"What do you want to do next?"
"I want to live a peaceful and happy life with my brothers. Like a normal family. Is it possible?" The girl sitting on the bed, asked with a resolute voice which was a complete contrast to the blank expression on her face as she stared at the old man.
The old man turned around and faced the girl, observing her. If not for her clenched fist, which was holding onto the bedsheets with her veins almost popping out, it was impossible to know about the current state of her mind. The old man was once again impressed by the girl.
Silence ensued the room for don't know how long. The girl became conscious under the persistent gaze of the old man, but it didn't show on her face. She naturally avoided his eyes and lowered her gaze fixating it on her clenched fists. All kinds of thoughts and worries surrounded her making her heartbeat faster.
"It's definitely possible" The man finally spoke after a minute of silence and gave her a gentle and reassuring smile.
The girl released a deep breath that she was holding along with the clenched fabric in her hand, finally meeting the old man's gaze once again, "Thank you sir."
A sudden knock jolted her awake from the little snippet of her past and she turned to find Elliot standing outside, knocking the car's window holding their breakfast with other hand.
She opened the door and took her share from the man and thanked him for the breakfast.
"Are you fine, Ms. Erena? You seemed a little lost there." Elliot asked as he took his driver's seat.
"Yes, I am fine. It's just I am a little tired these past days." She said with a smile.
"I know. It was very tiring these past few days. But I won't complaint as I actually enjoyed it. Hanging out with you." Elliot said as he took a bite from his sandwich.
Rain raised her brow as she looked at him, stopping chewing on her sandwich.
"Don't take me wrong Miss. I usually have a reserved personality and usually don't talk much. Although you don't talk that much either, but I feel comfortable around you. And I tend to talk a lot whenever I am around you. You are not like other seniors in the office. I think you are quite friendly." Elliot said as he grabbed another bite from his sandwich.
Silence ensued as Rain thought about it. Indeed, he talked a lot during the past few days they were investigating. He would ask her about her life before she joined the company, about her parents and in turn would end up telling her about his life instead. From the things he had for his breakfast to his high school teacher and how he used to punish him. She had already established him as a talkative person whose food didn't digest unless he uttered a few thousand sentences a day. Now he was saying that he doesn't like to talk much. Rain found it hard to believe.
Rain gave him a bland smile breaking the silence, "You are the first person in my entire life who said that I am friendly".
Elliot shrugged "I told you what I felt. I am not lying. But why don't you smile more often Miss. I am not talking about the way you just smiled or the one that you usually put on your face every day. I can feel that it's not a genuine one. I almost believed that you couldn't smile if I had not seen you smile today."
Rain looked at him questioningly.
"When I was paying the bill, I could see you from the window of the shop. You were talking to someone on the phone and smiling, a genuine smile. You know you looked quite charismatic there." Elliot said taking the last bite of his sandwich. Why don't you smile like that?"
Rain's brows furrowed 'I was smiling? When? Maybe he saw it wrong. He was so far how can he see my smile from that distance. Yes, that must be it. He had an illusion.' She quickly deciphered and decided not to answer him on his baseless claim and questioned him instead, "How long will it take to reach there?"
Elliot had already started the engine by now. He somehow knew that she was going to ignore this question of his so he didn't dwell on it either. "About an hour. We are almost halfway." Elliot said as he accelerated the engine.
The next hour passed in a jiffy with Elliot's constant blabbering while Rain just kept quiet most of the time speaking only when Elliot insisted her to answer him about some random stuff.
However, a surprise greeted them when they reached their destination.