Chereads / War Foundations / Chapter 8 - Chapter VIII. Rest

Chapter 8 - Chapter VIII. Rest

The day before after what happened I had lost consciousness, Esteban was taking care of me from then until my brother arrived. Menrip told me about the rumors that were circulating about Norilex openly threatening and attacking me to obtain my power and his displeasure at having mentioned it before, how Kevin and Estaban were called to address for a minor scolding for entering the women's dormitory and even his Restroom was obviously not as bad as hitting someone with a baseball bat, which caused Norilex and his company to be suspended for a week.

— What a short time!— I pout about it. —What would have happened if they had killed me?

—Yes I know, I spoke with the director and the student center, but the director does not want to make drastic decisions regarding the matter so as not to get in trouble with the ruler of Esia; as regards, the student center is evaluating it because this is a neutral territory and external agents cannot retaliate with them and the conclusion we reached is to expel her, even so, they do not want to rush to give the sentence since the student president is not there to approve it.

—It's still so unfair, the next time he sees her ...

—The next time you see her and even before that you should be ready. Marinep you are an exposed leader and you know that now, tomorrow or at any time you will be attacked.

—Then I must be very grateful to Kevin, he protected me.

—You would have gotten them into a mess, both him and Esteban

—Kevin is a strong leader.

—A leader?

—Yes, the leader of Afriz, lost his ruler before entering his territory but he was able to control himself and now he is my friend.

—Is that so?— Menrip looks at her with frozen eyes, she just tries not to look him in the eye.

—I am sorry brother.

—It's okay just don't let your guard down, you'll never know where they'll attack you from.

Menrip changes his expression to one deeply worried and sad, maybe it is because he is weak to prevent bad things from happening to me, I want to help him, tell him that everything is fine but before saying anything Kevin and Esteban go through the door.

—Princess, are you okay?

—Yeah, thanks Kevin.

—Your brother has been a great wall, he has not moved since he was called— Esteban says sarcastically. —He is never there when he is needed and he says to be your brother?

—Esteban enough!

—No, for the first time the criminal is right. I am never for you.

—Criminal? That I like to play video games does not make me one.

—No, he doesn't, it's true, but your very presence gives a bad feeling and that's what I'm talking about.

—What do you say?

—On the other hand, I have started to think about whether your hair is natural or oxygenated, because if it is the second that explains that your capacity for analysis and understanding became rough if not mediocre, in case of having to face more activities. beyond your understanding.

—Oh, don't tell me you're describing yourself because if we're going to have hair, yours isn't very dark, let's say a little more and it's white. It must be the poor old gray hair.

The atmosphere becomes heavy and annoying around both of them. I don't know what to say to break it, I try to seek help from Kevin but he is completely lost in his own thoughts, oblivious to what is happening in front of him; I instantly see in his face that he has concocted an idea.

—What we need is a break.

—What?— The three of us asked ourselves at the same time, looking at him with great mystery on his face.

—Yes, a break, maybe going for a walk will take away the stress of work, the fatigue of homework and the hassle of homework.

—Doesn't seem like a bad idea,I am happy at the suggestion.

—How about we take it as a date?— Feel the gaze of both boys on him. —Sure with surveillance.

—Tell me Kevin, do you want to be the first to die? Because I can do it right now, I don't see any impediment— Menrip threatens, coming between me and Kevin. I see Kevin backing up a bit on instinctive defense but he recovers right away.

—Ha… ha… ha… calm, calm, it was just a joke * sigh * the princess's brother is quite scary, but I said with vigilance, that is, you and the knight without armor can come too. In Afriz they will open a new amusement park on Saturday afternoon so in the morning we could go to the zoo. What do they say?

—It's an excellent idea, brother, let's go.

—Excuse me Marinep I can't, I've been putting off work and it has accumulated. I wish I had more time for you. When you return, call me to know how it went and be attentive to your surroundings. As for you two, I didn't find out about something weird.

—Nothing will happen to the princess.

—Why do you think something bad will happen to me again?

—I just hope not.

—Stop the nonsense, you, I try to be an older brother, let me ask you something— Esteban points to his left hand. —How much do you do to get that burn?

—Really brother? I didn't realize it, let me see how bad it is— I try to take her hand but she hides it behind her.

