"I'm still waiting for you, Buji!" Emra's voice called from the staircase.
'Thank you, Jesus.' He was relieved.
His legs moved, slowly at first, then hastily towards the direction where the voice had called. Emra stood there, her hands crossed across each other immediately below her breasts.
'This girl is a miracle. She should have answered that name.'
He sighed in relief and hurried toward the stairs, not daring to glance back at the crowd. Emra stood at the top, her arms crossed.
"What was taking your time? Are you always this slow?" Emra teased.
Buji shrugged and began climbing the stairs beside her. Though he still felt the weight of the stares behind him, but it no longer mattered. He had escaped their direct scrutiny, thanks to Emra's early intervention.
The Zin family, his foster family, was unimaginably wealthy. The household was made up of ten people—including him, for now. But whether he truly belonged here or not? Only time would tell.
***
(In Buji's room)
Buji and Emra sat on the tiled floor of his room, facing each other. Buji had a peculiar habit of avoiding furniture, even when chairs and couches surrounded him. Today, Emra had decided to join him, abandoning her usual protests about his strange preferences.
"I joined the cook in making the appetizers. What do you think?" Emra asked Buji, breaking the silence in the room.
"Hmm," Buji murmured, barely lifting his gaze from his food.
"I couldn't stay to help prepare dinner, though. I was famished," Emra continued, regardless of whether Buji had even grabbed her first statement.
Buji remained silent, shoveling chunks of food into his mouth. His mind was elsewhere, distracted by thoughts. Suddenly, he broke the silence.
"Oh, yes. I forgot about the guards while walking here."
"The guards? Did anything happen?" Emra asked, her tone spiked with curiosity.
"No, nothing happened," Buji replied, quickly swallowing his food.
Realizing his abruptness, he softened his tone. "Just… I've been thinking."
"About what?"
Buji hesitated. He was not thinking about anything, but she would sure not believe it. Or was he actually thinking? About what really?
"The thing is…"
'No. Using the scene at school wasn't really going to work. She will still not believe.'
Buji being bullied was not the first time it happened, so, it won't be enough reason to dissuade her mind. Come to think of it, he thought of nothing but partially thought about wealth. How was he going to put it to her, to make it look reasonable? He decided to settle on something simpler.
"…I need savings."
"Savings?" Emra echoed. "Well, that's normal. We all need savings, especially as teenagers."
Buji doubted if she truly understood his perspective. For her, wealth was always within reach — a privilege of being part of the Zin family, by blood. For him, the concept of financial safety felt more distant, like a responsibility he hadn't yet figured out how to shoulder.
On his part—he was more of foolish—not reserved.
He had the opportunity at his doorstep.
Opportunity is one thing that will always come to a person, most times at the doorstep and at rare times, far from reach. Yes, far from reach—opportunity comes every time though but many fail to acknowledge its presence. Rather than accept what is bestowed before them, they discard it as some sort of cursed luck, some, not the right time.
Whether cursed luck or good luck, all can be encompassed into one word—opportunity. Whichever way must surely yield a positive result in the end, only if you acknowledge the fact though.
Which was Buji's case, none. Well, saying none was wrong because he had all he wanted just in front of him. The head man of Zin's family, Emra's father had offered to be at his best to provide whatever need Buji might come across.
So, like Emra, he was also considered on the same level, but he misuses this rank he attained all in the name of reserve, reserve my foot. Hold it when it comes, and use it anyhow as far as it can ascertain.
Getting no response from Buji who seemed to have thinking as a hobby, Emra reminded him that her dad had offered to be at his service whenever he needed to, especially when it came to monetary terms.
'I knew she would have an excuse… like she always does.'
Rising from where she sat on the floor, Emra gestured towards the standing mirror in Buji's room with hands wrapped below her breasts.
"You know, I earn money every week. Not from my dad."
"Every week?" Buji asked, startled.
"Yes. But I do… unusual work for it."
'Which one is "but", "unusual", as far as you earn every week? But, with what time, she was always in school during weekdays and only came back on Friday to spend the weekends.'
"What sort of work?"
"I've been considering whether I should tell you. It's risky." She hesitated before finally continuing. "I work as a hunter."
'A hunter? Was she joking?' Buji blinked in disbelief. "You mean… like, hunting animals?"
"Not exactly. It's not the kind of hunting you're thinking of." Emra moved to the bed and sat on its edge. "It can involve risks, but might also bring opportunities."
'Risky and opportunity. He only thought about opportunity moments ago.'
While in thought, he stood up from where he sat and joined Emra on the bed. For someone like Emra, joining the so-called group of hunters surely was an opportunity with risks. If he had known what risks were involved, it would be easy for him to choose whether he would like to get involved too. Honestly, because in the logical sense, decisions are made depending on merits or demerits one can get after, AFTER.
On the same note, if he was able to weigh the risks as well as the opportunities being a hunter holds, it would be a pretty kudos to whatever decision he was going to make. But, he needed to know more, notwithstanding.
Wait, he was forgetting another thing. Emra's choice of word determinants, "might" and "can". The former entails that it actually breeds opportunities, but upon uncertainty, while the latter makes it a given that one was meant to meet risks.
At this thought, Buji joined her on the bed, his curiosity piqued. "So why did you decide to do it?"
Emra paused, staring at the wall as though searching for the right words. "It's part of my family's legacy. My father is one of the higher-ups in the association."
"Hunter, association, how?"
Ignoring this question, she continued with why she had joined the association.
"You might be oblivious to the fact, but the era when civilians were in charge was long gone. We are currently living as servants of ourselves, just placing few people to act as our leaders."
'Okay. She just vomited information and was flowing too, but he understood nothing.' Shifting the thought aside, he continued listening.
"There was a reason for it being like that. Let's call it evolution, some are complete evolution while few are incomplete."
'Here she comes again, evolution. Like, what's linking there? No sense, at all.'
"It's actually a long story to be told—history. A consequence of an uncertainty that had happened centuries ago. My dad was not even a living thing then, we are just keeping a kind of legacy."
'Just cut it short already. You still haven't answered why you joined the association.'
"One of the things that are done to keep this legacy is breeding young ones like us who have been found to possess an ability or more. Preferably, those with inborn potentials."
Emra said and turned to Buji's direction. Immediately, Buji who was gradually losing interest became agile, just to prove that he was listening. Satisfied, Emra shifted her gaze back to the wall.
"I joined the hunter's association not because I wanted to, but because I am one of those who had the sort of potential they were looking for. Plus, the fact that my father is one of the higher-ups."
'She finally gave the answer I was looking for.'
"Pheew."
"What?" Emra asked.
"Nothing. Was only tired for a bit."
"Okay. In that case, I was indirectly offering you an invitation to join…" Emra turned to look at Buji who was already lying down, with his hands at an angle 180 degrees above his head.