Bab 8: CHAPTER 8
When Jeonguk and Aurora took the L Train to the last stop, they finally made it back to The North Sea. The two of them ambled their way back to the beach as their final stop for the day. Jeonguk was more quiet than usual during their stroll, and Aurora wondered what was his issue. "Is something wrong?"
"Not quite." He says instantly.
Aurora furrowed her eyebrow in suspicion. "Did something happen that I didn't notice?"
"Not necessarily."
Aurora rolls her eyes. "Whatever." As they neared the beach, Aurora was contemplating how good she was going to sleep tonight. After all the crap she'd been through throughout the day, it was time for her to just sleep it all off.
Aurora stretched joyfully, letting a satisfied moan escape her lips. "Oh, I can't wait to just go and sleep!" She cried.
Jeonguk grabbed the back of her dress by her waist, stopping her. Aurora paused and looked at him. "What is it?"
Jeonguk's long stare drew Aurora's eyes in the direction that he was looking. Alarmed by what she saw, Aurora backed away. "…how did they…"
There were many police cars and officers parked on the beach, looking around the bridge that Aurora originally lived at.
"How did they find out I lived here…?!" Aurora cried.
Jeonguk took Aurora away from the scene, hurrying to a nearby place to hide. Seeing a pub, Jeonguk took her inside. It was quite dimmed and many older men were chilling at the bar counter and drinking at different tables.
Aurora balled her fists. She knew what this meant. She knew what was happening.
I can't live there anymore… She thought bitterly.
Jeonguk walked further inside, stopping at the bar counter. Aurora followed from a distance, already lost in her mind's burden.
Jeonguk politely called the bartender over. The men sitting at the counter looked at each other.
"Pretty M boy coming in here for a drink?"
Jeonguk turned to them, but didn't respond. The men felt uncomfortable by the way he eyed them, and wanted to bark at him.
Aurora gave the men a nasty glare, rewarding her with their attention. "Who's this little girl?" They asked.
"I'm none of your damn business." She sneered.
Jeonguk held her shoulder. Proceeding with his question, the bartender answered him.
The two guys got up, slamming their glasses on the table. "This ain't a place for a little girl and her little boy toy. Why don't you and him get the hell out of here, before we teach you both a lesson—"
Aurora swung at the man, connecting her fists with his face. The man bounced back, knocking into the man behind him.
Aurora was terribly pissed off, and was not in the mood for anyone's BS. She cursed at the two of them, telling them to piss off, and that they better know who they're messing with. The bartender shook his head, asking Jeonguk to please escort the girl out of here before things got bad.
All the guys in the bar laughed at the two men because they got handled by a girl who was less than five times their size.
Embarrassed and enraged, they both got up, ready to kill Aurora. One man swung at her as Jeonguk pulled her along. Jeonguk quickly yanked Aurora under his armpit and carried her out of the bar. He beelined to the right, dealing with Aurora's constant shouting at the males. When he was far enough, he placed her on her feet.
"Why did you stop me from kicking their asses?!" She snapped.
"You did the same thing to me when I was facing those three women in the train."
Aurora stopped, remembering what happened earlier. Sighing, she hugged herself insecurely. "…right."
"We cannot go back to the beach," Jeonguk says to Aurora's annoyance. "I asked the man at the bar if he knew where we could stay."
"And, what did he tell you…?"
"He said there's a foster home nearby, I assumed the one that you came from—"
"Oh, hell no." Aurora folded her arms, pacing past him.
Jeonguk paused, then turned around to follow her. "What is the problem?"
"I am not going back to that place!" Aurora deadpanned. "I left that hellhole for a reason! The foster home? That's a joke!"
Jeonguk tried to reason with her, but Aurora didn't want to hear any of it.
"Listen, after what Mother Nan tried to do to you, I sure as hell wouldn't trust you to be in the same building—let alone—the same room as her!"
