Today seemed like a special day, I didn't experience anything unusual like how I saw the lock guy in my head. I still don't know if he's real or not. It must've been a coping mechanism, I hope.
But the real reason today is so special is because I will be going out with my new family for the first time, to get essential things.
I plan on getting some good looking clothes, explore the city a bit, maybe meet a few people and to make some friends. But it feels weird. How could I accept a new family so early? Am I really that naive? Have I already moved on from my family? Am I a bad son...? And now I'm here at a standstill, wondering if I really deserve this.
just then, Ray entered the room, "Hey, you up already? Geez, you were so knocked out I wondered if you'd even wake up today. Anyways, you got any special request for breakfast?"
I said with a rude tone,"U-uh, no.. not really. I'll have whatever's available to eat." I felt really bad saying it that way. It must've been visible on my face too, because even Ray was shocked. His usually calm face had a hint of surprise on it.
But he didn't question it, at all. I felt really bad.. Ahhh, I'm such a terrible person. I'll try to act a bit happier and kind to these people, who took me in without any hesitation in mind.
I went downstairs to the kitchen, where Eva and Ray were sitting. It seemed like they were talking about something pretty serious.
I entered the kitchen and took a seat. "Good morning Ruven! how'd you sleep tonight? was the bed comfortable?" she asked with a really comforting smile on her face.
I felt a field of flowers blooming in my mind. I could have stayed silent but I felt obligated to reply, I already have a bad impression on Eva as is. I tried my best to sound happy and said "Yes, I slept very well tonight, all thanks to the super comfortable bed! I'll be praying to the god of beds everynight for a sleep as good as this!"
"What." A word I could hear Ray and Eva, and unfortunately, me saying in our heads.
I started panicking about what to say next, this was so embarrassing. Ray, a saviour like always in times like these, broke the silence and said "Oh, by the way Ruven, I got called on an emergency today, so I won't be able to accompany you today. Eva will be with you today, so stay with her. I will be meeting Jian as well today, so as to talk about some stuff regarding you. I'll try to spend some time with you both, I promise!" he says as he leaves the house with a piece of bread in his mouth. He was in such a rush he didn't even fully cook it, he even left the stove on as he grabbed a single piece
"Oh he's always like that. Anyways, Ruven, is there something on your mind you want to say?"
Crap, she might be onto me, am I making it that obvious? When did Ray even find time to say what happened to her this quick? Was it her stand ability or something?! What should I answer with?!?! Should I tell her the truth? I don't want her to hate me.. ughh I don't think there's anyway out of this, she seems sharp. Screw it, I'll tell her the truth.
"Actually, yes. You see, I am having troubles understanding myself, or rather, trying to understand how I feel. Not even a week ago, I lost everything I held dear to me. My friends, family, siblings, the lock shop, my favourite mechanisms, everything. Yet I seem to have moved on quickly, I don't seem to have any guilt, Nor can I do anything to find them. If they are still alive, they must be worried sick, wondering if I am ok or not. It makes me think, am I a bad son? "
"I see, thanks for opening up to me Ruven, it know it must have felt hard to do so."
to be honest not really, I just said what was on my mind, it may even be an ability my a****r has but I can't be too sure. Wait, why did the words get censored? Crap, I can't worry about that now.
"But you see, that's just being human. If we kept holding on to our past, we'll be stuck in it, without moving forward at all. Dwelling on things you couldn't change will not help you, it's only the present that determines if you are worthy of the future. Besides, in death or in life, your parents would want you to have a better life, all parents do. A parent always wants the best for their kids. So what's it gonna be big man? You plan on making your parents sad or will you tough it out and keep moving forward?"
I could feel a glimmer in my eyes, a glimmer of hope. A hope that I can make peace with the past and live up to my fullest with my new family. She's right, I'm whining too much about it all. The best I can do is find out what happened in Ataraxia that day, that would probably put my mind at peace. before I could say anything, she added,
"Besides, I feel happy that you can be comfortable with us. If you don't mind, I want to relay this all to Ray, I'm sure he will be incredibly happy!"
I liked that idea, it may also make up to how I reacted to Ray this morning.
"That reminded me, when me and Ray were entering the residence, I could see the nameplate but I could only read the words "Ray N–", can I know what it is?"
"Oh, That's our family name, Nightingale. I was about to ask you if you wanted that to be your last name as of yesterday, but I couldn't get the chance to. So, what do you say?"
