Hunger

A few days have passed since that particular night. Strangely, when Ly Giai or I tried to ask Si why he ran off when we were in the pond, he always found ways to avoid answering. Both of us were puzzled.

Another strange thing, Si stopped being cheerful. No more running around, clinging to Ly Giai, or verbally attacking me. After that night, he turned the complete opposite and became timid, like how he was when we first met him.

Ly Giai and I didn't know what to do in this situation. We both never had experience with children before, but we've decided not to mention why he disappeared anymore. Since he won't answer anyway, that will only make Si more uncomfortable. We'll just have to wait for him to become more open to us.

...

I have lost track of how many days it was, but I roughly guess it had been about a month since Ly Giai and I escaped South City. We should be reaching the capital in, at most, two weeks. 

But there was an issue.

The more we travel north, to the capital, the colder it gets.

That means, there was less and less food for us to find.

*Stomach growling

"Are you hungry?" I asked Ly Giai.

She was blushing, embarrassed of her stomach. "No no!" she tried to deny. "I am full!"

"But I just heard..."

"That! ... That was the sound from a wild animal..."

 "Is that so..." I squinted my eyes.

"Yea... yeah..." she wasn't good at lying.

I opened my bags and offered her a handful of berries. "Then I must feed this wild animal, or it will eat me someday," I jokingly said.

Her face was even more red. She pushed my hand away. "You shouldn't waste them. We haven't been able to find any food for three days now."

"But Ly Giai, you look so skinny and frail," I told her.

"You are not any better than me, Do," she replied.

I was trying to ignore how worse Ly Giai was looking day by day because we were all suffering together. But still, it hurts to see the person you love declining so much. 

I smiled, "Why can't I give you some food when you gave Si so much?"

Ly Giai shook her head, "You also shared so much food with Si too. Please don't make me look like the only one that did good."

I sighed. "I thought young ladies from rich families couldn't handle hardships well. Can you be a little more demanding?"

She smiled playfully. "Since I'm so different from those other elegant and beautiful ladies, do you not like me anymore?"

I raised my hands and pretended to surrender. "Oh, my young lady, please forgive this insignificant for his foul language!" 

Ly Giai smirked and played along, she put her fingers under my chin and pulled me in close, "Does this servant listen to his master?" she lowered her voice. 

Ly Giai was intimidating.

I was completely caught off guard. "Uh... Ly Giai?"

But it looked like she was enjoying a little too much. "If you are a good servant, then be obedient and put that food away."

"Ly Giai?" I called her again, nervously.

"Are you clear?" she won't snap out of it. Her eyes were turning more violent by the second.

"Hello!" I waved my hand in front of her eyes. "Ly Giai, are you oka... WHOAH!"

Once again, she pulled my chin closer, so close that our noses almost touched. "Are you clear?" she smirked again and lowered her voice even more, almost whispering.

I nervously swallowed and gave in. "Here." I showed her me putting the berries back in the bag.

Her eyes carefully watched my hands. After I closed the bag, she immediately smiled and pulled her hand back. Her voice turned back to normal. "Yay! You listened!"

"WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT WAS THAT?" I was screaming internally over and over although my expression was neutral on the outside.

Ly Giai looked at me and giggled. Satisfied with her performance, she went up to check up with Si, who was walking ahead of us the entire time.

"Hope Si doesn't hear us this entire time," I completely forgot he was with us for a moment.

"You two shouldn't be doing this in front of children," he said.

"UGH!!! SO EMBARRASSING!" I screamed internally. 

Opposite to me, Ly Giai found it amusing.

"Are you tired, Si? Should we stop for a bit and rest?" she asked him, smiling.

"I'm not tired," he replied rather coldly and walked faster.

Ly Giai tried to keep up with him. "Did we do something wrong? That's why you are angry at us?" she tried to understand him.

He shook his head. "I just want us to get to the capital quickly," he said and increased the speed, leaving us behind, puzzled.

This forced atmosphere continued for another three days. At where we were, the trees only had dead branches remaining. Even if I wanted to hunt animals, I couldn't find any to set up traps.

Our food supply was running dangerously low. I tried to consume as little as I could, but I only had one day left of food. Ly Giai and Si should be similar to me.

We had one day left of food, and more than a week to reach the capital.

But something stood out to me. I didn't know if I was running mad or hallucinating. But every morning, when I picked up the bag, I always felt like it was slightly heavier than the night before.

But food couldn't just magically appear, right? This continuous hunger must be making me hallucinate about having more food.

...

At least, that was what I thought.

That noon, when the three of us sat down to eat and rest. 

"You're done already?" I asked Si. He finished eating so quickly.

"Yea... Yeah. I wasn't hungry," he replied.

I was skeptical. "I've noticed that you eat very little the past few days. Are you running out of food? You can have some of mine."

Si smiled, but it looked forced. He raised his bag for us to see. It was quite heavy. "See? I still have a lot left. I'm just not that hungry," he said and quickly went away.

I looked at Ly Giai, quite worried. "Does kids don't eat that much?" I asked her, hoping she knew better than I was.

"I'm not sure," Ly Giai said. "But Si is still young. Young kids couldn't handle hunger well. So I think he'll eat more whenever he feels hungry."

I sighed and scratched my head. "I just hope he doesn't starve himself."

"You are too worried, Do. Take a rest," she gently said and held my hand.

I nodded. "If only we are still as close as before, then I can maybe I can talk with him. But he's suddenly become so distant."

Ly Giai tried to ease my mind. "I think he is a little traumatized getting beat up back then. Si doesn't hate us, so he'll talk to us when the time comes."

"I hope you are right..."

...

Two more days passed, but the capital was still nowhere to be seen. My mind was becoming all fuzzy, not only because of the hunger but also the cold weather of going northward. 

At that point, the three of us stayed extremely close, wrapped our arms around each other, to warm ourselves with the others' body temperature, even for just a little bit.

I looked over to Ly Giai, whose lips had become dried and cracked. Her face looked gray and sick. 

Si didn't look any better. The three of us were shaking uncontrollably.

The sounds of our stomachs crying had become the usual, even Ly Giai stopped getting embarrassed by it.

Our speed had become significantly slower, our feet trembling just to be able to stand up. It was hell. There was nothing around for us to eat, not even leaves. 

But even though my mind was becoming numb, somehow, I still noticed that my food hadn't run out.

As we were dragging our feet onward, Si lost his balance and fell. 

"AH!" 

"Si!" Ly Giai and I yelled and went to help him stand up. 

Si lost grip of his bag and it spilled out everything. When I went to pick up it up, I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was so shocking that my voice was trembling.

"What the... are these... rocks!?"