▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 49║▌║▌║█│▌

Jane and I walked back down the street on the rainy day. My body aches have returned with the lack of adrenaline from my sleep last night, and I was dragging behind Jane since I feel physically and mentally exhausted. Feeling guilty about being a sudden burden to her, I told her, “You don’t have to do this. I know this is a bother to you, and you were probably going to hang out with your friends before I ran into you…”

She cut me off before I could finish feeling sorry for myself, and she said, “No, no, no…You aren’t a bother at all. I don’t have many visitors, so it gets pretty lonely anyway. And we were just going to get coffee anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal. I’m not really close with them either. It’s usually just me off silent in a corner while they all have a conversation. The struggles of being an introvert, am I right? Hehe.”

I didn’t really get it. That seemed pretty normal to me to be left out of group conversations, but I’m a sagaru too so that also effects my social interactions. I think she could see that I didn’t really get why she was laughing for, and she quickly changed the subject. She asked, “Soo where are your parent going to be for the next couple of months? The principal would never tell me.”

“Shit!” I thought to myself.

I still need to come up with a reason for that. If I tell her the truth, she will probably never allow me near her home, and it’s still hard to talk about. I don’t want people to worry about me either. I may tell people in time, but I don’t want people bothering me about it right now and reminding me of what happened by saying they’re sorry for me. I feel like that is incredibly selfish of me, but I can’t bear it right now. I stuttered out, “Uhhh…Ummm…They are on a business trip out of the country. They are the sales rep for their company, and they were asked to pitch a product to a fellow company over there.”

“Really? I thought they worked a desk job. It has been a while since we last talked though, so I may have forgot.” Jane wondered.

I hurriedly covered the lie by saying, “They recently got a promotion!” I blurted out, “This is the first job they got in their new position, so they had to take it.”

“Ohhh…That makes sense then. Want to go get some coffee before we start to clean up. I’m going to need my energy.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when she accepted my explanation without question, and I told her, “Sure, I never had coffee before, so I’m going to trust you to get me a good drink.”

She darted her head back to me, and her eyes grew wide. ‘You never had coffee before?!” She exclaimed, “How do you survive the day?”

“I just have a lot of natural energy I guess.” I said in response.

She turned back forward, and she picked up her pace to my aching body’s dismay and said, “We are going to change that today. Hurry up! We need to get there before the lunch rush. I know exactly what to get you too.”

I suddenly became a little worried. What exactly is she planning? I eventually let it slide though, and I focused on trying to keep up with her. I didn’t have any adrenaline right now to keep my body from aching, and I was struggling to keep her pace to the coffee shop she was going to. “Where is this coffee shop at?” I asked her through exhales.

“It’s the coffee shop right next to the apartment complex. It’s the best one in town!”

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me faster down the street. She is clearly excited. When we finally got to the coffee shop and entered, I was hit by a wave of coffee bean smell. I looked around the cozy shop, and I realized I have never actually been inside before. Jane ordered the drinks while I was looking around the room, and she gave me the drink when she got it. We started to walk out of the coffee shop, and she asked me in an anxious voice, “Sooo, how does it taste??”

I put the coffee cup to my lips, and I took a sip of the drink. My mouth was immediately filled with a warm flavor, and energy was sent throughout my body. I suddenly feel like I can do activities now. A slight smile grew on my face as I told her, “It’s good.”

Her face became filled with a sense of accomplishment as we entered the apartment complex. We walked past the landlord on the way up the stairs, and he pointed his finger at me and snarled, “You got lucky son…”

I eyed him and hurriedly flew up the stairs. I didn’t stop until we got to the floor of Jane’s apartment. When she caught back up to me at the top of the stairs she said, “I guess the energy boost has hit you from the coffee haha.”

“I guess haha. By the way, what’s your power? You have never said.” I asked.

I remember that her level is low, but I still don’t know what her power is specifically. Jane looked down from what seemed like embarrassment as she fumbled for her keys. “Umm…It’s a weird power.” She confessed, “I have power that I can’t train easily, so I have stayed a low level my entire life. I can hypnotize people for a short period of time when I kiss them. I only found out about this when I kissed my family goodnight though. I never had the courage to use it in a useful way.”

A warm smile grew on my face as she finally managed to get her keys out to unlock her door. I almost forgot about the tragedy that happened just one apartment down. Her seeming lack of knowledge on social situations puts me at ease knowing I won’t be the only one getting into awkward situations. She opened the door into her apartment, and as I walked into the apartment, I saw trash and clutter everywhere. It looked horrible. “Not that bad huh?” I said.

This is going to take a while.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