—In one of my breaks Joselin invited me to her house to eat, she is a terrible cook, I had to get involved so that she did not burn with the oil. Thanks for being attentive Esteban but you should worry about yourself. Now if you'll excuse me I must go, I hope you have a lot of fun little sister.

—Sure, of course I will. Take care, brother.

—Your brother is very strange Marinep— he looks at the door where Menrip left with an accusing look. —I must admit I did get a chill at the threat of him.

—He's not a bad person, maybe he's just very stressed from having to work so closely with my uncle, I just hope he doesn't get sick.

—Is he in poor health?— Kevin is interested.

—Yes, since he was little.

—Leave that guy's conversation behind! You, go back to rest and you will see each other on Saturday, at the doors of the greenhouse at nine in the morning (9 am) we will meet.

Super excited I affirm my attendance and Kevin confirms that there we will meet with a big smile. On Saturday Esteban was wearing a sweatshirt, hat, sunglasses, pants and sports shoes, for my part a loose blouse, shorts and sports shoes. This clothing choice was implemented due to Kevin recommending us to be comfortable due to the hot weather in Afriz.

I took my gaze on him for a moment, seeing how handsome he was even as he eats gum impatiently in anticipation, looking at his features in detail, the color of his milk-white skin, and trying to see his beautiful eyes that resemble to the blue of the clear sky and when he notices my fixed presence in him he turns to look at me to only say the words What are you looking at me? We were at the agreed time, after ten minutes Kevin showed up dressed in shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and sports shoes, he also had sunglasses bringing his messy hair looking fresh and shiny.

—Did you wait long?

—A little more and we grow roots— Esteban complains.

—Ignore him, we don't have much time here— For some reason I look away from him.

—Princess you are too beautiful, as always, I assure you that today will be a great day, you'll see.

After we were all ready, we began to enter the forest being guided by a sandy path that I did not know existed, after a long walk you begin to hear the roars of animals, you feel the arid wind and the song of different birds. On the bridge the flags fly beautifully as if inviting us to cross.

—Is this really okay? I say we are both leaders therefore the territories ...

—Don't think about it, I've already told you that we're in this together, we're friends even though we could be ...

—It would just be the two of you, people who know each other and nothing else— Esteban intervenes in the conversation.

—That is not up to you, it is the princess who does.

—We didn't come to fight, tell me Kevin. Do you have wild animals in the zoo like the ones we heard when we entered?

—Of course you want to see them first hand?

—It's why we're here, to enjoy ourselves and relax. I want to have good things to tell my brother.

The zoo is immense, it gives the feeling of being on safari in a dangerous jungle, contrary to the arid environment of the territory, this place has more humidity, the trees create walks where various birds nest, the monkeys swinging between its branches, one of the monkeys he climbs on Kevin's shoulders, implying that they are great friends and he accompanies us to many places; as the habitat of wolves, tigers, lions, snakes, bears, giraffes, horses, elephants, in places with large sand dunes camels and in huge ponds we saw hippos, alligators, crocodiles and toads.

It was a wonderful experience but one of very fast transition, since, our objective was to go to the opening of the amusement park. Kevin climbs onto a platform and with warm words addresses the people who were listening attentively.

—I want to thank everyone for being here, I know that we have gone through various adversities but we have overcome them, great threats are still upon us; We should not be alarmed or panic just continue preparing until it arrives. While that happens, let's rest, have fun, enjoy the moment and what better way to do it than to go to an amusement park. Let's not wait for this. Open the park!

At his command, the doors that give access to the amusement park were opened to the public, everyone began to line up to buy their tickets. Kevin approaches one of his caretakers and passes them the monkey that has not yet moved away from him and then goes to us giving us some bracelets to go up unlimitedly to the attractions.

Without waiting a single minute our tour began with the bumper cars. Esteban and Kevin knew how to take advantage of the shocks like no other. We then went to the hammer, boat, elevator, and saucer not to mention other such attractions. I started to feel dizzy from the extreme games so I found a bench and sat down. Esteban buys a bottle of water and Kevin a cotton candy, they both give me their purchase.

—I can buy them later, thanks.

—Well when you feel like it, you just have to ask, so don't worry princess, your duty is to take care of going up to all the attractions

—That's impossible. Do you want to kill her?

