Survival Skills

This was unexpected.

Jean had expected Casper to respond to his question right away, but the idea of him asking a question beforehand didn't strike his mind. But now that the question was already underway,  he had no other option but to wait for it.

Since he wasn't sure with what Casper was about to ask,  he felt anxious but at the same time nervous.

Without waiting for Jean's approval, Casper went ahead and put across his question.

"Where is your home?"

Casper asked in a serious tone.

Jean hesitated for a moment before answering.

"But I think I already told you that!"

Jean said with  a confused expression.

Since he had already told Casper that he was from Lent the moment he had recovered his consciousness, he didn't  expect  the same question from the same guy anytime soon.

As a result,  Jean felt reluctant to answer  Casper's question because he wasn't  sure why he asked him for the second time.

Letting out a mischievous smile,  Casper blinked for a couple of times.

"I think I need to rephrase my question."

With that Casper gulped before he continued...

"I know you are from Lent, but where exactly in Lent do you reside in?"

The moment Jean noticed how specific Casper's question was, he felt the urge of lying again. He felt like,  if he told him the truth before knowing him well,  he might land in serious trouble in case he turns out to be his enemy.

So, without too much thinking,  he decided to do what his mind was telling him.

"My residential home is located in Yunich"

Jean said confidently.

If someone could have studied him closely,  it could have been so difficult for the person to detect that he was lying. In simple terms,  Jean had already become a proficient lier since he was kidnapped. He was getting accustomed to this new norm that wasn't part of his life while growing up.

But since his life depended on it, he didn't have a choice.

The city that Jean had mentioned,  was located to the furthest East of Lent. And since Kili City was on the West, it could have been  difficult for his enemies to trace him in case they use the information that he gave Casper to trace him. Although that would only be possible if Casper was one of them or a betrayer.

"Huh! Although I have never been in Lent before,  I can sense that from the name itself that the city must be one of the best in the country."

Casper said enthusiastically.

For a moment,  Jean was stunned.

What  surprised him the  most was the fact that Casper was able to deduce that Yunich was a nice city. This was because,  Yunich city was third largest city within Lent. It was a level above Kili City.

Although hadn't been there before,  he was still able to tell how big Yunich was through his school knowledge. This was because he used to read about cities during his free time while in the library. This was one of his hobbies and it was fuelled by the praises he used to hear about cities within and outside of the country.

'Perhaps he also read about it the way I did'

With a nod Jean asked,

"It is true, but how were you able to guess correctly?"

Jean asked out of curiosity.

Waving a hand dismissively,

"I even don't know how I did that..."

Casper said jokingly as he let out a mischievous smile.

"I have another question for you. I hope you don't mind me asking."

Casper said after a short moment of silence.

Feeling anxious,  Jean sighed as he struggled to calm himself.

'But I thought that he was done asking.'

Jean cursed inwardly as he smiled wryly.

"If I may ask, have ever been in the countryside or this is your first time?"

Casper asked as he scratched the sides of his cheeks.

Lingering for a moment,  Jean snorted.

"Of course, I have ever been in the countryside before. There was where I was born."

'How comes I told him that, it  is obvious that he is going to ask the name of my village. And who knows,  maybe it would spell out doom for me. That's only if I give out the right information.'

Jean mused for a while as he regretted telling about his birth place.

"That's nice. I know you must be wondering why I had to ask you the last question."

"Yes!"

"The reason to why I had to ask you that question was because I wanted to know if you have the countryside survival skills under your belt. And since it was even your birth place,  I have no reason to doubt your skills and knowledge."

Casper said as he got to his feet and headed towards the food on the furthest table.

Jean felt a little bit confused by Casper's words.

'Serviving skills and knowledge,  what is he hinting to?'

Jean thought to himself as he sneaked glances at the leaving Casper.

The other thing that surprised him was the fact that Casper didn't inquire for further details about his birth place.

'Perhaps he is going to ask me later.'

At this point,  Jean  didn't know if he should  be honest to Casper or not. His intuition was telling him that the guy had no ill intentions towards him, but the ordeal that he had gone through after his kidnap made him not to  trust anyone easily.

Despite him trusting his intuition,  he still found it difficult to trust Casper. The only thing that was keeping him around was the fact that he needed immediate medical attention. And the right person for this at the moment was Casper. So, there was no way he was going  to  risk his life by running away from him when he needed his services dearly.

Even if he was to run away, where was he going to run to when he didn't have the means of locating his whereabouts. He could even end up returning at the same spot he left the dead guy, and who knows, he might end up running into his foes.

Ten minutes later, Casper had set the table and the two sat facing the food in front of them with anticipation.

The food was composed of coffee, sandwiches, boiled rice and a few fruits. It was simple but sumptuous.

"Go ahead and satiate your hunger"

Casper said as he gestured at the food in front of  them.

With a furtive look, Jean let out a gentle smile before picking a cup of coffee from the table.

The moment he took a sip and sunk his teeth on one of the sandwiches, a scintillating feeling filled his mouth as his eyes widened in bewilderment.

The food was unsurprisingly delicious.

Having tasted Casper's food the previous night,  Jean still held a doubt that Casper couldn't have been the one that had prepared the supper that he had that night.  He had suspected that maybe there was someone else who could had prepared the food.

But after coming to a realisation that there was no any other person apart from the two, the answer of the question of who prepared the food, became obvious the moment he had a taste of the breakfast food.

Despite him having good culinary skills, he had to admit that Casper was in a league of his own.

'At first,  I doubted if you were the one that prepared our supper.  But now that you have proven to me that you had a hand in it, it hurts me to admit that you beat me on this.'

Jean contemplated as he scoffed the food hungrily.

He was hungry,  but the sweetness of the food elevated the hunger. At the moment,  he was even doubting if the food was going to be enough  for the both of them.

"It hurts me to admit that your culinary skills are exceptional."

Jean said with a mischievous smile.

"Are you jealous or what?"

Casper asked with an amused face.

"Jelous? No now. I only feel that you are mean."

Jean said while waving a hand.

With a snort, Casper gave Jean a complicated look and lowered the  cup of coffee back on the table. He then snorted.

"How can I be mean when I have offered you such nice food?"

Casper asked in a neutral tone.

"Don't you think that preparing such delicious meals only for yourself is selfish act? That's denying other people a chance to taste such delicious meals. Come on, you could have at leastopened a restaurant. Maybe that way, people with awful culinary skills would have a chance to have a taste of delicious meals."

As soon as Jean  finished his statement,  the two exchanged curious glances before bursting into laughter in unison.

"I think you should also go ahead and open a comedy show"

Casper said as he picked one of the sandwiches and brought it closer to his mouth.

Suddenly,  there was a burst of laughter once again.

This was the moment  Jean felt that there was something wrong  with his chest.

Since he woke up, he was surprised not to feel  any hint of pain in his chest. The only pain that was tormenting him though by a smaller  degree  was the foot pain that was caused by the wound on his left foot.

Since then, he had not paid attention to his condition.

Clinging to his chest in a bend posture, Jean was forced out of the jovial mood but the stinging pain that had suddenly descended upon his chest.

•□☆□☆□•