The next day, Kenny brought leftovers for the old men, as usual. While on his way, he saw Marya with her father from a distance. She supported her father to walk home.
There was one side of his mind which wanted to let this misunderstanding escalate and cut-off the ties with the girl, but there was one other side which wanted to explain it all to her.
He raised his hand to gain her attention, but she averted her eyes away. However, her father spotted him and shouted, "Hey, Kenny, my boy! I was waiting for you! Come here!"
He hurried to him and handed over the polythene bag to him. The first old man Cosine and the third old man Tangent too greeted him after they packed up their things.
"Hey Kenny, how is your work going on?" Uncle Cosine asked.
"It is going fine. Just regular work every day," Kenny answered.
Uncle Tangent spotted the finger marks on his neck which he had got from the large man the previous day. "Oh my god, did you get into a fight? What happened to your neck?" he pointed out.
Kenny tried to hide it and glanced at Marya, who now stared at his neck with a concerned face. He tried to think of a lie, as he could not tell them the truth. "Ah, I had a fight with some goons who bullied Arther, my coworker."
"Aw, man," the second old man Sine, Marya's father, said. "It looks bad. It looks like he had choked you with the intention of killing you."
Kenny scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. "It was like that, but it is okay now. They will not bully him anymore."
"Have you filed a report to the police?" Cosine asked. "They might return and harm you again."
"It is fine," Kenny assured them. "The conflict is over. They will not pick a fight with us again."
"Whatever." Uncle Tangent shrugged. "Your hot blood reminds me of my youthful days. Those sure were wonderful days." He went down his memory lane to remember some golden moments of his youth.
"You polished boots only," Uncle Cosine remarked and teased him.
"Shut up!" reacted Tangent at his remark. It made them all laugh.
"Father, you go ahead. I will come later," Marya said to her father.
The old men looked at each other and smirked. They understood the plane was already on the runway and it was about to take off.
"Sure, sure," said Cosine and pulled Sine with him. "You come after us."
"Yeah, do not worry about us. We can go home by ourselves," Uncle Tangent said and pushed away the two old men.
Now, Kenny and Marya were alone.
They both wanted to speak so much, yet they stayed silent.
Unable to handle the uncomfortable silence, Kenny finally broke it. "Marya, I had not ditched you yesterday. I…" he was speaking, but Marya added to his sentence in the midway.
"You had to go rescue your friend Arther, right?"
"Ah, yeah, right." Kenny scratched his head embarassingly. It was hard for him to lie, but it was necessary. "It was urgent, so I had to run. There was no time for me to inform you."
"I understand. It was not your fault." She smiled.
Kenny realized how pure she was. At this moment, something bloomed in his heart. A feeling resurfaced, which he had not felt for a long time.
"Maybe we could go somewhere some other time," she suggested.
"Sure," Kenny said with a smile.
It was all cherry blossoms until a car stopped by them. It was the same car which had stopped by there the day before yesterday. A man in black came out and opened the back door for the white-suited man to step out.
Kenny feared if he had found out about the incident yesterday. His driver was dead, and it was him he had last contact with. He feared if that was the case, he could harm Marya.
He pulled the girl behind him, who gave the man in white a dirty look.
"I will not waste my time on you," he said to Kenny before he took out a photograph from inside his coat and showed it to Kenny. "Just tell me what happened to this man. You answer will decide you fate." He glanced at the girl behind him. "And also hers."
Suddenly, two more cars stopped by them and a few men in black came out and surrounded Kenny and Marya. They pulled out their guns and pointed at them from all directions.
Marya got afraid and clutched Kenny's white t-shirt tightly. "What is this all about, Kenny?"
Kenny was in a difficult position. He looked at the photograph and discovered it was of the large man who had attacked him yesterday. "I will tell you," he said to the man. "But let her go. She has nothing to do with it."
"Why should I believe you?" said the man and kept the photo inside his coat and pulled out another photograph and showed it to him. "See."
Kenny saw it was a still of the CCTV footage outside the flower shop at 22 street. It had the figures of him, Marya, and the driver who followed him.
"Dave, my driver was last seen following you. And during that time, she was with you," the man said. "She was also involved."
"No, she knows nothing!" Kenny argued desperately when a man in black loaded his gun and pointed it at Marya's head.
The white-suited man grabbed his collar and demanded, "Then tell me everything you know. If you want her to live, you better not lie to me."
The man in black hit her in the head, making her pass out.
"You dastard, do not hurt her!" Kenny shouted when the men in black dragged her away. "Leave her!" He wanted to protect her, but the other men surrounding him came in his way. They forced him on his knees and detained him in front of their boss.
"Listen, you insect," said the boss, while his canines grew so long that it grew out of his mouth, making him resemble a vampire. His nails grew, too. He clutched Kenny's jaw. "I can rip your throat apart or gouge out your eyes any second, but I am giving you a chance to live. Give me any information about them and I will let you and your chick leave unharmed."
"What information are you talking about?" Kenny asked.
"About them. The Outliers. You had met one of them yesterday, right?" the man said. "Also, you will tell why Dave followed you secretly, and why did the outliers save you? Are you one of them? The clock is ticking. Answer me."
Kenny had promised Orange to not speak about it, but he had to tell them now. He began to speak, "Yesterday, I went to…" As he was speaking, there was a sudden interruption. He could feel someone's hand on his shoulder all of a sudden.
"Hey, hey, Kenny, you are not going to break the code, are you?" It was Orange who had dropped out of nowhere.
The man in white was too shocked to even react. He could not comprehend how this strange man suddenly showed up in front of him. He was so close he could deal a damage directly. "Where did he come from?"
He pushed himself back and told his men to attack him. He was certain about one thing after witnessing his flashy entry. "He is an outlier. Do not kill him! I want him alive!" he shouted.
Orange grinned. "Are you not underestimating me too much, you whitener goon?" He looked at Kenny. "Oye, Kenny, stand up. Help me handle these nuisances."
Kenny took a deep breath and finally got up on his feet. "Ah, but I do not know my ability yet," he told, scratching his head.
"Ah, well, that is a problem, hehe," Orange said with an awkward smile.
They both could sense the murderous aura radiating from the men in black. They knew they had no alternative but to fight.
"What should we do now?" Kenny asked.