Page 104 of Paradox
“I know.”
“How long do I have to wait?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not fair.”
“The way you make me feel isn’t fair.”
“That’s exactly how I feel, too. And it’s even worse when you tell me no.”
I gulp down the filthy words that want to spill out of me. “Just please, wait till tonight—for what you’re gonna give me. And… that’ll be the start of things… Okay?”
“As long as you promise you won’t take it back.”
“I promise. This time, once I start, I know I won’t be able to stop.”
The look on Jin’s face is irritation and satisfaction personified.
“Don’t look at me like that, you little shit.” I give him the middle finger, and leave to set up the fishing hole as best I can without the axe.
Jin drops the fourth chunk of tree trunk with the others he’s carried while I avoided him.
They’ve all been big.
He’s still as small as he’s always been, so when the hell did he get so strong? That’s meant to be my job. I’m meant to be the one taking care of him.
Stacking two segments of wood on top of each other, I raise the axe high and focus all my pent up frustration into the blade as I force it through the timber.
It helps a little, until I catch sight of him again.
There’s no point denying the inevitable; I’m gonna have an uncomfortable boner for the foreseeable future.
“Is that enough for now?” Jin asks as he drops one log beside me.
“Yep.” Another splintering crack of wood puts a barrier between us.
With no instruction, Jin takes some newspaper and scrunches it into balls.
Crack
Taking some of the chopped segments, he starts laying them out parallel to each other. Then, in a criss cross pattern, he lays another row on top of that. After stuffing the cracks with newspaper and kindling, he makes a third layer before starting a teepee-like stack on top of that.
Crack
I push the last pieces of wood towards him with the axe head. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I don’t know.” He looks up at me and my dubious expression. “Honestly. I’ve never built a fire until a month ago.”
I take the matches out of my pocket and hand it to him. “Well, you’ve just made a platform fire.”
“Ah, cool. I guess… Should I light it now?”
“There’s enough wood to burn for hours, so, why not?”
I focus on Jin’s hands instead of his face.
He holds the box in his palm for several seconds before lighting a stick of newspaper he’d rolled.
