A Second Chance

Part 49 - I don't know

"Why are we here?"

We were walking around the town near us. It was small, but I heard it had some great culture and I could get to see some animals. 

"What the hell are you trying to do? Why are we wandering around this small town when we're here to wait,"

"Waiting doesn't mean not having fun while we wait,"

"Cool point, but there's nothing fun to do here. This town has no cool areas at all."

"I'm sure there's something... like that pastry shop. Why do these look cool?!"

We walked up to the owner. "Can I have two of the peach ones and a blue one for me?"

Shoot... I completely forgot that the owner might not be able to speak English! Damn it, this town is in the middle of nowhere! 

However, to my shock, the owner packed them up then put up the card reader. I put the card in and the payment turned out to be a success. So, he could understand me?

"Surely, you didn't think that the residents of a popular tourist destination wouldn't be aware of the most common languages they encounter,"

I cringed. "Just eat the peach one already,"

"I'm good," she replied. 

Damn... she really didn't want to be out here.

"So, what did you think of Electro-Punch?"

"Why him all of a sudden?"

"Just wanted to know your opinion of him,"

"He punished criminals for who they were,"

"I figured you'd say that. He did kill a bunch of civilians though,"

"Never denied that. So he's good and bad. But he did leave his mark whether you like it or not. He showed that even with an oppressive organization, there can be resistance,"

I sighed. 

Of course she'd have a better outlook on him than I did. I never actually said this but on the plane, a few hours before we were going to land, I read Mark's logs about Billy, and could I say, it was hard for me to have a nuanced take on him. Not to say there isn't, because there is a bunch of nuance, but... all that abuse he did to Mark?

I didn't let it show because I already knew Billy was bad and I thought he was maybe mean to Mark, but on this scale? Yeah, there's no way there can be silence about this. People have got to know the type of person Billy was behind closed doors. 

"You look like you're dying... you don't agree with that, do you?"

"No, I mean... I just know more about him than you and the general public might. And that adds some salt to the wound,"

"Enlighten me..."

Should I tell her?

Would Mark want me to?

But, I need to make sure this doesn't go under the rug and not telling someone like her wouldn't make sense. Besides, there's nothing to talk about here. 

Nah, that doesn't sound like what to tell now. At least not at this moment... maybe in my letter to her after I leave. 

"He's just... not that good of a person. That's all I'll say,"

"I can work with that,"

I took a bite of the peach biscuit that I brought, and man, it tasted so good. Now that I think about it, quite a shame that I never had any Singaporean food.