Bam! went his door as Nathan closed it behind them.
He went straight to his two-way cupboard and opened the door of the second part containing shelves.
"You can have a seat", Nathan said while looking through his shelf.
"No, thank you. I'm good", Mia said while standing ever-so closely to the door.
"Suit yourself", he said while grabbing a brown bag and handing it to her. "Take this."
"What is it?"
"It's a bagel."
"No, thank you. I'm not hungry", Mia said cautiously.
"Hmmm. Well you should be, after everything that went down today. Unless, the panic and fear made you lose your appetite. Either way, -you should eat. You need the energy", Nathan said sincerely still stretching out his hand, "Also, I bought it right after we carried you here from the alley, so it's not expired or anything."
"They carried me all the way here," Mia thought embarrassed, "How did they get here without anyone noticing them. Most importantly, which one of them carried me?"
Mia hesitated for a while then took the bagel in the bag and ate it cautiously. She tried leaning on the wall but winced when her back made contact with it.
Nathan noticed that and went to a small cabinet beside the wardrobe.
"Hey. Catch!" he said as he threw something to her.
She caught it instinctively without knowing what it was. She opened her hand only to see it was a drug in a plastic bag. She immediately freaked out.
"Thank you for the hospitality but I-I really need to get going! Don't worry about taking me home", she said quickly as she opened the door trying to get out of there.
Nathan immediately realized what she was thinking.
"HEY, WAIT! Your wounds! It's for your wounds!"
Mia stopped in her tracks on hearing that but still held unto the door.
"Oh", she said enlightened, now feeling a little embarrassed.
"Why do you always expect the worst from me?!" Nathan asked as he ruffled his hair in frustration.
"Umm.... Sorry, about that", Mia said shyly still holding the drug in her hand subconsciously.
"Anyway! It's a painkiller. You're wounds seem to bother you so this will help. That's the main reason I brought you here", Nathan explained.
"Ibuprofen?", Mia read out the name of the drug, "I appreciate it but no offense, I don't think you're supposed to be administering drugs", Mia said cautiously.
"Excuse me! You're talking to a future doctor, doctor-in-training, whatever. I'm the one who cleaned your wounds you know."
Mia didn't know whether to feel grateful, embarrassed or suspicious.
"The drug is mostly used for joint pains and tooth ache but it can work for pain caused by injuries as well. Look, if you don't trust me, you can check it online."
It was then that Mia realized that she wasn't with her bag, though she normally wouldn't have her phone in there anyways (doesn't bring her phone to school).
"Oh no! It must have fallen down in the alley", Mia panicked aloud.
"If you're looking for your bag, it's with Dale. He picked it up after we handled the teras", Nathan pointed out.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. What did they do to that thing", Mia thought, curious but frightened.
"You can use mine if you want", Nathan said as he gave her his phone which was already on google.
She took it and looked up the drug. After reading it carefully, she gave it back to him with a perplexed expression on her face.
"See", Nathan said as he put his hand on her shoulder, handing her a bottle of water, "It'll help with the pain. Plus you're taking it to help us and yourself, unless you want people to ask you unnecessary questions."
"Even if it helps with the pain and I pretend to be alright, people would still see the wounds", said Mia feeling uncomfortable.
"What wounds?" he said as he let go of her.
"You're joking right?", Mia asked a little annoyed, "The ones on my body.... Are you playing with me?"
"(Sigh) You're no fun at all", Nathan said as he took her towards his full body mirror, "Look."
Mia was confused when she saw the reflection of her body with no wounds on it.
"H-h-how is this possible?" Mia asked a little frightened as she looked at herself and back at her reflection, "If I look at my body directly, I can see the wounds but when I look at the mirror... I-I can't see a-anything."
"Oh, I did that...", Nathan said bluntly, "...when I touched your shoulder.
Mia was internally freaking out. She tried her best to remain calm but it wasn't working out so well. Nathan looked at her and sighed.
