Mr. Hodek and His Little Minion

15

[MASQ]

The irony of the situation was that neither of us wanted to talk about what had happened between us that last night. It was so uncomfortable, we kind of just skipped it. Of course, I was still too annoyed to even think about it, and he left the room with a defeated look as soon as I ended the conversation. I was hoping more than anything for another dream about my family after this. Something to keep me tethered to my past. I'd have thought that by now, I would have lost sight of them and forgotten about everything I was looking for. But staying with Hodek for almost a month now did something strange to my head. I was becoming even more desperate for a way out; maybe because I wasn't used to living with someone in this close proximity. Or at all.

So this is love, I thought bitterly.

Another couple of days passed without him giving me an answer to my question. I assumed he did want to help me, but that he wasn't sure if this was the right way to do it. Appreciative as I was of that, I didn't care if there was a "right way" of doing anything anymore. In the mornings he'd just sip at cold coffee and look at me like I was some feral cat that would bite him if he got too close. I tried my best to ignore it, until one day when I decided that this was going on for too long. I poured myself a glass of water, noticed it was still contaminated, and poured it out with a sigh.

"Hodek, I'm angry at you. I think we should go out again."

He raised an eyebrow and set down his cup on the table. "Took you long enough. What, was it me looking at you all the time? No training?"

"It doesn't matter, I want to leave this place again for once. Last time we did was..." I searched for the word. "...it definitely wasn't fun. But I felt like I was growing. Like I was proving something to you, even though I wasn't really."

"You did."

I paused. "What?"

"You proved something. You were good at breaking in, you were light on your feet. You stole the guy's wallet without me even knowing. It's no wonder you were able to get around all these years. It wasn't great, but I could still see it." Hodek didn't seem to realize just how much that stuck with me, he just zoned out and scratched his neck.

"Why didn't you just say that before?"

He chuckled. "Uh, yeah. I can't just let you know how well you really did the second we get back. Then why would you bother to work? I mean...look at how well training you actually went, but still."

"Hodek, I'm not a slacker. It wouldn't have mattered that much if you told me that I had some things down. If you wanted me to do better, I would have tried to do better." I'd lied about that middle bit but meant everything else. I had never been raised to quit when I'm at the bare minimum, not even by the Ryongs. Hodek's eyes darted to the wall.

"Okay, well, I don't know how you do things. I barely know you, period." He looked to me again, curious. "You said you wanted to go out again?"

I nodded.

"Then we might as well. But as to who exactly we're going for, we might be at a crossroads."

"What do you mean? Don't you just go around and pick random houses?"

"Yeah, I used to do that. This is different. You want information, and I'm trying to...well, I guess you could say I make a clean sweep of all the shitty people I come across. So we have to be careful about this."

"You're turning around," I said, not even thinking about how he'd answer that. He shifted his arms, drawing them into himself like he was trying to become smaller.