Alstroemeria

Chpt. 5 Food

It was a sunny day around noon with the birds now coming out. The crowd of townspeople roamed the streets. Markets have already opened up and you can hear coins clinking as consumers bought the products. People rushing up and down the street trying to get to their jobs without being tempted by the many products on sale in the markets.

"Achoo!"

"Bless you," the blacked-haired male said sitting next to his companion. "Are you sick?"

Amongst the crowd, sat the two boys on a small bench as they watched the many people pass by them. Two days have passed since the two boys delivered that letter. The Panda sniffled leaning back harshly as if he gave up, with half-closed eyes and snot slowly drooping down from his nose. The male casually sitting next to him looked at his unusual appearance.

"I think so..." the panda grudgingly said coughing right after. "It's weird because aren't you the one that ended up drenched in water." The panda suspiciously glanced at him remembering that his friend still hasn't told him what happened that caused that. The feline waited for a response or at least a sense of discomfort from his friend since he brought up the topic the black-haired male so desperately tried to avoid.

He looked to the side to see the said male looking straight ahead. The black-haired male looked as if he didn't hear what the panda had said and was in his own trance. His eyes showed no emotion, cold and sullen, like a wintery night. His mouth shaped in a thin line and his eyebrows not giving any hint of emotion.

The panda sighed already going through this many times with the male. He roughly ruffled his hands in his college's hair. The black-haired male gave a gasp surprised by the sudden contact as he leaned forward from the pressure applied to his head. No matter how many years the panda knew the male, it seems as more days go by the harder it seems to tell how the male truly feels. Every time he is in this state his body sits still like a robot but his mind is racing with thoughts that no one can guess. Sometimes the panda likes to refer to this as his mannequin state. He couldn't tell if he was distressed, confused, relieved, or any other type of emotion just pure blank. His eyes don't even give any hints to what he is thinking about and that should've impossible because the eyes is the window to ever living things soul. He already knew the male had trouble sometimes expressing his emotions but when he is in this state it is impossible to tell.

"Hey! Cheer up!" the black-haired male looked up at his friend with some strands of his hair in front of his face," What got you down in the dumps?" The panda asked with a cheery voice. He didn't really know if his friend was even sad, at this point, he always just has to take a gamble when this happens.

The male stared at the panda's exuberant smile awestruck. The black-haired male was so focused on what was going on in his head that he almost forgot that the panda was sitting next to him. It's been two days since they delivered the letter to that boss lady called 'Mrs. Grant.' The black-haired male slowly sat up in the seat as the panda was confused about the sudden change in the male's posture as if he just realized something.

"7 years..." the male muttered under his breath almost like a question. It was so silent that no normal person could hear it, but since the panda had good hearing sensitivity he could easily pick up what his friend said.

"7 years?" The panda questioned in his head looking into his friend's eyes. Just like a few minutes ago, the male looked off to the distance with that same icy expression alas, trapped in his thoughts. He hoped the male would make eye contact with him just to find at least some sort of emotion out of him.

"7 years." the black-haired male repeated but now it was as if he stated it as a fact. "It took me seven years in total to deliver that letter."

Finally, the male turned to the panda looking him straight in the eyes. Oh, the panda wished to make eye contact a second ago but now he regretted it. Because the expression his friend made was almost foreign to him. He only saw that emotion in his eyes once in the number of years he has known him. And the first time he saw that expression he wished to never go through that same scenario that caused that emotion to arise. The panda thought the male was in his usual sulk moods where he was lost in his train of thought but no; this was different. Ever since the panda's friend showed him this emotion, he could never quite know what it was but he already knew it shouldn't fall onto his friend. His friend shouldn't be experiencing this emotion, he couldn't name it and that made him so frustrated.