The Boss and The Equipper

Chapter 8- CONNECTED THE DOTS

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Aric gasped dramatically as Oli ate a spoonful of peas, absentmindedly, and Aric's instantaneous reaction made him realize that he ate what he despised the most.  

"Okay....we have an imposter here. Tell me what you did to my brother!?" Aric rose up from his seat as he waved his fork and asked in a pretentious bitterness.

"Haha, very funny. Sit and eat," Oli spoke wearily and took a swig of cold water, trying to wash off the taste of peas from his taste buds.

Aric sat down while their parents Mr. Jasial and Mrs. Peppila stared at Oliandrin. Mrs. Peppila clearly looked gleeful with Oli accidentally eating the peas.

"Oh, I'm eating...and I'm, unlike you, fully aware of what I'm eating. Now tell me brother what's going on with you," Aric spoke while wiggling his eyebrows playfully. Their parents looked back and forth between them with a suppressed smile.

Oli leaned back on his chair and gave an incredibly exhausted look to Aric as if trying to say 'Stop talking nonsense.'

The reality was that Oli himself didn't know what actually was going on with him. He had never felt this distracted before. He couldn't stop himself from replaying the morning's incidents in his head- The match with Fin and the way Fin reacted earlier as if she was on the verge of getting a panic attack.

He had this sudden urge burgeoning inside him to know about Fin's past. Where did she come from? Was she ever married? Who was the father of Pearl? And why did she live alone? These questions kept rising like a tide in his brain.

Oli stared at the ceiling with his lips pressed in a line as he lay still on his bed. A hurricane of thoughts was running inside him, not ready to calm down at any cost. Like birds who could sense the arrival of rain, he could sense something dark enveloping Fin after her zoning-out incident.

Fin, too, had no sleep that night. Her palms felt sensitive and her stomach kept twisting nervously then and now. She turned her mobile to silent mode as it rang for the third time. She was strictly advised not to answer unknown calls. As she held up the juice can in her hands, her hands shook badly. She kept the can on the small dining table and sat on the floor, and buried her face in her knees. Her throat pained intensely as she tried hard not to cry. She felt depressed. She wanted to scream and run someplace far away where there would be no humans. 

She was scared. What happened today was the proof that her past was sucking her like a leech, haunting her like a ghost. Any reminders of that night were acting like a  trigger for her panic attacks. It was getting worse and worst. She couldn't risk such incidents in the future.

"Are you alright mommy?" Pearl's hoarse, sleepy voice made Fin's head raise and she stretched her arms out for Pearl who was standing at the bedroom door.

Pearl rubbed her eyes while walking wearily towards Fin and hugged her.

"Mommy is fine, honey. Just tired."

"You know you can tell me things. Imma big girl now," Pearl said in a muffled voice with her face buried in Fin's chest.

Finally, tears escaped Fin's eyes as she desperately wished that she could share things with Pearl.

Fin sighed loudly before speaking up, "Okay. Mommy is fine but worried."

"Why? What worries you?"

"Safety of yours, and mine...it worries me terribly."

"I know we are running away from something..." Pearl spoke timidly and Fin quickly pulled back to gaze at Pearl's face.

"...or someone," Pearl completed in a faint voice with her head hung low.