Chapter track
Count on me- Bruno Mars
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Bianca
It is a bright sunny day, perfect for a day out.
I was getting ready when my phone buzzed with Penzo's ringtone.
"Hello, Wangden," I say, taking advantage of his prank.
He cut the call after a few seconds of silence, so I call him back.
He forgot his own game, dumb.
He finally answers after several rings.
"Hey, I know that you're Penzo, now stop your act!"
"Ahh... I'm sorry-"
"It's alright. Where are you?"
"Near your house. "
"Okay, I'm coming. "
I wear an ash jegging, a white round neck t-shirt with a grungy union jack print at front and an olive green windbreaker jacket. I put on a pair of white slip-on shoes and sling a black backpack with few necessities.
"Why didn't you come inside?" I ask as I see him standing against the street light, with his back towards me.
He turns around and the corner of his eyes crinkles with a smile.
"Let's not waste time. You know how long I have to stay there if they see me."
"Aww, you poor thing." I tease as I walk towards him.
He shrug, "Can't help it, they love me."
I roll my eyes.
"You look good," He says.
"Thank you and same to you," I reply.
He is clad with a grey superman t-shirt under a light blue denim jacket and khaki cargo pants with low top sneakers.
We're walking along the pavement and he speaks-
"Let me carry that bag for you."
"No, it's alright. It's not even heavy."
"Just give it to me, I can even use it later for carrying my camera." He takes it away from me and slings it over his shoulder.
"Okay." I don't feel like arguing, so I let him have it.
"Have you known that it's me all along?"
"What?"
"You know, Wangden and stuff.."
"Yep, you know I live with Sia."
"That brat just can't keep her mouth shut just for once!" He mutters.
"Aww, But you're such an angel, aren't you?"
He scratches behind his ear and his lips curls up into a sheepish smile.
"Anyway, how far is your house?"
"It'll take nearly 40 minutes if we take the highway but we're gonna go for the shortcuts, it'll take half the time."
"Okay."
So we walk through the rough pathways, including the never-ending stairs and the silent wilderness for nearly 20 minutes before we reach his place.
To my surprise, it isn't some small cozy wooden cottage as I imagined it to be like, instead it is a quite extravagant and unique styled contemporary house. It is partially black in the outside with huge windows, glass walls and its roof tucked away to form a slightly sloped lot. Being built in the middle of a forest and being decoratively hedged by cedars, pines and tall cryptomeria trees-the house can't look more fascinating.
"Wow! Your house is so... beautiful. "
"Thank you." He dramatically bows his head.
We walk towards the glass door which is supposedly the main entrance and he rings the doorbell.
"There's someone in the house?" I ask.
"Yeah, Akku, he takes care of this place."
"But is this house safe enough for him? I mean, with all these glass doors and walls? Would be quite easy for a thief, wouldn't it?"
He smiles and raises his eyes as if I said something unbelievable. "Don't underestimate these glasses, they're stronger than concrete."
"Oh, okay." And I can't feel more embarrassed.
Most parts of the ground floor are transparent with the glass walls, so we are able to see the man coming to open the door. His thin silver-grey hair and wrinkled face hints that he has aged more than 60.
"Hi, Akku." He gives him a huge bear hug, convincing the old man to smile, forming deeper crinkles around his eyes.
I always knew Penzo was very humble and candid as a human but the sight is so heartwarming that my chest tightens with emotions.
"This is my Akku and she is my friend, Bianca." He introduces us as he slides his arm above Akku's shoulders.
"Hello." I greet, to which he replies with a hesitant nod.
"Please don't mind him, he rarely leaves this house, so he isn't very good with new people."
"I understand. " I say, receiving a shy smile from the old man.
"Akku, will you please cook us something for lunch? We'll come after we finish our forest tour, maybe at 1 pm."
With a nod, he leaves for the kitchen behind the dining room.
"He has a speech disorder so he avoids talking as much as possible." He tells me, once Akku was out of earshot.
