Love is War

Chapter 47

“My body hurts bro,” Kuro groaned as we take the day off and we are in a park right now taking the rest. Only the two of us are here, just me and Kuro, John told us that he is not feeling very well. As usual we let him rest.

He does not want us inside his room and even once we did not enter his room.

“Yeah, I know the pain,” I said and chuckled as we observe the peaceful area while some people are taking their stroll, some with their pets and some mothers with their toddlers. “By the way don’t you want to be with your girlfriend today?” I asked him, he looks at me.

“Nah,” he said. “I want to relax not to tire myself more,” he said and for me it has a double meaning. I completely understand that statement though. I know how his girlfriend thinks and honestly, I don’t like her personality, even for a little bit.

I just play along when she is around to show my respect for my friend. He fell in love with her (probably), so I don’t have the reason to judge him. I don’t know the whole story so it is best for our friendship for me to remain quiet.

“Want some food?” I asked as I can feel my stomach grumble. There is a nearby street vendor selling fried foods. Quail eggs covered in some pastry mix, and other foods with dip sauces with different flavors. To pair it up the vendor also sells drinks. He scratches his chin.

“Your treat?” he asked.

“Yeah, no problem,” I said and I stood up and we walk towards the street vendor. I pull out my pocket that contains my money. “Good morning,” I greeted the old vendor that is busy cooking his products. He is probably in his sixties. He looks at me and smiled.

“Good morning young ones,” he greeted us back, as he gives us two cups, where we can put the foods in our liking. I gave Kuro the other one, and I picked the variety that I liked and grab the ladle of a sweet and spicy sauce in my liking.

Kuro went next, while he picks the food that he likes. I grab a hundred bill and I pass it to the old vendor. He happily grabbed it.

“Keep the change,” I said and smiled and that stopped him from counting coins and he looks at me.

“No,” he said. “I’ll give you your exchange,” he added and that surprised me, so he continues to count the coins again. It’s not much for me.  “I like to earn my money with my hard work,” he said and I can’t argue with him for that reason. That is very reasonable. Then in that case.

“I’ll buy more foods with the change,” I said and, in this case, he will accept my offer.

“Oh, then go on,” he said still smiling.

“Did you have your breakfast?” I asked him and he looks at me and its obvious that he did not. The old man chuckled.

“I forgot,” he said honestly, as I pick food in a separate cup using the extra creds that I have. Actually, this food that I am handling right now is more than enough to me. So, I handed the cup filled with his own product to him. He looks at me confused.

“Take this,” I said to him. “Maybe you will not reject a kind offering,” I said and he looks at me and he is hesitating to grab it on my hand. Maybe he is just shy and I can understand that. So, I put the cup closer to him, and sooner he grabbed it.

“Thank you,” he said smiling but in a lower voice he probably did not expect that.

“Thank you too for the food,” I said and I went back to our spot. I forgot to buy drinks, but when I turned around, I saw Kuro buying drinks for us. He showed it to me so I continue to go back. I took my seat, and used the wooden stick to stab the food and put it inside my mouth.

The sweetness and the hotness of the sauce really compliments the food. It’s still early in the morning so I took the chance to have a peaceful sight seeing as this is like therapy for me. It relaxes my mind and when my mind is relaxed, my body is relaxed too, just like some chemical reaction.

“Here is your drink,” he gave the drink that he bought to me and I accepted the kind offer. “The old man put more in that,” he said and maybe that is his way of giving back the kindness. We ate the food quietly as we let the cool wind touch our body under this tree’s shade.

Dad told me that ever since he gains the authority over this land, he immediately disposed all the logging company in the area to preserve the land’s trees. Some even gave him millions of monies but he rejected it and there, war cannot be avoided with business but with dad’s power he prevailed, and now we have this peaceful community that is really worth bragging about. So peaceful.

He also said that once I take over him, I must promise him that I must keep this place this way and protect it from the exploiter. I promised him than and I will.

“Want some extra training?” Kuro asked me after he finished the last sip of his drink. I look at him confused. “Well, they say that moving your body more will help ease the pain,” he said, and I heard about that too.

“Just light training,” I said to him.

“Then we will do that,” he agreed and we put our thrash in proper places. Tomorrow is the last day of the training and the day after that is the final plan for the upcoming shipment. It’s five days away from us and I am hoping that things go well with us.

I don’t want to lose anybody during that battle. Also, I informed Nora that I will be away for a couple of days because I said to her that my family plans to have a vacation overseas and surprisingly, she replied that they also had the same plan for tomorrow. Thankfully she did not invite me, because if she does, I will reject it which will she find rude of me and I don’t want that happening to me.

But tonight, we agreed that we will both play that game. We continue to walk around as we head to a nearby gym which the owner is our close friend.

“Bro,” he called me.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“If it’s okay to ask you,” he said. “Why aren’t you finding a girl for yourself?” he asked and I am surprised with that question, as he never opened that topic about me ever, this is the first time that happened to me. “Don’t get me wrong, I mean you have the looks, the money, the body, that every woman lust for,” he explained, but he still did not mention the reason on why he asked me that question.

“Hmm,” but I will still play along. “Let’s just say that I don’t have time for them besides I don’t want to chase woman just for their body,” I explained.

“Are you gay?” he asked and I look at him immediately with wide eyes. I did not expect that coming out from his mouth.

“Really?” I said to him in disbelief. “Why would you think that I am gay?” I asked him. “Obviously not,” I answered his question. That was so out of the blue.

“Oh, sorry that was weird of me to ask,” I said.

“John has his eyes on someone and you are the only one of us three that shows no interest in any girls that we have met,” he added and that answered my question will he ask me that question and it’s a news for me that John has his eyes on someone. I can see why he is asking me this, John is not the type of person to fall in love.

“Let’s say that I have my eyes on someone too,” I said to him and I am not sure about my feeling, I will mention the name to him once I confirmed this feeling. I don’t want to conclusions just yet.

“Woah really?” he exclaimed and I just look straight.

“Yes,” I answered cheaply.

“Spill,” he said asking me for her name.

“Not so fast,” I said. “I will tell you about her once everything is already in motion,” I added.

“Bro, let’s be honest here that woman can’t even think of rejecting you once you admit your feelings to her, man up!” he said. He is just convincing me to drop her name, but I won’t bite the bait.

“It’s not like that,” I said. “Better hurry up or Nab will see us going inside that gym,” I said shifting the topic of our conversation and that threat seems to work as he also increased the pace of his walk. Nab is strict about the rest day that he mentioned and he said that we must follow his instructions.

He did not say a single word anymore as we run towards the gym. We reached the location later on, and we entered the place without being detected by any of Nab’s subordinates.

“Hey!” Nate shouted.

“Yow,” I greeted him back. “We will just do some light training,” I said.

“Feel free, suit yourselves,” he said and we proceed to work our body.