IAN

9.8

               Kian just ignored the others. His gaze always on ⨊, never letting her out of his sight. "I got some sweets from a new place that I found. Its good you will like them," said Janet handing over a box of sweets to ⨊. ⨊ got all excited like a kid when she saw the sweets. "Janet is always on the lookout for sweets and Rick is always on the lookout for festivals whenever they are free, since I like them and can't exactly roam around cause...I'll get a plate for you," said ⨊ changing the topic.

The others saw Kian constantly staring at ⨊ and found it weird. But didn't know how or what to say when they saw ⨊'s interactions with him. "When did you two meet?" asked Janet as ⨊ sat down after giving Kian some sweets. "Around two months ago," "Where did you meet? Not that I'm prying I'm just..." "In an abandoned forest near here," said ⨊ interrupting Janet's rambling. "You approached or..." said Leah stopping mid- sentence. "He followed me for a month since I entered the forest. He also saved me twice," added ⨊ before Leah or the others could say anything.

"He saved you? What..." asked Janet. "What happened?" asked Jason interrupting her. "Who followed you?" asked David. "Who found you?" asked Leah. "Are you hurt?" asked Rick. ⨊ just waited for them to finish their usual line of questions. "Finished? Why do you all always jump to those conclusions?" asked ⨊ sighing to herself.

"Sorry, we..." they started saying simultaneously, but stopped when they saw ⨊'s expression. "I was roaming around the barricaded forest. I ran into the usual...The first time... he saved me," "And the second time?" asked Jason. "He saved me," said ⨊ avoiding the topic. "Been with him for two months, ran into someone would mean when you ran off on your own to work, during that time would mean you ran into that group. Does ℥enji know that you ran into them?" muttered David.