Mistakenly Eaten

33. New Friendships and New Obsessions

“I am going to leave!”

Althea told Fiona, standing in front of her bedroom door, refusing to get inside.

The color on Fiona’s face faded away, as she heard Althea’s words.

She obviously had her own doubts, that made her paranoid about Althea’s sentence and without giving it much thought, she shrieked and reacted brashly.

“What? Why would you… where are you going? Why would you leave? I won’t let you go anywhere.”

Fiona extended her hands in front of Althea, prohibiting her from making any move at all.

Althea knitted her eyebrows together looking at Fiona with muddle and confusion.

She groaned, rolling her eyes and pushed Fiona’s arms down.

“I am leaving to go and see Director Nicholas.”

“Nicholas? Why?” Fiona was left even more confused.

“To apologize.” Althea admitted.

“Apologize to him? for slapping him when he was trying to save you or for telling him that he was snooty when he was yet again trying to save you?”

Althea pressed her lips tightly together, embarrassed by the remembrance of both of the two memories, where she had been quite rude to Nicholas.

“Well, the first time, he kind of pressed my nerves but the second time, I was actually wrong. He was genuinely trying to save me and there are very few people in this world that are actually genuine with you and I need to respect that. If I am not thankful to him for that and if I don’t apologize to him now, he might get his faith in humanity broken and he might never help anyone ever again. And that would be on me. Because of me, if he could’ve saved someone, he might not save them again and I don’t want that to happen.”

“Your logic is full of hopelessness but also quite ethical. I mean, it does motivate people to be kind. So, what are you going to do now? Go and see Nicholas?”

“Director Nicholas!” Althea reprimanded her and Fiona bit her tongue, realizing that the man that she was referring to as Nicholas, was known to her ever since her childhood but to Althea, he was the director and even Fiona was ought to identify him as ‘Director Nicholas’ and show respect towards him, in front of Althea.

“Yes, Director Nicholas. So, let’s go to him, then?”

Althea nodded and Fiona held her hand, taking her towards Nicholas’s office.

“By the way, you are taking me to him as a trap yet again, right? Every time you take me somewhere, I end up in trouble.” Althea reminded Fiona, who shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

“I am sorry for the first time, I kind of did that on purpose and yes, I recognize the fact that I was being problematic by trying to get you fired the first time, when I sent you to the library but I was simply jealous and felt threatened.”

Fiona stated honestly, making the entire truth very carefully.

“But the second time, I actually wanted to take you swimming and thought it would be fun to bond over that activity.”

Althea laughed, “So, does that mean that you are sorry for the first time?”

She asked as the two reached the bottom stairs and Fiona stopped right in front of Althea, hurdling her way, prohibiting her to move any further.

“I am sorry for the both times when you got in trouble because of me. I was being lousy the first time and simply careless. I should respect your talent and your choices and opinions. You might have not noticed it yet, but I kind of have the habit of imposing my choices on people.”

“Oh, no! I did notice that.” Althea challenged, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Really when?”

“When I heard you yelling at the guy who shares the cooking station with you, to back off the very first day and the poor guy was scrunched up in a corner barely even scared to move. You have quite the assertive and dominating personality.”

Fiona snickered a bit.

“And I am not even sorry about that. Benjy is quite annoying when he is working around you. He creates a mess and breathes very loudly.”

“I thought I was the only one, who heard his sinus talk to me, when I first say him.” Althea also mocked and Fiona couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are actually not that bad.” Fiona complimented.

“Maybe, we just needed to see each other in different lights.” Althea shrugged.

“Thank you for not ratting me out to Salva, when you realized that I kind of tried to trap you in that library and yes, I am sorry for that and also when you almost drowned and died because of me.”

“All’s forgiven. Besides, I already have someone like you in my life who is just as assertive and stubborn.”

“Really? Who?”

“My little sister, Irene. She always tends to listen to just herself and does whatever she wants to do.”

“You have a little sister? How many siblings do you have?” suddenly Fiona seemed interested in forming a partnership or at least an alliance with Althea.

“Just her.”

“How many people are there is your family?”

“Just her and my Mom. We live in a small, cozy house in the middle of my uncle’s fields.”

Fiona could tell that Althea had a soft and sad history and maybe that’s why, she was also so humble and kind.

But Fiona believed that being kind and humble didn’t enroute from a certain background. She had seen the Santiago family and had seen and known their kindness as well but sensing the fact that Althea was also kind and forgiving, she only hoped that the girl would understand them one day when all of that façade would be over.

“Hey! Where are you lost? Weren’t we going to go Director Nicholas’s office?”

Althea waved her hands in front of Fiona’s eyes, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Fiona shook her head, moving out of her trance and nodded, grabbing Althea’s arm and locking it in hers.

The two girls stepped and moved forward towards Nicholas’s office, inside of which Salva, Serena, Gigi and Anthony and Martha stood circled around Nicholas, who sat on the couch, eating the pasta that Althea had just prepared.

“You don’t have to worry a thing about her family.” Gigi briefed Nicholas, whose only concern was the food that he simply aimed to finish.

Obviously, Nicholas was just going through the formalities of knowing how everyone was handling Althea so far. He actually didn’t care because all that he cared about was how delicious the pasta was.

Just when I thought, it couldn’t get any better, it did! How did she make the pasta even more delicious. The girl definitely has some sort of magic in her hands. This food, it makes me forget the whole f*****g world.

“They can’t do much and I am pretty sure that they wouldn’t do much. You don’t have to worry about a thing.” Gigi told him and Nicholas simply hummed, not actually paying any attention to Gigi’s words.

“I have a mole in the police. She is making sure to brief me, each and everything that the local police finds out. They fear that Althea might be kidnapped but our plan of taking her out smoothly and her leaving voluntarily, worked out perfectly, leaving the police confused. They are only worried that her friends once saw her rejection letter from the real society but they told the police that they had ended up destroying the only piece of evidence that they had, so, so far even the police can’t do much unless and until they don’t receive any information from the real society.”

“And we don’t have to worry about that because I have made sure that before the local police reaches the society. We do.” Salva smirked, mapping out his plan.

“Perfect.” Nicholas stated with a mouth full, actually not bothered by whatever he was just told.

“I just got in touch with someone at the society and they told me that the society would do anything, if offered good money.”

“How much?” Nicholas asked, finally looking up from his plate and at Salva, who shrugged.

“Not something that would be too much for us.”

Nicholas shrugged and went back to finishing up the pasta, that Martha and Serena both noticed, how crazed the boy was about food.

The two looked at each other and smiled, finally sensing that Nicholas had found something other than Cheryl to obsess about and for them, it was more than just a positive sign. It was a hope, to which they were going to cling on and simply not let go, unless and until Nicholas was totally and completely recovered and finally willing to move out of the island.

“The society would do and say anything that we ask them to.”

Anthony finally added and Nicholas once again simply bobbed his head, in the midst of trying to finish his plate.

They were in the middle of their conversation, when the door to the office facing north to Nicholas and everyone else finally opened up and everyone went in to total silence, as they found Althea and Fiona standing right in front of them, afraid that the girl might have heard their conversation.

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What do you think, did Althea hear their conevrsation or not?

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