Chapter 11: Silly Cat

Wide-eyed, the boy stared at her in bewilderment and annoyance. However, she pretended not to see.

"Anyway, is the snow around here normal as in a seasonal thing?" She asked the boy.

"How am I suppose to know?" He grumbled with his arms crossed, "It's always been like this anyway, but later than usual."

"So, the weather isn't very consistent..." She muttered quietly to herself before to the boy, "By the way, there's a lot of people on the streets despite the quarantine going on."

"Don't you know or should I spell it out for you?" the boy grumbled, "They're all refugees."

Ouch! No doubt, the boy doesn't like her one bit. Well, it's not like she really is taken with him to begin with either. Looking at him now, he looked more like the Chinese idea "delinquent" appearance-wise with his hair bleached white like that. Not only that, but the glare he had on her was like that of a cat. Almost...

Gold...

An idea suddenly came across her mind that got her heart to thump loudly in her chest. She wasn't certain when this occurred, but she frowned and asked inquisitively, "So, they're all from Beijing? There's no shelter for them. Is it the government unable to do so, or..."

Slowly, the question directed towards the boy changed to herself as she frowned in deep thoughts. With a pencil in hand, she quickly began jolting down English words. To begin with, the ANDS started from livestock. However, she had no information regarding which area these livestock came from. If the animals were capable of catching these viruses, then what about the other living beings around them?

How do they fare with this situation?

She knew that asking this boy won't be good at all. She grumbled in her own thoughts, "Could it have started in a rural area? No, more disease appears in more urban areas. Unless deforestation of forestry, it shouldn't be easy to attract new diseases. Then why? No, wait... What if it was that?"

Sensing her ignorance of his presence and gone into deep thoughts, the boy scowled, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Surprised, she turned to him in bewilderment as he continued with a glowing glare while his mouth ran in a familiar tongue, "It's impossible for the west side to have started this virus stuff!"

She raised a brow, "You know English- no. You said that it's impossible for the west side of China to have started this virus stuff? How did you come across this information?"

Angered at her doubting him, he stared at her before continuing, "What does it have to do with you?"

"Sichuan and Guizhou are both under quarantine." She responded with a dismissal wave towards his suspicion, "Even if the government said that it was for the good. Everybody knows it's only a matter of time before those who work far will have completely spent all their savings just to keep food on the table. I have a friend in Sichuan. Even though he's a doctor, he can't leave the Sichuan and his patients are suffering. My other friend in America is always on the frontline, but he's reaching his limits in the universities too."

Saying this, another thought came to her as she began contemplating out loud this time, "It won't be long before Summer arrives. With warm weather, the virus becomes more widespread and active like wildfire. With the cold weather, the virus can stay dormant for up to three years. That's one of the few clues I have at the moment, but it's not even a quarter enough to helping them provide any sort of cure. Without any assurance soon, the government won't lower the quarantine order or even ponder on it."

With this in mind, her thought began to drift towards to America and she began to use it to her advantage, "It won't be long before America goes through riots soon. Once people starts to panic and become angered, they don't often come to good conclusion in mind. Take Minnesota in America for example. Because the virus spread around the coast due to foreign trade, the victim count in California and New York is higher than those within the country. Minnesota was one of the states the country closed with the intent to keep cases at a minimum."

Seeing the boy start scowling, Willow was secretly pleased as she continued ever so innocently, "However, it was due to the minimum cases that the people choose to take this as a hoax started by the government. As a result, riots occur almost every day around the government building. Not just that. Due to the virus having started on the eastern continents, immigrants from these continents are discriminated against back in those countries. It would only be a matter of time before Sichuan and Guizhou would come across the idea of riots as well with the lack of government support."

Having clearly lost the line of her thought process, the teen stared at her with confusion and annoyance riddled deep in his expression before he sighed in exasperation and said, "Look, I'll just tell you, okay? I'm from the west of China. In fact, I've only just returned to China this month. I've been back there and saw the situation already. They don't much victims there anyway."

Hearing this, his words caught her by surprise making her question him, "Is that so? I've already ruled out the west, but I was thinking that it must've started elsewhere in more urban places, specifically in more developed areas of China. Places similar to Beijing."

As if hearing this for the first time, the boy frowned in confusion, "You mean, the place the government quarantined off months ago?"

"Quarantined?" Willow raised a brow, "I heard they sent a group of scientists and doctors there, but they were annihilated by the volcano. That's what people in Guizhou have been saying."

"Volcano?" The boy cursed under his breath in Chinese, "Seriously?! That's probably another ruse by the government."

Willow frowned, "I guess they also silenced the refugees that spoke of it?"

The boy stared at her in bewilderment mixed with a deep confusion, "Who are you?"

"Me?" Willow frowned, "I can't just give my name to someone who lacks manners."

"Karma." He responded unhesitantly, "I'm Karma Sima."

"Willow." She tossed her answer to him, "Isn't that name..."

"Does it matter?" He scowled before asking, "Family?"

She shrugged giving him the answer he needed. He nodded quietly before he continued, "How do you know about the volcano?"

"Does it matter all that much?" Willow shrugged, "What's a boy like you going to do once you find out? Tell the government?"

"I'm in my early twenties." The boy growled with a piercing glare to her surprise before shaking his head grumpily, "Anyway, no. What am I gonna do to a bunch of officials and whatnot? I have better things to do than to fool around with them."

"I see. Sorry about that." She responded as she stared at him while not really feeling as apologetic. She thought the kid should be around fifteen or sixteen with how he's already reached her height which was roughly a little over five and a half feet, pretty average for a twenty-year-old woman. Thinking about it, she had turned twenty just around the ending of last year.

This man here was around the same height as her and she didn't even need to lift up her face to see his face. This guy was standing before her without that much of a thick jacket, boots, and jeans. With his short hair ruffling in the cold wind, she could easily mistake him for a delinquent teenager. It was a surprise no doubt.

"What? Is there something on my face?" He scowled angrily.

She sighed shaking her head. If he was just a little bit nicer and knew some manners, he'd probably gather some good attention. Too bad.

"Just thinking your eyes had a cute color." she teased mischievously.

"What did you say?!"

Jaw dropped and eyes glued to her smirk, he was stunned wordlessly before his expression quickly changed into a scowl that went against the growing blush across his whole face like a tomato. Biting back laughter, she commented, "I was just saying that it's cute like a cat. You don't have to be that mad."

The boy, I mean man, balled up his fist and scowled as he folded his arms. The blush on his face was still evident and poking at her to make her laugh. It took a lot of effort to keep herself from laughing at him and forced a smile albeit a crooked one as he mumbled incoherent words to himself. At this point, she can't even tell if he was really angry or just plain embarrassed with how red he is against the white bangs of hair!

What a naive kitty!

"Ahem! So, how do I know you're telling the truth?" He asked after clearing his throat.

"I don't know. You could ask the refugees if you can get an answer out of them." She suggested, "Or..."

She shrugged, "You can do what I'm going to do."

"What would that be?" He asked full of suspicions.

"Go to Beijing." She responded bluntly.

"Impossible." He sighed, "Haven't you heard? They barred the place off."

"Doesn't mean I won't try, anyway." She responded, "I'm already preparing to go there anyway."