THE SOUR ORANGE

Part 6 The Challenge

                                                 ***4 days later***

Gulf was feeling a little bit more comfortable being in the same house with Mew. Well, they hardly see each other, they are always on the opposite side of the house. They are still at odds in some way, even though Mew now knows what happened to his car.

Gulf was playing one of his favorite video games, suddenly a rumbling sound came from his stomach as a sign of his hunger. He was avoiding going downstairs for a long time to avoid Mew, but he needed to eat something. He decided to go downstairs.

When he reached the hall, he noticed music coming from the library and made him stop right away. This scene was strange to him. He noticed Mew sitting down reading a book. I mean, he has seen all those books in the library the first day he came, but he thought they were there just to fill in an empty space in a big house.

While Mew was reading, in the background Ed Sheeran's song (Supermarket flowers) resonated all over the library and the hall. S. A. Mew looks so different when he is at peace or at least a little bit relaxed. Gulf thought of this while examining Mew with puzzling eyes and wondering why Mew behaved so differently when he was around other people or at least around Gulf.

Mew noticed Gulf standing at the entrance and voices commanded the music to stop. Mew put the book on his lap and remained there looking at Gulf as if he was waiting for some information. This is an excellent time to have a conversation with him, only the two of us. Gulf cleared his throat and stepped forward, seating on a chair facing Mew.

Gulf: "I didn't know you like this kind of music or that you read all these books." While saying this, Gulf was pointing at all the books around them, too many to count.

Mew: "This is my personal space, just like my bedroom." Hearing that, Gulf felt a ticklish sensation on his stomach; he knew it was not because of hunger, but because of the last word, Mew said.

Gulf: "I came down to get something to eat, I heard the music and came here, don't know why.

Mew: "Ah, you know what, the mission is getting closer, and we are still behaving strangely around each other. Let's just make this work for the sake of the mission, all right?"

Gulf "What do you mean by making it work?"

Mew: "I mean, for us to behave more (friendlier) with each other. We can start by staying together in the same room as we are right now. You can play your video game, silently of course while I read books".

Gulf: "It is alright if I read a book instead?" Gulf said this in a soft tone that he had never used before with Mew, this made both uncomfortable/strange. Mew just noted his head without looking at a Gulf. Mew was kind of nervous having Gulf around him, but at the same time wanted to have him close to him. Still, a mystery for him to behave that way only with Gulf.

Gulf got up and looked around to see what book to read, Mew just looked at him with his peripheral vision. Gulf found a book that looked interesting and went back to the same chair. Let's just say that they only read half of the time because the other half, they would stare at each other. This lasted for almost an hour until Gulf realized that he was still hungry.

Gulf: "I will go to the kitchen to get something to eat, would you like some S.A. Mew?" Mew noted his head as telling Gulf that he did not want anything. Gulf agreed and called it a night, and the last time Mew saw him was 10 minutes later when Gulf was going up the stairs again.

At 8:20 am the next day, Gulf knows that around this time everyday Mew is running around the neighborhood. Gulf decided to do some exercise in the pool and began to get ready. He was looking for his favorite swim shorts to head downstairs.