Today is the first day of the weak, and Aaron is not feeling well and does not want to show up in school. He felt like he"s going to be ignored by a certain person, and with high hopes, he wouldn"t want that to happen."What"s with that face, brother?" Anna asked. Anna almost laughed when she saw the dejected expression her brother is making right now. Over the weekends, her brother locked himself in his room and whenever she sees him, she almost feels sorry for him.
"Is there even a need for you to ask that question? You already know why." Over the weekends, Aaron realized a lot of things and with those realizations, he deeply regretted not explaining himself properly to Nathalia.
In his mind, Nathalia must be hating him now. Just imagining the look on Nathalia"s face when she sees him is making him feel devastated. From time to time, he asks his sister for help, but all she does is ignoring him or telling him to figure out a way to fix things by himself.
"You"re enjoying this aren"t you?" Aaron asked.
"That"s harsh, brother. I wouldn"t dare enjoy myself seeing you like this. It would be so mean of me." Anna patted her brother"s head. She senses that her brother knows that she is lying, but does not care. All she cares about is what is going to happen between her brother and Nathalia today.
~~~
"Nathalia, remember what I told you the other day?" Josh asked Nathalia.
The three of them, Nathalia, Zen, and him, just arrived at their school. On their way here, Josh kept repeating the same words to Nathalia, and Nathalia is getting annoyed by it.
"I know. I know. How many times do you still need to remind me, Josh?" She understands the point Josh is saying to her, but saying it to her too many times is just too much for her. She felt like her ears are gonna start to bleed if Josh says it one more time.
"As long as I needed," Josh said nonchalantly. "Don"t ever get swayed by Aaron. Let him suffer for a little while." From the messages that she"s getting from Anna, Josh is now sure that Aaron is at the point where everything is clear to him.
"I know that it"s not me you"re reminding that off, but I have to agree with Nathalia, it"s kind of annoying now." Zen who"s still sleepy is not in a great mood. Last night he played too many video games and he decided not to come to school today, but his friend, Josh, woke him up and even dragged him to the bathroom.
"Shut it." Josh coldly said to Zen. "I"m saying this for Nathalia"s sake. If you don"t want to hear my voice then, try not to listen." With just a few words from Aaron, Nathalia gets swayed so easily, and that worries Josh.
Aaron might be sincere, but sometimes, a girl needs to act like she is not easy to have. That is what Josh is trying to point out to Nathalia.
"That"s a hard thing to do, Josh. How can I do that when all I can hear in this hallway is your d.a.m.ned voice." Zen angrily spoke. They came to school way too early, and some of the hallways are empty. "Why did we even come to school this early, anyway?"
"Yeah. I"m wondering about that too." Same as Zen, Josh was also the one who woke Nathalia up. Josh suddenly barged into her without knocking and because of that, all her sleepiness floated away. She doesn"t even know if she should get angry or not towards Josh.
"My annoying father hid something in the school, and he told me to find them. Since this school is big, I need help from you guys." From time to time, his father likes to pull similar stunts like this. His father hides an object, and he"ll be the one to find that object. It"s like a game between them, father and son.
This is the first time that his father chooses a place like this to hide that unknown object.
"What? Isn"t this the game that you and your father come up with years ago?" Zen asked in an annoyed tone. He can never understand why Josh and his uncle Mike would have such a ridiculous game. He never asked what was the purpose of it and he has never taken any interest in it, but it never comes into his mind he would be playing such a ridiculous game.
"Yeah."
"Why should we help you?" Zen asked.
"Because I said so." Just like always Josh never gives them a concrete reason, and that annoys Josh so much.
"Come on, Zen. I"m sure it"s not that bad." Nathalia is trying her to look at the positive side of the situation. She also didn"t like to partic.i.p.ate in which Josh calls a game, but Josh is asking for help, which is rare, and Nathalia thinks that it"s going to be a long, long time before Josh asks again.
Zen sighed and said, "Fine. What are we looking for anyway?" Just like Nathalia, Zen is also trying to look at the positive side of the situation. He"s thinking that once they find whatever they are looking for, he can just take a short nap in his cla.s.sroom after.
"I have no idea. But it"s in a box with a sticker like this." Josh showed a picture from his phone of the sticker that he is talking about.
"Isn"t that the logo of the organization our parents are in," Zen asked.
"Yes, and apparently, my father likes to do this every single time. If somehow the organization"s enemy happens to see that logo and take away the object my father hid for me to find, that enemy will have the knowledge of the technology that we use." Josh and his mother keep reminding his father to not put the logo of the organization in the box, however, his father is stubborn. He won"t listen to a word they are saying to him.
"The content of the box we"re searching for is one of uncle Mike"s inventions?" Nathalia asks as her eyes s.h.i.+ne in excitement. She was never allowed to touch any of Mike"s invention, and it frustrates her so much, but now, she has a chance and wouldn"t dare to let go of this chance.
"Yes," Josh replied.
"You"re father sure love to do risky things," Zen often hears from his father that Josh"s father likes to do things in an extreme way. From the stories that he hears, he sometimes wonders how did Josh"s father survive all this time.
"That"s just how he is." After saying that, Josh noticed that Nathalia wasn"t listening to them anymore and has started to search in every possible hiding the box might be at. Since it has come to this, Josh purposely said his piece out loud, "Since this school is big, I also asked Anna to come along, and of course, Aaron will be helping out too. They are on their way here now."
Nathalia stopped her movement for a second then, she pretended that she didn"t hear a word. Despite that, Josh and Zen saw that. If they didn"t grow up together, both Zen and Josh wouldn"t think that Nathalia heard it.
"Didn"t you just reminded Nathalia to give Aaron a cold shoulder and avoid him? Why are you purposely doing this?" Zen whispered.
"Those gave me a lot of headaches. This is the only way I can think to punish them. Besides, I think it"s going to be a very interesting show to watch." Josh"s intention is not exactly what Zen thought it would be, but if one were to look at it on the bright side, he"s somewhat luring both Nathalia and Aaron together.
In all honesty, Josh thinks that if things turn out to be a good result, Aaron and Nathalia should thank him. He deserves it.
"If you put it that way then, who am I to argue with you?" Zen wouldn"t want to put Nathalia in a situation like that, however, just the thought of Aaron"s dejected face is making his heart happy. "So where are they now?" Zen asked.
Just as Zen asked that question, Josh"s phone vibrated. Josh reads Anna"s message and a smirk was revealed in his face. "They"re here."
~~~
"Where are you taking me, Anna?" The moment he woke up, Aaron has been feeling stressed. He planned to be left alone, but his sister is pulling him to who-knows-where.
Anna didn"t reply to her brother"s question. As she getting closer to her destination, she saw two familiar figures, Josh and Zen, waving at them. When she and her brother are in front of them, Anna spoke, "So, how are we gonna find this mystery box?"
Although Anna would like to watch the upcoming reunion between her brother and Nathalia, she would rather find the box and explore what kind of things Mike"s invention can do.