The responses ( part I )

After Jamal left the house, Lina stayed there for quite a moment, silent and steady, lost in her thoughts while staring at the horizon. She was wondering about how the city would be doing well during the absence of Jamal as his job was not just fighting the bad people to protect the weak ones, it was in reality more than that, over time spent he became gradually, in the eyes of every people in Stainfall, the figure of the invincible guardian of the city.

The job he had done during those two years after the tragic night caused him to be very well seen by all his citizens. Lina was convinced that if people in Stainfall could sleep on their two ears without the fear to be assaulted by a random madman during the night if they could feel safe by walking along the streets, it was all because they got the certainty that Jamal was guarding them.

That was why she was so worried, she was thinking about how everyone would react when they would hear about Jamal's mission in the extern of the city. Even though she had already considered that before he accepted to do the job, she couldn't be able to come out with an idea that would lead to avoiding people getting into a panic.

Trying to hide that news was not even a feasible solution as, first of all, Lina hated having secrets for others and secondly people would immediately notice it when they wouldn't be able to see him in the town. [ He has a too much presence in this town, people like him and I are quickly noticed when we are missing ] she thought, [ so what should I do? ].

But more than that, it was not only the people of Stainfall who would be shaken by his absence. she was, of course, referring to herself, at that moment. When he left, she tried her best to keep a placid face but in reality, she was completely anxious, her heart and her brain were engaged in a conflict where, in one part she was convinced that it was the best thing to do for the safety of the city, but on the other hand, she just wanted to run toward him, surround him with her arms and to beg him to not let her be alone.

It didn't pass 15 minutes since he left but she was already missing him so much.

[ You have to stay strong Lina, just bear with it. It's only for one week and there are other problems you have to deal with ] she said to herself to get rid of the bad thoughts which were occupying her mind.

She returned inside the house to get ready for the long day that was waiting for her. She went in the bathroom upstairs to brush her teeth and take a shower and when she came back in her room to get dressed, she took a look in her wardrobe and sighed, too lazy to think about the good outfit for the day, she picked out just a shirt and a jean and wore them with a pair of shoes, she then went down and left the house.

Although it was quite early in the morning, she rolled on the streets of the city carelessly as she knew that there was no risk to be attacked. The outlaws would not come to this side of the city until the next week.

The reason why she was so hurried was that she wanted to see Natasha and discuss how they would deal with the citizens about the absence of Jamal since she was the one who would replace him in the major part of his tasks, she thought she might have some ideas to deal with that. So she had to quickly go meeting her before she left for the patrol of the barrier, Lina knew that if she missed her at that moment it would be difficult to find a time to talk properly since they would be too busy with their daily work and routine and they would not be able to see each other before the evening.

She arrived at Natasha's house opened the door with her double of the keys and entered. She directly went up upstairs in the direction of Natasha's room.

" Woke up cutie! Stop making erotic dreams about you and my boyfriend! " She shouted once she opened her door.

A glance of the room and she immediately noticed that it was empty. She didn't bother to look for her in the other rooms of the house since she already knew that she, unfortunately, came too late missed her.

" She takes her job a bit too seriously, " Lina grunted.

She left the room before slamming the door behind her. She intended to go directly at the barrier to talk with her, but before she went down the stairs she stopped and gave it a second thought. " It may annoy her if I disturb her training just to talk about something we could discuss at another time ". She finally changed her mind and decided to not go, [ the people would not mess up the city just in one day] she convinced herself.

Instead, she walked in the direction of Matteo's room, and that time when she opened the door she knew it was him on the bed and not pillows put there as a substitute since she could clearly see his feet slightly out of the bedsheet.

She was surprised to see that the sound of the door of Natasha's room when she slammed didn't wake him up. She walked on the tip of her toes until she reached the foot of his bed, she moved to the side where was his head, kneeled, and leaned toward his face. Listening to the rhythm of his breath she was sure that he was deeply asleep, so she could go on, serenely.

" Hey, " she whispered in his ear while taking a sensual voice.

Matteo grunted and frowned but he didn't wake up as she had been expecting.

" Hey Matteo, don't want to come along with me? I'm feeling so lonely, " she repeated the quote of a movie she had seen while keeping on with the same voice.

" huh... who are you? " he mumbled while struggling to open his eyes.