"I already explained to you that I did not know what her intentions are—"
"I don't give a—" Aurora bit back her tongue. "That's not the point! Her intentions would have led her to teaching you how to do terrible things!" Aurora gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself down. "Listen," She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I wouldn't mind finding a decent place to sleep, but anywhere would be fine as long as it's not the foster home…or any place here."
"So, you'd rather live outside of The North Sea?" Jeonguk concluded.
"…yeah."
Walking past Aurora, Jeonguk finally made up his mind on what he was going to do. Aurora shook her head in discontent. She figured that one day she'd have to leave the beach and move on to a different territory. But not this soon.
Her mind clouded with pessimistic thoughts that overwhelmed her. No family, no friends, no allies, no one to rely on, no references.
Nobody.
Sucking her teeth, Aurora decided to just brush the meaningless ideas from her head. She expected this would happen. The cops should have been the least of her concerns. Aurora caught up with Jeonguk, discussing with him her thoughts on what they should do now. She thought that perhaps they could just find some shelter for tonight, and then in the morning, start searching for a new abandoned territory.
Jeonguk didn't think that was wise, but he complied. "I was planning on finding us a home also. But by different means." He said.
"And how so?"
"I'm not sure yet. But I'll figure something out."
Aurora was by far impressed by how dedicated this AI was to seeing her happy. "Say, are you an AI that was built to fulfill any pleasure?"
Jeonguk stopped and looked at her. "Define what you mean by pleasures?"
"Ah…" Aurora blushed, realizing where this conversation was going to go. "…never mind. I thought that whoever built you, had made you with the urge to please your owners materially or whatever…"
Jeonguk pondered on that theory. "I honestly don't know." He confessed. "If I ever see him, I'd have to ask him myself."
"Right."
Once they had reached York Seoul City, Aurora and Jeonguk made their way through the streets to find somewhere to stay. Finding an alley that was very dark and vacant, Aurora guided Jeonguk there.
"Let's just sleep here…" Aurora exhaled. "…god damn, the cops were also rummaging through the basket of mangoes you brought for me."
"I can always get more."
"No, no," Aurora shook her index finger at him. "We're not stealing anymore."
Jeonguk blinked, sitting down on the hard pavement.
Following suit, Aurora hugged her knees. "Hopefully they don't find us here…"
"We should have just spent one night at the foster home." Jeonguk said.
"I'm not going back there." Aurora finalized. "You'd have to take me unconscious to be there." With that note, Aurora leaned her head on the brick wall, closing her eyes. Jeonguk watched as she fell asleep peacefully.
Unconsciously…
When Aurora woke up in the morning, she stretched satisfyingly. She smacked her lips and batted her eyelids to wash out the haziness in them. Looking around, she was in a completely different setting. Aurora sat up hastily, glancing around. "What the…" Pulling the sheet off her, she screamed, slapping her hand over her mouth. Jeonguk was sound asleep next to her—like the first time Aurora had woken up on the beach. "Where are we…?" Aurora laid her hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Wake up, Jeonguk."
Jeonguk's eyes shot open, creeping Aurora out. He sat up and looked at her. "Good morning."
"Good morning…" Aurora clenched the sheets. "…where are we?"
"We are in the foster home."
Aurora's eyes widened with fury. "We are WHAT?" She tossed the sheets away from her, causing Jeonguk to calmly get out of bed and face her. Aurora was infuriated by Jeonguk's disrespectful behavior. "I told you specifically that I did NOT want to come back here!" Aurora cursed at him, questioning why the hell did he bring her back here after the fact that she explained to him the dangers of being in this environment.
"You said that I'd have to take you here when you're unconscious. You were also freezing." Jeonguk explained. "Winter is coming soon, which means that we'd have no choice but to eventually move indoors."
Aurora backed down. "We could have worried about that later, dummy…" Aurora blushed, looking away. Why does he act like as if he as a heart or something? He doesn't need to treat me like as if he truly knows me…we've only known each other for almost a week now.
Jeonguk clenched his fists. "Besides, I snuck in through the back entrance and found this room."
