"It doesn't make sense to me." The woman must have been in her late forties. She had an undisputed American accent.
"Did you ask Ron about it?" The lady said and looked over at Carys sitting at the dining table.
Carys had a frown on his face which looked like a crescent moon. His eyebrows were pushed together, and it felt like he had given up on the world or on the person who was on the other side of his phone's screen.
"Carys." A manly voice interrupted the conversation, which was only going on one way.
"Yes, yes," Carys finally looked up from his phone and shifted his gaze towards his parents sitting on either side of the dining table.
"Are you okay, child?" Carys' mother said and placed her hand on her son's hand resting on the dining table.
It was a warm gesture that Carys' mother, Ashley, had done.
Carys looked at his mother and gave her an assuring smile.
"I can't believe that Ron let you wander around alone." The man said in a worried tone. Carys was his only son, of course. He was worried sick about him.
When Carys' parents heard about the shooting and learned that their son was present at the scene, they had their hearts in their mouths. They rushed out of their office and called security. Luckily, by the time their security reached the spot, Carys had already been evacuated.
"It is not Ron's fault, dad. I wanted to visit some art gallery for a long time and then I met this friend who told me about the art exhibition happening today." Carys explained to his overly protective father and looked at his mother to back him up.
His mother was always his free pass to get things done by talking to his father on his behalf.
"I cannot help you here, Carys Henry Jones." Carys knew his mother had given up on him as soon as he heard her say his full name.
"Mom!" Carys pleaded.
"This was very dangerous Carys. I do not know what would have happened to you if your friend would not have been there to help you out of that gallery." His dad had pain in his voice. "How can we ever repay her for what she did for us?" His dad looked over at his mother and Ashley just shook her head and looked at her lap, trying not to tear up.
"Mom, Dad, you guys don't need to repay her anything. She is my friend. Come on." Carys had referred to Mia as his friend, which she was, but he had wanted her to be closer. Something a little more than a friend.
He had seen it in her eyes when she had told him, 'Just run as fast as you can' under that small drinks table behind the white tablecloth. He had seen it, the worry that Mia had in her eyes for him, but that's what you do for friends, right?
Maybe she is just an excellent friend and there can be nothing more.
"Did you at least ask her to join us for a lunch?" Ashley asked Carys. Carys looked at his mother and because he didn't have the heart to tell her that Mia probably ghosted him, he said, "She is kinda busy with the assignments at school, but she will make it, I guess."
"Tell me more about this Mia of yours, champ." Carys' father looked over at his little boy, who had grown up in just a blink of an eye.
"Mark, don't do it. Give them some privacy." Ashley intervened and smiled at her son, who just sat there in a pool of embarrassment.
It was bad enough that Mia had listened to Carys' voice note and read Carys' texts and ghosted him, but now his parents were implying that there was something in between the both of them.
"She is a classmate, and nothing more than that." Carys put up his spoon in the air like a protest.
"Oh, we will see about that in a month." Ashley laughed, and the sentence made Carys chuckle too.
"We know you, boy," Mark said and got up from the dining table.
"Stay inside today and take care of yourself." Ashley stood up after Mark.
Carys nodded as both of his parents left him in the room to finish his food. After a detailed conversation about the incident that happened earlier today, Carys could not stop reliving it.
It was all engraved into Carys' mind at this point. The way that sudden sound of the bullets firing penetrated his ears. The way, he immediately turned his head back and caught a glimpse of the shooter. His heart throbbed in his ears and his tongue was tied. He managed to ask Mia what was happening. He probably looked like a five-year-old to Mia.
Then he remembered Mia reacting so fast that he couldn't decipher what she was doing. Then, they were sitting beneath that drinks table in the next second. He remembered Mia oddly comforting him.
Although Carys was reliving that incident, he still had forgotten the trivial details, it was like his brain was refusing to let him live through that again but his heart wanted to, it begged to see Mia again and again beneath that table looking into his eyes and saying, "Just run as fast as you can."
One thing that Carys would remember all his life was maybe Mia's bravery in the situation. The way Mia looked at Carys when the shooter caught them running out the exit and stopped them. Carys remembered Mia nodding at him, reassuring him that he can turn back and follow the shooter.
Her eyes made him weirdly calm.
Then he remembered the robber smacking Mia with the rifle in his hand. The way it made Carys lose control of his anger. He couldn't let it slide.
He thought to himself, what was the reason for that reaction? He was scared of the robber and the enormous gun in his hands, which was filled with real bullets, but he went head-on with him.
When the cold gun met his forehead, he remembered having goosebumps down his spine, but he didn't budge from his stance.
He looked into the robber's eyes and was ready to die.
And then it happened. Mia was there to save the day. It was a loud crash when Mia broke the champagne bottle on the robber's head.
As always, the speed at which Mia did things was the level of a superhuman for Carys. Carys froze when the robber fell back. Mia engulfed Carys' hands in hers and pulled him out of that building.
He recalled feeling like his ankles had weight strapped on them. It was so laborious for him to drag his feet and run.
When they were finally out, Carys could not help but take Mia in his arms.
She had a scent of jasmine or a very expensive perfume. He took all the fragrance that he could because he knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. He wished he could preserve it for him forever.
Carys picked up his phone laying on the table and checked it once again. He could see no reply from the one he desperately wanted it from.
His phone was flooded with hundreds of texts from people he barely knew.
He didn't reply to anyone of them. He just opened the chat window of Mia and stared at it.
He kind of knew that Mia would not want to come over and talk to his family. Why would she even agree to that?
Carys was now reconsidering his texts to the girl.
With a lot of second thoughts about his texts to Mia, He finally went to his room and decided to sleep it out.
It was the next morning when Carys stood in front of the classroom door and peeked inside. There was a crowd standing by the teacher's desk and he wanted to avoid it at all costs.
He sneakily went into the class, circumventing the crowd, but it was of no use.
"Carys is here!" Lily shouted as soon as she spotted the poor guy tiptoeing to his table.
"Oh My God, Carys. Are you okay?"
"Did you get hurt yesterday?"
"I heard that the robbers had real guns?"
"Where they like really scary?"
"How did you get out? I heard a girl injured a robber and help you get out?"
"I am okay!" Carys put up his hand in the air to stop the students from asking him random questions about the incident.
"It was a traumatic experience, and I'd prefer it if you guys do not talk about that," Carys said; loudly enough to be heard by the entire class, and everyone began talking between themselves in a hushing tone.
Carys then took a seat at the very end of the class. He looked around and found all his classmates sitting at their respective desks.
Except for the one classmate he really wanted to see.