"Oppa, come follow me. The group has moved somewhere better to eat"
Dean had arrived to where the group had previously been where Alice was waiting for him. She was carrying some vegetables and sauces in a bag while waiting for Dean.
"What are we having to eat?"
"Auntie Sophia said that all the frozen goods were going to turn bad since the electricity is no longer working. So we'll be having barbeque"
Alice had a bright smile on her face and continued with her explanation.
"We also found a portable gas oven and set it up in the break room, we didn't want to have to sit down and eat on the floor. Everythings ready we were just waiting for you to come back"
"Mm, alright. Can we go get some other things as well. I might as well make something"
"Okay"
Alice and Dean walked together around the market grabbing some things that would be good for a barbeque. They talked about some small things and got to know one another better. Although Dean wasn't really talking that much and it was mostly Alice talking to him, he still answered her questions and told her about his life. He didn't talk about anything personal but he had told her his thoughts about what was happening in the world and what to expect.
"Oppa is amazing"
Alice was impressed with what Dean was telling her. She was a model student before the apocalypse and often spent her time studying. She never got in trouble and always got good grades. She knew how much hard work would be needed to infer information with little data.
"First oppa saved everyone by closing the doors, than you ran to the zombie woman and stopped her, and now you've found crucial information that will help everyone survive"
"Anybody would be able to do the same if they were me"
Alice shook her head at those words.
"I don't think so oppa, no one would be the first to rush into danger when they could let someone else face the danger for them"
Dean knew that his reason for facing danger to save himself was a weird point of view. But his independent lifestyle and distancing himself from other people forced him to not depend on others. His thoughts of personal strength also stemmed from this line of thinking. He wasn't righteous enough to act to save people but if it concerned him he would act.
"I guess you're right"
"Hehe, by the way oppa what did you do before this?"
Dean told her about how he spent his life at home. He left out the reasons why, but Alice was smart enough to not ask anything more. She had looked at Dean with eyes of similarity, which made him feel confused as to how this bright and cheerful girl could feel so similar to him. Alice saw that confused expression and told him about her life.
"I haven't really told anyone else about my life but I feel oppa would understand. Think of it as a thank you for saving me and everyone else"
Dean wanted to stop her but he could see the sombre look in her eyes. It was the same eyes he often saw in the mirror everyday. He could feel that this young girl and him were the same. But whereas he had stopped himself from becoming too close to other people, this girl in front of him had to bottle it up inside of her. It would seem that this girl had finally found someone that she could talk with, without hiding her painful past.
Alice's once bright and cheerful face turned solace.
Dean quietly listened to whatever she had to say. It wouldn't do any harm to listen to someone else life. Perhaps it was the look she gave him that reminded him of his past self. He felt weird how friendly this girl was to him, but didn't mind her personality.
"My brother and I had to live alone at a very young age. Our parents had abandoned us with our grandparents when we were kids."
"My brother and I didn't understand what was happening at the time as we were still young, but I can still clearly remember the look of anger my grandparents were giving my parents. My grandparents passed away shortly after that"
"My brother and I were left with the will of our grandparents, they had loved us during the little time we stayed with them. They didn't look at us in annoyance but felt sorry for leaving us alone unlike my parents."
Dean could feel a bit of regret in her voice when talking about that. He also felt sympathy for the girl being abandoned by her parents and being welcomed by new loving family only for them to die shortly after. A test of god? Who knows why he would play with them, perhaps he was laughing watching their hope grow than extinguish.
"We didn't have any other relatives that we could stay with and we struggled everyday. I had to look after my brother as well as work part time and go to school"
Her eyes started to water recalling the past traumas that she and her brother had to live. Dean stayed quiet and let her tell him anything she wanted. He had known the pain of bottling his emotions, he would've been really different if he had someone to tell everything to. He couldn't destroy someone's spirit who he had once been.
"Sniff...I decided to look after my brother as he was smaller and more timid than me. We had sold the house of our grandparents and decided to live in an apartment to cut down on costs. Which led us to meet uncle Harris and auntie Sophia"
"I felt angry at my parents for most of my life, forcing my brother to have to live such a bad childhood. I had to watch my brother cry every night as a kid, it was painful...Sniff...I had just wished that my brother was able to live a normal life"
Alice wiped the tears that were slowly falling down her rosy cheek. She felt less lonely telling her life story to someone. She couldn't tell this to her brother and she had no close friends to talk with. Her school friends were exactly that, 'school' they didn't interact with each other because of how busy she was. She had finally found someone that she could talk to with no worries about being judged.
"Anyways thanks for listening, I think we should head back to eat now"
"It's fine. I think you're stronger than me though, taking care of your brother and self alone. I don't think I would've been able to do that"
Alice had a cute smile hearing those words and hid her face away.
