The sky is foggy with a thin rain falls from the sky. While holding an umbrella to cover Jennifer and I from rain, I just stand in silent, patiently wait for Jennifer who is staring at a tombstone in front of us. Thomas McCourtney. That is the name written on the tombstone.
After reading her father's secret letter all night long, Jennifer asked me to visit his grave in the morning. I know a lot of things are running inside her mind right now. I know she holds back a lot of emotions. Mr. McCourtney's secret is too big, too dark. I my self was having a quite a shock knowing it, even less Jennifer who claimed her life to be simple and normal.
"What do you want for lunch, Babe ?" I ask Jennifer when we finally get back to our rent car.
Jennifer, just like I have expected, shakes her head lifelessly. "Nothing," she murmurs.
I halt my gesture to start the engine. Instead, I shift my body closer to her then round my arm around her shoulder and pull her in my embrace. "Let it out, Baby," I whisper to her.
Jennifer shakes her head again. But soon, I feel my shirt becomes damp.
"I... I don't know.. how I should feel about him anymore," Jennifer says in between her sob. I respond with nothing but rubbing her upper arm gently.
"I hate him for killing my grand parents. I hate him for making my mom lost her baby. I hate him for lying to us his whole life. I... I... But... I love him at the same time. He is the best dad in the world!"
"Well.. that's because he is your best dad in the world"
"But he killed my grand parents!!! And yet he still... dared to show his face to my mom and made her fell in love to him!!"
"He truly loved her... and you..."
"I know... I know..." Jennifer sighs. "And I know he sacrificed a lot for us. I know he did his job to protect us. I know... I know.. he agreed to have the procedure to protect me. Gosh!!"
Jennifer bursts her cry again onto my chest. My hand now is rubbing her hair, hoping it can soothe her dow. Suddenly Jennifer distances her head away from my chest. She looks at me with worry gaze.
"You... tell me you don't have the same procedure as my dad," she whispers.
I sigh before giving her a soft smile. "I do have the same activation brain cells procedure.."
Jennifer gasps in fear. I quickly continue my words, "But I had the procedure when their research had been complete. They could stabilize the growth."
Suddenly Dr. Ramorez' words that saying that my brain cells' activation would keep expanding and couldn't be stop slips through my mind. I, inwardly, get rid of that thought before add, "There should be no side-effect happened on me."
Jennifer looks me in the eyes, searching for a lie. I, of course, hide the truth deeper than her gaze could reach. I give her a smile to calm her down. Jennifer sighs and puts her head onto my chest again.
"I'm sorry... but I hate your mom," She says. "I blame all of these to her."
I nod. "I understand that. And I won't blame you for that," I say to her.
Once again, Jennifer look me in the eyes. "Promise me... you won't join her again. Ever. No matter what," she says. "Promise me that," she urges.
I chuckle and poke her nose. "I won't. I promise," I fulfill her wish before kissing her tenderly. "But you need to eat now. I don't want my daughter to be starving," I rebuke her.
Jennifer chuckles and sighs in the same time before agreeing with me.
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When the stewardess announces that our flight will be arrived to NY city, I end my meditation and slowly open my eyes. I will be honest with you. Reading Mr. McCourtney's letter actually scares me.
Based on the journey the Scorpion brought me, what they did to me was actually safe. But, they had deactivated my cells. And my cells now are reactive again because of the explosion wave. So, it can not be sure whether they are stable or not. What worse is Dr. Ramorez once said that the expanding could not be stopped. So, al though I have had normal speed since I learnt to control it from Master Long, I have never known whether my brain cells were actually controllable or not. Thus, the only thing I can do right now is doing meditation in every chance I had, hoping that exercise can control my brain cells expansion.
I turn my head to the right, to Jennifer who lays her head on my shoulder. She still asleep. I know she barely slept last night, secretly crying in silent. For a man who rarely feel any emotion, I found it hard to understand her emotion. Thus, all I could do is to embrace her, letting her know that she is not alone, that I am right by her side. I hope that is enough, though.
"Baby," I whisper into Jennifer's ear to wake her up. She awakes with a loud gasp. She turns her head to me and gives me a smile. "Sleep well, Babe ?" I ask.
Jennifer nods. "Are we there yet ?" She asks.
"We're about to land," I tell her. Jennifer straightens her seat and puts her seatbelt on.
About twenty minutes later, Jennifer and I joining other passengers are coming out form our airplane and enter the airport.
"Wait.. I need to pee," Jennifer says to me when we're about to pass the exit door. All of our things are packed in my backpack so we don't need to wait for luggage.
"Okay. I wait here," I say to her. The toilet is only few meters away from the exit door.
Jennifer gives me her hand bag before walking to the toilet.
To waste my time, I turn on my phone. There is a message from Thief.
[I think I found where Lily lives. Call me.]
I, of course call her in instant. But weird, I can't reach her. It is said that her phone is unreachable. It is weird because my flight is only an hour long. When she told me to call her, she usually stand by because she knows I will call her as soon as possible.
[Where are you ?] I finally text her. Weird. It only has one check, meaning it is still in pending.
With a deeper frown, I decide to call Andy.
"What's up ? Are you back to NY already ?" Andy answers my call.
"Can you reach Thief ?"I ask him instead answering his questions.
"What.. ? Why should I ?"
"She asked me to call her, but I can't reach her," I tell him.
"Maybe her phone is running out of battery," Andy suggests an idea.
"Come on.. this Thief we're talking about. Since when she is ever running out of battery ?"
"Well.. maybe she has something more important like.. I don't know... dating... ?" Andy reminds me about a fact that I always forgot about. Thief has boyfriend now. You remember the guy who loves to play anagram.
"If she's about to date, why she asked me to call her then ?" I still pursue my suspicion.
"That.. you should ask her yourself," Andy says. "Look, I'm sure she is fine. She has like four or five bodyguards to guard her around 24/7."
I exhale heavily, but saying "You're right." I have to admit, I worry too much. Thief has her bodyguards to protect her. Beside, she is a genius. It will be hard for anyone to be able to harm her. Andy answers me with laughter. After having few small chats with him, I end my call.
I put my phone back into my back pocket. After letting another sigh, I decide to sit on the edge of a big planter. With her big belly, Jennifer needs more time to undress and redress when she is taking. a pee.
But not this long. I say to my self inwardly five minutes after. I shift my gaze to the toilet door. It happens a young lady just coming out from it. I noticed this young lady was coming in the toilet a couple of minutes ago.
"Excuse me.." I call her as walking toward the young lady.
"Yes ?" She asks, halting her steps while turning her head to me.
"I notice you just came out of the toilet. Did you happen to see my wife there. Red hair, green eyes.." I ask her.
The young lady shakes her head with a frown forehead. "No. I see no one there. But there is a cubicle that is used," She says.
"Oh, okay. Thank you. Sorry for bothering you," I say to her. The young lady just nods and continues her steps.
I walk back to where I sat. Before I reach there, I saw a man with cleaning service uniform pushing a trolley with a huge plastic dumpster above it coming out of the woman toilet.
Something about him, his tense face and nervous gestures, makes me having a bad feeling. I quickly walk, almost run, toward the woman toilet and enter it while calling, "Jen !!"
No one answers me. I walk to the only cubicle that has its door closed. "Jen!! Are you okay ?!" Still, Jennifer doesn't answer me.
With a little temper, I kick the door to open it forcefully. My worry increases exponentially when I see no one inside the cubicle.