Seren tilted her head in curiosity. "A woman?" She shakes her head, "Who is she?" She questioned, giving full attention to Felix; demanding for an answer. Squinting her eyes.
"I… don't know." He paused for a moment, "She was in an elegant white dress. Her voice is so beautiful and melodious…." then, he looked back at Seren's expression.
"Beautiful, huh?" She muttered.
"She said-" His words stopped immediately as he realized that she was pouting; her puffed cheeks and squinted eyes were somewhat adorable. "W-what's wrong?"
"Nothing." She answered defiantly.
"You're jealous, huh?"
"Of course I am! Why did a woman suddenly stumble across your dreams? And… you must be fascinated by her, right?" She lifted her knees up to her chin; also embracing them, and then buried her face (only up to nose level) in it. "Whatever." She muttered, also turning her face away to the side; puffing her cheeks even bigger.
"No, that's not what I meant…. Like, I'm not even done talking. " Felix tried to look promising.
Seren rolled her eyes. She doesn't like it when Felix adores or admires other women or girls. Even if it only involves basic praises. Jealous, that's a normal and natural behavior of girls. Especially, she was a teenager. However, she tried her best to hide her feelings. So, forgive her selfish attitude, okay? Readers, she's just a normal and innocent girl, after all.
"Okay…." She tried to abandon her earlier feelings immediately.
Felix sighed. "Alright, she said something that's almost like a command … 'Follow the riverside,' she said…." Felix explained the summarized version of his odd dream.
"W-what? 'Follow the riverside'? That's it?" She questioned.
"Pretty much."
"Woah…. That's quite the opposite of our plan. No, it is!" She leaned closer. "We just planned to change our direction last night…. Hmm, this is… weird." Seren agreed that it might have a hidden meaning behind it. She has suspected Felix before, but now she has changed her mindset. (It's quite awkward to say. But her mind did go south, when Felix told her about a mysterious woman who appeared in his dream) "Sorry, my mind did go south, didn't it? So, is that what made you sweat from the tent?"
He nodded. "Pretty much."
"Ouhh…. Well,-" Her stomach suddenly growled amidst their conversation …. Perhaps an argument? She got red in the face instantly. "A- ah…." She sounded shaky, embarrassed for sure.
Felix giggled, "Fine, we'll talk about it later." He said, standing up and then offering his hand towards Seren.
She expressed the feeling of annoyance. "My god, my feelings were riding on a roller-coaster." She took their bucket of fishes and then accepted Felix's hand to stand up.
Before cooking it, Felix ran back to their tent to take a knife. Then, he sliced the fish's head to clean its internal organs in the river. Right after, they went back to their tent to prepare for something to eat, for breakfast to be exact. Felix lights up the campfire—it has extinguished overnight. He lit it up with the same method as last night. Good thing that he found that flashlight. So he can use its battery; it's a little misused, though.… Well, who cares. Then, Felix pierces through the fish tail straight to its head with the stick they used for fishing them. He used the same stick to burn 2 fishes one at a time.
"Uhh, is that supposed to be for the 2 of us?" Seren asked, breaking the silence.
"Huh? Yeah, it is…. Why?"
"B-but why can't we separate them?" Seren asked more. Damn, she's a little anxious sometimes.
"Of course," he leaned closer to Seren's ear. "To romanticize things up." He murmured to Seren's ear, which gave her a little goosebumps.
"Ekk!?" She startled and then pulled back right after. "Why do we always stumble upon a lot of embarrassing scenarios lately?" She asked, covering her red face.
"I… I don't know, ask the author." He said, raising his voice a little bit.
"H-huh?" Seren tilted in innocence.
"Hey, author! Why did you write us this way, huh?"
"Silence, just continue the story already." I replied threateningly.
"Woah! Who's sound is that?" Seren looked around to search for the source of the sound, panicked.
Felix sighed. "Fine…."
Seren shook her head a couple of times—trying to process what just happened in front of her eyes.
After that, Felix broke the stick into 2 with the fish on both sides. Then, they continued their cooking session. The fish slowly but surely started to cook and occasionally flipped them to avoid burning. Apparently, they don't have any stand for the stick. So, Felix holds it just a few inches above the fire for about 30 minutes. Sometimes, Seren does feel sympathy, so she helps Felix by holding the other side of the stick for him.
When it's finished and cooked finely, it really looks pretty delicious. However, it doesn't have any spices or seasonings in it; it's quite a shame, though. On the other hand, they dug on it as if it were a special and luxurious dish. It makes sense, though. It's been a while since they haven't eaten something they cooked themselves. Moreover, meat from cows or lambs might be better; but they don't have any idea how to cook it.
The Chronicles only attacked humans—animals remain intact, apparently. But it didn't matter, it was hard to cook or even to find (they live in the city, so there's no such animals around). They once went to a zoo, and the animals were already carcasses. It eventually died and began to rot over time. They have no one to take care of them, that's why. Thus, that's the whole reason why it was pretty hard to find food for them.
They're eating right now, Felix's eating while reading a novel. Meanwhile…, Seren was eating red-faced. The moment where Seren accidentally slipped, then hovers above Felix kept constantly imagining in her mind. It might have been a while since it happened, but it's hard for her to forget. She glanced at Felix, then instantly shook her head. The silence between the 2 of them went on for quite a while. Soon, Felix's done eating.
"Are you done?" He asked Seren.
"Oh- no, not yet." She replied.
Felix nodded, then threw the remaining fishbone to the ground—next to a tree.
"WAIT! Don't litter!"
"Huh? It's fine. It'll eventually become an organic fertilizer for this tree.
"O-oh…." She got embarrassed.
Felix smirked, then went to their tent to clean up. For short, Seren's done eating, and Felix's done packing up. After that, they wore their backpacks to continue their journey.
"Hey, Seren." Felix said, Seren immediately looked at him. "I've considered this pretty well…. I think … we had to follow her instruction."