BXBX NOVEL Chapter 375 Hesitation
Lee Seng sat in the passenger seat while Olivia pulled out of the medical parking lot. She was hesitant on whether or not she should say something to him. Every time she glanced at Lee Seng, he was looking outside the window, an arm propping his head up. He was looking at the dark night sky.
"You want to go to the convenience store first?" Olivia asked. The quiet noise of the car moving along the road filled the void of silence between them. Lee Seng let out a sigh and nodded.
"Yeah. I need something to eat." Lee Seng answered.
"O-okay." Olivia nodded. She focused back on the road and Lee Seng took a peek at her. He noticed how hard she was gripping the steering wheel. Her body looked rigid.
\'I have my memories back thanks to God King Daros… I\'m currently in control of my own body, but I\'m not sure how long I have until it tries to take control, again.\' Lee Seng turned and looked out the window. Eleven didn\'t answer him. He didn\'t do anything. \'What happened to Keng then? That thing is new. It does and doesn\'t feel like the Protocol coursing through me… It\'s tougher than the Protocol. What happened while I was out?\'
What was he going to do? He let out another sigh and realized the car had stopped. It was idle. Olivia bit her lip as she had been deciding whether or not she should tell him they were here or not.
"We\'re here?" Lee Seng snapped out of his thoughts. He noticed they were at one of the convenience stores.
"Mmm." Olivia nodded. She didn\'t look at him.
\'She must be scared of me now.\' Lee Seng let out another sigh and Olivia bit her lip. He began to take off his seatbelt when she turned around and looked at him with a serious expression.
"Look," she began. Lee Seng turned and noticed her eyes were filled with determination. Her hands shook a bit and he could tell she had mustered up the strength to talk to him. "I don\'t want to pry or anything, but what the hell just happened? Why did you threaten a Number? Why did you do all of that and how are you able to produce that much power in your weakened state? Ritsuka said you could barely do anything when he trained with you the other day."
Her questions were valid and Lee Seng wondered how he could even do such a thing. He shrugged at her questions.
"Nicole doesn\'t like me one bit if you haven\'t already gotten that from earlier…" Lee Seng started. "She was always cold to me. Always wanted me to follow my dad\'s orders and do what he said. He\'s the Creator, so I should follow the path he laid out for me. She thinks I should spend my time locked up and doing whatever the Creator wants me to do. If I do that, I can live a lonely life that would, maybe, amount to all the loneliness and suffering she\'s been through. That\'s why she wants me gone from the Academy. I\'m just a walking memory of her hate and him."
"Number 2…?"
"Mmm." Lee Seng nodded as he turned back to lean against the car seat. He stared at his hands, twirling his thumbs slowly. "Nikolai and I were really close. Really close. But Nicole insists I did something to kill Nikolai. Like I would be capable of doing something to person who saw how intelligent I was. How I yearned to learn about many things… She doesn\'t believe I deserve happiness because she blames me for taking her own happiness away."
"That\'s why you said he won\'t pull her out of her bullshit?"
"Mmhm." Lee Seng nodded. "He was her anchor, but he died on mission and she became colder. She blames me for his death. That\'s why I said what I said. I\'ll become number one in Academics and as a Specialist just to prove her wrong." He unlocked the door and grabbed the door handle. "I\'ll be back soon. You want anything?"
"Huh?" Olivia asked. "Oh, uh… No I\'m good." Lee Seng got out of the car and closed it. Olivia watched him enter the store and he wandered straight for the drinks. "Ah, what did I go and do? I probably shouldn\'t have said anything about Sara…"
Lee Seng held a lot of snacks and a couple of drinks in his arms as he set it on the counter.
"Hello. This all?" The clerk asked.
"Yup." Lee Seng nodded. He watched the clerk scan them and then look at he register.
"That\'ll be 8290 credits." The clerk told him. They looked at him and realized it was Lee Seng. Lee Seng lifted his phone up to the scanner and scanned it.
"There ya go. Can I get bags for these?" Lee Seng pointed. The clerk delayed in their response and nodded, pulling some bags out to bag the items. Once they were done, Lee Seng thanked the clerk and took his stuff and moved back into the car.
"Why\'s he all the way here at this time of night?" The clerk asked. The car light turned on and they noticed Olivia in the car. "Oh, he\'s with a girl? I thought he was dating the Third Year girl on the Academy Twelve." They pulled their phone and snapped a couple of pictures as the lights shut off. "This\'ll be interesting."
Olivia pulled into the driveway and came to a stop, parking.
"We should really get your and Liz\'s car into the garage." Olivia commented.
"We can do that tomorrow. It\'ll be fine out here." Lee Seng waved. The car shut off and they both unbuckled and got out of the car. The front lights were on and the neighborhood was quiet. The doors shut as they both moved to the front of the house. Olivia locked the car and climbed up the steps and opened fished for the house key. She unlocked the door and swung it.
"Liv, you\'re back?" Liz\'s voice called out.
"Yeah with Lee Seng, why?" Olivia asked. The two shuffled inside. Lee Seng shut the door behind him and carefully locked it. Liz moved from the couch to the foyer.
"Oh, you\'re back? Are you fine?" Liz asked. Lee Seng slipped his shoes off and set it off to the side on the mat where the rest of the shoes were.
"I\'m fine." Lee Seng looked at her. The TV was on and it seemed like Liz was watching some random internet videos. "Where\'s everyone else? I hear there\'s a problem."
"You told him?" Liz looked at Olivia.
"He already knew. He may be recovering and an amnesiac, but that doesn\'t mean he forgot about what happened earlier." Olivia told her. Liz nodded and looked at Lee Seng. She studied him.
\'He looks more like his usual self.\' She thought. Lee Seng and Olivia moved into the living room, Liz turning to follow after them.
"Well, they\'re in their rooms so if you want to hash this out now, call them. I would wait \'til tomorrow." Liz told Lee Seng. He sat down and pulled out a fruit punch drink for himself and set it to the side. He grabbed some chips and then extended his arm out to Liz.
"Have some." Lee Seng told her.
"Oh, I shouldn\'t—"
"Okay. Olivia I bought you the tea you like and some popcorn. Have some." Lee Seng stood up and walked over and set the bag next to her.
"Oh, you didn\'t have to. I said I was fine."
"Mmm, after tonight, I think you\'d want something to ease yourself. It\'s not gonna get better anytime soon." Lee Seng told her. He sat back down at the right end of the couch while Liz and Olivia sat near the middle next to each other.
"What?" Liz asked. Olivia sighed and gave her the look of \'a lot happened.\' She turned to look at Lee Seng as he opened his bag of chips and munched on a chip.
"Ask him if you want to know." Olivia motioned.
"What happened?" Liz asked Lee Seng. He opened the fruit punch bottle and took a sip of it before closing it.
"It\'s gonna be an absolute war from now on." Lee Seng looked at her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Number One doesn\'t think I\'m a fit for the Academy so she wants to expel me for \'indecent usage of power outside of class.\' IF she does that and doesn\'t punish every single other person who\'s done that, it\'ll make the Academy look way worse and the big wigs who donated to the Academy won\'t like it."
"Wait, I thought this was gonna be about your health. You\'re not worried about yourself right now?" Liz asked, confused.
"My health will be fine. My concern is her threat. She used Nikolai so she means it… What\'s she gonna do? Have a guy follow me everywhere and create situations for me to \'break some rules\'?"
"Alright, maybe you should explain what happened so I can catch up." Liz recommended.