Chapter 18: Weird Morning
Amon woke up early the next day and freshened up. He wasn't used to waking this early; it was still dark outside, visible through the digital window in his room. But he wanted to lift some weight before breakfast. His goal was simple: to increase his body weight through muscle gain.
As he walked, he stretched a bit along the way, and a yawn escaped him halfway down the corridor. Amon pushed open the gym door and stopped. He saw a familiar silver-haired girl.
'Why is she here every time I come here?' thought Amon.
Nephis heard the door open. She had already trained her body and was now practising her sword movement using a dummy sword. She looked towards the open door. Her eyes landed on Amon, who looked in her direction.
'Why is he here every time I come here?' thought Nephis.
Amon noticed Nephis staring at him. He gave her a warm, friendly smile, nodded once, and headed towards her.
He raised his hand and waved a little. "Good morning, Miss Nephis", he greeted. "You are very diligent. Have you been practising all morning?"
Nephis looked down at Amon; he was a head shorter than she.
'Why is he talking to me?'
'To gather intelligence?'
'To let my guard down?'
'To build trust?'
Instead of answering his question, Nephis thought of those questions.
Amon was expecting an answer, but all Nephis gave him was a blank stare. He felt very awkward being stared at like that.
'At least BLINK!' screams Amon in his mind. After a few seconds of her not answering, "You must be very tired," said Amon, still maintaining that bright look. "I will start warming up"
Nephis heard what Amon had said and felt something drop in her chest. She had forgotten to answer.
'Why am I like this?'
'Say anything, Neph. You need to figure out if he is an assassin sent to kill you.'
But by then, Amon had already turned his back. Nephis reached out her hand to grab his shoulder.
Amon saw Nephis extend her hand due to his 360-degree vision. It was like she was still standing in front of him. But he did not turn back. He waited until her hand actually touched his shoulder; only then did he turn and look at her.
She still had that blank look on her face.
Then Nephis smiled at Amon, nodded twice, and gave a thumbs-up.
"Yes," Nephis said. Her tone was hurried.
'What am I doing ?'
' What should I say next?'
Amon looked at Nephis's action, then he smiled back at her and nodded once. He showed her a bright, friendly smile that somehow had a warm, inviting feeling, which looked soft on his face, but the smile itself was not soft, and then he returned the thumbs-up.
"Good luck to you too, Miss Nephis", Amon said in an uplifting tone. Amon's mind was completely blank. He could have used his accelerated thinking, but decided it was not worth it.
'Good luck!, I could have said that,' thought Nephis. 'Why can't I even think of that?'
Her hands were still raised. One gives Amon a thumbs-up while she maintains her smile, which now looks forced.
Her other hand was still on Amon's shoulder, and he looked at it. Nephis noticed it too and pulled her hand back.
'You can do it, Neph, say something'
'This is starting to get awkward.'
A few seconds passed, then she said, "Good luck to you, too, Amon," and then turned and walked towards the exit.
'This is so embarrassing.'
'Neph, why can't you act normal?'
'I should have talked with him more. It was a very good opportunity.'
'I should try talking to him during breakfast'
Amon watched Nephis go, still maintaining that friendly look. Then he turned, and his expression completely changed.
His eyes widened, and he mouthed, "What The Fuck was that? That was so weird." And thought
'Is she slow?'
'I should try avoiding her'
'This could be ranked as one of my worst experi….'
As that thought popped into Amon's mind. It snagged on a memory.
He remembered his worst experience. He remembered the time when he was thirteen.
He quickly tried to suppress the memory, but that memory led to another; he remembered the man who was shot and his daughter crying on the floor beside him.
That thought led him to think about his parents. Thoughts like, what if he were dead in his old world, or how worried his parents are right now. Thinking of such a topic made him depressed, and his mood to work out dampened.
He sat with that for a moment. There was nothing he could do about it. That was the worst part — not the grief, but the helplessness underneath it.
"If only I could tell them I am alright," Amon muttered to himself in a daze.
The gym was divided into two floors. Below was the dojo, and the upper floor was the actual gym.
Amon let out a long breath and slapped himself on the face with both his palms. Then, without thinking too much started to stretch.
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Mid-session, Amon saw others roll in. Amon greeted anyone who greeted him. Unlike most of them, he was here to train till failure. He had no combat classes to attend, so he did not need to preserve his strength.
After he was done, Amon was resting on a bench when he saw Caster walk in. Caster immediately walked towards Amon. Amon's eyes were glued to his communicator; he was re-reading what he had read last night. Though he had a perfect memory, this was a habit and a cautious act if he missed something.
Amon saw Caster approaching. Faint redness could be seen on Caster's cheeks
Caster walked towards Amon. Caster thought as he approach:
'What should I say?'
' "Hi?" '
'No, that is very basic. "Hey?"'
'Yeah, I should say "Hey". No, that sounds rude'
'Is it?'
"Good morning, Caster." Amon greeted. Amon looked up when Caster reached his location.
Amidst his thoughts, Caster didn't notice he had already closed the distance.
"You went for a run? Your face is burning up." Amon initiated the conversation.
Caster looked taken aback and touched his own cheeks. He could hear his own heartbeat, drumming loudly against his chest.
'Compose yourself, Caster,' he reminded himself.
Caster nodded. He was telling a lie.
"Did you just start coming here?"
"I have never seen you at the gym before", Caster asked.
"No, I usually come here at night."
"But I decided to come in the morning too from now," Amon replied. With a bright, friendly look on his face.
"Ooh.., that is nice."
"Yeah, I am trying to increase my muscle mass."
Caster looked at Amon's petite figure and felt a quiet pang of disappointment settle in his chest.
'No, Caster, don't be selfish.'
Caster wanted to say, "But you look so good like this." But he didn't.
"I am going to freshen up and head for breakfast," Amon said, standing.
He wanted to avoid Nephis at breakfast if he could.
From yesterday's interaction with her, he remembered she came early to the cafeteria, so to avoid her, he re-read the notes sent by Teacher Callistratos at the gym.
Whenever she had interacted with him, Amon always found talking to her strange, like something was off. But still decided to act friendly whenever there was a chance encounter. It was like she was trying to avoid him and get to know him at the same time.
Amon thought Nephis had a crush on him; whenever she talked with him, it always felt like she was holding something back, but he ruled that out because of his gut. He knew how girls act when they have a crush on him; this was similar, but not the same. Something was off, but he could not pin it down, and it was not really important, so he decided not to pursue the matter and leave it at that.
What he couldn't connect was the nervousness — the awkwardness, the thumbs up, the blank stares — with the Nephis he'd otherwise observed. She usually carried herself with total confidence. Spoke like someone who had never second-guessed a word in her life.
He couldn't reconcile the two versions.
His best conclusion? She was probably just crazy.
A/N: I am very proud of this chapter. plz comment and review. You guys must think it's a miracle I uploaded so early, huh, lol.