"You did?!" Aurora gasped in awe. "How on earth could you have done that?!"
"Well, that was the story, until Mother Nan came in here and saw me putting you in bed."
Aurora's awe inspired expression dragged into a frown.
"She was checking the rooms to see if all the children were asleep and was shocked to see this door was open. She didn't say anything when she saw us though."
"That's already suspicious in itself—" Aurora hurried to the door. "We need to get the hell out of here—"
As she grabbed the door knob, Jeonguk grabbed her hand. "You should take a shower first." He suggests. "So that you can feel fresh for the day."
"You're just trying to politely say that I stink, huh?"
Jeonguk didn't say a word.
Snatching her hand out of his grasp, she rubbed her wrist. "Bastard." Exiting, Jeonguk followed Aurora to the bathroom. When she went inside, Jeonguk shut the door behind him and locked it.
"What are you doing?" Aurora asks skeptically.
"I'm locking the door just so that no intruders enter."
Aurora raised a brow at his statement. "No one knows we're here."
"Which is the problem," Jeonguk explains. "No one has a clue, so anyone can just walk right in."
"They should have enough common sense to knock before just walking in, though…" Aurora grabbed a towel from the rack.
"Is common sense common in this world?" Jeonguk questioned, sincerely wanting an answer.
Aurora thought that he was being rhetorical and smart about this situation. Deciding not to answer him, Aurora sighed, taking off her shoes. "Well, anyways," She glanced back and pouted. "Mind facing the door? Even if you're an AI, it's still weird to have you watch me get undressed in the bathroom."
"Right," Jeonguk did a 180 on his heel and faced the door, entwining his hands behind his back.
Taking off her dress, her underwear fell onto the ground. "Well, no wonder I smell…" She grimaced. "I kept my wet underwear in my dress this whole time that it didn't have any air to breathe…"
"Is there a problem?" Jeonguk asked.
"Yeah," Aurora approached him with her underwear in hand. "Think you can wash this?"
Jeonguk was turning around when Aurora slapped her hand onto his cheek to keep it from turning any further. "No, don't just turn around!" She hissed. "Here!" She shoves the undergarment in his hand. "Just wash this please? Can you do that?"
Jeonguk stared at her underwear, trying to process the material so that he'd know how to handle it. Aurora mistook his silence and stare as him admiring her bland and baggy panties. Snatching it back from him, she scoffed, dismissing her request. "I'll just wash the damn thing in the shower, since you want to be a panty observer now."
Jeonguk didn't understand what Aurora meant. "I was just examining your underwear to—"
"Yeah, I've heard enough." Aurora silenced him, trying to control her urge to punch him in his metal brains. "I'm just going to wash my panty in the shower. She turned on the shower, letting it get lukewarm. "Good bye." Getting in, she closed the shower curtains. Jeonguk didn't know what to do in the meantime. His eyes roamed all over the bathroom, taking in how rundown the tiles and paint was. It wasn't too bad, but it could have been better.
Aurora held her shoulders, tilting her head back to let the water rinse through her hair. Leaning her head to the side, she rested her shoulder on the shower wall and turned the hose onto her. Aurora hardly had a chance to take a decent shower, making her reminisce. She didn't like it here at all, but the shower was just an everyday necessity that she ended up missing.
She began to wash her underwear with the soap available, then ended up using it as a scrubber for her body. Scrubbing herself down thoroughly, Aurora moaned when she washed over her stomach. That was were she was kicked. Aurora had forgotten about the incident from the other day. If she wasn't careful, she'd put herself back in pain.
Jeonguk went to the mirror to look at himself. Looking at the bathroom sink, he noticed that there were a few toothbrushes sitting in a cup. He absorbed this detail, thinking about what Aurora would need for their new home. Aurora doesn't have a toothbrush, does she? Jeonguk meditated deeply. What else will she need?
