Call from Destiny | COMPLETED | English

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Mountaineering: Part One

▬▬ E T H A N ▬▬

Finally, we arrived.

Looking at the window at my side, my head turned to look back at Benedict. I was in the shotgun and he was in the back.

Even though he wasn't looking at me, I knew immediately that he was deep in thought. His headset was in his ear, obviously indifferent to the world and his companions.

To be honest, I know that he's mad at me because of that incident days before. I couldn't leave the house so I'm sure he had trouble paying.

Heck, I don't even know if he had sufficient money for the food.

Calm down, Ethan. I'm sure that he won't get angry at you for that long.

He's probably just thinking of the trek.

Nodding, I immediately looked at my companions and smiled, "Come on. Let's go. Our coach might get bored."

The coach glared, frowned at me, and immediately got out of the van.

It's normal for me to see that kind of reaction from him since he's already like that --- serious and doesn't care too much.

Honestly, he's outgoing but it probably depends on his mood. Seeing him going to the back of the van, I immediately followed him to pick up my belongings. I can also wait for Benedict on the way.

When I took my bag, I saw Benedict next to me. Coughing for a moment, I immediately spoke. "Are you ready?"

But, when he got his bag, he just turned his back on me. Wait, did he even hear me?

When I saw that he was still wearing his headset, I immediately approached him --- removed it, and repeated what I had said. But, he still wasn't answering me.

He was also not smiling at me, obviously not in the mood to talk.

"You really won't talk to me, Benz?" I asked him and he just frowned at me. His arms were crossed, eyes staring at my own as if he was studying me.

A few minutes later, he thought of answering my question. Though, I wasn't expecting his answer to be that blunt. "I'm not even planning to."

"Come on," I deliberately tried to see if there was a possibility we could get along. Though, the deadpanned expression plastered on his face told me otherwise.

Looks like he really doesn't want to.

"Is it because of what happened on Monday? Look, Yen practically banned me to go back to that restaurant," I added just so I could properly explain to him what happened.

Though, he just took his headset from my hand and put it inside his bag. When he was about to turn his back on me, I immediately tapped him again.

Still trying to change his mind, I told him, "Look, I even talked to Vanessa afterward."

Finally, he replied back. But I wasn't expecting him to scoff. His eyes were now glaring daggers at me - almost ready to tear me in half. "I understand that. I'm not angry because of that."

"Oh, then why aren't you talking to me?" I then raised my eyebrow at him.

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" He sarcastically answered me back. If I had his headset, I wouldn't even hesitate to hit him with it.

"I told you to answer properly, Benz. You're answering me sarcastically---" I answered him but then he cuts me off immediately.

"I received your sister's message." Taking out his phone, he then clicked the message and scrolled.

I thought my sister sent a simple message. Maybe she said that she'll pay for Benedict's food and that he has nothing to worry about. After all, she was the one who locked me in the house and prevented me to go back.

Knowing that my sister would do that, I didn't hesitate to ask Benedict, "Really, what did she say?"

"She said that I should pay for it while you're gone," Benedict told me so my heartbeat immediately quickened. Wait, what? Yen never told me that.

Benedict's gaze then hardened once he saw my reaction. "You don't know how much I spent."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I know. I'll pay."

"I can't believe you'd think I wouldn't even pay you," I whispered to myself as he waited for an answer.

Knowing that he'd probably not talk to me again, I made sure to reassure him that I'll pay, "Don't worry, Benz, I'll just pay you after our mountain trek."

"Chance, Guitterez, what are you doing standing there? Get over here." My eyes immediately widened when I heard that.

I just gave a nod before saying, "Sorry coach. We'll be right there with you."

He didn't even smile back. He frowned before he turned his back on us and joined the rest of our teammates. Benedict immediately tapped me on the back.

"Come on, might get angry if we'll fall behind." Carrying his bag, he walked ahead of me. I just followed while taking a drink from my backpack.

I then agreed and said, "All right."

While I was drinking some water, I heard one of our companions ask. He obviously didn't like the place because he was sweating right away even though we hadn't climbed yet.

All he did was just take his towel, wiped his face, and then drank water. "Coach, why are we even here?"

"It's a test." That was our coach's short answer so almost all of us were surprised. We didn't expect this trek to be a test.

"Test? Even in games, we should undergo a test?" another one of the players asked as Benedict and I were silent.

The coach just showed us a poker face when he heard that. "I'm clearly making sure if you're capable of being a player."

"We are all capable, coach," my teammates said again so the coach just laughed and stared at us one by one.

"Let's see."

"Well then, let's start?" He immediately went ahead of us so we just decided to follow.

We're just going up the mountain.

What could possibly go wrong, right?