"Sis"
A boy with red hair hid behind the aisle where he could hear everything the two were talking about. His eyes were slightly teary but soon formed with resolve. It was Roxas. He had gone to look for the pair as they were taking a long time to come back. He had stumbled across them and was about to call out for them when he could see his sister with a sad expression on her face.
He had wanted to go comfort her but accidently heard her talk about their past. For some reason he had decided to hide behind the wall as his sister continued on with her talk, he felt it was becoming harder and harder to show himself as she talked more. So he stayed hidden and listened.
After the pair had arrived at the break room, they were welcomed by a thick aroma of deliciousness. The group were sitting around the table in the center of the room and were watching Roxas's impressive skill at handling a knife.
"Haha, Dean, come sit over here. We just started cooking the food"
Harris had called out to Dean to come sit in an empty chair. The group were all happy and were talking with one another.
Roxas had a brief look of sympathy when the pair walked in, but quickly repressed his feeling by showing off his knife skills by cutting the vegetables Alice had brought.
Lucas was admiring Roxas's cutting skills and was judging how equally sliced each thin piece was. When he had found a slice that wasn't the same size as the rest, his eyes bulged and he quickly threw it in the bin. Shouting at Roxas to keep all the slices the same size. The usually loud Roxas tried shouting back at those harsh words but was over shouted by the usually quiet Lucas. He could only be quiet and follow his instructions.
Kim had also stopped moping around and was talking with the rest of the group. She still occasionally had looks of grief but the positive atmosphere calmed her down. It was clear the group had grown closer with one another when Dean had gone out.
The young girl had also woken up and was quietly sitting on the sofa next to Sophia. When the girl saw Dean she got up and went towards him.
"Umm, thank you for saving mama and papa big brother"
Dean was confused at hearing those words. He didn't remember saving anyone and also felt iffy being called big brother. Dean looked at Sophia knowing that she was the closest one with the little girl. Sophia could only put on a stiff smile, making Dean even more confused.
Dean sighed and knelt so his eyes were at level with the girl.
"What's your name, little girl?"
"Abigail"
"Alright Abigail, can you explain who I saved?"
The young girl of roughly 6 years was named Abigail. Her parents were a young married couple that worked normal waged jobs. The girl was oddly mature for her age which caused her parents to worry about how she will be with children her own age.
Abigail's father had pushed her out of the way when her mother was about to pounce on her. He had told Abigail that his mother was no longer her mother and that she shouldn't feel sad about what happens to her. He had also told her that she shouldn't approach him or his mother if they stand back up. Abigail being the mature girl she was, understood everything her father was saying.
"Big brother saved mama and papa from being monsters"
Dean had a further confused expression on his face. He looked back at Sophia only to see the same stiff smile.
"Can you explain what you mean"
"Mm, mama and papa wouldn't like to have been monsters that attacked people. Papa had said that mama wasn't mama anymore. It was good that big brother stopped not mama from doing anything that mama wouldn't like"
Dean was slightly shocked at the girl's thoughts. He could tell that this young girl was really mature for her age. Most children her age wouldn't be able to understand that their parents were no longer their parents, let alone that killing them would be a good thing.
Dean patted her head with short brown hair and tried to comfort the girl the best he could.
"Mm, I'm sure your mama and papa would be proud of how much of a big girl you are. Big bro will take care of you now. Alright?"
Abigail had a happy expression hearing those words. She smiled at Dean and walked back to Sophia, who smiled happily noticing that the once quiet girl was brightly smiling.
The group decided to sit down together and eat. Roxas's cooking was delicious. As he and his sister lived alone and he was always a timid boy growing up. And as he also watched how his sister cared for him and sacrificed her time to take care of him. He had started to feel indebted towards her love.
One day as his sister came home from work, he had given her something that he had made at school. She said it was delicious and that he should make her more yummy things. Which made him learn how to cook delicious food. Of course he didn't tell her why he had learnt how to cook, in case it made her feel more sorry about how she couldn't let him pursue his own dream.
Roxas fell in love with cooking though. It stopped just being about letting his sister eat yummy things and he found his very first passion in life. He had even learnt some gardening skills to grow homemade ingredients. It was cheap and also good for the environment.
Roxas also lost his timid and quiet personality as he enjoyed seeing the smile on his sister's face. He also stopped seeing her worry that much about him when he was like that which caused him to become loud to lessen his sister's worry.
"Delicious"
"Sooo good"
"Agreed"
Everyone agreed that Roxas's food was delicious. Dean had also made a dipping sauce that went well with the meat, which everyone enjoyed as well. Everyone ate to their heart's content. They chatted about random things and got to be close with each other. They didn't have any soju or alcohol since they couldn't be tipsy due to the danger outside but no one argued with having this big meal to get to know each other. It was probably going to be a long time till they could have such good food again. The apocalypse was here and canned food would become the norm as electricity will stop keeping food frozen.
Dean also learnt a lot about everyone. He then went wide-eyed when he learnt that Kim was a surgeon and almost spat out his soda on everyone's face.