Alex's POV
When people go through suffering from their own kin, they usually have two outcomes.
One of the more common ones is to find people below their eye-level and target them to mimic their abusers, and in rare cases, give up on trusting the world and locking themselves in a cage built by their own perceptions.
This was the latter case.
As I looked around the damp and dark room, I found half-opened cans of pet food and empty bottles of water.
'What the f*ck is this?'
Somehow, his body didn't react to the environment at all. In fact, his eyes had become so weary that I was unable to stand after an hour or so. Sliding against the wall opposite to the hole he had perhaps dug, I looked outside.
It was the house across, where kids were running around happily as their parents cooked food on the outdoor barbecue.
"F*ck," I muttered out loud. My voice echoed in that place.
As I looked at the brightness outside, a drowsiness drowned upon me, and I passed out in a flash.
....
Was it two days? Or three? I had no account of time in that space. In fact, time seemed to have stopped.
When I woke up, I propped myself up and put my face closer to the wall, so I could get some fresh air. There was a dewy scent of grass, along with sweet fragrance of roses spread throughout.
Click. Click.
I heard it.
The door opened, with sunlight light flooding in through the glass windows, hitting sharp at my eyes. I covered my face to see who it was.
It was the butler, with his head bowed, "sir has asked you to come outside."
For some reason, instead of feeling the weight of my shoulders relaxing and my frowns turning neutral, I felt my belly heating up and veins of the head throbbing. Without a single thought, I marched out, pushing the butler away.
This time, it was Max, not me.
He drove my feet to the living room, the best manifest of luxury one could perceive of. A pure leather couch set, faced by an ivory and gold coffee table, carpeted heavily with antique embroidery carpets, it was grand.
But none of that mattered.
The only thing that mattered was the man sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, puffing out a cloud of expensive smoke from his expensive cigar, looking sideways at the window.
I went and stood in front of him, head up high, refusing to look at him. My posture however, was that of a destitute man looking for alms, slouched and hunched.
"So, what's in exchange of keeping hush about this?" He said, tapping the ashy ends on the floor.
'What the f*ck does he mean by this?'
I furrowed my eyebrows, throwing a disgusted look at him.
"It's our barter, my son, same as the Casio watch last time."
I raised eyebrows, widening my gaze.
"I do so much for you. The watch, the teachers, I even called up the school and covered up a leave reason for you."
"In that case, I want a CD," I said, rolling my eyes.
He scoffed, "that's it? Which one?"
"The newest Final Fantasy."
"Done."
He straightened his legs and got up, walking towards the butler. Tapping his shoulders, he whispered something in his ear.
I glared at the butler, which caused him to shrivel himself up.
With nothing else to do, I walked out of the room and into the garden, where I sat right across the happy family. As the kids played with their parents, I tried prying into Max's memories to find something that could give him solace.
Sometimes, reminiscing fragments of happy memories could give someone a moment of comfort.
But he seemed to have none.
Prying into his mind was rather a rabbit hole, because I was diving a little too deep into memories that he may have locked up. Whatever it was, it was hurting my own heart.
I decided to follow suit, and locked up any emotion, choosing to stare at the sky instead.
Around two hours later, my dad's assistant arrived, throwing the CD next to me. I picked it up, cleaning the dirt off it and took out my cellphone out of my pocket.
"Coming to your place, goods secured," I dropped an email to Mike.
"You're welcome any time, Cool Squad's got your back," he replied.
My face instantly lit up into a smile as I felt my muscles had tightened in the past days.
I rushed out to the gate, borrowed a car and a driver and headed off to his place.
I got off at the nearest main street and hopped to the alley way, sprinting over the spilled garbage and running straight to his house.
He must've heard me jump around, because the door was already open to welcome me inside.
There he was, lounging in an oversized t-shirt and some cotton shorts, sitting at the dining table with his dad and mom, having lunch for the day. The air had a fragrance of rice and spices.
As they heard me enter, they turned back to look at me, sporting their best smiles.
"You're back, come over!" The dad exclaimed.
His mom tapped his arm, "ask him to join," she whispered.
Mike patted the chair next to him, gesturing me to join them. Since I hadn't eaten in three days, I hurried over and sat on the table, with a fork in my hand.
His mom scooped a spoonful of rice into my bowl and dragged the stew pot in front of me.
The stew was a humble preparation of meat cubes, potatoes and carrots, swimming in a mustard colored sauce. It had a sweet scent of cinnamon and fennel. She poured the contents and placed it in front of me, asking me to go ahead.
As I took a bite, all my weariness wore off. The curry was warm, a much needed hug while the rice was soft and comforting.
"Thank you," I mumbled as I continued gobbling the rest up.
After supper, it was already post sunset and night had arrived. As the parents cleaned the house, both of us were sent upstairs, to the makeshift rooftop canopy.
The canopy seemed to be fixed upon irregular tree branches, reinforced with tape wrapped around it. The tarp was translucent, and its roof could be detached as per requirements. There were all sorts potted plants around the corners, and a small rope bed that was in the middle of it.
"Welcome to my secret base!" Mike exclaimed, spreading out his hands over his dominion.
His hair flew with the soft breeze, and the lights contoured along his face, making it nothing short of a directed scene.
A fuzzy feeling bloomed in my heart, or perhaps Max's, but I'm not sure.