章節 24: "To Sambridge City-1"

Leo widened his eyes in shock. No one had ever asked him why he was always wearing a face mask, because they would assume either he had an allergy or he had a cold.

"Why are you surprised?" Sanno asked, and he wanted to tease him since he has a playful personality. "I know what you are hiding." his light brown eyes stared at him seriously.

"It's not-"

Lia went to look at how they were doing. She was surprised to see Leo's hand holding Sanno's wrist and conversing close to each other, with soap foams on their clothes. "What are you doing? Are you kids? You got foam all over you!"

Sanno laughed and pulled his hand away. "We were just playing," He glanced at Leo, and then approached Lia, "You know, we're like two high school boys, just fooling around."

"You're nowhere near a high school boy, Sanno," Lia laughed at his excuse. "By the way, what time are you going to fetch me tomorrow?"

When Leo heard this, he immediately stopped washing the dishes. He cleaned his hands with running water, wiped them with a dry cloth, and then faced them. "Where are you going tomorrow, Lia?"

"Oh, it's a work-related thing. Why?"

"You wanna come with us, Leo?" said Sanno, addressing him informally like they were close.

Lia glanced at Sanno, raising her eyebrows like she was asking if he was sure.

Sanno smiled at her and nodded.

"I will come with you."

"Great!" Sanno exclaimed as he rubbed the part of his long sleeves which was damp because of Leo's hands. "I need to go now. See you tomorrow… at nine in the morning?"

"Yup, nine a.m.!" Lia replied with a wide grin.

Sanno nodded, waved goodbye, and neared the main door.

But before Sanno could leave, he heard his name being called. He looked back at Lia, who ran towards him, looking at him with a sentimental expression. "Thank you so much, Sanno. I mean it."

"That's what friends are for, right?" he smiled at her, patting her head. "See you tomorrow."

Sanno walked away, and Leo wondered if he really knew about his secret or he was only teasing him.

The next day, Leo came to the Brentvale residence, wearing a checkered, black and white polo shirt, blue jeans, and white rubber shoes. As usual, he's wearing his face mask.

"Leo! You're just in time! Sanno just arrived," Lia told Leo. She was wearing jumper shorts, a white t-shirt, and black boots. Her newly cut full bangs were straightened, as well as her long, dark brown hair.

"Why do you look like that?" Leo asked her. He found her cute, but couldn't express himself well.

"What do you mean?" Lia said, pouting. It was a bit obvious that she dressed up because she didn't want to look too average in the presence of her two handsome friends.

"Lia's so cute today," Sanno said, smiling sweetly. He opened the door to the front seat. "Come in-"

"I'll take the front seat!" Leo exclaimed, then hurriedly ran towards the car. He sat on the front seat and closed the door.

"Looks like you became really close since last night," Lia said as she opened the door to the back seat. "Let's go?"

They traveled north and started their ride going to Sambridge City. When they reached a checkpoint area, the skyscrapers of Makylee City can be seen from afar. The change in environment could easily be felt from the busy environment of their home city to the serene, green fields surrounding them.

Sanno turned off the aircon and they rolled down their windows. They felt the warm breeze of the wind as the car took a faster speed in the absence of other vehicles in front of them.

It's been a while since Lia had traveled with friends. The last time that she had a good trip was before her parents had an accident, with her senior high friends Arianne and Maery. They enrolled in Makylee University with Fine Arts as their course. Lia, at that time, had no motivation to finish her Biology course, so she had always looked up to them. Sometimes, when Lia finished her part-time online job, she would meet with the two, to eat street foods near their university. Lucky for them, they were accepted as exchange students in a foreign university in the United Empires of Altan, both with the course of Fine Arts. The thought of their good memories together brought her a feeling of nostalgia as she gazed at the open field of rice paddies. Because of the wind, her hair was brushing against the window and her bangs were messy.

On the other hand, it was Leo's first time to travel in a car with friends. He didn't want to be friends with Sanno, but since Lia had trusted him, he had to be good to him, too. "It must be nice, having a car," he told Sanno, who lessened the music volume upon hearing him.

"It's my mother's," he replied. "It was a gasoline-type, but now it's converted to electricity-type. Just like any vintage car."

"You must be rich," Leo said, curious about his assets. "I heard it costs a lot."

"Nah," Sanno insisted, "I'm not rich. My parents are, but not me."

"Why not?"

"I've always wanted to be independent, so I moved out," Sanno explained, while reminiscing his childhood memories, "I even remember that I was always climbing the fence, just to skip my homeschool lessons."

"Oh, you were homeschooled, too?"

"Yeah, it was my dad's idea... Because I was too naughty, I guess?" he chuckled, remembering the chase he had with his nanny when he was seven years old, out in the road.

It was a pleasant thirty-minute ride, and the group finally arrived at Sambridge City. The city, which is smaller than Makylee City, has fewer malls and tall buildings. It has several nature parks located near the subdivisions and the residential buildings, as well as scattered Narra trees. The most famous place in the vicinity is the Sambridge University, which is included in the list of top 100 universities in the world.

Sanno parked his car in one of the parking spaces near the university's Student Guild building. He opened the aircon and rolled up the windows.

"I'll just meet my dad's friend. Just stay here, I'll be back soon," He said as he fixed his dark brown, long-sleeved polo. He left his seat and closed the door, then ran to the man in front of the building.

Lia and Leo were left in the car, while an electronica song entitled "Beats on your Head" plays at a low volume.

"Sambridge is a nice city," Lia said, moving forward to Leo's side to talk with him better, "It has many trees, and the air is fresher."

"Yeah, you're right," he said, glancing at her. "By the way, I forgot to ask, why did you go with him? I thought you have something to do here, too?" He gave her a puzzled look.

"It was work-related. I told you, right?"

"Yeah, but what will you do?"

Lia peeked in front of the car to see Sanno talking with a man. "Sanno said that he'll help me." She turned her head to Leo. "It's a confidential matter, I'm sorry, Leo."

Sanno stood there with his father's friend, Ken Ludwig, a professor teaching Computer Science subjects.

"Here's your package," Professor Ludwig said while handing over a two-kilogram box covered in kraft paper.