U.T.O.P.I.A. | BOOK 1 of Death of the Future Series

EIGHT

NEO

I bit my bottom lip from laughing at how she had dressed.

She wore a thick jacket and over it was her scarf. Her pants were baggy and long — it was tucked into a pair of snow boots. She tied her hair in a bun, and she wore a snowcap on top of it as well as a pair of earmuffs.

The picture she made was absolutely ridiculous since it wasn't even snowing outside. Sure, it was cold but it wasn't that cold to warrant full winter gear. My heart melted at the innocent look on her face; eyes wide with a sparkle to them and her cheeks were slightly puffed, rosy.

Ah, Olivia. She was definitely not who she seemed to be. Maybe there was more to her like me. Maybe she had secrets too. My stomach tightened at those thoughts. While I hadn't been fond of the idea of being Matched, she was here now. I promised myself I'd try to be the best person I could be for her.

But if I got attached to her, I would only be hurting her.

No, I couldn't think like that. Not now.

"Do you really need that many clothes?" I asked.

She raised her eyebrows as she wore her hand mittens and nodded.

"I can't stand the cold," she said. "Are we leaving now?"

I cleared my throat from laughing, nodding. "This way," I said as I pointed to the front doors, a grin on my face when I saw she rolled her eyes.

This was the first time I saw her expressing her emotions.

She had seemed so stoic — distant at first. I didn't blame her. Perhaps part of it could be attributed to us being strangers. It soothed me that she was comfortable enough with me to break out of her shell a bit now.

Now if only I could be bothered to do the same. Again, the fear of getting too close to her made me pause on that idea.

We were silent as we exited the apartment building.

Just as we got out, a strong wind blew at our faces. From the corner of my eyes, Olivia rubbed her hands together, her shoulders shook just a tad. There was a frown on her face as she tried to tuck her chin and mouth into her scarf. I couldn't help but smile. "Not used to the cold?"

"No," she said, stiff and proper. "So, where are we going?"

I looked around the empty entrance for a minute and calculated how we could get to the edge of Clove Area. "I think we need our car for this," I said as I looked over my shoulders at her. "Or if you can handle the one hour plus walk to get there, we can do that."

"Let's walk," she said. I lifted my eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow, okay," I said. "If you're sure. It's quite a long way."

A look of uncertainty passed on her face before she schooled her features into a blank mask. "I'm sure."

I nodded at her even though I wondered if she was being honest with herself. Truthfully, I hadn't expected her to want to walk. Surely she had an idea that an hour walk wasn't going to be that easy. Right? Biting my inner cheek, I stopped myself from voicing my opinion. It wouldn't do me good if I angered her.

If I could anger her.

"All right, so if I'm right," I said as I walked to the right, heading towards the exit. "If we take a left once we reach that T-junction over there, we'll be on the right track."

"Okay," she said as she followed me, hand clutching her scarves. "Where are we going again?"

"The edge of Clove Area," I said.

Immediately as the words were out of my mouth, a sharp gasp escaped her. I turned around and saw her looking at me with wide eyes as if I had grown a second head. "Are you crazy?" she asked.

"Look, we'll be fine," I said, hands up, palms out. "I've done this a million times!"

"It's a restricted area!" she whispered as she took a few steps forward, leaning into my personal space to look me in the eyes. "If we get caught, we're in so much trouble."

I resisted the urge to sigh into her face and shook my head instead. "Stop worrying," I said. "We'll be fine. I'll keep you safe, all right?"

She blinked at me before her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine."

Smiling, I turned around and walked to the exit.