His Eyes

HIS EYES: Chapter 12

THE OLD man's smile hadn't vanished at all. He was enjoying it.

"What a coincidence, mama's boy," he said while grinning. My body froze. Was there something on his eyepatch that could make him see us?

"Are you Adolf?" Orlstein asked. If I were to judge, it was the most disrespectful question ever. But that was Orlstein and that's the reason why I liked her as a friend.

"My! My!" he exclaimed. Then he suddenly stood up, raising his crane. A piece of it fell on the floor, making a sound. I tried to look for an eye tattoo on his arms and bingo, I found it. He's the one who told that teenager girl about my past!

My surrounding went blurry. The old man was talking but I couldn't hear him. His body was moving slowly. I glanced at Orlstein, she was still talking to him. I held my head.

Then, I heard a voice inside my head.

"Finally, you showed up, Carthik. It looks like you haven't told her the truth, eh? Sorry, but you can only talk to me once you tell her about Auren. See you, then."

It sounded like the old man's voice. Was he actually Adolf? I should get back to my senses immediately. My vision became clear and my head didn't hurt anymore.

Adolf was no longer with us. I looked around. He had left. I just noticed that Orlstein was talking to me.

"Hey, you passed out," she said. She offered me a cup of water.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I saw you earlier, staring at the beggar. Then, you fainted. Good thing, I caught your back that's why you didn't fell on the ground."

Did she forget? Who the heck was Adolf? Was he some kind of a monster? A wizard? A mage? A sorcerer? Or everything was just a dream? But it looked so real.

"Are you okay?" she asked. She patted my back while handing me another cup of water.

"I think we should leave," I said. I stood up and took my bag. I waited for Orlstein near the door when suddenly I saw a small piece of wood under the table. Even though I was wearing sunglasses, I could see it from afar because of its color.

This was Adolf's crane. I picked it and examined it. I put it quickly in my bag. So, everything was real. Did he erase their memories? He's really giving me a reason to find and get him.

"Sorry, but you can only talk to me once you tell her about Auren."

What do you mean about that, Adolf?

"Carthik! Let's go?" I was startled when Orlstein called me. She was about to leave the bakery.

When we went outside, I decided to talk to her. The sun was burning our skin so we stayed under the big tree beside the bakery.

"I think we should stop finding Adolf," I said. During this kind of situation, all I could think of was to retreat. I would rather sacrifice my chance to ask Adolf than loss Orlstein.

"Why?" she asked. I could tell she was disappointed and based on her look, she wanted to hear a reasonable answer. 

"Because I think I should move on and accept myself?" I lied. I couldn't stare at her so I looked away.

"Well, it's your choice though. But let me tell you something, how did the doctor able to transplant his eyes? It's impossible if the doctor was wearing sunglasses because the operation should be done safely," she said. I didn't think about that.

I faked a cough. "Maybe, he can control his eyes?"

"That's exactly the point! If you'll know how to control those eyes," she said, pointing at my eyes behind my sunglasses. "Then, you'll live like a normal person. You don't have to wear sunglasses anymore and night vision."

She had a point. But how could we find Adolf if he's watching? Though he didn't stated it directly, I knew he was keeping an eye on me. He's actually blind, how the heck could he see me? Was there someone helping him? It's possible.

"Do you know the doctor who was responsible of the transplant?" I asked. She nodded and took something from her brown envelope. She gave me a printed picture and at the back was the doctor's name.

"Dr. Carl Wang Hendre. He works at Mercy Hospital in our city. I tried meeting him before but he was sent to a different hospital branch for three years. Maybe he's back now," she replied.  I took the picture from her hand. I knew it's weird if I called him handsome. He looked like a celebrity. His hair was comb backward and his jawline was visible. He wasn't smiling here.

I heard Orlstein chuckled and made a sound which seemed like she was teasing me. "You have a crush on him?"

"What the ---- hell no! Or maybe you!" I teased back but it looked like it didn't work. She laughed like a child and tickled my waist. My body responded like a jellyfish.

"Looks like Carthik is on his puberty stage," she said. She pronounced puberty as pu-berty.

She was smiling like she won the jackpot prize of the lottery. This was a priceless scene. How long was I going to see her like this? We were like before. Before it, all happened. Our only concern was to be happy and to do silly things.

The blissfulness was stopped when Orlstein's phone rang. Her smile disappeared when she looked at the screen. It was her dad. I signaled her to give her some space but she just shook her head.

"Hello, dad. What's the matter?" Orlstein asked. I heard little voices from the phone but they weren't clear enough to be understood.

"I haven't heard any updates too. I'm actually with Carthik today. We're doing something important."

I picked a wooden stick and played with it. I threw it upwards then caught it every time it fell.

"Yeah. Right. I'll tell you when they tell me about the progress. I know. Okay. Bye. Love you."

The call ended and she pushed her phone back to her pocket. Were they talking about Auren's case?

"Did something happen?" I asked. She looked bothered.

"No. There were only asking about Auren's case. I told them that the police haven't called us. I wonder what's going on with the case."

I feigned just to look like I was expecting the case to be solved as fast as possible. In fact, I wished the police would never know the real story behind it or I would screw up.

The bus had arrived and we sat at the backseat. There were more passengers than before so they decided to turn on the air condition. It was already three in the afternoon and the sun's heat was getting ferocious.

Adolf's words suddenly echoed in my mind. I glanced at Orlstein, she was sleeping. She must be really tired. She rested her head on my broad shoulder while hugging her bag.

" It looks like you haven't told her the truth, eh? Sorry, but you can only talk to me once you tell her about Auren. See you, then."

Damn it, Adolf. I promised, we would see each other again without telling Orlstein the truth.

~<>~

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