Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 09

In the room Mary called “the dining room” there were only five adults among about twenty children who were Mary's age or a few years older. Not long after the girl named Haylie who was distributing the food sat down among the children, a punk-haired boy with a row of earrings in both ears came along. As soon as the man sat down among the children, Pygmy cleared his throat loudly before starting to speak.

"Since everyone is here, let's pray first."

Little by little the children in the dining room began to lower the volume, clasp their hands and close their eyes. Like a domino effect, the children who had calmed down reminded their friends next to them to stop talking until finally the room was silent enough. Everyone in the room except Keenan was in a position ready to pray.

As leader of prayer, Pygmy started to recite sentence by sentence with his tenor voice range. Pygmy delivered a quite long prayer in Mary's opinion so in the middle of prayer she opened her eyes and glanced at her surroundings. Seeing Keenan who was observing the surroundings either, Mary came closer to Keenan then whispered.

"Keenan you aren’t praying, are you?"

"My prayer has been done since he finished his first sentence," said Keenan, making Mary giggle and inviting loud coughs from those who read the prayer.

After the word "amen" was said aloud by the children, Mary immediately raised the spoon to her mouth. The little girl closed her eyes to feel the taste of Keenan’s food that was being chewed in her mouth. After the food was swallowed, Mary put the rice and side dishes back into her mouth and then made a repeated happy expression. As if the food she ate was the best food she had ever eaten.

Although Keenan was quite picky in choosing food, he admitted that the food he ate was quite tasty. The outward appearance which was considered by Keenan to be quite attractive turns out to be in harmony with the taste of the food itself. But when Keenan wanted to enjoy his breakfast in peace, Keenan found a behavior that made him uncomfortable.

Two. Five. In fact, more than half of the people in the room did the same thing. The loud sound of chewing food was clearly heard in Keenan's ears as a disturbing sound. Even almost all children chewed food while talking to each other. Keenan closed his eyes and tried to be patient. Even though he wasn't a misophonia all this time, this extreme cultural change while eating made Keenan very uncomfortable.

Keenan's heavy breath made Mary turn her head and give a question mark expression. Mary stopped what she was doing and then touched Keenan's arm with her index finger.

"The food isn't good, is it?"

"No. They are good. It's just that I'm not used to eating with strangers." Keenan tried to soften his words against his mind that was already wanting to say harsh words.

“Aquila is like that too. She used to eat after we all finished eating.”

Keenan didn't want to talk about the figure that was blocking his mind while eating, but he couldn't stand it even more when he saw the children around him chewing while talking until food fell from their mouths. Keenan tried to divert the sight that made him uncomfortable by looking at Mary. At least Mary was neat enough and finished the food in her mouth before she spoke.

"She's not here?"

"No. Aquila only comes in a few hours then leaves again. Maybe today she will come in the afternoon because this early morning she has already come."

The event of the night flashed back in Keenan's mind. If only he had not decided to leave yesterday afternoon, this morning he could eat his breakfast at home in peace. Especially if he chose breakfast on the third floor alone, he could sit near the glass wall to enjoy the view of the beautiful garden of Aldrich's residence while sipping his warm tea slowly.

Returning to the real life he had to deal with, Keenan tried to eat his breakfast as quickly as possible. Keenan just had to be wary in case any of the kids accidentally squirted the contents of food at him while they were talking. Keenan was the fastest to finish breakfast in the dining room. He stood up from his seat and walked out of the room. Several pairs of eyes looked at him walking without daring to rebuke him because of his cold appearance.

Seeing Keenan’s movement, Pygmy immediately stopped breakfast and got up from his seat. While walking out, he also signaled Mateo to follow him. When Pygmy quickened his pace to get ahead of Keenan, the person he was following turned around and looked at him with sharp eyes.

"I just need some time alone," said Keenan in an even tone.

"We won't bother you."

Keenan didn't respond to Pygmy's words and continued walking towards the end of the parking lot and placed his hands on the half concrete wall at chest level. You could see the view of Bolero City which was full of old buildings, both inhabited and uninhabited, like the building occupied by Keenan and others. As Keenan looked down, Keenan predicted his current height from ground was about five floors.

Traffic looked quite heavy when viewed from above. The morning was quite busy considering the workers had to go to the office and the students had to go to school. Keenan wondered if he gave a signal from up here, anyone might accidentally look at him.

Surely I have to put a very big mark. Setting fire to the building might attract the attention of the masses. Do I need to do it?

Keenan's thoughts were puzzling over, but Pygmy only saw the man beside him standing on the edge of the wall motionless. Pygmy repeatedly looked toward Keenan but there was no reaction. Pygmy wanted to burst out in case Keenan initiated the conversation with even one word but ten minutes had passed and Keenan didn't make a sound at all. Even Keenan’s position didn't change at all.

Mateo, who also kept an eye on Keenan, could not stand accompanying Pygmy. After ten minutes had passed he sat on the concrete floor and leaned against the pillar while still watching Keenan's movements. When Keenan changed his position, Mateo lifted his head and Pygmy looked straightened up as if they were ready to talk. But Keenan still stared at the morning sky in silence. No sound came out in the twenty minutes that passed.

“Ah, I have to talk to Haylie. Mateo, you stay here.” Finally, Pygmy could not stand still and immediately approached the woman named Haylie who had just passed the glass door and intended to approach the three men who were sitting quietly on the side of the building.

"What do you want to talk about?" asked Haylie, confused seeing Pygmy approaching her with a smile.

"I don't understand him at all. He doesn't sleep but he doesn't talk at all either."

“Hmpf…” Haylie's stifled laugh irritated Pygmy. "Maybe you are the one who talks too much."