Chapter 25: Now We’re Even
"So do you?!"
The petite lady had surprising strength behind her grip as Fredrinn’s clothes crumpled under her hold.
Her eyes had such intensity behind them that even Fredrinn was taken aback.
He looked into them and stayed silent.
Her eyes had tears, still wet and still forming as she grit her teeth and gazed at him in anger.
It was no longer a joking matter as Fredrinn doesn’t even remember when was the last time he saw a woman cry genuinely.
He gently held her hand that was holding onto his collar and easily loosened her grip, but he didn’t let go.
"I am sorry." He said in the most genuine tone that he could muster.
"I didn’t know my lie would hurt you like that and I honestly didn’t think it would become such a big deal. It was a mistake on my part, and I am ready to make up for it, so stop crying at the very least." he smiled as he said.
"I am not crying." Naomi pulled her hand back from his hold as she wiped her tears with her sleeves.
"Of course." Fredrinn nodded, holding back a chuckle.
A couple of beats passed between them when neither of them spoke, as the pressure slowly started to build up.
The awkward silence, the gazes of everyone in the group that Naomi had earlier ignored.
It was as if everyone didn’t have anything to do and they were all watching her.
"I..." She tried speaking but the edge in her tone had mellowed down significantly.
She hadn’t expected that he would apologize so genuinely to her, as in her mind, Fredrinn appeared like a big mean jerk who couldn’t care less about the others.
But now, it was getting difficult to hate him!
"I came here because, uhm, I don’t have any skills that could help me get into the final group." Naomi said awkwardly, her lips puffy and her eyes darting everywhere but meeting him.
It was like she was a totally different person.
Fredrinn was amused again, but this time for a completely different reason. He felt curious how a person can change their personality so quickly.
He doubted that he could do it.
But maybe he just doesn’t remember the last time he felt such intense emotions that he would go out of his personality?
Outside, Fredrinn smiled, resisting the urge to pat the petite beauty as he said, "I understand, don’t worry about it."
And before Naomi could process that, he turned away from her and gazed at the gorgeous blonde haired, gun carrying baddie.
"Jenny."
Jenny was already watching the interaction, and it wasn’t just her, everyone was watching.
After seeing her called out, she casually strolled towards Fredrinn and the others.
"What’s up?" she said.
"I would like Naomi to be added as my teammate." Fredrinn smiled as he said.
Jenny smirked knowingly, "Only choosing girls as your teammates, huh? It makes me wonder if you’re trying to make a team or..."
Fredrinn shrugged, "It is what it is," before looking into her eyes and flashing his go-to smile, "If you want, you’re welcome to join anytime."
She was taken aback for a split second but she managed to recover quickly as she giggled merrily, "I will think about it. As for Naomi... well..."
She turned to look at Max who only scoffed and turned away from the group.
"Done~" Jenny giggled at her leader’s reaction.
Clearly, he was still salty about Fredrinn being higher level than him.
Naomi blinked incredulously. It was done? Just like that?
Her eyes flicked towards the large crowd that was gathered in front of Jacob, herded like cattle as they tried to list their skills that would be useful.
The thin and lanky man had turned out to be a student that was pursuing MBBS and had decent knowledge about medicine, so he was chosen.
A few of them were engineers, which was also quite a coveted profession in the apocalypse so they were chosen as well.
A couple of women had to be chosen just for cooking and household chores as that was all they could list.
As for the blonde cheerleader, she also got chosen due to her athletic ability in gymnastics as well as some connections amongst the higher ups.
Naomi was surprised that she had skipped over all that hassle and had simply joined the group just because she asked Fredrinn for it.
Was this the prestige and reputation that came along with the title of an awakener?
No one asked if she would be useful, no one questioned what worth she would be... she was simply chosen.
She glanced at Fredrinn and noticed that he was looking at her as well.
Slight blush coloured her cheeks, as she pouted and nodded, "Thanks. It was the least you can do for me, but still I am grateful."
Fredrinn chuckled at her words.
He took no offense as he grinned, "It’s alright, now we’re even."
Naomi scoffed as she averted her eyes and without being asked, she made her way towards his back where Andrea and Rhea were already standing.
Andrea was watching over everything with keen eyes, and when Naomi came, Andrea’s focus was shifted towards the petite beauty.
There was a lot on her mind that she could say, but she didn’t want to say it when she was standing right behind Fredrinn.
So she kept quiet and simply looked at the front where the selection process was ongoing.
Rhea was also quiet but for completely different reasons.
In her mind, she was still debating over the teasing line that Jenny had dropped.
What did she mean? Did Fredrinn have ulterior motives with them? And when did she even join his team???
She was only standing behind him and using him as a cover and a ticket to get into the group when she herself might not have been able to...
Thinking about it, Rhea felt that she was taking unfair advantage of him.
And thus, she kept going on a spiral, overthinking the same thing over and over again as time ticked by.
Finally, the selection process was finished... and the remaining crowd that wasn’t chosen....
Wasn’t so happy.
