4 Taro goes shopping 1 (1/2)
”Thanks again, my man! I would've invited you into the mall, but since you said you had things to do, I'm gonna refrain from doing so.” Taro bowed towards Thankappan to show the absurd amount of respect that he felt for the guy. He didn't imagine someone helping him to these lengths, even if they were orders from the higher ups.
”Ah, no worries.” Thankappan gave out a bitter smile upon seeing Taro's sincerity. Thankappan lied about him having things to do. The special agent was tired of escorting the alien, even though this was supposed to be the first job assigned to him. ”????????????????, ???? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????. ????????????????, ????????????????????????????????.” He was pretty quick in getting rid of the guilt inside him.
”Okay then. I'll go buy my basic necessities.” Taro waved his arms and jogged towards the mall, only for Thankappan to stop him.
”You sure you'll be able to come home by yourself?” The agent asked.
”????????????????, ????????????…” A smile came forth in his face as he heard Thankappan's words. It had been a long time since he considered some place as his home. ”No problem. I got them cards that you gave me. If I can't get back, then I'm not even qualified to live on this planet.” Taro laughed.
”Don't say that!” Thankappan retorted. ”By the way, be careful when you get back. The traffic over here is four times more than any other place.”
”Sure, I'll keep that in my mind.” Taro gave a thumbs up.
”I see. I'll get my ass out of here then.” Thankappan nodded his head and got back into the rickshaw.
#
In Holy Land; Thankappan had arrived after his short trip to the mall with Normal-taro. The special agent took no time to turn on the fan and jumped into the sofa. It felt like bliss. ”Whew! Finally, the rest that I deserve!” Thankappan sighed.
”I see. This is the important thing that you told about to Taro, right?” A voice was heard beside him, which startled Thankappan. It was Plankton, in his human appearance.
”#69420! What—what're you implying?” Thankappan was flustered by Kunjan's question.
”I'm implying that you're a good-for-nothing lazy bum. You didn't think anyone else would hear your conversation now, did you?” A sharp gaze pierced through human Kunjan's stoic face. It was the gaze of the plankton—a gaze so sharp, that it sent shivers down Thankappan's spine.
”How?” Thankappan dared not to follow up. He was literally frightened still by Kunjan.
”I didn't account for that.” Thankappan cursed on himself inwardly.
”You should've.” The plankton placed a hand on him and continued. ”By the way, how ruthless can you be to send an alien out in the wilderness all alone? I don't think he even knows the way back.”
”It's just fifteen minutes from here! And he promised that he'll be back, safe and sound.” Thankappan protested.
”You should be ashamed of yourself, young man! You basically left a child out in the streets.” Kunjan clicked his tongue in disappointment.
”But he's no child!”
”He might as well be, since he doesn't fucking know the way!” A slight anger was heard from Kunjan's voice. The plankton had already got quite fond of Taro within the few hours since they met.
”Damn it! Enough with the emotional blackmail already! You're speaking as if I don't feel any remorse about it.” Thankappan's guilt-ridden mind couldn't comprehend the barrage of arguments and rebuke from the plankton.
”What's up with the early morning spat?” Lonappan, who had been in the house beside for the entire night, joined in on the conversation.
”Lonappan! You see, Thankappan here ditched Taro in the middle of the road.” Kunjan explained the situation in short.
This ticked off Thankappan. ”Hey, what's up with the change in narrative? Look here, Lonappan. Taro asked if he could buy some basic necessities and so I took him to where he could buy it.” He explained, hoping that his colleague would understand his side of the story.
”And where's that?” Lonappan asked.
Thankappan didn't quite get how the flow of the conversation changed into that direction, but he answered. ”Koma-mall.”
Lonappan took a deep breath and shouted. ”YOU IDIOT!”