Take Me Part II

We arrived at a simple house-almost suburban-looking. It's a bit different from the headquarters that I am used to. But I guess this could be another camouflage? Maybe, once we entered the house, there's another door leading to a whole different place.

"Where are we?" I asked.

He didn't reply. He continued to do whatever he was doing. He turned off the car's engine and went out. I followed him as he walk to my side using my eyes.

I groaned.

He opened the door for me.

"You don't have to do that. I have my own hands." I raised them for him to see. Instead of hearing a sarcastic reply from him, I just saw his disappointed eyes looking at me. No, not disappointed, broken. He's broken eyes looking back at me. He never had this much emotion back then.

Did Stif break up with him? He then found a way to gaze at my right hand; he must have seen my ring which made him walk far from me. I followed him inside the normal-looking household but knowing Artisans, this must be, again, a camouflage.

We entered the house. I examined the whole area. I even pressed the switches on and off just to see if a secret passageway would open that will lead to some headquarters. Nothing.

"Huh, it's a normal-looking house after all." No camouflaging of some sort. I studied the place, yellow pastel-painted walls, flowery curtains, carpets, and sofas. It really is just a normal place.

"Make yourself at home, it's a place provided by Commander for a meanwhile. We have to wait for a go signal from them before we could leave." He took a drink from the refrigerator. His voice is cold again. Regained some strength huh? He stared back at my eyes while drinking water from a cup. I stared back at him. Somewhere between those eyes looks broken but he's trying to hide it in some way. He put down his glass and avoided my contact again. All I heard from him was his breathing and footsteps.

"So, how have you been?" Why are you even trying to speak to him? I asked myself. He's clearly trying to avoid you at all cost. I sat down on the sofa that had a flower pattern on it. Whoever lived here has an old country style taste. Verry welcoming and cozy feeling. I want this kind of house. Not too big which makes me rarely see my siblings. Not too small that there's no privacy among the people living in it.

"Not really well." He answered, which made my heart beat happily. He finally answered a question. That's an improvement.

"Why?" I asked, pushing my luck to actually have some conversation with him.

He showed up from the kitchen bringing some scrambled eggs and bread. Just what is he doing? He placed them on the center table in front of me, "Sorry, that's all I could offer now." He pardoned. Why are things suddenly coming back? I hated these memories. It's like me and him back in my dormitory."Help yourself, I just kidnapped you from your fiancé while having some disgusting lunch." Now that's the Aaron I know. I took the bread and placed eggs over it.

"So, why aren't you doing so well?" I asked before taking a bite from the bread.

He opened his mouth trying to say something but swallowed it all back in. "I'm really not ready to talk about it."

"Why?"

He looked at me, maybe asking to himself if this is one of the 'small' talks I was pertaining to back then. "It's not the right time to talk about it."

He's avoiding me again. Of course, he will.

"'Kay." I took another bite. Well, there goes my luck. I can never have a good talk with this person. Though I have to admit, it's good to see him again.

"I'll go rest." He went up avoiding the sight of me, "Your room is at the end of the hall on the right." He exclaimed.

I breathed deeply, here we go again. Back to our old life. Bad luck just doesn't seem to leave my side. My phone rang. It's in my pocket after all. I thought it's in my small pouch that I left in the restaurant.

I picked it up without looking at the caller ID, "Hello?"

"Where are you? I'm having a search brigade for you." Mark sounded in pain still.

Oh, dear. This doesn't sound good. "I'm fine."

"Is that guy holding you hostage right now? How much does he want?"

I sighed, "Nothing. He doesn't want anything." Trust me, Mark. He does not need your money. SIA has lots of it.

"Seriously, where are you?" He sounds frantic now. Poor Mark. I was starting to like him too. He was also really nice to me the past few months.

"I don't know to be honest."

"Fine, turn on your GPS on your phone so that the search brigade could track you down." As soon as I heard about the GPS thing, I turned off the phone immediately. Now, I am not entirely sure how those things work but I am pretty sure it's not going to end well if I don't do anything about it. Do I go out and leave this phone somewhere? Does GPS still work even though my phone is already off? Ugh, this is why I am not the techy one among my friends.

Do I tell Aaron this? He needs to know, right? I sighed. I already forgot how to talk to him. Not that I actually was able to talk to him. It's just that back then, it was much easier to intentionally annoy him.

I stared at the stairs he used to get on the second floor of the house. Why am I doing this again? Staying around him? Seriously? It's like being in the SIA headquarters all over again. Small talks never work with him. He does not smile. He does not laugh. He avoids my presence as much as he can. Like now.