𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

27. 𝗹'𝘂𝗼𝗺𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼

"YOU OKAY?"

Eszter slowly meets Michelle's gaze, picking up on the concern radiating from her friend as she frowns softly. She had been lost in her thoughts as she encourages herself to speak to Peter, but Eszter was hesitating; she felt scared and terrified for his reaction. A part of Eszter didn't want to confront Peter for the mistake she had made, for the stupid fight she made.

Sighing, Eszter shrugs meekly as her gaze falters. "I don't know," her voice was soft and quiet, almost like she was sad. Rubbing her forehead, Eszter huffs in frustration as she can feel herself cracking. "I think I might've made things awkward between Peter and me."

Michelle raises a brow. "Why do you say that? Thought you two were fine."

"Yeah, I mean, it was, but . . ." Eszter started nibbling on her thumb as she stared at the floor. "But when the water monster started attacking, I told Peter to run and hide, and he just--" Eszter purses her lips before turning her body until she was facing Michelle. "He could've gotten hurt, and that would've been on me. Like--like, I feel like I always have to protect him because he always wants to help someone."

"So, helping people is a crime?"

"No. No, obviously not, but--"

Michelle cackles. "I'm just messing with you," she tries to uplift, but then she saw the look on Eszter's face. Sighing gently, Michelle knew now wasn't the time for games. "I'm sure he's not mad at you. Just talk to him."

Subtly, Eszter glances over her shoulders to search for Peter, only to find him on the phone. "I've been trying to, but . . ." She pauses briefly. She gazes at her lover with faltering eyes, mixed with so many emotions that Eszter couldn't bother to explain. "I really screwed up."

"Maybe he doesn't remember," Michelle insists with a shrug. Her eyes droop a little as her frown grows larger. "You know, running for his life."

Oh, right. She nearly forgot.

"Right."

Eszter knows Michelle was right. There shouldn't be anything to be afraid of, right? However, the enhanced was embarrassed by her actions and the choice of words she decided to use against Peter; she was hurt by how she made him feel. Peter had never been angry with Eszter before, not even when the enhanced pushed out all of her frustrations out on everyone else. But that's what makes Eszter hate herself so much--whenever she gets upset and bottles it up, the enhanced forces it out onto someone else without realizing it.

But Eszter shakes away the thought as she decides she should think about a more pressing matter: who the hell was that guy? Eszter never caught the name, but the enhanced curiosity about who and what he was; something was strange about him that Eszter couldn't shake off.

"Aliens," Ned suddenly exclaims, pulling Eszter out from her thoughts. "It has to be."

Furrowing her brows at the outburst, blinking as she registers the situation--the television was on the news, and everyone was going crazy trying to figure out who the mysterious man was.

"Buzzfeed says there's a sailor named Morris Bench who was exposed to an experimental underground generator and got hydro powers," Flash walks past Eszter as his eyes were glued to the tablet.

"Yeah, you should definitely believe everything you read on the internet," Michelle retorts with a scoff.

Eszter shrugs. "I mean, who knows; I got my powers from an experiment by Hydra," the enhanced looks around. She can see where Buzzfeed was going with their story, but she couldn't shake off the gut feeling. "But something about him didn't feel right."