Lia saw Aesop's perplexed expression. She leaned in closer to him and whispered, "Have you ever thought of… getting out of here?"
In Aesop's early days in the research facility, he had always thought of escaping from D.M. Cadre. After experiencing that traumatic experiment, he had given up on all possibilities of seeing his family. At some point in his stay, he was counting his days since he entered the facility but realized that it wouldn't change anything, so he stopped. Instead, he always spent his days staring at the digital window as if it was real. He knew that he's four floors under the ground.
"Yeah…" he said while nodding.
"Mr. Aesop, I want to hope for the best, but…" Lia sighed. "I don't like to give you false hope..."
"It's okay… I understand very well." Aesop uttered, looking down.
"Let's just hope that they wouldn't do something stupid to you... Don't worry!" she gave him an energetic smile, stood up from her seat, and walked in front of Aesop. "Ms. Mayheart is on our side."
On Sanno and Sanya's conversation at the lobby...
"What are we?" Sanya asked. It was obvious that she's hoping that Sanno would say that he likes her.
But instead, he gave her a confusing answer, "We are what you want us to be!" then he gave a wink. "I need to go to my mutant, now. Happy birthday, okay?"
"Uhm thanks," Sanya said softly, not noticing that he just evaded her question. She smiled brightly and said, "Thank you, Sanno!"
Sanno showed his killer smile, and the naive Sanya fell for his charm. But as soon as he turned around, the smile from his face fell.
In the afternoon, the loud cries of a mutant were echoing in the basement hallway.
"I don't wanna!!" Chelone shrieked, with a waterfall of tears falling from her eyes. She held onto Gem's shirt tightly.
"It's just an x-ray dear, hush… Don't cry now…" Gem said, trying to comfort the little mutant. She gently tapped her head. "They will not do anything bad to you."
Chelone pouted, "I don't wanna! I want my mommy!" She continued shouting and crying.
Gem couldn't help but pity her. Being the eldest, she saw how her parents took care of her siblings, and she planned to do it to her mutant, too. Yes, Chelone isn't normal, and it's a heavier reason why her parents should be the ones with her now, not a mere caretaker like her.
Coming from a loving family, Gem couldn't understand how the turtle mutant's family could resist giving away their 6-year-old daughter. If she was also a mutant, would her parents also give her to D.M. Cadre?
"Chelone," Gem said, while stroking her mutant's shell, "Come now, don't be afraid. They will just check up on you."
"I'm scared…" Chelone said in a baby talk-like manner.
"Don't be scared, Chelone. You need to let them check if you have healthy bones. Besides, we always swim in your pool. If you suddenly get sick, we're not going to be able to play anymore. Let them have an x-ray for you, okay?"
Chelone paused for a while and then nodded. One of the scientists gestured for the men to help Chelone reach the metal, double doors. A lady scientist held her hand as she walked. She glanced back at Gem, and the caretaker gave her a delightful smile as if telling her not to be afraid.
It was almost night time, and suddenly, Aesop was visited by his doctor, Rick, together with two assistants who carried a lot of groceries. While Aesop sat down on the sofa, Dr. Rick stood in front of him, holding the tablet. Lia stood beside Dr. Rick, peeking at the tablet.
"Ms. Mayheart has given the go-signal, so I brought a lot of food. You're going to live healthier from now on," Dr. Rick explained, "Ms. Brentvale, aside from adjusting his food according to the cooking recipes, you must help your mutant in cleaning his wounds. It includes washing his back and wings thoroughly with clean water, but without soap. But he can use soap for other parts of his body. After his bath, always put this cream on his wounds." He gave her the medicine cream which was inside a plastic jar with a screw lid.
Lia took the jar from the doctor's hands, "Thank you, doc," and placed it on the coffee table.
"Do you have any questions?" Dr. Rick asked.
"Hmm… I have no questions for now." Lia answered.
"How about you, Mr. Aevis?"
"None," Aesop briefly answered.
"Alright, if there are no other questions, we shall take our leave," the doctor said while signaling the two assistants to put the groceries in the kitchen. "If there are any questions, you can ask through Ms. Mayheart."
Lia followed them in the kitchen, "Please just put it on the table… Thank you."
Shortly after, Lia escorted the two assistants and Dr. Rick to the door. They bid goodbye to them and left.
"Okay, time to put your food into the fridge!" Lia said enthusiastically. She was happy that Aesop could have more choices of food, and healthier, too.
Lia walked towards the kitchen, and Aesop followed her.
"Do you want to help me with the groceries, Mr. Aesop?" she said with a big smile.
"Why do you keep calling me Mr. Aesop?" Aesop asked as he scratched the back of his head. "Just call me Ae."
"Oh, okay, then… Mr. Ae." Lia said as they approached the center kitchen counter.
"No more Mister, please."
She laughed, "Okay, Ae!" and then she peeked through the plastic bag. "Wow! Greens!" She took out the green, leafy vegetables.
Aesop stood behind her, looking at her different expressions, puzzled as to why she was happily taking out the food from the plastic bags. He just stood there and stared at her. One moment, he was looking at her hands, and then one moment he was looking at her face. Her long, dark brown hair was tightly tied into a high ponytail hairstyle, and her rosy cheeks stood out in the bright room. He gazed at her deep blue eyes next, and then onto her lips. The next thing that flashed his mind was the moment when he embraced her on that day when she fell from the loft.
He realized that he had been thinking about such unnecessary things, "Why am I like this?" he contemplated. He couldn't understand himself.
"I thought you're going to help," Lia asked while opening the refrigerator. She crouched down to put the vegetables into the drawer.
Aesop finally had the initiative to help her, so he took two chicken meat packs from the plastic bag. He then reached out to the freezer to put it inside, both of his hands reaching out inside, while Lia was still crouching down to properly store the vegetables.
"Done!" Lia said and stood up. She was surprised to see Aesop's arms on both sides of her ear.
When she turned around, Aesop's face was close to hers.