"Relax. It's just a simple illusion that only you and I can see. If you're really a true descendant, your wounds will heal quicker than other people."
Mia had so many questions going through her head at that moment but decided to swallow the drug with the water Nathan gave her.
"It'ssss- kind of like what you can do... you know- with your shield", Nathan explained then paused for a while, "Speaking of shields, do you think you could bring it out again?"
"What?" Mia asked confused, still finding it hard to believe what was going on around her.
"You know, like what you did in the alley- before you passed out."
"I-I don't know. This doesn't really happen to me, often", she said a little sarcastic.
"Ehh, just do whatever you did in the alley to bring it out", Nathan said intrigued.
"Ummm- ok... I'll try", she said half-heartedly.
Mia wasn't sure of which position to stay in, so she just settled for pushing her two hands slightly forward, not touching each other.
"Oh yeah, and try not to faint this time", said Nathan smiling at her.
She smiled back sarcastically then faced what she was doing. She was actually curious to see whether something would happen. She tried closing her eyes and concentrating for a while.
"Wow!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Did I do it?" Mia asked peeking.
"No."
"Then why did you say that?"
"It's already 5:40", he said checking his phone, "Sorry, 5:41."
"(Sigh) I don't think I can do this... and I really need to go back home. My mum would be worried."
"Bummer. Eh, maybe next time. We can go now if you want?", he asked as he went towards the door.
"Yes please", Mia replied following behind, "Oh! What about the keys."
"Pffff. That was like the first thing I grabbed when I came in here."
"Oh!.... How was I supposed to know."
~■~
"How did I even get here?" Dale rhetorically asked as he was in the front seat of the car which was on the road.
"You came because you wanted to kindly give Mia back her bag", answered Roxanne sitting in the back seat next to Mia.
"Or because you dragged me all the way here despite telling you to give it to her yourself", Dale reminded.
"Just give her the bag", Roxanne said annoyed.
"(Sigh) Whatever."
"Are these people forgetting that I'm right here", Mia thought feeling awkward and looking at her twiddling thumbs.
"Here."
"Huh?" Mia looked up to see Dale handing her her bag since she was directly behind him.
"I didn't go through it so you can check if anything is missing."
"Oh- okay, thanks", she said taking the bag from his grip.
"Before I forget...", Nathan said to Mia, "Make sure to eat a normal meal when you get home. I just gave you the bagel so that your stomach won't be empty as you take the drug."
"Ok, I will", Mia confirmed.
"Aaaaand, the directions? To your house I mean", Nathan asked.
"Oh, just go down this road and take a left, after that, you take a right into Nicole Street and my house is just the third house on the street."
"Wow, that's really closeby", Nathan said.
"Yeah, I guess."
Dale looked at Nathan and asked, "Have you gotten your license yet?"
"What?!" Mia exclaimed confused.
"What's the problem. I can drive, can't I? I don't need a silly validation to tell me I can", Nathan said defensively.
"How many times have I told you to get it?", Roxanne asked, "That silly validation stops you from going to prison."
"Me? Prison? The police can't catch me. I'm basically invisible", he said turning the car to the left.
"Hey Mr. Invisible, the police are up ahead", Dale said bluntly.
Nathan looked to see a police checkpoint down the road that he just turned into.
"OH SHIT!" he exclaimed as he immediately reversed back into the road he came from. "Why didn't you tell me there was police near your house?!", Nathan asked Mia agitated.
"They don't come around often. Plus I didn't know you didn't have your license", Mia responded with the same energy.
"Looks like we have to go around."
~■~
"Thank you for the ride", Mia said as she got out of the car.
"Sure, anytime", Nathan responded, then there was awkward silence.
"Oh umm, well, my mum must be waiting for me. Bye!", she said as she hurried inside.
"(Sigh) Today was such a weird day", Roxanne said leaning back on her chair.
Nathan looked at the house and narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah... Weird indeed."
Then they drove off.....