C45 Chapter 45
C45 Chapter 45
“I just want to give you this.” He slipped something into my bag and returned the bag to me. I pulled the paper he had put into my bag out and threw it away.
“That’s a free voucher for dinner. I invite you to have dinner tonight.” He got offended and collected that blue voucher from the floor.
“Thanks. But, I don’t need it. I’m not going to go anywhere. You can give the voucher to the other student.”
Leaving him standing with his questioning face, I hastily climbed down the stairs. I barged out through the big glass opened door in the main building just like being haunted by a ghost. As a moody person, Kevin’s behavior sometimes was pestiferous and dreadful. Avoiding him at any place would be the best way I could do for my safety.
I raced to the gate and paused for a while. Running drained my energy and oxygen. I inhaled for fresh air while fanning my body with a book in my hand to get cool. The sweat rolled down my temple.
“What’s happening? I caught you running very quickly.” Vera approached me who just took a breath.
“Nothing... this is not a serious thing.” My word competed with the air slid though my mouth. Repeating the same issue, discussing about Kevin was not an exciting thing. So, I kept it a secret. It did not affect Vera’s life, though.
“Are you going to work after this?
“Yes.”
“Will you go...?”
“No!” I knew where her question would lead to. “I won’t go.”
“I understand. I won’t come either.” We separated because she was in a hurry to see her lawyer. I myself had to work.
The sun bathed me with its scorching lights. The clouds shaded the beautiful blue sky above. Struggling a very hot day, I wandered around to do my routine, moving from one trash bin to another to get something that could be swapped with money. I was skillful enough at doing this. It was the way I had lived my life since my father got fired from his work. That moment altered our life. My father’s life became disoriented.
Recalling my past memory only knifed my heart deeper. It had been a month since my father left the house. We never heard any news about him. As his child, I could not stop thinking where he was, how he was, if he was alright and alive despite his entire act toward me. Having many enemies, his life was never easy. He had to escape from one person to another.
The horn’s blare from the trucks and other vehicles sweeping the road caused me lost my concentration. My past memory was gone along with the truck’s horn which slowly vanished. Getting my focus back to reality, I picked the junks that the amount had increased significantly. I had spent almost three hours since two p.m., the time when I got out of the library to seek and collect them.
Other scavengers had been standing in long lines to sell what they had gotten. Generally, they were men, old men preciously. One of them that I knew had four children he had to take care of. He and his wife were struggling for their life and children’s education. He once told me that he worked very hard to support on his children’s education. He dreamt that they could have a better life in the future. Silently, my heart whispered how lucky his children were to have a father like him.
It was not good thing to compare your life to others. But, if I were given a second chance, I wished I could have a supportive and caring father like him. This thought was not something I gave access to my brain. However, looking at the people with a happy and harmony family despite all the limitations sometimes made me jealous.
Everyone had to follow his or her destiny though I was pretty sure that human could change the destiny with their hard work and pray. Pray? I never prayed. I did not even know how to do it. My parents never taught me that.
“What are you daydreaming? Weigh your sack.” I moved forward and hooked my sack on the scale. That broker handed me some amount of money. I took my steps away as soon as the money had been in my hand.
The sky had turned red on the horizon. It indicated that the afternoon would end. The night would embrace the day. The darkness would cage the area where I was. Racing with time, I sped up my step striding the long road ahead. It was the jeopardy that might deter me on my home that induced fear in my heart. Getting home as quickly as possible was my only objection at this time.
“Oh, feet... could you please move faster?” my brain instructed. I exerted my full energy to drive my feet to walk nimbly. It was like my bad feeling warned me to do this.
It did not need to take so long that my feeling got to be true. A motorcycle roared from another direction and halted. It was Kevin again. Where in this world could I escape from this boy?
“What are you up here at this hour?” I did not think it was necessary for me to answer his query. He blocked my steps.
“Could you please move aside?”
“I will.” I left him. “The dinner may mean nothing for you. But, I initiate the dinner as my apology. I have hurt you, after all. Yeah, you are right I don’t deserve your amnesty or whatever it is. At least, please give me a chance to atone my fault,” he said. His tone got higher and higher along with the distance that kept us away.
It was getting nearer to my neighborhood. In a hundred meters, I would get to the alley. The sound of motorcycle drove me to turn back. Kevin just babbled out that he wanted to repent. Yet, he was back again with his motor gang. What exactly did he plan to do this time?
There were three motorcycles coming closer and closer. They figure were bulky. Did Kevin befriend with thugs? That boy, I did not even expect that his track record would be this bad, interacting with the people I never thought of he could do.
Those three men took their helmet off. In spite of being in the dark, their faces were visible. And Kevin was not there. Who were they? They giggled. My heart alerted that I might be in danger.