22 Idle Talk and Introductions (1/2)
Ange and the others finally felt relieved when they saw Mark who looked very exhausted, safely reached the rooftop. They can't help but approach him to welcome him and thank him for what he did. But then panic came over them as they saw Mark fell down to his knees while shivering in pain before they could even get close.
They ran faster and it was Ange who was first to reach the pained Mark and the worried Mei.
”Are you okay?”
She asked Mark and like that, she received a sarcastic reply.
”Well, 'cough', yeah, do I look okay to you?”
Ange realized that she asked a stupid question.
Paula also arrived while with the mother behind her carrying her daughter. The cleaners and the employee reached them soon after.
”What happened?”
Paula asked as she crouched in front of Mark.
Mark looked at her but did not answer her question, and instead…
”Get my bag for—No, open the duffel bag and get the smaller bag inside. Also bring me something to drink.” He said.
Paula and Ange heard him. Paula nodded at Ange telling her to get what he needed.
Ange dashed back to where they sit before as the bag was placed by the nearby wall. She immediately opened Mark's bag to search but then she froze in surprise.
Noticing that Ange not moving in front of the opened bag, Paula yelled.
”Ange! Hurry up!”
”O-okay!”
Hearing her friend's shout, Ange searched for the smaller bag inside. She immediately found a small strap bag inside. As there's no other things inside that resembled a bag, except for a plastic bag filled with snacks and drinks, she took the strap bag out before picking up a bottle of water and brought the things to Mark.
Under the worried eyes of the girls and the employee and the curious gaze of three people he wasn't familiar with, Mark took out two blister packs containing medicine, one containing tablets and the other had capsules, from the bag. The tablets already had several empty spaces while the capsules are visibly untouched. He popped out one of each and swallowed the medicine before drinking several mouthfuls of water. The water bottle was almost empty when he put it down.
Mark felt a little better after drinking water but he can't still move too much due to pain and his spasms haven't ceased since the medicine had yet to take effect.
”Just let, hah, me rest for a bit.”
He leaned his back on the wall and sat at a more comfortable position. He then shut his eyes and started breathing calmly and deeply.
Seeing that he shut his eyes, the people around him decided to give him some space and left though they relocated their resting areas closer to his position.
The only one left was Mei who kept on holding his right hand as she sat worriedly beside him.
Ange and Paula would look at him from time to time as they were worried that he was already bitten would turn into a zombie but abandoned the thought later on. They saw their classmates and friends turn after several seconds of being bitten, but several minutes already passed and Mark still stayed silent.
As they were talking, the cleaners and the employee also joined the girls. After all, none of them had any bad intentions and the only reason the males separated was because of Mei, who now sat beside Mark.
As they just managed to have the time to talk, everyone started with their introductions.
As a courtesy, the older cleaner was the first to introduce his name as he was obviously the oldest here.
”I'm Bernard, Bernard Macaraeg, you young'uns can just call me Uncle, and most people here do call me that. This one is Joseph, he might look like this but he is my son.” Bernard pointed at the younger cleaner.
”What do you mean by that?!” Joseph tried to intercept.
”And this is.” The ignored Joseph and looked at the middle aged cleaner who then introduced himself.
”Calvin Roxas.” He doesn't seem to be the talkative type as he kept his introduction short.
”Mine's Angeline. Angeline Perez. My friend here is Paula Mae Clarence.” Ange introduced herself and Paula. Paula bowed her head a little as a greeting.
Next was the employee who was visible nervous introducing himself in front of the girls.
”Um, I'm Fernan, yeah, Fernan Enaje.”
”I'm Reyah Ismail.” It was the mother who then said her name. And the last one to introduce herself of course was.
”Come on baby, tell them your name.” Reyah told her daughter.
”Sariya!” The daughter said her name loudly.
”Muslim?” Ange asked in surprise.
”Well, yes. I am. Is there something wrong?” Reyah seemed troubled.
”Ah, no.” Ange realized the blunder she made and continued.
”It's just I rarely see female Muslims not wearing that veil something.”