The Bond

Ch 104

"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 look gloomy, are you okay?"

"It's none of your business."

Mark let out a tired breath and impatiently tapped the toe of his shoe on the wooden floor. The smell of freshly baked bread could be clearly smelled, mouthwatering—but that was why he was here now. He saw the dark-skinned man shake his head slowly and continued to place the tray with some warm bread on it into one of the showcases.

"How about your hand?"

"Simon it really is none of your business."

"Then why are you here if you just want to make me worry?" One of his old friends, Simon Abraham, squinted at him in exasperation.

Mark rolled his eyes lazily. "Didn't I order bread earlier? That's what I'm here for."

"Yes, of course, after you didn't visit again for a long time. I wouldn't be shocked if your bad mood today has something to do with Terrance." Simon's grunt made him raise his head. "It wouldn't be surprising if you two miraculously met again. You always complain and keep complaining about Terrance every times."

"Why are you even blaming it on me?" he replied in a suppressed angry tone, even though what Simon said was true though he never told him. "Besides, that bastard just left like that! Has he ever just contacted you for once?" Mark gritted his teeth.

Then Simon stopped his activities to wipe the customer's table next to the one he was sitting at now, his gaze dimmed for a moment. "I don't know if it was him or not, but I accidentally ran into him outside of town when I was buying ingredients for our shop." His voice grew lower at the end of the sentence. "I don't want to hope if it's really Terrance or not. Even Alec is out of reach now."

The corner of Mark's mouth twitched slightly, he looked away and didn't answer again while Simon went back to wiping the table. He knitted his brows deeply, now his thoughts returned to the eldest Afton, about what he had done to him in his apartment, why had he changed so quickly from the last time they met?

He heard Simon speak again, regarding his order that was about to be completed and that he would have to wait a few minutes. However, his attention was diverted beyond the glass walls of his friend's bakery. Mark stood up and dashed out.

"Clark!"

His exclamation certainly caught the slightly confused girl's attention. Alice approached him quickly. "Halberg," she greeted.

Mark nodded in response, he glared Alice up and down for a moment. "You look very neat," he said with a little surprise, Alice just chuckled. "Are you going anywhere else in the near future?"

"Yes," Alice answered while tying her hair up. "My boss called me at the time, he met Afton, but of course Afton didn't know him." Alice looked at Mark who narrowed his eyes briefly. "So, I have to go, you stay here, you have other things to do anyway."

"And what's that?"

"Find Lucy Dawson." Alice flashed a meaningful smile. "She was a patient you took care of, right? We believe she is still in this city."

Lucy Dawson, he remembered the black-eyed girl very well.

"Speaking of which, it seems there is something you would like to ask." Alice folded her arms in front of her chest, raised her eyebrows as she looked at Mark who seemed to have woken up and immediately reached into his pocket. Mark took out a folded piece of paper and gave it to Alice, whereupon Alice unfolded the paper and looked slightly flabbergasted. "Where did you get this?"

"After I told you that Terrance broke into my apartment I found it on my desk," Mark paused, "what is that thing? Terrance drew it for sure."

She laughed softly. "I'm pretty sure this is Ennard," she said. "The animatronic that killed your friend."

"This robot?"

"An A.I created by William Afton, but the project stopped before an incident in late 1982. I've never seen it in person, no legitimate assumptions about it either. I've only ever seen the wires come out of Afton's body in the last year." Alice returned the paper to Mark after taking a photo with her small camera. "It's impressive that Afton drew his own murderer in such detail, I thought they would be enemies."

"Apparently not." Mark frowned thinking back to the conversation between him and Michael back then, where Michael brought up the red-haired guy he had met and talked to several times.

Alice checked her watch briefly. "I'd better go now," she mumbled. "See you later, Halberg."

Mark nodded again and watched Alice jog leaving him there. He only turned around when Alice was no longer visible, then was about to walk into his friend's bakery again only to stop because Simon was leaning against the doorframe with a bored look. He winced. "What?"

"You came here just to meet your new girl?"

"What? No." Mark exhaled in annoyance and told Simon to get away from the entrance. "She's just an acquaintance of mine."

"That's the thing you said before dating them. What happened to your relationship with the girl who lived not far from our old school? You dumped her or cheated on her this time?"

Mark's forehead furrowed even deeper. "Don't accuse me like that!"

Simon wasn't interested in his protests at all. "Even your past relationship with Terrance outlasted that girl. You still like Terrance?"

"Nonsense."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Then what about you and Alec, huh?"

Simon stopped putting the bread box into the plastic, he turned slowly to Mark with an irritated look. "That is none of your business."

Mark snorted. "Exactly."

"Tidy up your own order now and leave my shop as soon as possible."

"Did you just kick me out?"

"Yes, I don't want to see your face anymore."