.

He had it at the back of his mind that if he was going to be schooling here in the next four years, then he had to make the right introductions: know who to snub and who to flatter. He kept casting his eyes around until suddenly, the demeanour of the students began to change gradually. The atmosphere was no longer filled with noisy chatter and excitable laughter.

The noise had gradually dipped down into a subtle deafening silence. The only noises heard were murmurings and whispers as students glued their eyes to their Tap-pads and shared worried glances. Bringing out his Tap-pad immediately from his bag; he turned it on and visited The DailyHub: an online daily portal that fed information and updated citizens on baffling topics around the world. The site provided a total coverage on issues related to politics, events and gossips.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he read the headlines that screamed and stared back boldly at him. The information backing the headline was on an insurgence on how civilians were rebelling against leaders in the fourth Unit: the Justice Unit.

According to the source, The Council was working hard on quelling this insurgence by trooping in enforcers into the Unit. The people in their own way revolted against this by marching to the main district where the Headquarters of the Unit was situated. The pictures backing the information were not encouraging enough.

Eager to know more about what started this insurgence; Livingstone moved a finger mid-air to scroll the screen of his Tap-pad downwards, only to find out that no further information was given.

He couldn't help, but agree with his conscience that their world was slowly changing. It had never been the same, after the viral plague that infected millions of civilians in the fifth Unit, the Regrev Unit. About half of the Unit's population were infected, and killed to reduce the spread, whereas the surviving half were terminated under the orders of The Council. Though many try to put what happened behind them, it was bound haunt their conscience.

"What is everyone watching, Stone?" Yue joined him at the table sooner than he anticipated, and sat down on the seat to his left.

She had with her, a tray full of vegan meal, sauced rice, two bottles of water and a carton of apple juice. Angling his body to face her; he went ahead to show her what everyone was watching after she placed the tray down. She stretched forth her hand to collect the Tap-pad from him, and held it close to her face. He watched her face carefully for a reaction.

"Tell me this is not happening! This can't be happening now, especially when everything is getting back to normal after what happened in the Regrev Unit." She sounded alarmed. She kept drifting her eyes from the screen of the device to meet his candid green ones.

She was overwhelmed by a deep sense of worry.

"I know. I'm only scared that if this is not handled carefully on time, we will have no fourth Unit, just as we have no fifth Unit." She sighed at his words.

They cast their eyes around them when we realized that noise was flooding back into the cafeteria. Yue's ontel binged at the right time, alerting her of a new message. After reading and closing the message; she perked up and sat up straighter than normal.

Brightening up, she said: "Look what I got you!"

She turned to face him with the carton of apple juice in her grip. Her demeanour had changed completely. She waved the carton in his face with a teasing smile - it was one of her ways of getting a reaction from him. He extended his hand to grab it from her and she, in turn, stretched hers further away from his. He tried to reach for it again, and she stretched her hand further, this time with a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

Groaning inwardly, he caught hold of her other hand instinctively in a grip, and pulled her closer less forcibly; he caught a whiff of her scented perfume in the process.

She gasped aloud, a few heads turned in their direction.

Gazing at her, he smirked slightly.

"The juice, Suzuki." he quirked an eyebrow at the carton clutched in her other hand, and made a motion toward their tables with his eyes. Minutes after rolling her eyes; she placed the carton on the table as expected without any more games.

She muttered, "Kill-joy."

Chuckling, he said, "Thank you. That was so easy, wasn't it? Aside from the fact that you made it difficult from the start."

She huffed, "Says the kill-joy." She trained her eyes on her lunch, and looked back at him to see her watching her. "And what are you looking so smug about?"

"Nothing," he replied, "how much did all these cost you in the first place?"

"Just a few quads and cents," was her reply.

Expecting to receive another question thrown her way; she turned to glance at him when she sensed that she wasn't going to receive any anytime soon. She sighed, "Fine. they costed 11 quads and 7 cents. Happy now?"

He nodded smugly.

"What do you think about spending an hour or two at my place when we are done with our lectures for the day? I mean, it's pretty much obvious that your dad won't be around when you get back home," she said suddenly. "Who knows? He's probably still working on evolving the next big thing with his colleagues at the Capital, and besides, Colai misses you too."

There was a long pause.

Yue was right. His dad's work as a research scientist forced him to spend 84% of his time at the Capital, and the remaining 16% in their resident with him. His presence at home was only felt on the weekends, making Livingstone the only living being in their house throughout the other five existing days.

He would be lying if he said he didn't feel the urge to comply with her suggestion, yet the other part of his mind reminded him of the pending things he'd to complete in his resident. To him, that was much more important than just making an appearance in her house.

"I can't," he stated firmly, out of the blue.

She stared into his eyes for a while then heaved a sighed. She nodded in understanding, as she went back to eating. To her, his honesty was better than a failed promise.