As soon as gumi stepped foot inside the fast-food restaurant, Haji’s stomach started grumbling, as if to complain about his complete rejection of the food so freely offered to him. With slight contempt and regret, Haji grabbed his stomach and gave it a silent order to stay quiet. Fortunately, gumi didn’t hear anything a mont ago. Had she heard, she’d have laughed at such irony, causing Haji to feel self-conscious.
It had been four days since Haji last ate, but he didn’t feel that hungry this morning. Due to the severe heat, however, his energy was depleted and his body started screaming for food. As much as he wanted to eat, he didn’t want to get further in debt, and that’s why he utterly rejected gumi’s goodwill.
Due to his one year of isolation, Haji found it difficult to trust anyone, be it a classmate he’d known, or a kind stranger that just so happened to lend him a hand. Ever since that incident, he found it hard to open his heart to anyone. Adding to that, the debt collectors constantly tried to ruin his life, which caused Haji to emotionally lock himself away, throwing away the key since he couldn’t be bothered in the first place. Besides, it’s not like he has ti to spare.
’What am I doing here anyway?’ Haji asked, blocking his eyes from the sun that bore down on the place. The agonizing seconds that passed made Haji feel uneasy. A couple of tis, the thought of leaving gumi behind occurred in his mind. However, he stayed put. He had caused her more than enough trouble as it is.
"Sorry for the wait," gumi casually spoke up as she got out of the restaurant. Before Haji could react, gumi handed her one of the paper bags she carried. The savory aroma of burgers and fries emanated from within the bag. Haji salivated, it took all of his being to remain expressionless.
He figured that gumi just wanted him to hold onto it so he received it, no questions asked.
"That’s yours." gumi wore a smile that seed to penetrate Haji’s invisible emotional shield. Was it because gumi always looked down on him that he felt like that? Or was it because he rarely saw her smile? Haji couldn’t make heads or tails of her. Notwithstanding, he was able to maintain his sa old ’expressionless’ expression.
"What do you an? I told you I’m not eating."
"I told you to accompany for the day, wouldn’t it be rude if I don’t even pay for our als? It’s my treat— or would you rather turn down my offer and pay for my coffee instead?"
"Sigh~ fine." Haji was cornered, that much was certain. In the end, he opened the bag and ate with gumi. As the two of them strolled and surveyed many shops downtown, they managed to form a common understanding that the other party was not that bad after all. That didn’t further their friendship though since there was none from the start— their opinions about each other slightly changed, that’s all.
Just when Haji ate the second burger in the bag, sothing in his mind clicked and he stopped mid-bite. With a confused expression on his face, he examined the wrapper of the burger. ’It looks familiar... ’
That’s when it occurred to him that it was the very sa burger that a certain soone anonymously left for him by the park. ’Was it a coincidence? Don’t tell she was the— no, that’s not happening. It’s probably just a coincidence.’ Haji violently shook his head. No way on earth is gumi that outgoing.
"Why are you looking at the burger like it’s your lost loved one? Just eat it." gumi gave him a cold stare. She assud that Haji thought badly of her, which wasn’t the case at all. "Anyways, we’re here. Are you going to buy anything?" gumi asked, pointing at the mall. "Oh wait, you don’t have any money, right? I’ll just buy a few things and then let’s head ho."
Haji silently nodded. Finally, gumi brought up the topic of going ho.
...
Step. Step.
A woman wearing her strikingly recognizable red heels, along with two other familiar n, sauntered downtown, enjoying their weekend. As debt collectors, their weekdays were always spent running all over the place, chasing people who borrowed money from their employer. That’s why the weekends are a change of pace for them, quite literally, since they won’t have to chase after slippery eels.
"Hey, Shelly." Matsumoto Tamotsu, the burly man of the group, pointed a few ters in front of him. "Isn’t that— "
"Yeah, doesn’t it look like he’s on a date?" Shelly responded.
