“Just to be sure,” Nadia raised her eyes to the office’s ceiling before biting down on her lips. “Does that mean we need to kill that guy?”
Nadia’s question was as simple as it was valid. She already admitted to seeing through the hints Mathew dropped before. And right now, what she looked out for wasn’t an explanation but confirmation of her assumptions.
“That might be the case,” Mathew replied, only to then twist his lips in an ugly grimace. “What worries me, though, is how complicated this situation is likely to become,” he said before shaking his head and then hanging it low on his chest.
“What do you mean by that?” Nadia asked as her back slid against the wall when she plummeted down to the ground.
Now that the two of them knew what situation they were in, taking a rest whenever possible was of utmost importance.
Even if it was something as simple as sitting down instead of standing up for no reason whatsoever.
“Norbert,” Mathew replied with just a single word. A single name that held a singular meaning.
“That policeman?” Nadia leaned her head to the side as she looked at Mathew with curiosity brimming in her eyes. “What about him?”
“Wait, didn’t you hear what he said before hurrying away?” Mathew turned his head to the side to look at Nadia’s face.
“It’s not like I didn’t hear,” Nadia shook her shoulders before hanging her head to the back to rest it against the wall. “I simply didn’t care,” she explained before averting her face slightly to the side.
“There is no need to be ashamed of that,” Mathew said while a small smile crept up on his lips.
‘I never imagined hearing something so simple could make me so happy,’ he thought, unable to believe in just how damn simple his soul was.
Mathew felt no jealousy towards Norbert whatsoever. He didn’t even know the younger policeman all that well. In fact, outside of a few occasional exchanges, there was hardly any grounds for the young man to even claim he knew the man!
Still, when Nadia said that she didn’t care about what Norbert uttered before disappearing, Mathew heard something a bit different.
‘I know I might be projecting here, but doesn’t that mean she does not care about other men now that she has me?’
A part of Mathew’s soul trembled with excitement when he internally voiced out his beliefs.
‘It feels like admitting to that took a massive burden off my shoulders,’ Mathew thought.
“That Carol girl,” Mathew uttered once he organized his thoughts. “It seems that she’s Norbert’s sister.”
“What?” Nadia uttered a small shout of surprise and turned her head around to look at Mathew. She then pushed her upper body forward to fall on all fours before crawling up to where Mathew sat down. “Are you for real?” she asked when she pushed her head nearly all the way towards Mathew’s chest.
“I don’t know whether it’s true or whether it was just that guy projecting his wishes upon the real world,” Mathew said and shook his head. “Whether or not that guy’s hopes were true or not, it doesn’t matter,” Mathew pointed out, only to reach out for Nadia’s shoulders and then bring her on top of his lap. “What matters is that since Norbert believes in that, he will do whatever it takes to find her.”
“That makes sense,” Nadia muttered as she moved around on Mathew’s lap to find a perfectly comfortable spot. “But I don’t see why that guy matters,” she added without any time for herself to hesitate.
“Because it’s Daniel’s colleague,” Mathew replied, not needing to think over the answer either. “And that guy is not only the only real adult around, he is also an adult with a system,” he explained.
“So we need to keep him on our side, huh?” Nadia suggested only to shake her head. “Are you really sure we should keep someone like him around, though?”
Hearing those words, Mathew turned silent. Then, the pictures that he saw on the top floor of the school appeared before his eyes, only for the young man to close them and rest his forehead against Nadia’s shoulder.
“Ah, don’t get me wrong,” Nadia must’ve realized that she had stepped on a landmine, quickly scrambling to explain her words. “It’s not like I have anything against him or something,” she elaborated, “but don’t you think he might end up putting a wrench in your plans in the future?”
“And what exactly could you mean by that?” Mathew asked, ignoring the flashbacks and focusing on his talk with the girl.
‘I know we should hurry up and deal with the last merchant, but if we don’t rest a bit, we might just all go to our deaths,’ he thought, finding a justification for his moment of laziness.
“Listen, you said it yourself.” Nadia brought her hand up only to place it on top of Mathew’s head. And as her hand started to slowly comb through the young man’s hair, she opened her mouth again. “He is the only real adult around,” she brought Mathew’s words up. “Don’t you think a time might come when he will try to use that as a source of his authority? A legitimization to be the one calling the shots?”
“That’s…” Mathew attempted to answer, only to end up closing his mouth after a single word.
‘I can’t really deny that possibility,’ he thought as his face darkened.
“Matty, listen,” Nadia started as she brought her hand down only to coil her arms around Mathew’s neck as she hugged herself into his chest. “I don’t care about group politics. All I care about is you,” she whispered while rubbing her forehead against Mathew’s chest. “That’s why I’m willing to do anything it takes to prevent anyone from putting even a greater burden on you,” she explained.
Then, a villain-fitting smile appeared on his lips as he analyzed his own ideas and turned them into potential strategies.
“And secondly, what would be wrong with letting Daniel take the reins of the situation?”
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