Mark led Veronica to the restaurant within the hotel where Matthew was already seated and sipping a cup of tea. The duo went near his table and sat beside him. On sighting Mark, a boy came carrying two cups of special tea. Mark took one tea cup and eyeing Matthew said, "Your friend was secretly running away from us, but I caught her red-handed."
As Matthew eyed Veronica who already was fidgeting, she stated: I have become a burden to you. I hired you but now you are wasting money on me. I didn't want that to continue, hence my decision to leave this place."
Matthew batted his eye-lids and said, "I know Veronica. Don't worry; Uncle has an old habit of joking." Now looking at Mark he said, "Bad joke uncle!"
Mark and Matthew laughed simultaneously, with the former lifting his two hands into the air in a gesture of accepting defeat. Not wanting to be left out, Veronica joined in the laughter. Initially, her laughter was not real, even though it gave her some great relief.
They all drank tea and had breakfast of omelet and bread together. When Mark left to answer his phone call, there was no third party between them any more, and this prompted Matthew to ask: "What's next?"
Veronica experienced a strange feeling: half of her being was distrustful of Matthew, while the other half was eager to lay everything bare. All the same, she managed to restrain herself from blurting out everything. She just said, "Well, more interviews, you know, about the tribal people."
"To know where Andrew is…" Matthew chipped in.
"Hmm."
"Hey! Please don't mind, I just want to know, who is this Andrew to you? Is he your father? I mean did he dump you when you were a child or something like it?"
Veronica seemed startled and her eyes were almost coming out of their sockets. She felt like kicking Matthew hard but it took her a lot of effort to restrain herself. As she shifted attention to her breakfast which now seemed to have lost its delicious taste. When she finished and was about to leave, Matthew said, "Please wait for me. You finished so quickly. This is not fair. Wait for me."
The last sentence was almost an order which she could not react to, even though she liked it. She hated herself for liking an order given by a boy. This is insanely intolerable. I must be going crazy: she told herself. But she sat silently staring at her empty plate. When Matthew finished his breakfast, the hotel boy brought some lukewarm water with which they washed their hands. Then he looked at her and said, "Are you angry for what I said about Andrew? I am sorry. You know me. I speak it all out. I am sorry."
Now she looked at him. He caught his ear tips and said, "I am sorry."
She kicked his leg under the table with her pointy shoe.
"Ouch," he cried in a muffled tone. Then Mark returned.
"Oh, you two are finished," he said. "You did not wait for me?"
They both lowered their heads shamefully.
"It's ok, it's ok. I was joking. – Kids go to your rooms. I will return after an hour. Then we will plan how to go where our Veronica wants to go. Ok?"
Veronica was again startled: Did I have any less burden? Now I have to tolerate this Mark?
Her anger against Matthew was making her go late for investigation. A contrary inner voice that sounded like Matthew's said: Late! Because of him you saved two days. She was startled and then battled with an urge to shout at the real Matthew: What are you doing inside my head? As she looked around, she found out that she and Matthew were now walking quietly around the lonely corridors.
As she halted, Matthew asked: "What's the matt…?" Suddenly, she released a punch in Matthew's direction, but he was able to dodge it. Taken aback, he said, "That was unprecedented." However, she felt quite relieved.
In view of the fact that Veronica had been bearing a grudge against him for a long time, she aimed another punch at Matthew's neck, but this was partially blocked with his hand. Again, she sent a kick toward his groin, but it missed target because he leapt backwards. She then charged forward with her full strength like a wounded tigress. But Matthew was agile enough to grab her wrist and pull her close for an embrace. As they stared at each other, she struggled a bit but it was to no avail.
Matthew's knowledge of karate which he learnt from his grandpa helped him to overcome Veronica's vicious attacks. As he whispered something to her, she cleverly refrained from staring at him, so that their lips would not meet.
As she struggled to free herself from Matthew's firm grips, she hit his legs with hers. Matthew ignored this and tightened his grip around her waist. This was unbearable, hence she tried to hit his groin again with her knee but it was impossible, because Matthew had snaked one of his legs around her legs.
"Why," he asked. "Oh, I said Andrew your father!" "He is not," she said angrily.
"It is ok. Fine. That was a joke dear." "You don't joke about my fathers."
He smiled and said, "Ok, I won't joke about your fathers."
She used different strategies in a bid to free herself, but Matthew was too strong for her.
"All your efforts to punch me are futile," he said and smirked. She tried to give him a head-butt, but he dodged it. Then Matthew declared: "I read all your moves dear", as he loosened his right hand's grip, in a bid to test her reaction. She stayed calm while he played a finger on her lone long strand of hair and said, "But simple is beautiful", as their eyes met.
Momentarily, his voice became unstable: "I – I mean, you are beauty…" Having realized that this was a big opportunity to liberate herself, she took the chance and broke loose. Her agility was a big shock to him. Now she punched his belly thrice and tried to kick his chest, but he was fast enough to recover from his shock before blocking her kicks.
Now she would not want to repeat the previous mistake of charging forward, hence she remained still while calculating his moves. But he was immobile and difficult to fathom. There was a warm smile pasted on his lips. She got angry again. Is he grinning to tease me? Is he grinning because he could touch and embrace me? While still in a state of anger, she forgot that same mistake she made earlier, by charging forward again and ended up being caught by Matthew who held her tight.
"I am sorry," he sounded genuinely apologetic this time. "If you want to punish me, I will let you go. You can do whatever you wish." This made him loosen his grip, but this time she did not break free. For a moment she stayed glued to him and when she heard a foot step approaching she leapt backward.
"Ah, smoochy smoochy," Mark's voice was heard.