—Speaking of killing— Kevin ignores him and walks over to me. —Since we're resting, don't you want to go to skill games?

—I'm not very good at those games.

—Come on princess, I'll win something for you— Kevin took me by one hand but Esteban took me by the other.

—He already told you no.

—He told me that she was not good at it, not that she did not want to go see.

Between them I felt there were sparks, their tantrums were filling my patience until an idea occurred to me.

—How about we make some bets? Esteban will do one and Kevin will do another, whoever wins will decide which will be the last attraction we will visit, of course after going to several that I decide.

—Marinep this smells like a trapped cat, your bets always benefit one person, you.

—Are you afraid?— I ask prompting him to participate.

—I never said that ... do what you want in the same way I won't be able to avoid participating.

—What do you say Kevin?

—Whatever you say princess, your wishes are orders.

—Let's begin then. What is your challenge Esteban?

—Well, we will go to the roller coaster again but this time before going up we will eat our fill and who after going down keeps the food in his stomach wins.

—Disgusting— Kevin thinks negatively but still gives his approval to participate.

—What is your challenge Kevin?

—It occurs to me to continue with the plan of going to skill games, especially target shooting, whoever gets the most points wins.

—Done!— Esteban confirms with a joyous joy. —I'm a great devotee of shooting games, it will be a piece of cake.

Seeing their rivalry fills me with uncontrollable laughter. I followed them to their first test, the target shooting; the kind gentleman takes their money and gives them their rifles with rubber ammunition. Esteban starts and gets a respectable score by winning a medium dummy. Kevin follows him and his score is perfect, we are left with our mouths open, the kind gentleman congratulates him and gives him the biggest prize a doll in the shape of a lion as big as I am, well it is not that high but one meter sixty ( 1.60 m) is too much for a stuffed animal.

Esteban, upon hearing the praise of the man, gets angry and asks for revenge. They played three times and in all Kevin won the grand prize, asking for it in different animals such as a whale, a crocodile and a bear come together to accompany the lion and the small rhinoceros, monkey and wolf.

—Admit it Esteban, I'm better than you. Princess I hope you enjoy all these rewards even the loser's toys. Weren't you a huge devotee of games?

—This is not over yet, I will beat you in the next challenge!

As we were hungry we went to eat hamburgers, these two who act like children eat like there is no tomorrow to the point of bursting. Without resting or taking rest we went to the roller coaster, I completely excluded myself from climbing I did not want to have to throw away the delicious food because just knowing what they would do I felt a terrible dizziness.

The two went up, I hear the screams of the people who are also in the attraction, when they stop I see the two staggering, Esteban advances holding on to the railings and I see that he places his hand over his mouth to prevent something from escaping, containing it successfully , although it was not the same for Kevin who runs to a trash can and practically sticks his head in it.

—I won!— Esteban is happy now holding on to a nearby light pole so as not to fall.

—You're good?— I ask Kevin which face is quite pale looking like a sheet of paper.

—I'll be fine ... thanks Marinep— he sits down to take a break and for charity Esteban will buy some drinks for us.

—You shouldn't have accepted that crazy challenge, Esteban sometimes doesn't measure the consequences of his actions.

—Don't worry about it, it was fun. Tell me, does your brother always act the way he did yesterday?

—My brother gets angry when things go wrong for me, he's very overprotective— He was much calmer or so it seemed to me before due to his condition, but since I became a representative of Amira Sur at ten (10) years old, it seems he felt that something was slipping out of his hands.

—Does your brother know that you are a leader? He must be very hard to take on for your family members. Just knowing that you are exposing yourself to various dangers should put them in a position to have all five senses engaged in most things you do or do.

—My mother is a nervous wreck because of that, she doesn't want something to happen to me like my father, to that we must add my brother's illness… they shouldn't have it easy at all.

—Your mother no longer has to worry because she now has fewer enemies who attack her daughter, Afriz and Ocania are now on your side; once we finish with Antirda's plans all will be quiet.

—Speaking of Ocania to Erick, I haven't seen him, I say it's normal not to see him much around the institute but ...

—He's wrong, Antirda attacked Ocania and let's say she was able to defend the territory, however it didn't work out very well for him— I begin to show signs of concern and Kevin takes the floor again. —Don't worry about it, we'll put together a plan and everything will be better.

