CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17

"Are you guys alright?" Mercy asked, she was really infuriated at that moment. "How can you guys be so reckless within the sanctuary?", she scolded. She had directly discarded the fact that they were mostly age mates, she was actually lecturing them like juniors - after all age was but a number, some people were still kids beneath their advanced ages.

Not only her, most of her friends that were at the infirmary arrived at the training ground with an awful expression on their faces as they glared at those sparing, like Mercy they had also seen the damage and threat the earlier shockwaves had caused to the sanctuary.

"You know. . . At times I feel you guys don't even think before acting", Rose said. Naturally she was one of those that just returned, and her expression was even worst off compared to the others. "Look at them behaving like senseless things", Roosevelt joined. With an already bad mood, she definitely wouldn't loose the chance to have a go at venting out some of her built up anger.

"And what do you guys mean by all those insulting words you just spoke?", the guilty teens said completely enraged.

Clearly these girls weren't intending to give them any face at all. The guilty fellows were naturally the males, since there were no girls among them the girls were definitely not going to give them any face at all, the boys stood powers activated to the max while staring at the girls, they wanted to show them who was superior to who.

"Oh!. . . So now you want to pounce on us?", Comfort said. Summoning her umbrella from the weapon's rack, she directly took a step forward while opening it. Since they were all enraged, was there even the need to act all politely with one another?, since the boys wanted a fight they would gladly oblige and whoop their asses to reset their thinking.

Having the same thought, Ebbie also got her weapon ready and spoke her mind. "What is the need to do all the acrobatics, if you want to fight then FIGHT!".

As though a delicate balance had been broken, the moment Ebbie acted the rest of the teens also acted summoning their weapons. Without wasting time, the boys charged at the girls who also ran to meet them at the centre of the spar ground. All except Larry, he was better than that. To be involving himself with childish outbursts and fights?, his state of heart had already

transcended such a lowly level. But he just silently watched without acting to stop them, they needed it. They had been holding their angers and awful emotions in for so long and he knew that they needed a medium to vent out those emotions, he knew that despite the fact that they were all attacking each other so furiously it was nothing but a means of burning out those pent up angers and all that. Having to live the way they did, loosing their friend and so on, it had really gotten to them and they needed to let out some steam before they exploded. Naturally, the only reason why he was not feeling the need to join them

was because he wasn't under as much pressure as his friends, if there was one thing he noticed about Marvellous and he made sure to emulate, it was the ability to remain carefree. Most of the time when they saw Marvellous acting all unconcerned and affected by certain situations, they would usually refer to him as a wicked and bad person. However as time passed, he noticed that it was actually the seemly sadistic part of him that made Marvellous always rational even in times of the worst.

Over where the fight was ongoing, due to the absence of Marvellous and Larry, the boys advantages in numbers was taken away, they had no way to overwhelm the girls totally but were actually even slightly disadvantaged, after all some of them had their crushes among the girls and would definitely not allow any other guy fight them or would not allow them get injured in the slightest. On the contrary however, the girls - especially Rose and Roosevelt - didn't have any reason to hold back and even seemed to be hell bent on using the innocent boys as punching bags as the opportunity presented itself.

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Anthonia side glanced at the man beside her as he joked and laughed with everybody that came to congratulate him, naturally he was Maxwell. The news of his discharge from the infirmary had spread as quickly as wild fire and the people in the base were flooding his residence to congratulate and show their good will towards him.

"Why do I feel that you look even more handsome on your return from the infirmary?", a woman laughed.

"Hahaha. . . If I wasn't so old, I would definitely throw myself at you. After all you are not married yet". Another said.

"Ah!. . . Please stop teasing me Jane". Maxwell said, "You are still a beautiful young woman, just a little older than me.

How can you say that you are old?, it has been just a short few weeks since I last saw you and you have already grown this bold to even tease me?. . . WONDERFUL!", he laughed with the others.

"Of course!. . . But she didn't lie now did she?", another teased too. Normally everyone was just willing to ride with the current and enjoy the joyful moment to their heart content, even Anthonia. Despite feeling a bit of jealousy that Maxwell was laughing with other females apart from herself, she didn't let that cloud her thoughts and instead decided to use the time to admire his smile and laugh, (What a love sick woman!).

'How I wish I can actually tell him how I feel about him, how I wish I can drop all form of disguises and run into his arms this moment', she thought. The urge to be his woman surfaced again, and in an even stronger manner compared to the previous times she felt it. With no small amount of self restraint, she managed to avoid walking up to him at that moment.

"Now I can atleast rest from all the additional work I had to settle for you", she joined to tease him.

"Yeah that right, I haven't had time to thank you yet". Maxwell replied, "Why don't we step out for a bit?" he suggested.

Of a truth, Maxwell had something really sensitive to discuss with Anthonia. How could he not have noticed her stares and sneak peeks when she though he was not looking?, he had always thrown it to the back of his mind every time it happened and he would have continued to if not for the recent happenings. He was a man after all, how could he not feel for someone of

the opposite sex who had been with him for so long and had even been hinting in that direction for a long time. Thinking back to those years before the apocalypse when they actually got into the same college and she would prefer to stay in his house

instead of hers, his heart couldn't help but warm up.

Walking side by side with her, he choose not to break the silence between them, silently seeking comfort in it. After all if Anthonia was still the one he knew, she would not be able to endure it for long - and he was so damn right!.

"So what do you want to talk about that you can't say in front of people and needs us to walk for so long", she asked.

"Silence". Maxwell choose not to reply and instead decided to keep on walking, all the while smiling in his heart.

If he was not wrong about the decision he was about to make and Anthonia kept on with her childish character around him, the rest to his days would definitely be a joy filled one.

After walking for sometime, they came to a deserted part of the sanctuary and Maxwell stopped walking. Looking at the puzzled expression on Anthonia's face as she looked around, he just couldn't help but let out a soft laugh as he raised his hand to pat her on the hair.

*Gedeng* Anthonia's heart skipped a beat as she saw the expression on Maxwell's face, 'Was she seeing things?' she thought. Maxwell saw the look on Anthonia's face, but he didn't care to mask his expression, he was about to let out the secret anyway.

"Maxwell what. . .", Anthonia was about to speak when Maxwell suddenly leaned forward and planted his lips on hers.

He was not going to let her say anything foolish to ruin the moment. He had wanted to say some love inspiring words before he came to the kissing stage, but now those story part had to wait, after all he could still come back to them later.

Anthonia was shocked, MAXWELL ACTUALLY KISSED HER!!!. Besides he did so in such a manner like he had being waiting for that moment for a long time, 'her dream had turned to reality', she thought and allowed herself to be lost in the kiss and enjoy it as much as possible.

Maxwell sat on a large piece of stone with Anthonia at his side, he was still remembering and enjoying the sensation of her lips on his.

Finally he broke the silence, "You know. . . It is really a wonder how I managed to delay it for so long before confessing my feelings to you. Even when I found out that you also had something for me, I just couldn't bring myself to break that friendship bond we share and turn it into something else. . .", he said making Anthonia's heart beat rate increase.

'Turns out the feelings were mutual, but this fellow actually knew how to hide it so well till this time. . . HUMPH!' she thought.

"I actually don't know when it started,, but when I realised it, it was already a deep feeling that trying to forget couldn't erase. I tried distancing abit but it only seemed to make the feeling stronger, and sensing your eyes on me at all moments when you thought I wouldn't notice didn't help matters, I guess I've hidden it long enough to say and waited long enough to confirm that. . . I LOVE YOU!" he said.

Anthonia was shocked dumb, she didn't even know how to reply except with a whisper. "I love you too!",