Welfare and Warfare

Chapter 17

Day: 3171

Days Left: 2309

Lives Saved: 17

With his mind half distracted on thoughts about Sumit, Oscar's bubbling frustration grew to the point where he scrubbed the pan so vigorously that it flung out of his hands and crashed into the floor, startling the imp.

"Sorry, sorry," Oscar panicked, afraid to have caused any alarm or fear in the child.

The imp checked the pan and spotted a sizable dent in the metal.

"Shit," Oscar breathed before covering his mouth with his hand at such language in front of the imp.

The child repeated the word with a mischievous cackle whilst drying the pan.

"I assume you went to see Sumit then, dear?" asked Ivette, who was sat at a nearby table, going through the shared log book between the kitchen staff and farm, calculating how much food needed to be harvested for next week.

Oscar lowered his head in admitted guilt. "If he gets into trouble one more time, I'm not going there ever again."

"That's what you said last time."

"I know, I know," Oscar sighed. "But this time..." he paused, feeling the uncertainty of his conviction. Shit, he probably would go see him again.

Noticing Oscar's unhidden dejection, the imp hugged his leg and continued to cling to it even after Oscar repeatedly explained that he was fine. With the imp still attached to his leg, Oscar hobbled over to the table and sat opposite Ivette, inspecting her notes and double checking her calculations. The imp moved to sit on Oscar's lap, fiddling with a few pencils as Oscar and Ivette discussed business matters.

"You don't owe him anything," Ivette said during a lull in the conversation, easily discerning that Oscar was still distracted.

"But I'm the reason why he's..." something caught in Oscar's throat and he struggled to continue.

"Listen to me," Ivette reached for Oscar's hand, squeezing it gently. "You are not to blame for that man's actions. This is just his way of dealing and reacting to things. Something else could have happened and he would be behaving like this too."

"Really? Did he do something like this before his memory loss?"

"Well, no..." Ivette let go of Oscar's hand. "He didn't behave like this at all."

"So it is because of me-"

"No, no! Sumit is very different after losing his memories. He was a very patient and polite young man. I had never head him raise his voice or give into anger before. Though apparently, Rin said the friends of his before she met him said that he was just like that, he just ended up changing over time into how we- how myself and the others knew him to be. And he might do so again once he has realised that acting up won't make him happy."

He could have remained happy, thought Oscar, thinking back years before when they were first together. Though Sumit wasn't always happy, struggling with his memory loss just like Oscar, it was still better than now and Oscar was the one who ruined it all.

"Anyway, the point I was trying to make..." Ivette paused, wincing as she considered if her efforts to comfort Oscar was actually just making everything worse. "Sometimes people can't be who we hope them to be. They're their own person. People change all the time, especially if they've lost their memories. You have changed too, dear, in the last few years."

"Because I'm no longer copying Sumit," said Oscar with a slight smirk, before it faded away.

"I know it might never feel like it, but you did the right thing," said Ivette. "I still believe that. You can't have kept up that relationship after realising that you were just acting in a way to please him."