After a ten-minute wait, Leon entered, sweat dripping from his face like a waterfall—boots dressed in mud. He gasped as if he'd just run a marathon.
As he began to clear the sweat from his face, Dango—the tall guy in Tiger's team—whispered into Tiger's ear, alerting him of Leon's presence.
Tiger grinned as he turned and saw Leon moving towards Mr. Lee. He stood up, ready to confront Leon no matter what—but the moment he saw Mr. Wang's eyes, he hesitated and sat back down.
The lady beside him stared at Tiger with disgust, but she knew resisting would put her family at risk. Since his father worked for Tiger's uncle, she had no choice but to comply with Tiger's explicit hand movements.
"You're late. Why?" As soon as Leon reached Mr. Lee's seat, Mr. Wang gazed at him with a deathly glare. But Mr. Lee's question was far more comforting than Mr. Wang's stare.
"I had to take a different route before I could reach here. I was…"
Leon paused midsentence, raising his eyes to match the same length as Tiger's, but he returned the death stare he had received from the hooded man to Tiger.
"A contractor was working on the road I usually take." Leon continued while scratching the back of his head.
Mr. Wang spotted Leon looking sideways while he spoke and somehow caught Leon, but since Leon was a mastermind in lying, he swayed him off with a small hand gesture.
"Okay. But you weren't lucky; the head of state didn't spend the entire time he was supposed to, so unless you meet him during the day of the exams." Mr. Lee paused, whispered to Mr. Wang, then continued his statement.
"I just got a call that the exams had been rescheduled to tomorrow early morning. And for them, lateness is a triggered bomb. So try and come before time to be able to get your exam pass."
Right after Mr. Lee's words ended, the crowd began to clap.
"Why has it been postponed?" Immediately Leon mentioned 'Why,' the clap doubled, causing his words to just fly without entering Mr. Lee's or Mr. Wang's ears.
Since all classes for the day were cancelled due to the program, Leon had enough time to pour out all the things worrying him about the exams.
"Sir, please, why was the exam date postponed to tomorrow?" Leon positioned himself well right after asking.
"Most elite warriors would be joining in a grand battle." Mr. Lee paused and rose to his locker—the one he puts all valuable documents concerning battles that had been and would be fought in.
"You can read this to get the full reason, instead of me saying it to you."
Just as Mr. Lee handed the five-inch book to Leon, he turned and began to have a conversation with Mr. Wang.
But every time Leon flipped a page, they all tilted their heads in a surprised manner.
"Special battle log? Huh, I hope to see the full detail of the battle Mr. Lee was talking of. It's been like six years, yes, six years since I heard of a battle."
Leon flipped through the pages but paused when he saw Mr. Wang's photo.
"Only two people survived?!" Leon raised his head immediately, gazing at Mr. Wang. It seemed as if he knew Leon would look at him; their eyes met at the exact time Leon's head got raised.
"So, if two people survived, where is the second survivor? And why am I seeing only Mr. Wang?"
Leon gasped deeply, then continued skimming through the book.
Before he could turn to the next sheet, Mr. Lee walked to him, took the book, and tried to open it to a particular page, but immediately he flipped the page, his eyes widened.
"It's been long since this incident occurred." While he stares at the detail in that particular page, Mr. Lee caressed his jaw with one hand while holding the book in the other.
"It has been stated in the book that there were two survivors, but only Mr. Wang is acknowledged in it. Why?" Leon asked just as he saw a chance to get his question answered without.
Mr. Lee began smiling as Leon's voice faded. The smile he wore was both holy and sinister. But his eyes spoke a different language altogether.
"You're a kid; you will understand after writing the exams. It's a classified data that can bring the entire team down when it's leaked."
Mr. Lee whispered while turning inMr. Wang's direction.
The sky began to change to nighttime when Leon looked through the transparent glass window.
"Sir, please, I would like to take my leave." He whispered as he stood.
"Hope you've gotten all the questions you had about the war answered by the book?" Mr. Lee responded immediately.
"I have to go somewhere; if not, I would have dropped you today too."
Looking at how Leon stood there waiting to be dropped at his community's junction, Mr. Lee tilted his neck, making his bones crack.
"Okay sir, I will be there on time so that I can catch the bus, which will be used to convey the students there." Leon whispered, then opened the door and walked out of the office.
As he walked through the hallway, no one stood either beside him or even in the far distance. It was as if a pandemic had fallen—forcing every student to leave before time.
As soon as he opened the main entrance door, Leon spotted Tiger and his men standing beside the road with wild eyes.
Dango pointed his finger at Leon while he laugh in a sinister tone. Then, they all rushed towards Leon in slow steps, almost as if they were welcoming him into hell.
Tiger remained at the door of his car, chewing a white stick. Since Leon was a kid, he had heard and had seen how dangerous people tend to be when they start to chew that white stick.
"Don't worry, there's no way to run like you did earlier." Tiger whispered. His smile looked like that of the aliens who had chopped off Leon's head in the vision he had earlier.