It was with some apprehension that Lazar approached his hand to the handle of the door, 'She wouldn't go so far as to lock me out for that, would she?' He dreaded while reflecting on how much their relationship had deteriorated after their disagreement.
Although he was mad at her at that time, before unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the troop transport truck, he had taken the trouble to discreetly put the keys of his house on his seat so that Amandla could return without a problem...
He therefore hoped that she had shown the same consideration towards him and left the door open instead of reacting like a child by wanting an apology to let him in or some other bullshit when he came back, 'I don't think she's puerile enough to do that, but with what happened tonight, I can't be sure.'
Finally, when Lazar lowered the door handle, he was relieved to feel that there was no blockage, which would have been the sign that the lock had been closed, 'Good.'
However, after having slightly opened the door, he felt that something was blocking its complete opening from the other side, something... kinda soft.
Wanting to find out what it was, Lazar was going to poke his head through the space left by the door opening...
But before he did so, he heard the sound of a blanket which was crumpling and realized that what was blocking wasn't something but someone.
"Amandla, what are you doing behind the door?" He asked, looking puzzled.
After a few seconds during which Lazar heard Amandla slowly getting up, the door finally opened wide. She was then standing before him, almost completely covered with a thick gray blanket.
From her body, only her right hand with which she had opened the door was visible, as well as her face marked by tiredness.
"..." Amandla remained speechless when she laid her eyes on Lazar. Contrary to what she thought would happen, no reaction came naturally to her when she saw him. Her feelings were so confused that she couldn't completely understand them, let alone express them...
In any case, if she felt anger or resentment, it was directed more at herself than at Lazar.
She felt guilty about what happened in the truck, because afterwards the words Lazar had said to her resounded in her head as a warning.
'You can disagree with me, but don't get in my way thinking you're doing me a favor', 'I hope one day will come when our roles will be reversed, then you'll understand why I'm reacting like this' That's what he said to her. And that was true.
She didn't need to be in his shoes to know what she would do, if that ever happened she was convinced that her reaction would be much worse than his, 'If he was to get in my way in Norway, even if it will be for my own good... I would be able to kill him.'
Lazar wanted to let Amandla speak first to find out what mood she was in, but seeing that she couldn't make up her mind to open her mouth and was looking at him in an increasingly weird way, he became impatient, "Can you please stop looking at me with a gaze as lively as a dead goldfish? Seriously. That's creepy. You look like me. Stop it."
"Pff!" Hearing Lazar saying that so soberly was too much for Amandla to restrain herself from laughing "Hmph Hmph!" She was giggling uncontrollably and holding her mouth with her hands to avoid attracting the attention of all the soldiers on patrol in the neighborhood.
Amandla inadvertently dropped her blanket to the ground, revealing the same sleepwear she had worn the day before.
Lazar picked it up while she was still laughing and throwed it in her face, "We have work to do." He said calmly.
Amandla stopped laughing and took the blanket off her face, "What?!" She exclaimed.
"They must have given you the keys to the truck." Lazar replied, refering to the troop transport truck that was parked in front of the house, "Take them and get ready, I will be waiting for you here. I'll explain everything on the way."
"*Sigh*" Amandla turned around without protesting, but she was dejected, she had come back 2 hours ago but she had barely been able to get a wink of sleep.
Seeing that she wrongly thought that he was planning for them to spend a sleepless night, Lazar reassured her, "We could very well wait until tomorrow morning to leave, but I prefer that we do it now, while it is still dark, to avoid being spotted by the monsters during the day. As soon as we arrive, we will sleep in the truck."
Amandla just nodded in agreement before disappearing from Lazar's vision at the turn of a corridor.
...
After less than 5 minutes, Lazar saw Amandla come out of the house.
She locked the door behind her and threw the keys from where she was to the front of the truck where Lazar was in his hand without him even having to move it to receive the keys, "Your precision is scary." He said sarcastically with a fake impressed expression.
Amandla snorted, "Stop messing with me, how could I scare you while you have become a lot stronger than me?" She said to Lazar's surprise as she ran down the steps in front of the front door, "Yes, I knew it as soon as I saw you. I'm curious to know how you did it by the way..."
"And I to know how you knew it..." Lazar said, staring at Amandla while she was getting closer and closer to him.
"What are you waiting for? You have the keys and you're the only one who knows the way, get behind the steering wheel." Amandla commanded once she found herself in front of Lazar.
---
Lazar was driving without the headlights on. His night vision was still not that good, but the increase of his statistics had improved it to the point he thought he could take the risk of not seeing the road clearly in favor of discretion.
Beyond that, Lazar and Amandla hadn't spoken since they entered the truck. For Lazar, the reason for his silence was simple, he wanted to concentrate on the road, while for Amandla it was more complicated...
Being now on a straight road, Lazar allowed himself to take his eyes off it a little and when he looked at Amandla, without knowing how, he understood what she had in mind.
"You don't have to apologize, I don't care about that. The only thing that could ease my mind on this point is knowing that you'll never do it again." He stated while refocusing on the road.