"Then doesn't he have a problem staying alone here?"
He shrugs. "I don't know. He simply seems to enjoy staying here. He's been here all his life."
"But this place doesn't look that old."
"Because it isn't. They say my Great grandfather had a farmhouse right here but it got very old so my dad reconstructed this place. "
"Now that's interesting. "
He takes me to his bedroom which is a surprisingly well-groomed loft.
"You keep your place clean? Or has it something to do with Akku?"
"I do it by myself. I like things tidy. It's actually because of my mum, she turned me into a neatness freak like her."
"The very surprising side of Mr Penzom."
He takes out a wooden box from a shelf and carefully takes out a DSLR camera.
"You love photography, don't you?"
"Yes, very much. I even want to make a living out of it." He answers.
"Wildlife photography?"
"Well, that's just for practice, considering I'm surrounded by them. I want to become a fashion photographer." His smile changes into a smug.
"Oooh...Fashion? Supermodels right? Sounds like a very beneficial plan."
He gives a toothy grin, getting along with the banter.
He retrieves a kit bag from a cupboard and stuffs it with the camera, lenses and the battery.
"Why do you need my bag when you already have that?"
He doesn't say anything but just shrugs and put the bag inside mine.
"Penzo, you're weird. " I say bluntly.
"I know. Now let's move on ." His voice is filled with excitement as he holds the strap of my backpack with one hand and holds my hand with the other.
"Hey, Penzo. I have a question." I ask, breaking the silence when we walk past the house into the woods.
"Yeah?" He doesn't look back at me.
"How did your family manage to make a house in this place? I thought only farmers were allowed to do so."
"As I said earlier, that place has been ours since our great ancestors and my father is an IFS officer, so it never had to be demolished, considering the permissions he managed."
"Oh, okay. I didn't know what your parents do." I murmur.
"But I know what your parents do."
"Well, it isn't that hard to guess, after all my family is filled with doctors. "
"Your dad is a Neurosurgeon and your mom used to be a paediatrician but gave up on her profession to be a homemaker. "
I stop at the track and stare at him. He turns around and looks at me. "What? That's just a wild guess, was I correct?"
"That wasn't a wild guess!"
"Okay, that wasn't, but Sia talks a lot you know?" He says, glancing away and continuing the pace.
"Okay. Then tell me about your parents, what do they do? "
"Okay, so my father belongs to the IFS and is the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. My mum, she is an abstract artist, which is the main reason why dad re-built the house. She says that this environment inspires her work."
"Well, I can see why," I affirm.
Continuing our walk and the talks, we reach a part of a cliff from where the entire city is visible.
"It's wonderful!" I squeal with ecstasy.
"I know right?" He begins to take shots of the sight without wasting time.
I sit down on the grassy floor with my legs crossed and I bent a little backward with the support of my hands on either side. I close my eyes and expose my face to the sun, soaking in the natural vitamin.
It is pretty hot now, so we both have our jackets tied around our waists.
"I hope I won't die with the oxygen overdose. " I say, my eyes still shut.
"No, you won't! You're too pretty to die so young."
"Really? Sherlock, you know everything. You just made my day!" I joke. "Hey, why are you taking my shots?"
"Why do you think I brought you here with me?"
"To show me places!" I snap back.
"Well, that too, but hey, I've done wildlife photography as long as I remember. I was wondering if I could learn portraiture if you helped me, will you?"
"I don't know." I hesitate. I wasn't very friendly with the camera. Random snaps with friends and families are one thing but posing as a subject is something I never imagined to do. "And I'm so sweaty and red. I'm not ready for that."
"Hey, you don't need to worry, these are just for practice, you'll have fun believe me. I won't order you around, just talk to me, smile, anything you'd like, just relax."
I couldn't say no because first of all, he is too good to me to be denied and secondly, I do need to overcome my fears, helping him could work for both of us.
"I'll try."
