The Bond

Ch 56

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

"You hide the illusion disc again, then I won't hesitate to damage your endoskeleton. You understand?"

"Better that way."

"What?"

Michael immediately shook his head quickly at Ennard's response to his incoherent muttering. "I understand, duh," Michael said lazily, putting his hands behind his head for support as they walked together through the supermarket shelves.

Ennard nodded in satisfaction hearing that. "Now take whatever you want here."

"You're going to treat me?"

"No."

"Pft."

The red-haired man only raised his eyebrows up. "You're the one who wants to buy something, not me, I just have no other choice but to accompany you instead of staying at home."

The eldest Afton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "Then I'll buy some milk."

"Who?"

"Me."

"Asked."

The corner of Michael's eyes twitched in annoyance at the irritating remark of Ennard, who now even pretended not to notice his suppressed angry expression by looking at the rack full of instant food. Michael grumbled loudly, he decided to take a different path from Ennard to find what he wanted—rather than exhausting his patience because Ennard he better focus on himself first.

Ennard glanced at Afton who walked away while stomping in annoyance with interest, before snorted in amusement and turning back to look at the instant food section—he quickly realized he had no appetite for that kind of food, so Ennard turned to the supermarket refrigerator and decided to stand up in front of a line of various sodas to choose from.

For a while he was silent in front of the supermarket refrigerator, he looked back and their eyes met. Michael happened to be not far from him and was looking at him at the same time, which then Michael stuck his tongue at Ennard before smacking an annoyed chuckle as he walked the other way. Ennard raised his eyebrows up at that, and restrained himself from chuckling.

"Unbelievable," Ennard muttered under his breath, finally opening the fridge for a can of cold Fanta.

"Hey!"

Someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind, Ennard frowned deeply to find the girl with the black hair—whom he remembered was Mary, smiled sweetly at him. Ennard pressed his lips together tightly and furrowed his brows, what did this girl want from him?

"What?" Ennard's tone was curt.

"My name is Mary," the girl said kindly. "Lucy Dawson's friend, if you remember."

"Too bad I don't."

Ennard immediately walked away leaving Mary, who looked at him with—awe and disappointment at the same time. After all, Ennard didn't care, he didn't want to deal with anyone here. But why did Mary keep following him? Ennard hissed inwardly.

"At least tell me your name," Mary tried to gently coax Ennard, she tried to match Ennard's fastening wide stride.

Ennard pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly, it seemed like he wouldn't get away from Mary that easily. He looked in all directions, trying to find the right distraction to get away—he saw Lucy from afar, coincidentally talking about the earthquake with Michael, but it looked like Lucy was going to say goodbye. Ennard immediately pointed behind Mary.

"That girl is calling you."

At least it managed to distract Mary because he pointed at Lucy, and taking that brief opportunity Ennard slipped away quickly and unnoticed by Mary.

When Mary looked up at him again, there was no one there anymore. Mary furrowed her brows and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. Mary would have walked away from there had she not been startled by the brown-haired man's presence.

She didn't notice Michael at all.

Michael smiled warmly at her, the girl didn't return the Afton's smile. Michael stepped closer to Mary after feeling satisfied leaning on one of the shelves, Mary looked at him warily and confusedly, the man said nothing but that smile earlier, and it made Mary a little horrified.

"You feel it?"

Mary tilted her head to the side slowly. "What ...?"

The black-haired girl gasped when Michael grabbed her arm without warning. Michael's warm smile was still on, Mary had a confused and panicked look on her face at the same time as she felt the floor of their feet shaking, the items on the shelves vibrating against each other due to the gradually increasing quake, some items had fallen to the floor.

But Michael still gripped her arm tightly, and Mary didn't know which situation to panic about.

"You feel it ...?" Michael asked the same question for the second time, his voice resembling a low whisper and his smile widening, his eye looking as if he was obsessed.

Mary grimaced in pain, but her shrieks were so outweighed by the cries of the people around them that they couldn't be heard at all. Michael tightened his grip on her hand, and Mary started to feel it as Michael started to twist her hand in the opposite direction. Mary looked in horror at the man before her, as if begging Michael not to do that.

But Michael ignored her.

In fact, Michael didn't seem to care at all about their current state. He brought their faces closer, and Mary was filled with dread at the excitement in Michael's purple eye. The grip got stronger.

After that, Michael whispered;

"Earthquake."

The crisp sound like a tree trunk being broken sounded very clear, the sick scream of the girl in front of him was very pleasant to hear.

Michael said nothing else, his happy grin plastered.

That hand touched his Ennard.

The shaking grew stronger, one of the shelves near them staggered down—right behind Mary who was still weeping for her broken arm. Michael tilted his head and raised his eyebrows, he looked up and saw the lights were swaying as if they were about to fall. If the lamp fell between him and Mary, then great. Therefore, he waited.

Michael crouched down in front of Mary, he really didn't care about the earthquake. "Does it hurt?" Michael asked worriedly, Mary just looked at him with watery eyes—filled with anger, but also fearful. Michael chuckled, then growled. "I will kill you."

There was no reason why.

His smile returned into a warm smile at Mary, as he looked up again—the light was almost cut off. His eyebrows rose as his body was pulled back as the lamp fell, someone caught him swiftly.

"You stupid! Why are you just silent?!"

That was Ennard.

"I—I tried to help her," Michael replied in a panicked tone, looking at Mary in pain. "Looks like she broke her arm—"

"You think I care?!" Ennard rebuked him, Michael astonished. "Dawson! Help your fucking friend!"

Michael was silent and allowed Ennard to pulled him out of the supermarket, his gaze shifted from Ennard to Lucy who was running towards Mary with worry and panic, trying to carry Mary to the emergency exit. Michael heard Ennard's irritable grunt about how reckless he had been for staying silent in the midst of an earthquake.

Michael just laughed inwardly.

Ennard is so sweet.