The Secret
"I thought you were even done with cleaning your wound so that I could apply the medicine on it. What exactly was keeping you for this long?"
Casper asked after a short moment of silence.
Without even saying a word, Jean turned and gazed at the wooden structure next to him. Just at that moment, Casper walked past him, stopped and stared at him with interest. He then turned and looked at the wooden structure with a complicated look.
"I can't believe the place I took my bath last night was this tattered. If I could have known earlier..."
"You could have taken the bath from outside instead?"
Casper intervened as he turned to face Jean with an amused look.
Jean almost chocked on his saliva the moment he heard Casper's provoking words. But since he understood that the guy was just trying to irritate him. He immediately suppressed his emotions, and just smiled shipishly and walked straight to the door of the bathroom.
This act from Jean seemed to have irked Casper's emotions since his mood darkened a bit the moment the latter realized that Jean didn't react to his provoking joke according to his expectations.
But since Casper had just done this to get on the nerves of the boy, he threw the matter at the back of his mind and smiled gently.
"I understand your worries but you have to remember that we are in the middle of a forest, it can't be easy for someone to run into us while showering. Or you want to lie to me that you have never taken an outdoor shower while in the countryside."
With that question, tense silence hanged between the two.
Struggling with embarrassment, Jean gave Casper a wicked smile after a short moment of silence.
"Of course, I have ever taken an outdoor bath before."
"And why were you acting weirdly towards my own private bathroom?"
Casper asked while softly scratching the sides of his cheeks.
"I just don't feel okay taking a bath from such an almost open structure. "
Jean answered as him limped forward and entered the bathroom. While inside, Casper moved and stood right at the door and stared at him.
"The difference between my countryside and this place is that; At our village, I wasn't taking a bath, but instead, I used to swim with pajamas on. Unlike at this place of yours where I take a bath in a partially enclosed structure."
Jean said after noticing Casper standing at the door.
"And where could you bath from because I am pretty sure that not everyone in your village could swim, unless everybody could swim including the crawling kids."
Jean who had just started rinsing his wound using the water in the container stationed at one of the corners of the bathroom structure gave Casper a complicated look.
After staring at each other for some time, the two burst into laughter in unison.
"Our village had better bathrooms that were far miles better than this thing."
Jean said as he finished cleaning his wound and straightened up.
"Why are you insulting the log that helped you cross the river?"
Casper said jokingly.
The two had already grown into each other to the point that they could even joke about serious things, despite them being together for a few hours since they met.
It would be a lie to say that none of them enjoyed each other's company. In fact, the home sickness that Jean had started developing had disappeared due to the company he was receiving from Casper. He was even wishing never to part ways with the guy. The guy's energy was something else. This fact had made Jean to trust his intuition and feel comfortable around the guy.
After all he was the one that needed him the most.
"I think I am done cleaning the wound. Should we go apply the medicine?"
Jean said as he walked out of the bathroom, thus diverting the topic in the process.
Without uttering a word, Casper started moving towards the house as he motioned Jean to follow.
Without further hesitations, Jean stepped forward and followed the guy.
"Come on and sit on this stone so that I can apply the medicine on your injured foot."
Casper stated immediately they arrives at the kitchen.
Moving and sitting on the stone as instructed, Jean sighed.
"I hope that it is not too painful, because the last time you applied the medicine on me it was when I was still unconscious."
Why are you pretending to be vulnerable to pain yet I can clearly see through your eyes. You are a strong individual, I wonder how the idiots managed to numb you. They must have ambushed you, isn't it?"
Casper asked with a serious face.
Faking a cough, Jean shifted.
"Something of sort, but that isn't a justification that you can go ahead and torcher me. You have to take it easy on me after all I am still your guest."
With that Jean pouted.
"Uninvited guest, that's the way you should put it."
Casper interjected with a cheeky frown.
The two then burst into laughter simultaneously as they enjoyed their moment.
Ten minutes later, Casper had already applied the medicine on Jean's wound and they were now other way to the house.
"Mr. Newton, I have thos question that I have been longing to ask you since yesterday."
Jean said while stopping in his tracks which made Casper to follow suit and glance at him with curiosity.
"Mmh! And what could be that?"
Casper asked after musing for a moment.
"How safe is this place? I mean, what are the chances that the kidnappers can't get to me while here?"
Jean asked in a serious tone.
Suddenly, Casper squinted his eyes and turned in the direction of the forest that was currently standing behind them.
"Since you have been here, have you seen any other person traversing the area apart from us? Even that's going too far. Have you heard any animal sound from this area?"
Casper asked while eyeing the forest with a distant look.
Upon hearing Casper's words, Jean's ears perked up as he turned and faced Casper with a serious expression.
He had the same question the moment he woke up and realised that the area was eerily quiet. But since he didn't look too strange to him, he threw the matter at the back of his head.
Now that the matter has been brought forth, his curiosity was heightened. He was eager to know the reason behind the eerie silence that surrounded the area.
"I was just about to ask you on the same"
Jean lied through his teeth.
The truth of the matter was that he had no intentions of asking Casper about the matter.Not until he confirmed that the rest of the forest was as quiet as this place, or somewhat different from this area specifically in terms of quietness.
"It is good that you discovered that, other I could have been disappointed at you."
Casper said as he turned around and approached the rear door of the house with a few measured steps. He then walked passed Jean, and without slowing down, he entered the house.
After hesitating for a few moments, Jean followed and entered the house, too.
As soon as the two got in the house, Jean's impatience was at its peak. So, the guy just didn't wait for Casper to give a way forward and asked,
"What could be the reason this area is this quiet? Although I doubt if that can answer my previous question about the security of this place."
Now standing next to one of the wooden seats in the living room, Casper snorted.
"Then let me answer your question according to the way you asked it."
With a serious expression, Jean immediately increased his concentration.
"But before I tell you this, I hope you are good at keeping secrets."
Shaking his head severally as if a foul pecking on seeds, Jean responded:
"Yes, yes.. you can trust me."
Albeit he seemed curious to know Casper's secrete, deep down, he understood how sensitive the information he was about to receive was judging by Casper's expression.
He wasn't ready to betray the only guy thst came to his rescue when he had no one to rely on and on the verge of dying.
"Okay. What you don't know is that it is difficult for anyone to intrude this territories upto a distance of four four hundred and fifty in diameter."
"And why is that so?"
"Because these are my territories."
Casper stated in a serious tone as he took a seat on the nearby seat.
Feeling confused and anxious at the same time, Jean decided to inquire further after noticing Casper keeping silent.
"How can the area being your territory prevent people from intruding your territories?"
With a sigh, Casper continued...
"I don't know if you have ever heard about magic powers?"
Without even thinking Jean quickly answered,
"Yes, I have heard and read about it before."
At this point what was ringing in Jean's mind was the arduous experience he had seven years ago in the forest at their new residence in Kili City.
Just at a thought of this, Jean grew restless with each passing moment.
"Since you've heard of it, you must be aware of enchantments performed by mages, isn't it?"
As soon as Jean heard this, he felt his head spinning as he found it hard to digest what Casper was telling him.
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