"That kid, how dare he go on a date." Hayashi Jiro comnted as soon as he saw Haji and gumi. Without hesitation, he approached the ’couple’, prompting both Tamotsu and Shelly to go with him.
Haji detected them before they could even step in his ten-ter range. His head suddenly whirled around as he felt the bloodlust directed at him. There, right on the other end of the pedestrian, were the three musketeers who had been chasing after him for the past few months.
Although Haji stopped short in his tracks and decided to walk the other way, he realized that gumi was actually halfway through the pedestrian. There was no ti to think. With adrenaline pumping, Haji accelerated and grabbed gumi by the hand.
Three ters.
Two ters.
One ter.
"gumi, we have to go." There was urgency and seriousness in Haji’s voice that gumi stopped short. She didn’t even bother about Haji’s tight grip on her wrist. For so odd reason, she felt like Haji sounded a tad bit cool just now, but she imdiately dismissed the thought.
"What do you an?" gumi asked, flustered and surprised at the sa ti.
"There’s no ti to expl— "
"And here’s the little rascal. Enjoying your little date, are you?" Jiro, one of the debt collectors, crossed his arms as he interrupted Haji.
"So this is why you couldn’t pay your debts, huh," Shelly added, stepping closer to Haji. "Where did you get the money?"
"Co on you guys, are we really going to do this right now?" Haji responded coolly, even though his heart was already thumping like crazy due to his nervousness. "Co on, gumi." He hissed.
Before the other three could react, Haji threw his body at them, making them lose their balance in the middle of the road. In a heartbeat, Haji took gumi by the hand and dragged her out of there. The only thought in his mind was to get away as far as possible in hopes that the debt collectors won’t catch up to them.
"Haji, wait!" gumi strained since Haji was running too fast and she couldn’t keep up. She was basically being dragged around by him and he already tripped over her legs twice.
Suddenly, she felt a sting on her right ankle, causing her to fall down. Haji unintentionally let go of her hand due to her abrupt deceleration. Haji almost tripped as well, but he managed to catch himself, rushing to gumi’s aid. "You okay?"
"Of course not— I think I broke my ankle," gumi complained, gritting her teeth.
"You probably just twisted it." Haji continued. "Can you move it?" Inwardly, Haji scolded himself for dragging gumi, causing her to fall on the pavent. He was too focused on prioritizing their escape that he forgot about gumi’s physical capabilities.
"Um... I think so." gumi uttered, biting her lips due to the pain.
"Yeah, probably just a sprain," Haji assured her as he kneeled and turned his back on her. "Hop on,"
"Wait...what?!" She exclaid as if forgetting the sprain on her ankle. "Why would I ride on your back?!"
"Then would you rather I princess-carry you instead?" Haji shot back. As he gazed afar off, he saw that the debt collectors were slowly catching up to them. "Just hurry, or you might end up buried six feet deep in soone else’s backyard."
The threat seed to do the trick. This ti, she climbed on his back without thinking twice. Haji imdiately sprinted across a narrow alleyway and through a crowd, erging on a completely different direction just a few seconds after. gumi couldn’t believe that Haji could sprint even though he was carrying her on his back. But then again, she’s probably just too light for her. She imdiately rembered that Haji still worked at a construction site and that might be the underlying reason why he can carry with ease.
I think... yes, they’re gone. They went to the opposite direction already." gumi heaved a sigh of relief.
The debt collectors beca aware that they lost Haji in the crowd even though he was with soone. Annoyed, the three of them ran straight to their car, deciding to patrol the area in hopes that they’d run into Haji. Unbeknownst to them, Haji was already one step ahead of them— he already knew the model of their car and their plate number.
.....
anwhile,
"I lost them haah~ that kid sure is fast haah~" Franz panted, leaning on both his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He didn’t feel the need to chase after them since he saw that they were able to shake off their pursuers. "I guess I should just wait for young miss’s call." He told himself before he headed back to the limousine.
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