Classless

Chapter 43; Magic and Enigma

Chapter 43: Magic and Enigma

*Fedor's POV*

I did not think there was a limit to how much information the brain could retain. I was sure that I had reached my limit, I had spent all night learning about hidden meanings in the corporate place and how to please your man. I knew the internet was a scary place but I did not think it was that much of a freaky place, between the two topics, I could not determine which one was more difficult to retain and why was there so many complexities, why couldn't people say what they mean and mean what they say? Was it that difficult to achieve? People were too complicated for my liking, if I had thought I was the problem before, I did not think so now. Humans were the issue, why did everything have to be complex? I rolled my neck to loosen the knot there and pondered on the articles I had read about work culture, apparently making small talk was an underrated art. I cracked my knuckles as I decided to try my new found skill on Carlos as he cooked. Chief heard me come into the kitchen, I knew that because he stiffened and even though he did not acknowledge my presence, I decided that it was in good faith. "Carlos, good morning! How did you sleep?" His hand froze on the onion he was cutting as he glanced at me in confusion, I could not help but notice Chief's curious look at me as well. Was it that strange that I had asked how his night had went?

"F...fine." He continued cutting then froze again when I asked another question.

"Have you ever been married Carlos?" I munched on an apple.

He cussed out loud in Spanish and put his hands on his waist as he glared at me, "what have you done this time? Did you change all my clothes to pink? Or is it my hair?" He frantically pulled at his hair and then narrowed at me, "I thought we had an agreement that you wouldn't prank me even if you did the same to others!"

I raised my hands in surrender, "There's no prank! I was only making small talk."

"What?" He stepped away from me slowly and checked to ensure that there wasn't anything missing on his body or his knife collection. "Seriously, what did you do?"

Chief had stopped pretending to ignore me altogether and was watching me perplexed, I thought they were being overly dramatic. You prank someone once, twice, thrice, okay six times and now they cannot believe you anymore. I scoffed at that, "Never mind. Jeez! I was trying to improve my intercommunication skills and apparently I suck at that too."

"Are you dying?" Carlos asked concerned.

"No, I am not." I hissed.

He touched my head and checked for fever, I did not blame him. I brought this upon myself for trying to pretend to be someone I am not. I slapped his hands away and sat purposely beside Chief, I stared directly into his eyes and mouthed the words, "I am sorry" when Carlos was not looking. The kitchen became livelier as Naim and others joined.  Since I was not a quitter, I decided to try again on Castle; he had just finished his workout, "Why do you work out so judiciously Castle?"

"You don't have to be sarcastic; I am allowed to have hobbies Fedor."

"I wasn't being sarcastic, I was genuinely curious." I put as much sincerity into my tone.

He glowered at me at first before jumping all of a sudden away from me and went straight to pulling his hair in the same manner Carlos had. I sighed, "There's no prank guys. No Pranks."

Castle exchanged looks with Carlos who shrugged and commented, "Is this because this might be your last trip with us?" He sighed like he had just comprehended my strange behavior.

"Are you going to miss us?" Castle mocked, at least that's what I thought.

"I can assure you, that thought did not even cross my mind once." I admitted.