Five Hundred Miles

1.6: Gone.

Chapter 1.6: Gone. [UNEDITED]

[You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. ---Augustus Waters, John Green, The Fault in our Stars]

"Are you alright?" Kelly asks me, her face of true concern. She struggles too much not to frown, and smile, and I have to give that to her. I nod at her reassuringly, though it's obvious that I'm not.

"I'm going out for lunch, please come with me." She says, standing up and taking my elbow.

"Okay," I say in appreciation. Don't cry, Maple Johnson, he doesn't deserve your tears, save it. "It's really good to have you, Kelly, at least I know that someone in this world is kind."

She grins. "My pay for lunch."

We get into her Toyota car, as she drives us to the nearest restaurant when we can actually get McDonald from across the street. She talks about her family with me, that they are in China and she was actually a scholar in here, but decided to live here. She has a brother, and a sister who's married and is now pregnant. Her due date may be a month later.

She has a decent family.

"What about you?" She asks, noting my silence.

"I only know that my parents abandoned me when I was an infant." I tell her, trying not to sound like I'm offended.

"Shit, I'm sorry," She quickly apologizes, and she means it.

"It's fine," I wave it off. "The world is as cruel as it is. There is no changing it. After all I'm living a happy life without them, and I don't actually crave for their love anyway."

"Let's just not talk about this anymore." She says, and changes the topic swiftly into something about a movie. She promises to have a movie with me and my friends, if I have any but Nat, when we are available.

The Italian restaurant is crowded with people, but Kelly is just so clever that she made a reservation half an hour ago. That's a part of being a secretary, having everything well planned.

After ordering our food, we talk about other stuffs involving our hobbies. Her hobby is reading, obviously, and me, I don't have any.

I do realize that my life is pretty boring.

"Do you like to run?" She asks.

"Running as for what?"

"Marathon running, trains your determination and boosts your stamina. You'll just be pretty good at running if you try, you're skinny as a bone," She says frankly.

"I don't run, and I'm sure that I'm bad at it." I laugh.

"Not if you try," She says. "Let's go running every evening. Then we can register our names on the year end's Marathon."

"Are you serious?" I look at her puzzled. She doesn't look like she's joking. "I can't do this. I won't be able to survive even five miles."

"Then we'll start at one mile, then two, and everyday we run. You will get there, Faith," She encourages.

"Starting from next Monday." I say, sighing. "I'll do it then."

She cheerfully claps her hands together and is obviously satisfied about herself. "Great!"

Our lunch arrive and we eat in silence, listening to the hired band in the middle of the restaurant. The lead male singer has a husky voice that draws women's attention, obviously Kelly's. He and his band wear nothing much but a shirt and jeans, nothing any presentable. Despite that, he still looks hot with dyed blonde hair and a well chiseled face.