002

The bus had finally stopped at a station that was filled with the same kind of transports that would either leave this location soon or also had been arriving here not that long ago.

Some even seemed to have just arrived and when Jack left his own transport that he had been sleeping in most of the time he could see other small masses of people walk out of them.

It surprised him how many people there actually were coming out of those. The bus traffic seemed to be rather prosperous here for some reason.

Though his own bus was like a ghost drive into hell or something with only him being in there.

And from the way the scenery changed in the windows from urban to suburban and again to some complete wilderness Jack clearly knew that it was a rather remote area the bus aimed for.

At first, Jack wondered to what little shithole of the world he was being brought to, but after they had passed a slightly mountainous area they soon started to see civilization again.

For a suburban town, this Summerville sure was large enough to count as not that bad. Especially after he knew that just a few miles off there was an even larger city close by that they had passed got his mood up a little bit.

In his mind, this place already got some plus points for being right close to the coast with a beach to visit.

So, not everything was bad?

Looking at his phone again he saw that it was pretty late in the evening - 15:23 to be precise.

The most concerning thing now was to find this supposed place that was given to him by this aunt of his.

Checking his messages again he reconfirmed that he was supposed to come to the local mall to meet his aunt.

'Now, where ist the mall...'

Jack went inside the building in front of him with his luggage rolling behind him and looked around in the office that served for selling bus tickets for the various travel lanes.

After finding out that the counter was free he went over there and asked the clerk where the local mall was.

Luckily they had a map of the town in their office and with a few guiding hints, Jack got to know where he had to go.

It would take a while but he would get there. So thanking the person for their help he started walking off.

About 15 minutes later he stood in front of the mall that was called the Hillside Mall. Rather uninspiring name.

Going in he saw that it was pretty decently large and there was even a cinema inside it. Actually not bad.

Jack walked up to the second floor and stood in front of a shop that got him to sigh loudly.

The shop was a florist that also served as a gift shop for the more romantically involved. The name is what made Jack sigh out most. Cupid - Someone actually named their shop after the fairy of love.

Rubbing his neck a little he went inside and went straight to the counter.

There stood a woman in her late 30's with auburn hair tied in a high ponytail and two strands of hair in the front framing her face.

She wore dark denim jeans and a sky blue shirt that was covered by a beige florist apron. What the woman was currently fiddling with was a small bouquet of flowers.

But when Jack came closer she noticed him and stopped her work, putting the flowers to the side.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" she asked with a soft and friendly voice.

Her dark green eyes looked him over for a short moment and then she widened her eyes.

"Hey there, aunt Leah." Jack just smiled softly back. He already figured out this woman in front of him was his aunt. There was no mistake about it with the pictures she had sent him so that he could recognize her.

Though he kinda assumed that she was using old pictures of herself. Why you ask? Well, she looked rather young for her age and woman were fickle things that liked to keep themselves young no matter what. Even if it meant using old pictures from their younger days.

But his thoughts were interrupted quickly when the woman came around the counter and hugged him.

Jack was somewhat surprised and had to process what was going on at first. This was a little bit awkward for him. At first, he wanted to hug her back but changed his mind and remained still, letting her do her thing.

When she finished hugging him she distanced herself a little and then placed her hands at both his cheeks. There seemed to be a worried look on her face when she looked at him.

"You've grown up so tall." Now her face showed a teasing smile after she removed her hands and sighed out lightly. "I still remember you being barely tall enough to reach my waist. How time passes. It's good to see you, Jack."

Jack somehow felt a constricting pull at his chest that let it ache a little. There definitely were some feelings that his body had inside him that tried to surface.

But he could only smile wrily about them since whatever memory this body had about his aunt, they now were buried underneath the new Jack's personality. It made him a little bit guilty that he was not feeling much at all.

After all, this woman may be his aunt, but she also was basically a stranger to Jack or to be more precise to the new Jack.

And when he was not saying anything only gave her a wry smile Leah noticed that and sighed again. "Right, I guess you are probably tired from your journey..."

Her voice seemed to be a pained one now. Clearly, Jack's behavior seemed to hurt her a little.

"Take this spare key to the apartment." Leah went behind the counter again and rummaged in der bag that she took out from underneath it. "Your room is labeled with your name. Your stuff the moving firm brought is also already in there. So go and get some rest, okay? I will come home back later after I finish my shift."

Jack took the key from her and put it inside his pocket. When he looked back up at her she still could see her pained expression.

"Here is also the address of the apartment building. I hope you can tell me about how your trip was then." Same thing with the key it went straight into his pocket.

"Alright, see you later." Leah smiled now after hearing his response.

Jack wondered what was going on? Though he came as rather awkward, it somehow felt like she was more worried than anything.

Did he make the impression that he was some very unsocial person? Well, he was a little bit bad at communicating but not to that degree?

Putting that thought aside he went ahead and traveled to the apartment building. That took a lot longer than he thought. Nearly half an hour later he finally arrived at the other side of the town.

Apparently, the apartments were close to the coast. Which is already not that bad.

After entering he checked the mailboxes first since there was no one behind the reception. His aunt also forgot to write down which floor the apartment was on.

At least it was easy to figure out with the way she had added a '+Frost' to her own last name Perl. So it was easy to see that their apartment was 203.

And besides, there was still the option to call her on the phone anyway. That is if he didn't manage to find out.

Taking the elevator to the second floor was relaxing. Maybe a little bit too much since he started yawning.

Well, looks like his doze off in the bus did not help his tired body. Like at all.

When Jack finally entered the apartment and close the door behind himself the first thing he did was look around and scan his surroundings. It was actually quite spacious in here, to be honest.