Finishing, Aurora rinsed out her underwear and hung it on the shower hook. Grabbing the towel from the hanger, she turned off the shower and wiped herself down meticulously. Aurora saw that the bruises on her body was slowly fading away. She was relieved. Aurora didn't have any money to go to a doctor—which would be an inconvenience for her. Opening the shower curtain, she saw that Jeonguk was standing in front of the mirror above the sink. Aurora didn't pay him any mind, and stepped out to get her dress from the floor.
"I'm going to start getting dressed. So, don't turn, okay?" She warned.
Jeonguk didn't reply to her, and continuously stared.
Aurora sucked her teeth at his silence, resuming her dressing. Jeonguk then turned around, making Aurora bark at him. "What the hell did I just say?!"
"Are you finished?" Jeonguk asked coming over. "Here, let me zip it up for you." He went behind her and zipped up her dress. Aurora's cheeks reddened because she was somewhat embarrassed that her breasts were so small that she didn't need to wear a bra. Either way, it probably would have been awkward whether she could have worn one or not.
Clearing her throat, Aurora went to the mirror to fix her hair. Being that she had no comb, she would use her hands to fix it up. Aurora combed her hand through her hair, letting it airdry. Jeonguk walked over and placed his hands in her hair. Aurora gave him a look through the mirror. "Yes?"
"Do you not have a comb?"
"If I did, would I be using my fingers?"
Jeonguk moved away from Aurora and went to the shower.
Rolling her eyes, she continued to fix her hair.
Jeonguk began to undress himself, dropping his clothes on the floor. He stretched as he went over to the shower. Hearing Jeonguk turning on the water, Aurora was astonished. She turned to him and gawked in confusion. "What are you doing?!"
Jeonguk turned around, earning a sharp yell from Aurora. She covered her eyes and turned away. "What is wrong with you?! You can't just flash yourself like this when a girl is around!"
"I'm taking a shower," Jeonguk replied. "I need to smell clean, too."
Aurora shook her head. "Just go in the shower, you damn pervert."
"Pervert?" Jeonguk tilts his head in curiosity. I will research what you are implying through my system so that I can know how to respond to your statement."
"Forget it, just get in the shower!" Aurora demanded.
"As you wish," Jeonguk goes in.
Opening her eyes, she exhaled shakily. She glanced at him to make sure he was doing what he was supposed to do but rolled her eyes in fury. "Close the damn curtains, what the hell?!" Aurora began to curse at him, ranting about how as a male he should not be so carefree and oblivious to his crude actions.
"Okay," He responds, closing the curtains.
Aurora smacked herself on the forehead and leaned back on the sink. "Am I raising a child?" She rambled. Although she was annoyed, she smiled faintly at the fact that Jeonguk was learning some morals, at least. He's an AI, but he also needs to understand the importance of hygiene.
Aurora's hair was finally mostly dry, allowing her to comb her fingers through her hair once more. Jeonguk then finished, coming out of the shower. He had forgotten to grab a towel. Walking towards the door, Aurora saw his reflection through the mirror and closed her eyes. "Jung…KOOK!!!" She hollered.
"Yes, master?"
"Say, "excuse me, can you close your eyes so that I can get a towel," next time! Or just ask if I can hand you a towel so that you don't have to come out naked, or wet the floor, god damn it!"
"Okay," Jeonguk nods obediently, grabbing a towel from the racks.
Aurora quickly did a breathing exercise to control her anger. She never realized how angry she could become until Jeonguk came around. Jeonguk thoroughly wiped his body down, dropping the towel on the floor. Picking up his clothes, he dressed himself once more. "I'm all finished."
"Good." Aurora deadpanned. "Now we can leave." Opening the door, she left. Jeonguk turned back to the shower and went towards it.
Reaching for her underwear, Jeonguk examined it once more. "80% Polyester …20% Cotton." He calculated. "That's not good for her," Jeonguk mumbled. "Her skin is getting a rash from this." Taking her underwear, he tossed it into the trash bin that was next to the sink. Feeling accomplished, he dusted his hands clean and went to Aurora.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone