The Untold Chronicle: Fire and Rain

Chapter 5

She finally stopped crying as we reached the kitchen. Zoelle decided to cook Beef Bulalo and she’s now preparing the ingredients. I sat on one of her high chairs and watched her preparing. She gave me a simple glance and smiled a bit.

“I can’t stand with your silence. Spill it” she talked.

I chuckled a bit before I sat properly on the chair. I don’t know where to start explaining to her and I’m also thinking if I should let her know about the commotion with that taxi driver. She looked up to me because she didn’t receive any response from me.

“Hey, you can tell it to me,” she said softly

 I was surprised a bit when she’s already in front of me. She put a glass of juice on the table, so I grab it and drank half of it. She went back to the table where she started chopping some of the ingredients.

“I was about to exit that street when I saw that killer beating the guy. I immediately looked for something to hide, I wanted to help that guy when the killer pulled out his knife. I can’t stand watching that scene, so I looked away.” I was breathing heavily while remembering the crime scene.

“You must be really scared,” she commented worriedly.

“I was. When they suddenly became quiet, I went out where I was hiding. There, I saw the man lying.” I continued.

“You should’ve waited for the killer to go,” she said, her eyes were full of fear and worriedness.

“I did Zoelle. I watched him leave, and I should catch him before he escaped but I didn’t because I was scared. You know that I have no knowledge in fighting.” I told her and she nodded continuously.

“What did you do next?” She asked.

She turned her back from me as she asked that so she could turn on the stove. I was about to open my mouth to answer her question when I remembered that the next thing that happened was when that guy handed me that book. I shook my head, I won’t tell to Zoelle

“I walked towards him and checked his pulse. He still had heartbeats, so I called for an ambulance but before they came, he already died.” I just said and she nodded slowly.

She was busy cooking the Bulalo and couldn’t see my reaction, so I started to drink my juice while waiting for her to talk again.

“I was nearly get harassed earlier,” I said in a low voice.

I thought that she didn’t hear it when she suddenly shouted in shock. She looked at me with wide eyes while holding the ladle of her right hand. She stayed speechless for seconds like she was absorbing the thing that I had just said.

“What did you just say?” She asked again while putting the cover of the boiling pan, not cutting the stares on me.

“I was nearly get harassed earlier… In the taxi” I repeated, this time she ran onto me and scanned my whole body again, like what she did earlier.

“What the heck? You didn’t tell me? You should’ve texted me or given me clues while we were talking earlier!” A tear fell from her eyes while saying those.

“He gave motives right after the call. Oh my god, stop crying! I’m fine! I didn’t get hurt because I’ve already threatened him” I assured her, but she just shook her head, not convinced by what I said.

“No, you’re still harassed. Theia. Did you get his name? Or his plate number? Let’s report him. I’ll make sure that he will be jailed.”

 She started to shower me with some questions and all I can do is to show her the video of the car’s plate number. She motioned me to look after the Bulalo before she went to the living room. I know that she’ll report this to the police.

In just a few minutes she came back with relief on her face. I genuinely smiled at her before I looked back at the Bulalo to continue stirring it. I felt her hug from my behind, so I rested my head on her. Why do we act like we were a damn couple?

“I’ll ask your dad to live with me. I really can’t sleep at night while thinking that you’re not okay. If you’re here, I can reach you out easily” She suggested, which I refused.

“Zoelle, I can handle my life. I can just call you if I needed something or want something to say. You also had your car so you can easily go to me if you wanted to. I don’t want to leave that apartment because of some reasons.” I told her seriously.

I know that she disagrees with my decision, but she keeps on being quiet. She told me to relax first at the living room she was waiting for the Bulalo to get cook. I continued watching the movie that I was watching earlier.

It is a documentary about the old stories of every country in the world. I was in sleepy eyes when she finally finished cooking the Bulalo. I walked directly to the table and helped to prepare the plates and glass.

I felt hungry when I smell the Bulalo so we started to get some rice and poured the Bulalo on my plate. She was quite right after that talk, so I guess that she was upset because I refused her offer. I was so guilty, so I tried to hype her up.

“Hey, let’s do a marathon later.” I invited her while smiling because I knew that she loves movie marathons that much.

“Sure, prepare the movies already” She simply answered before she stood up to start washing the dishes.

“Hey, are you upset about my decision? I know that you’re worried, but I also wanted to be alone.” I told her, which caught her off guard.

“I’m sorry. Your father talked to me to look after you, so I know that he will get mad if something happened to you” She apologized so I accepted it.

“I understand, so we’re okay now?” I asked and she finally gave me that lively smile.

Right after she washed the dishes, we started to look for movies that we will be watching the whole night. I am now relieved that she’s not mad at me anymore. She’s scrolling to Netflix when she asked something.

“What are your plans?”  She suddenly asked.

“Plans for what?” I curiously asked.

“About the news, when will you give your statement?” She asked.

“Ah, I’ll just make an article for it. I don’t want to be exposed in media” I just said, and she nodded.

I suddenly went near her when I remembered that she had a fever yesterday, so I held her neck as well as her forehead to check her temperature. I sighed when I felt her warmth.

“Did you drink your medicine?” I asked

“Yeah. That was just an effect of being exposed to heat earlier” she explained but I’m still not convinced.

I was about to talk when someone knocked on her door, we looked at each other. We’re not expecting any guests now, so I am curious as to who is it.

She stood up and motioned me to stay here in the living. What if they followed me here? I watched her walk towards the door and slightly open it. I saw her sigh in relief as she let the guest enter her unit.

It was her brother.

“You didn’t tell me you’ll come over” Zoelle rolled her eyes at her brother.

Her brother didn’t reply but he held Zoelle’s neck and forehead, like what I did earlier, he shook his head a bit before handling Zoelle a small pack he bought in Mercury Drugstore.

“Still drink one this afternoon” He commanded and Zoelle nodded like a child to him.

I can’t help but smile at them, look how concerned Zoelle’s brother is to her. I don’t have any siblings, so I haven’t felt that kind of care. I grew up with dad only beside me. I removed that thought from my mind and watched them talk again.

“Oh? Theia’s here. Sorry, I didn’t notice you” He suddenly said as he looked at me.

I really can’t deny his good looks so no wonder why he’s getting married already. He’s 2 years ahead of us, not that long age gap, but he still treats Zoelle like a baby. They’re so adorable!

“Are you leaving already?” I asked as I exchanged a smile.

“Yes, please check her temperature every time. I need to go now; I still have work” he bid a goodbye, so I nodded and waved to him.

Zoelle walked her outside of the unit, so I looked back to the television to continue browsing some movies. I heard her snort when she caught me looking for crime movies.

“You had just witnessed a crime, yet you still wanted to watch that” She rolled her eyes on me as she sat on the sofa.

“I was just browsing; I didn’t say that I’ll watch it” I defended but she just mocked me.

I handed her the remote so she could pick the movies that she wanted before I stood up and headed to the kitchen. I looked for her popcorn seeds so I could pop some. I went back to the living room while holding the bowl of popcorn that I made.

She started to play the movie on the television and as I expected it has romance, I saw her smirk when she saw a disgusted look on my face. This gonna be a cringe the whole time. We watched until midnight, I didn’t have the count of movies that we watched but at least we enjoyed some of it.

Romance stories were not bad, there’s a lot of love plot twists that I was never expecting. I even joined her in crying in some of the movies. It is already 11 pm as we finished watching so we decided to sleep early.

“What are we gonna do tomorrow?” I asked her.

We can’t even go out because I am avoiding public people so all we can do is to stay here in her unit. She looked up a bit like she was thinking of something to do.

“Clean” she smiled at me like it was a good idea.

“Seriously? Your room is clean already.” I respond with my sleepy voice.

“No, I didn’t clean for 2 days, and I was thinking to clean my storage room. It’s so dusty” she awkwardly smiled at me.

“Fine, let’s sleep.” I just said and she nodded.