Lina smiled as she didn't expect him to be one of those who talked in their dreams, she remembered that the few times she tried to make Jamal talk in his sleep never worked, now she found someone that interesting, she thought she would be having a lot of fun while to playing with him for a little while.

" The girl you've always dreamed of, " she responded.

" Oh... it's you... what are you doing here? " Matteo asked.

With one hand on her mouth, she had a tough time holding her laughter, she couldn't imagine it would play so well. " I heard that you have been cheating me with your roommate you use to live with, " she said.

" It's... not true... I never touched her... or intended to do so, " he paused while Lina was holding herself to not laugh, " you see... she is even in love with another man... Jamal... so incredible, that guy, " he carried on with his sleepy tone voice.

[ So even Matteo noticed it, huh? ] she thought [ you are not very good to hide your feelings ]. And the last part of his reply particularly amused her since it meant that the young Matteo was slowly becoming a fan of Jamal.

" But I heard that he has already a girlfriend, " she went on before he grunted to confirm, " and what do you think about his girlfriend? "

She already aware of the visible effect her sex-appeal had on people, generally, youngsters and Matteo was not him, even though she was not among those women who dressed sexily and who paid particular attention to showing off their forms and beauty, it seemed like her simplicity and her natural elegance were enough to attract the eyes.

" His girlfriend... ? "

" Yeah, what do you feel toward her? "

" Honestly... she is too old for me... I prefer you, " hearing those words, Lina calmly stood up, she took a pillow, raised it high, and hit Matteo's head hard with it making him wake up in shock. The boy woke up brutally and started to look around him, confused, then his sight laid on Lina and he finally recovered his mind. " What are you doing here and what did you do to me? " he asked coldly.

" You, what did you do? " Lina countered.

" I'm pretty sure that if someone is wrong here it must be you, " he replied " what are you doing in my room? "

" Well, I came to wake you up. Don't forget we have a lot of work today so get up and go prepare yourself I will wait for you in the living room, " she said before she left the room.

Matteo sighed while shaking his head hopelessly, " this woman, I swear, she is completely crazy. How can Jamal date someone like her? "

" I heard you, " Lina's voice came from the hallway, " and for your information, it's especially because I'm like the way I'm that he loves me so much ".

" That means he must be as crazy as you are ".

" Shut up and go take a bath, you have half an hour to catch up with me downstairs ".

Unconsciously respecting the directive, 30 minutes later Matteo was walking down the stairs to join Lina. Together, they left the house without any more discussion and they headed to the city hall.

The office was empty as usual since Lina used to work there all alone before Matteo came, there was no secretary or any co-worker. As there were not so many activities in the city, her job was not as exhausting as it could be thought. However, with the arrival of all those new people, there would be more work for her than before so Lina was happy to have someone who could relieve her from all those loads of work.

" First, you must go check whether we have received any response from the people we asked for the recruitment, " Lina ordered Matteo.

The boy nodded, left the office, and came back a few minutes later with a little pile of letters. " I counted and the great majority has already answered, however, I don't know whether they have accepted or not, " he said to Lina when he put the pile on the desk just in front of her. The latter picked out one among them and said while she was opening it, " we shall know it now ".

She put out the paper and started to read, she was a bit stressed about it because all her project to rebuild the city would be decided now whether it would be possible or not. If the public opinion of the new citizens was favorable that would mean that they wanted to contribute to the rebuilding of the city by being an active citizen. However in the case that the public opinion was unfavorable that would mean that the refugees wanted just somewhere to stay during the war until it finished, then they would go back to their homes.

If that turned out to be the case, her dream as well as her friends' would end up just being a utopia which might not be feasible only before 70 years, at least, in the future. So she hoped or rather she prayed to obtain good news from the first people whom she asked for the recruitment.

Matteo didn't open any letter, he just stayed there observing her facial expression to determine whether it would be good news or not. After she finished reading the first letter, she showed an impassive expression Matteo couldn't read, she took another letter read it in a high speed then she picked out another once again, then another and with her emotionless expression, she continued picking one letter after another until she finished reading them all.

In the end, she rose her head and looked at Matteo. He started to think that it didn't work, that everyone refused when, suddenly, he saw a smile appearing on Lina's face.

" They accepted, all of them agreed to work here and to be one of our citizens, " she said with satisfaction in her voice while trying to contain her excitement.