—Kevin I told my brother that you are a leader— Kevin looks at me with surprise —It was for my brother to see that I have friends who can fight by my side and lower their anxiety, I don't want to see him again in the hospital, I don't I want ...— I start to sob. —Excuse me, this is weird of me. It's probably because I'm starting to feel too much pressure on my shoulders.

—Princess ... if I had known that you would start crying, I would not have continued the conversation and would not even have touched the subject to begin with. —Come on cheer up we're here to enjoy so don't cry.

—Marinep, are you crying? What did this bastard do to you? - Esteban arrives with the drinks and replies to what he sees.

—It's nothing, give me a drink, I'm very thirsty.— The cold tea liquid calms my nerves and comforts my thirsty throat.

—We are tied. How will we decide the winner?— Kevin seeks my gaze to find the answer.

—Mmm… I've already decided and I conclude that neither wins.

—That's not fair— Esteban claims as he takes his drink.

—The princess has already spoken.

—Since they are both losers, they will do what I say. Next stop the haunted mansion.

They both laugh so heartily, drawing people's attention. One of Afriz's men approaches Kevin and he gives them the dolls to take care of while we enjoy the park. We all go to the horror place, we appreciate the spooky surroundings, green walls with artificial cobwebs, digital ghosts and disguised people that appeared from time to time while we walked through the corridors of the place. Once outside, we went back to the food stalls, this time tasting different sweets.

Late at night I stopped to think about what last attraction to take before leaving. The darkness in the sky covered with stars and the luminous posts that light our way take me back to the childhood of when I went out with my parents and my brother, so I looked for something nostalgic among all the attractions and there I saw it.

—Let's go to the carousel— he pointed out carefully.

—Princess, as much as I want to follow you, I think I'd better stay here, I don't want to be in something other than spinning around. I had enough with revolving rates and all of the above.

—I see, Esteban are you coming?

—No thanks, that attraction is too boring for me.

—As you want and your comment is others.

Marinep gets on the carousel, it begins to spin and she unconsciously begins to smile like a girl who has been given sweets or a new toy, she felt so relaxed that she almost forgot for a moment that Kevin and Esteban are watching her, she greets them and they respond in the same way, what she does not know is that in their looks it reflects like a jewel, the most precious that ever existed. The two boys do not stop admiring her but are interrupted by fireworks exploding with beautiful colors in the dark sky.

—Esteban— Kevin gets his attention.

—What do you want? You're bothering me— he speaks without taking his eyes off the figure of the girl on the well-decorated steed of the carousel.

— Do you like the princess?

— As you say?— This time she looks at him without hiding the astonishment in her eyes.

—I'm talking about Marinep, you like her right?

—Of course not, she and I are just friends.

—You can deny it and create all the excuses you want but I know the truth, because I feel the same way.

—…you're wrong.

—I won't say anything about it, I'll keep your feelings. I just hope you don't regret it by putting off showing what you feel. Once she has someone else you will find out and it will be a bit late.

—I don't know what you're talking about ...— Kevin makes a gesture for her to be silent and Esteban purses his lips to say nothing.

—Were you bored waiting for me?— Marinep approaches the two.

—Of course not princess. Did you have fun?

—Yes, thank you very much.

—Let's go, we'll be late to go back to school and I'd hate to have to write a report on what we did today," Esteban says without looking at the two of them.

Kevin and Marinep looked at each other, she wonders about Esteban's unfriendly attitude and he just lifts her shoulders and then gives her a warm smile. She steps forward to show the way back. They passed all the way back and when they got to the institute, Kevin stopped Marinep.

—What happen?

—Princess I just wanted to give you one last gift today— He walks over to her and plants a kiss on her forehead. —I'll tell one of my followers to bring you the stuffed animals later.

—Wh… what?— Her face turns reddish. Esteban, seeing that, takes Marinep.

—It's time for her to go to sleep, bye— The two of them are on their way to the bedrooms.

Kevin, seeing Marinep's reaction and how angry Esteban begins to laugh, squats, one arm hugs his knees and the other sits on his head.

—Hahaha ... What a nice reaction you have, princess, I'm going crazy. As for you, Esteban, if you continue acting like this, she will discover you— after a few minutes he gets up, stretches and lets the wind cool his still rosy cheeks. —Well, it's time to sleep tomorrow we have to work.