The Bond

Ch 106

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

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

=o^o=

"I have a question."

"What?"

"Why did you refer Thomas as a 'thing' a few days ago?" Michael looked at Ennard with a deep frown, while that made Ennard raise his eyebrows upwards—didn't expect the question.

Ennard shrugged his shoulders. "Can't I?"

Michael exhaled. "He's a human, Ennard. You can't just think of him as an inanimate object."

"You always refer to me as a living person, I can't refer to him as a thing?"

"No—" Michael frowned and stopped himself. "The point isn't—it's not like that—I mean you can't—you know? Nevermind."

A faint smile appeared on Ennard's face as Michael chose to give up rather than argue with him again. But then he felt a spark of irritation remembering the blonde-haired man again, someone who had been with them to this city. From how Thomas patted Michael's head and Michael smiled broadly at Thomas. That was annoying. Ennard gritted his teeth silently, before glancing at Michael who stepped beside him humming happily.

They decided to go out that afternoon—actually he agreed to go because Michael was constantly bothering and nagging him—just walking around the area and getting some ice cream.

"You seem to hate Thomas." Michael stared at Ennard in boredom.

"Stop bringing up Zachary."

"Why? Are you jealous?"

Ennard snorted. "No, why would I be jealous?" he grumbled indignantly. "There are more important things to worry about than Zachary, you're clearly ignoring that yourself."

"So you really are worried about Lulu!"

"No!" Ennard replied quickly and embarrassedly, while Michael laughed heartily.

The brown-haired man giggled, then drew closer to Ennard—this time Ennard moved away in exasperation, and the closer he got the further Ennard pulled away from him. He puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "I hope Lucy's okay," Michael mumbled while kicking small pebbles on the pavement. Michael lifted his face and looked at the setting sun. "Seems like we should head back now."

The red eye darted around for a moment, staring around warily. They walked on, he didn't speak anymore and just let Michael chatter next to him about random things. He had an unpleasant premonition. This city wasn't a big city, in the area they lived also rarely had so many people. After the sun had set, things would be completely quiet and still, so they had to get to their residence on time. Although the crime rate wasn't high, they still have to be careful.

Michael gave a small groan when he accidentally bumped into Ennard's back because Ennard suddenly stopped. He rubbed his forehead lightly, then glared at Ennard in confusion. "What's wrong, Enn?"

"It looks like we've been followed."

He flabbergasted, then looked back but there was no one. "Maybe you're just being paranoid," Michael said with a chuckle, though he now hesitated and looked around again and again. "Come on, don't scare me like that, Enn." Michael started to sound worried, he drew closer to Ennard quickly before being startled Ennard grabbed him by the wrist tightly and pulled him to continue walking. "Ennard?"

Ennard remained silent, he stared back as he was still pulling Michael. He activated his tracking system, sharpened his hearing and cleared his sight as his black eye turned amber. "Through this way."