"I have never for once seen you sleep. I am always the first one to retire to bed and strangely the last one no matter how early I wake up. Do you even go to bed?"
Jean asked jokingly.
Giving Jean a furtive look, Casper snorted.
"Are you going to have breakfast or you are fasting."
Casper said as he picked a cup of steaming coffee and thrust it towards his mouth.
Jean glared at him and pouted.
Currently, Jean was standing at the bedroom door with his right hand touching the frame of the door. He was just coming from sleep.
When he got up from bed, he didn't find Casper by the bedside as usual. Since this was the day of their travel, he had promised himself to wake up earlier than Casper to prepare their breakfast, and that was the reason why he retired to bed early.
So, as soon as he woke up and found out that Casper was not in the room, his heart ached. He was disappointed to be beaten once again despite his efforts of trying to beat Casper in this game of early rising.
He was the reason for the scheduled travel and he was determined to be at the forefront in making it a success. After all, he was the one that was going to benefit from this.
Casper's statement even worsened his mood, he was about to refute him but recalled how long the journey that he was about to embark on and immediately threw the thought out of his head.
'I can't give hunger a chance to toy with my life. After all, even if I was tied, there was no way I was going to leave this delicious meal.'
With that thought in mind, Jean pouted and headed in the direction of the exit.
Casper was stunned for a moment upon noticing this Jean's action.
'So, he is angry at me. I pity him. I just hope that he remembers how long the journey is.'
Casper thought with a frown as he shook his head.
When Jean got at the exit door, he stopped in his tracks and turned back. When the gazes of the two met, Casper frowned and looked away with a sneer. Jean on the other hand grinned darkly before walking out in haste.
As soon as he was out of the house, he turned and entered the kitchen.
A minute later, he walked out cradling a mug i his hands. In it, it contained water. Without even wasting a single second, he splashed the water in his face the moment he made two forward steps away from the kitchen door.
He was wary that he might lose another chance to taste Casper's delicious meal. Beside, he still needed it for the long journey.
He wanted to nullify the possibility of the guy considering his action of walking out as a sign of him protesting to take his meal. He knew that if the guy could settle to such conclusion, he might dispose the remnants of the food thus leaving him with nothing to satiate his hunger.
Two minutes later, when Casper had just started considering hiding Jean's own share of the meal to frustrate him, he turned in the direction of the exit door only to see Jean barge into the house as if he was on fire. In his hands, he was still holding the mug he used to was his face. He had even forgotten to return it in the kitchen where he picked it some minutes ago.
At this point, Casper already what was after the boy.
'Please monster hunger don't kill my boy for me.'
Casper thought with a wicked grin forming on his face.
Jean noticed this but just chose to ignore it and walked straight to his target. When he got at the table, he didn't even spare Casper a glance and washed his hands before picking the other remaining cup of coffee.
He then thrust it to his mouth and quickly took a sip. It was at this time when he had a moment to spare the amused Casper a furtive look.
When the sights collided, Casper let out a muffled chuckle as if mocking Jean.
When Jean heard the chuckle, he pretended to mistaken his own plate and pulled Casper's plate of pancakes in his direction without looking.
When Casper noticed this, he just smiled and continued sipping on his coffee.
When Jean realized that he had not annoyed the guy as intended, he almost smacked the table. Just at that moment, he took a piece from the same plate and took a bite.
He was determined to enrage the guy.
The guy on the other hand tilted his head to the side and continued sipping on his coffee. When Jean saw that the guy was indifferent to his actions, he threw the towel.
After picking another pancake from the plate, he pushed it towards the guy before pulling his own plate.
The two then stared at each other before smiling.
"I must say you are good at getting to people. You are annoying."
Casper said with a grin as he picked a piece of pancake from the plate that was now in front of him.
When Jean heard this, he almost jumped up.
'At least you felt it even if you didn't react to it.'
Jean appreciated internally.
"I must also say that you are good at countering such irritating acts by making them seem useless."
The two then chuckled in simultaneously.
Although Jean acted as if he was determined to ruin Casper's day, deep down, he was wary of such outcome. He knew how important the journey was to him and ruining it by getting to the guy's nerves would have traced him an airheaded kind of individual. Else how can a sane person trample on his only opportunity of saving himself from such mishap?
Twenty minutes, the duo was done taking their breakfast. Jean went ahead to clean the dishes. This has been his new chore since the previous day. Since Casper has been the one dominating the cooking sessions, Jean didn't have a choice other than to clean the dishes if he was to look productive in the house.
During this time, Casper had headed in the bedroom to change over.
While Jean was still engrossed in washing the dishes, Casper walked out of the room. He was wearing a black trouser and a white checked shirt that was barely visible inside his brown leather jacket. In his feet, he wore a pair of leathered black safety boots.
As soon as Jean noticed the boots, he was forced to stop what he was doing and stared at the guy with a confused look.
Indifferent to Jean's reaction, Casper walked past him without sparing him even a glance. In the next moment, he stepped out of the house through the rear door.
Not understanding what he was after, Jean turned back to what he was doing with a snort.
'How is he expecting to go for a two day's journey with such heavy load in his feet, unless he is a robot that can't yield to such weight.'
At this point, according to Jean's deductions, Casper had dressed for the journey, but the nature of the shoes he was putting on was a complete opposite of what the journey at hand demanded. He understood that in order for one to go for such an arduous journey, one needed to put on less weight, since it was long with no means of transport.
'What vehicle can traverse such closely parked forest with such terrain?'
Jean mused.
Although Jean had not been that further in the depths of the forest, with the small exploitation activity he had a day ago, he was still able to deduce the structure of the forest. But still, there were some chances that not all parts of the forest looked the same in terms of structure and terrain.
In the next seven minutes, Jean was done cleaning the dishes and it was now his turn to do some preparations.
First of all he had to take a shower.
But strangely, this was what he considered the hardest among all the preparation activities.
First, he that thought of someone peeping him while showering kept lingering in his mind. Although Casper had assured him that no one could trespass the vicinity, the thought didn't fade away. Second, outside was freezing and that was enough to explain how cold the water was.
Despite all these huddles, he still had to take a shower.
As usual, he walked straight to the bathroom despite the coldness. He knew the more he waits the more he wastes time and the more the chances of their journey is going to take long.
Since he started staying with Casper, he had never for once taken a morning shower. This was his first time. So, he was clueless on how it would turn out.
When he was walking through the forest, he was somewhat surprised not to spot Casper on the rear side of the house where he walked to a few minutes ago. But when he flipped the other side of the coin and saw the possibility of the guy moving to the fron side of the house, he was forced to throw his doubts out of the head.
When he walked in the bathroom, he didn't waste even a single second. He locked the door behind him, took off his shirt and pajama.
It could have looked strange that he entered the bathroom with a shirt and pajama on, but the truth of the matter was because he wanted to guard his body from the outside cold before meeting the real coldness of water. Additionally, he put on a pajama because he didn't have a towel of his own.
When he dipped his hands in the water container, his jaw dropped as he immediately experienced some mental struggles.
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