Recovery

When Jean had a rethink about Casper's statement, he found it making a lot of sense.

'I guess I have to pry on his culinary skills some other time.'

Jean cursed inwardly.

He was a kind of guy that would always learn from those that are better than him. He believed on the fact that; for him to be the best, he needed to accumulate as much knowledge as possible from those that were better than him. This way, he can easily beat them in their own game.

Now that the chance for him to advance some of his culinary skills had been taken away by his awful health condition, he didn't have any other thing to do other than returning to his seat.

***

Two days had passed uneventful. During these two days, Casper had offered to stay with Jean, so as to attend to him. Jean also had a chance to get to know some of the survival skills that Casper used to survive in the forest. He also had a chance to visit the small garden located at the back of the house. The garden contained most of the vegetables that Casper used in the preparation of their meals.

This was now it the third day since their tryst, and Jean was surprisingly brimming with vitality as he was just a step away from full recovery. It was strange that it had taken him such a short period of time for him to recover. His foot could now step down without any him feeling any pain. The scar had dried up and the pain had faded away. For the first time since meeting Casper, he could walk without a limp.

'I must say, this guy has done his best since he met me.'

Jean was grateful as he scanned the room.

It was dawn and it was when he was getting up. Unlike the previous days, he had gotten up early. It was strange that despite him waking up early, he didn't find Casper by the bedside.

'How early does this guy get up?'

Jean pondered as he started moving out of the bedroom.

As soon as he entered the leaving room, he noticed some dishes on the table in the middle of the leaving room.

Despite the low light that was being emitted by the single lantern that was suspended in middle of the leaving room, Jean could still notice the steam that was flowing out of the edges of some of the closed dishes.

It was 5AM, and from the looks of things, Casper seemed to have prepared breakfast already. Since the guy was nowhere within the vicinity, this clearly implied that he must be outside somewhere running some errands.

This was the same day that Jean had promised himself to join the guy in the kitchen no matter the condition he could be in. But now that his plan had been snubbed, he had to wait until the next cooking session.

Since Jean was accommodated by Casper in his house, never for once had the boy gotten up and found Casper still sleeping. He was the first to retire to bed and the last to wake up.

He wasn't even sure if Casper used to share the tiny bed with him. Although this looked strange to Jean, he still wished for such scenario for the sake of having a good sleep. And now that he was having good sleep, perhaps Casper wasn't sharing the bed with him.

'I think he has gone to fetch firewood as usual.'

Jean pondered as he approached the table that was loaded with some steaming foods.

Since the two started living together, Casper had been serving Jean with a heavy breakfast and this was somewhat unusual in Jean's life. He was used to common breakfast since the peanut salary couldn't take care of both his school fees and also afford a heavy breakfast for them.

Talking about school fees; Jean had sat for his final exam in senior secondary school and the results were to come out in a month's time. This was one of the reasons to why the boy felt the urgency of linking up with his mom, in the effort of returning to his home.

He wanted to know the college he could join.

Sitting on one of the seats in the leaving room, Jean let out a yawn. After staring at the dishes in front of him for a while, the sweat aroma couldn't let his mind rest. As a result, he found himself opening the dishes one after the other as he admired the foods that Casper had prepared for them.

Five minutes later, he got to his feet and headed towards the back of the house through the rear door. He was on his way to wash his face before checking the surroundings. As soon as he stepped out of the house, a chilling breeze assaulted his whole being causing him to gasp as he started shivering.

It was still winter and the weather was as hostile as ever. Despite the freezing cold, Jean still went ahead to execute his agenda. He walked I to the kitchen which was still warm as the fire was still on.

Picking a mug and scooping some water from one of the storage pots in the kitchen, Jean lingered.

'How I wish I stay here for a while before walking into the cold.'

Jean pondered as he cradled the mug in his hands.

Casper had given him a warm cloth to protect himself from the cold, but since the guy used to walk out when the sun was visible in the sky, he was not used to putting it on. Additionally, Casper's house was surprisingly warm throughout the day despite not having any source of heat within its confinement.

This was something that kept raising some questions in Jean's head. He had previously asked Casper about the matter, but the latter kept telling him that he will explain it to him at the right time.

After a few moments of contemplation, Jean walked out of the kitchen and moved away from the house. After scanning the surroundings, Jean washed his face. The surroundings were as quiet as usual. When he was done cleaning his face, he couldn't stand the cold anymore.

'I need to get back in the house.'

With that thought in mind, Jean hastened towards the house. When he got at the kitchen's door, he abruptly came to halting stop.

For a moment, his thoughts were split between returning to the house or entering the kitchen to warm himself.

Suddenly, he tilted his head to the side and walked straight into the kitchen.

The reason to why he preferred entering the kitchen, was because he could have a chance to test himself if he could resist smoke. This was in case he was to join Casper in the kitchen during the next cooking session. And at the same time, he could also have a chance to warm his body.

'Let me warm myself as I wait for his return.'

Jean thought to himself.

An hour later, the cold in the outside had dwindled by a noticeable margin. It was now clear in the outside as the sky was clearing up.

Jean had tested his resilience in withstanding the firewood smoke and he was satisfied by the final outcome. Although this couldn't have been his main agenda after attaining a bigger step in his recovery, he still found it appropriate for creating the bond with his only helper at the moment.

Getting to his feet with a stagger, Jean did some stretches before stepping out of the kitchen.

As soon as he was out of the kitchen,  he heard a bang in the direction of the main door. If this could have been his first time, he might have panicked and even scampered fir safety. But since he was used to this sound, he immediately knew what the source of the sound was.

'That must be Casper dropping the firewood from the forest.'

Jean mused as a broad smile shone his face.

Without a second thought, he walked into the house through the rear door. As soon as he was in, he didn't slow down, instead,  he accelerated towards the main entrance.

Walking out of the house, Jean's eyes caught the heap of firewood in front of the house. But to his surprise, Casper was no where in the vicinity.

'Where could he have gone to?'

Just as he was still thinking about the matter, he heard some movements at the back of the house.

'That must be him.' With that thought in mind, Jean didn't bother to enter the house, instead,  he walked towards the back of the house by looping around it from the left-hand side.'

At this point, he was thinking of a way to provoke Casper for not waking him up early every morning.

As soon as he took a turn and walked to the kitchen door, he stopped. When he narrowed his gaze and looked in the kitchen, he was surprised not to see Casper there.

Suddenly, he felt a cold chill down his spine.

'What is really going on?'

Jean thought to himself as he quickly scanned the surroundings.

The heap of firewood was a clear proof that it was Casper that had put it there. But the movements at the back of the house could have been caused by something else if Casper isn't around.

This was exactly what was running in Jean's mind as soon as he was done scanning the surroundings. When he didn't notice anything, his expression turned serious as a frown formed on his bleak face.

□"😀"□