Hearts Disguised

Chapter 19

Strange Behavior

The night was a slow one for Yang. She sat in the bath of ice for an endless amount of time, waiting for the morning to come so that she could train again. For some reason, Neo left quite an impression on her. It was obvious that that girl was working for this company and wanted to make this world a better place, just like her. Also, she occasionally turned her head to look at her phone. It was bothering her that she couldn't reach it. She wanted to know who called her, but that would just have to wait.

Once morning came around, Yang's body suddenly regained its strength. She slowly climbed out of the tub and put her clothes back on. She then walked over to her phone and checked to see who it was. Before she could really see who the caller was, a sharp voice called out her name which caused her to drop her phone and turn around.

"Yang!" She stood straight up as if a drill sergeant was inspecting her. Neo walked into the room and slowly walked towards her. "I gave Cinder my report of you and she said that I'm free to be your mentor. However, there is a certain way I like to run things and this is unacceptable. Today, you may the day off." Yang grew disgusted.

"What are you talking about? I have to train. One day isn't enough."

"It's not like I'm going to stop. You just can't go back-to-back days when you first start off."

"Of course I can. My body's ready to go."

"I don't care. You need the rest or else your body won't recover the next time."

"That's fine. Let's go." Neo eyed Yang in a dirty way and slapped her across the face.

"I have agreed to train you, but if you're going to be stingy, then there's no need." Yang felt the hot place on her cheek and then started to walk away. "If you're thinking about a new mentor, good luck. Cinder said for me, and me alone to train you. No one else will help. So fix that attitude and I will see you here bright and early tomorrow." Neo turned around and walked out of the room. Yang brought her hand down and picked up her phone. She saw that it was Blake and immediately called her back.

"Yang?"

"Hi Blake. Sorry I couldn't get to the phone. I was kind of busy doing some things yesterday."

"It's fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Really? We can meet up right now if you're available."

"Sure. Our usual place?"

"You got it." They hung up the phone and ran to their usual meeting place. It didn't take long for them to arrive. When they got there, they exchanged smiles and walked into the café. As they took a seat, Blake immediately noticed something different about Yang that she couldn't let it pass.

"Yang, what happened to you? Why do you have all these bruises?"

"Oh, don't worry about it."

"How can I not? It looks like you got beaten up by like 10 dudes. Are you sure you're not in pain?"

"I'm sure. Don't worry about me. Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment. It's not important anymore."

"Aw, I wanna know. You can still tell me."

"No, I can't. It'd be too weird to talk about it now."

"Why? We're here like we always are. What would possibly make it weird?" This whole time, Blake had her head down, but she finally looked right into Yang's eyes.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Yang nodded her head. "Alright, fine. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me." At that moment, their conversation went silent and it even felt like the whole café went silent. "See? I told you it would be stupid to talk about. Just forget I even said anything. Let's change the subject."

"No, I'm curious about this."

"Yang, you're making this really on hard on me. It was just a struggle to call you yesterday to talk about it and now, you want to go into more detail about it."

"Well, what else are you expecting me to do? You ask me that kind of question, but don't want to talk about the things that go with me answering yes to it." Blake suddenly turned her head with a bright red face.

"Maybe."

"Blake. I think you're an awesome girl and I'm glad I can call you my friend, but I just don't think that that would be a good idea. I've got a lot going on right now with Cinder having me do all of these things. I just don't want to make you feel neglected. I'm sure you already do since we don't hang out a lot like we used to."

"It doesn't bother me."

"That's because we're friends. If we changed that, there would be a new sense of responsibility and dedication that I don't think either of us is ready for. I also doubt Cinder would approve of me doing something that would distract from my job."

"Cinder's not always right," she whispered softly to herself.

"Did you say something?"

"No. Let's just change the subject." Blake grabbed her drink and chugged it down until there was nothing left. After that, the two of them grew quite distant from each other. They did share a few words here and there, but nothing of significant value.

In her head, Blake was wanting to say so much to this girl, but she just felt that this was just an inappropriate time to do so. She kept quiet just to keep Yang with a calm mind. Hearing about what she's been through and what's she going through right now would just make matters worse if she piled on more things.

For Yang, this whole thing was kind of strange. The two of them were pretty close as friends, but for Blake to come out and say that they should date was just a little odd. Blake wasn't even much of the outgoing type so that made that request even stranger. Yang pondered this during their spurts of silence, but she just couldn't bring herself to talk about it with her. What could Blake possibly say about it? She just suddenly got the hots for Yang after hanging out like this? Of course not, that would be weird and unnatural.

The two girls were internally struggling with so much, but on the outside, things couldn't be any better. After a while, they stood up from their chairs and headed out of the café. Before they split off like they usually do, Blake threw in a few more words that caught Yang by surprise.

"Hey Yang, do you like where you work?"

"Sure. It's really cool and…"

"No, I mean… Do you like the work that you do?"

"Of course I do. We're saving lives. What could be better than that?" Blake bowed her head and gritted her teeth. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to work with Cinder." Out of nowhere, Yang took a step back in confusion.

"Why are you saying that?"

"Because I don't think it's a good idea. Cinder's workplace has had a tendency to cause problems."

"Well, of course. Her company does a lot so every now and then, things have to get a little sticky before things are solved."

"Do you even hear yourself talk?"

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm going." She turned around and ran off. Meanwhile, Yang was left alone, completely confused about what just happened. Blake said some weird things that didn't fit her character at all. Why would she say those things? Yang continued to think about it for a few more minutes until she decided to head back home.

…

Blake returned to her hideout. It was in a very secluded place. No lights, no electricity; there was just a bed, desk, dresser, and a small picture on top of the desk. Blake stormed into the hideout and closed the door behind her. She lit a candle to provide her with some light as the sun was setting on another day. She sat down harshly on her bed and clenched her fists.

"Yang, why are you doing this? It's not for you." Out of nowhere, Blake lost her cool. She grabbed the picture and tossed it against the wall. The glass protecting the picture shattered as Blake leaned back onto her bed, covering her eyes.

The picture frame that lay on the ground was ruined. Glass was everywhere and the picture was out of place. However, there was something strange about that picture. It was a picture of Blake when she was younger and a woman standing next to her. Neither of them were smiling. It almost seemed like it was a picture just to say that they took a picture. The woman standing next to Blake was a tall, mysterious woman. It was Cinder.

Ending Note: Brace yourselves everyone. The story's is going to take a dark turn and probably won't return to the light until the conclusion is reached. I hope you're enjoying everything so far.

End of Chapter 19