Chapter 10: Ajax, The Mechanic
As he was grabbing his bag from the floor and was about to return the rental pass to the counter person, he spotted the card game was still connected to the desktop. He removed it and looked at it with a deep thought. He knew he would not see the teenagers anytime soon and he was not interested in games as much as the rowdy bunch of teenagers would be.
He handed both the rental pass and the game card to the counter. The man looked at him in question upon seeing the game card.
"It's not mine. It belongs to the kids. They would most likely visit the cafe tomorrow, so you could pass it to them," said Ajax and the man chuckled, "You might wanna hold onto that."
He tilted his head to the door and Ajax looked over, seeing a figure peeping through the window glass, but they immediately hid away behind the wall when Ajax's eyes were on them. The man then took the rental pass from Ajax's hand, leaving the game card in his palm, before walking back to the counter with a wave of his hand, "Have fun."
Ajax sighed as he walked to the door and pulled it open, looking over to his right, just to see a startled teenager. It was the timid-looking-teenager.
"H-Hi…" he whispered quietly and Ajax responded by handing him the game card, "You left this."
He looked at it for a moment before shaking his head, "You can keep it. It's yours now."
Ajax gave him a stupefied look, "I don't play games. Even if I do, I have to visit this cafe just to play – which I don't have the luxury that you and your friends had. I need to find a job and earn a living."
He bit his lips before avoiding Ajax's eye-contact, "How about working for me…? That way you can still play the game…"
"I don't work for rich brats," Ajax monotoned and the teenager flinched at how harsh it sounded.
"Then, who would you like to work for…?" The teenager had a curious look even though his posture remained small and timid.
"Anyone but rich brats." Ajax kept it monotoned.
"Erm… What can you do, exactly?" The teenager pushed and Ajax was confused with the question.
"What?" Ajax's voice went slightly higher than before.
The teenager scratched the back of his nape as he asked nervously, "I mean, what kind of work are you looking for? Is there anything you wanted to do…?"
"Anything is fine. I'm not picky," Ajax shrugged his shoulders before walking away from there, thinking the conversation had ended.
However, the teenager followed Ajax along and he came up with another question, "Where are you going?"
"To look for a job, obviously," Ajax simply responded.
The conversation died down and Ajax thought the teenager had left him when the teenager suddenly piped in from his side.
"What do you think of mechanics?" Ajax stopped walking and the teenager nearly banged into him.
"Mechanics? As in fixing cars?" Ajax looked over to the teenager who was nodding his head enthusiastically, "Yup. Yup. Cars. Can you fix a car?"
Ajax gave a firm nod before walking ahead once again, "Yeah. I can fix a car. Wanna see?"
This time, the teenager frowned, "Whose car are you going to work on?"
Ajax tilted his head to the side with a small smirk, "Nobody's."
He then brought the teenager with him as they walked through the dark alley. From the corner of his eyes, Ajax could see how uncomfortable the teenager was as he had been fidgeting around whenever he saw an insect or a rodent crawling around. As they walked further in, unbeknownst to the teenager, he had kicked something and it fell onto the floor. A swarm of grasshoppers flew out. The teenager nearly shrieked in fear but Ajax quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
"Shh!" He hushed the teenager as he let the grasshoppers fly past them. After it was gone, Ajax removed his palm from the teenager's mouth before walking ahead.
"It's close by. Just bear with it and don't scream, no matter what," instructed Ajax and the teenager silently nodded.
As they walked further along, Ajax made sure the teenager was fine before proceeding further in. High society people like the teenager would never get used to the rundown area such as the dark alley they were in. On the other hand, Ajax was used to any sort of environment he was placed in and he never let anything bothered him, not even bugs and/or rodents-alike.
When they had reached their destination, Ajax showed the teenager his work; the rusted old car. The teenager looked at him in bewilderment.
"This is the thing you want to show me…?" Ajax gave a firm nod and Ajax knew the teenager was having second thoughts. After all, the car was a piece of junk, rusted and old. No one would believe him till he showed them how he made it come to life.
Before the teenager could voice out his opinions, Ajax opened the car door and got in. He shot the two cables, jump-starting the car. He made sure to rev the engine while still holding onto the brake pedal, making a loud 'vroom vroom' sound.
He looked at the teenager through the window with a smirk, "Still finding this ridiculous?"
The teenager opened and closed his mouth in utter silence, not knowing what to say. Not wasting any more time, Ajax cut off the engine and got out.
"C'mere. I'll show you how I work without tools but with my bare hands."
There were cars that lost their tires and broken hoods. Ajax carefully chose a car that was more intact as compared to others and his only objective was to start its engine only. Other than that, possibly bringing it for a spin as well. After he had chosen the right car to show off his skills, he had rolled up his sleeves and was ready to work on it.
"Are you sure you can fix it…?" The teenager asked, unsurely.
Ajax knew the teenager was doubting him, but nevertheless, he started working on it, "Yeah. You can just stand there and watch."
"Well, do you even have a licence to do this…?" questioned the teenager as he gestured around him with his hands.
"Nope," with that, Ajax ended the question-answer queue as he popped open the car's trunk.
The teenager knew that whatever they were doing was illegal and as much as he wanted to stop Ajax, he could not. A part of him did not want Ajax to stop and so, the teenager watched him silently as Ajax worked wonders on the car tirelessly.
He had admired Ajax for his gaming skills at first, but to work on something useless, in hopes to bring it to life, was something the teenager deemed to be illogical. From the looks of it, the car was old and possibly highly impracticable. It was impossible to bring it to life in its current state of condition.
However, upon successfully getting the car started and ready for a ride, Ajax had evidently proved him wrong. Since then, the teenager knew better than to underestimate someone like Ajax.
As Ajax was tweaking the radio channel, the teenager invited himself in. Ajax looked at him with a questionable look as the teenager smiled, "Drive. I'll show you a place where you can work and earn a living."
"You do know I have no licence, right?" questioned Ajax and the teenager snorted playfully, "You're saying that now after you have 'illegally' fixed—not one—but two cars without licence?"
Ajax clicked his tongue, "Fair point. Direct me as I'm bad with directions."
The teenager was about to retort but seeing how serious Ajax was, the teenager obediently opened up his browser map and led the way as Ajax drove off.
'How can a good mechanic and driver like you don't even know the road…?' was the only thing in the teenager's mind before he brushed it off.