An interesting question, but I already had the answer to it
"No. I hope you don't mind, but my last name is the only thing I can remember my family by, it may sound dumb, but I'd like to keep my last name as Ryder."
Eva smiled and nodded, "I see, we'll respect your decisions, oh, earlier you mentioned something about locks and mechanisms, could you tell me about that?"
"Oh yes, I come from a family of locksmiths, growing up I learned how to make locks, and because of that I started to like anything with gimmicks or mechanisms. I used to fix things around my village and my family made locks for the village and even exported some outside."
It felt like she wanted to learn more about me, but she was just trying to cheer me up, she truly feels like a mother, maybe that's why I feel comfortable sharing things with her.
"Oh, I completely forgot, we were supposed to go out. Ruven, you should go get ready, we have a long day ahead of us. We'll buy you a hat as we travel, it gets hot outside during noon. Till then, I'll pack everything we need." she said. Her saying that we were to get a hat reminded me of something.
"Eva, why do you and Ray always wear hats? I've also noticed that even you both are married, you guys don't have any rings on your hands, is it a symbol or something like that?"
"You've got a good eye Ruven, as I mentioned yesterday, my hat was returned to me on my wedding day, he even bought me a ring and so did I for him, but I asked him once, why are rings used as the symbol of love during weddings, can't it be any other items? he replied with "maybe, but it's probably because they're round and so they're never ending, like our love." But even hats are round. So me and Ray made an agreement as a testimony to our young and youthful days, that our symbol or love would be hats. My witch hat symbolises my ancestry of being a witch, whereas his hat is a gift given by love. Of course, him giving me the hat was also an act of love, it was strong enough to dispell the curse on it."
I was amazed, these things exist? interestingly, she's a witch, so she's not a VoltenCrown, interesting. Doesn't matter to me anyways, she's my mother and I'll respect her as so. Right now I'll get ready to go out with Eva.
After I got ready, we left for the city. Alterio City, a beautiful place, beautiful houses and shops everywhere. There were a lot of fashion stores here especifically formal clothing, so the people here must be pretty rich, but it didn't seem like it.
The city was surrounded by lush greenery and even inside the city there were farms and hot springs, if this was just a city, I can't even begin to imagine what the royal capital would look like. People mainly wore normal looking clothes, something you'd see at a village or a fairly economical village.
Although, it seemed clothing was all this place looked famous for, the agriculture development here was noteworthy. First, Eva took me to a shop where she bought me a hat, as she said earlier.
Wearing hats must be traditional in her family, considering she's a witch too. The hat was too big for my head, it felt like it was bought for me to do something in the future.
I also noticed that even the shopkeepers wore witch hats, and seeing how they were so friendly with Eva, they were probably her relatives.
I didn't really mind it that much, they were just surprised, like how the average person would be after finding out that their relative had conceived a child, without having the news delivered to them.
We bought some groceries, some clothes for me, and some food for Ray. As a surprise, we planned to go meet Ray and to deliver some food to him, seeing as he only had one piece of bread for breakfast. We left for the hospital by 3pm, reaching the hospital by 3:30pm. Upon entering the hospital, the staff greeted me, as I used to be a patient there, I liked seeing the familiar faces. They asked how I was doing, about my new life, I showed them my new hat, it was fun.
Eva asked them about Ray, and they said he was talking to a knight who came with a child. A knight? Ray did mention that he was supposed to meet Jian, I might as well go and greet him, it's been a while since I've seen him too. I asked Eva if we could go, but she said that only I could go. Curiosity got the best of me, and I wondered what was going on, I asked the staff but even they didn't know, they just led me to the room where they were.
Upon entering the room, I saw Ray, Jian and a strange boy, maybe a year or two older than me sitting with them. He had dark skin, and spiky, yet curly hair and emotionless eyes, as if he saw things he weren't meant to, and it scarred him.
"Oh, Ruven, you're here? I'll assume Eva is here too then. What's that in your hand, is it for me?" he asked.
"Yeah, we brought you something to eat since you just ate a single piece of bread this morning." I said.
"Oh yeah, I guess I did, thank you Ruven, that's very thoughtful of you. Actually you came here at a perfect time. You see, Mr. Jian rescued another child today. Meet Adonis, Adonis Aeneas."