We walk through various places like the cliffs, beautiful grasslands, streams, mini falls, the forest consisting of so many rare birds, wildflowers, butterflies and scary monkeys for sure, but I know that we aren't very far away from his cabin as I'm a little tired but not exhausted.
I felt very self-conscious at first when he took my photos but now I've started to enjoy it a little. His open-minded nature and a good sense of humour is certainly helping me to ease up.
"We should go now Penzo, it's almost 2 now."
"Let's stay a bit more."
"But I'm hungry."
We are cloud gazing while laying on the top of a grassy cliff scarcely shaded by the giant cedars.
"Oh, I'm sorry," He stands up offering his hand to me. "Let's go then."
I take his hand and follow him down the hill towards the cabin.
*****
"This is my favourite!" My stomach grumbles just at the sight of the plate in front of me, filled with steamed beef dumplings with chilli and sesame sauce.
"I know."
I furrow my brows with suspicion at Penzo who is looking at me with his famous dimple exposing smile.
Yes! He is always smiling, awfully happy all the time.
"Just kidding!" He says with a shrug.
The dumplings were simply delicious, much more than I expected.
A perk of having a Tibetan friend.
After lunch, we checked out the photographs on his computer and I have to admit, they're brilliant. He is way too talented in that field at such a young age. His passion is clearly visible in the photographs.
"It's getting late, we should leave already."
"Alright, I'll tidy things up here, you wait in the living room."
"Sure."
As I wait for him, I get a free opportunity to admire such beautiful paintings by Aunt Tseden, elegantly decorated on the white walls of the living room.
I never knew she was a professional painter, maybe I was too young to notice.
"Let's get going."
We leave the house after bidding goodbye to Akku, whose smiles are more than enough to interact.
"Penzo, would that be too much if I say that I just had the best day of my life?"
"Please, don't say that. I might have a heart attack with emotions."
Drama king!
The brightness of the sun was already fading when we were in the cabin and the soft drizzle when we left the house turned into a heavy shower of rain when we were halfway home.
We finally had to stand on a small bus stop to shade ourselves from the rain.
"The one time I don't have an umbrella!" I complain.
"Hey, I have a plan. Let's race."
"What? Are you crazy? It's pouring. I can't."
"C'mon, it'll be fun." Without waiting for my answer-he got out in the rain. "Come." He calls me.
Standing alone doesn't feel appealing and it wouldn't hurt to soak yourself when you're already dripping wet, so I join him.
"The first one to reach the palace gate will be the winner." He yells. "On the count of 1..2..3."
Thankfully, this time we take the long route instead of the complicated short cut and maybe because of the rain or whatever reason, the wide road is almost empty, not that it's usually very crowded.
The cold water pouring down my body increased more adrenaline in me and I wonder how we're managing to keep ourselves from slipping down and falling hard when we were running like this.
Even though the race was a stupid idea, I don't care, I'm way too elated to worry.
****
"Are you sure you don't wanna sit with us?" Sia asks.
"Yes, I'll sit with Granny," I say.
"Okay then, I can't force your decision."
I'm not very popular among Sia's friends at the church and sitting right at the front with all the youth members is the last thing I desire.
We were supposed to go to the church with our grandparents in Grandpa's car, but because it isn't very far and the twins have their friends to tag along, so we plan on walking instead.
As Sia walks towards the youth pew, I stand by the door and look around in search of Grandma but I'm surprised to see Neil sitting alone at the corner.
His distressed appearance forced me to sit beside him and I couldn't believe myself when I actually held his hand.
I always knew I felt a bit weird about him, but the vaguely understandable feelings are finally starting to make a bit sense.
I'm gravitating towards him...
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So, what do you think?
I know this chapter was way too long, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't make it any shorter.
Bianca seems to have lots of feelings nowadays, but I have a question for you guys- whom do you want her to end up with? Penzo or Neil? Please let me know...
I hope you like the chapter.
Happy reading.
Thank you.