I nodded and did as what I was told. But before I hopped in, I looked around and no one was watching us. Then Anthony strode in front and entered the driver's door. He drove the car out of the academy and onto the highway.
The afternoon breeze entered the car as I rolled down the glass of the passenger's window. I closed my eyes and savored the chilly wind caressing my exposed face.
"Where do you want to eat?" Anthony asked in a sudden.
I opened my eyes and look over my shoulder where I saw the side of his face. He was facing the road ahead. I brought my face back outside the window and shrugged my shoulders. "We will be eating outside?" I asked.
"Yes."
My eyes trailed on the stall of finger foods beside the dusty road. "What if someone from the academy see us eating together?"
It took him a few seconds before he spoke again, "Another town then."
And before I could protest, he speed up the car towards the outskirt of the town, driving farther from the business district where the academy stood. It took me a few seconds before I found my voice again. "You're kidding."
A sly smile flashed on his face. "I know some good food somewhere in the next town. It's not far away from the border."
My eyes squinted at him but I did not argue. I also wanted to see the next town. I heard from Isa that the next town was a sophisticated city and full of tasty delicacies and dishes. And it was unlikely of the people of the next town to ignore folks from other towns like us.
It took us a few minutes before we passed the border. And lo, I gasped as I saw how blinding the lights of the next town were. I closed my eyes but then the blinding lights were gone in a second.
"It's a security protocol of this town," Anthony said when he saw me confused in the sudden outburst of lights.
I blinked, my eyes glazed. "It's blinding."
"You just have to close your eyes."
"You didn't warn me!"
Anthony just laughed at my outburst.
He asked me again where I wanted to eat but I smacked his arm and huffed. He laughed and I rolled my eyes. It was my first time to enter the next town and I was gaping over the stalls of hot pots and finger foods still steaming above the charcoal.
The place was full of huge streetlights and it brighten the whole area like daylight. In that moment, I wished that my town was like them. But I knew that the officials would never pay to build huge streetlights like the next town. Even though I was never told of the official's bad side, I knew that corruption was prominent in politics.
"There are a lot of good foods in the area, but there's one place where you can enjoy foreign foods. It ranked the best restaurant in this whole town and only those privilege could reserve a seat or two," Anthony said.
I nodded. "I knew it. With this place like this, there's a lot of privilege people living in this suburb."
"Yes. Some officials live within this area."
My lips formed an 'o' at his words but I didn't ask further. It was just my guess that privilege people were living in the suburb because of how grandeur the place was. Anthony said that it was just an outskirt and the business district was four miles away from the suburb. If the outskirt was this grand, then I'll not imagine the grandeur offered by the town's business district.
But I blinked when I realized something. "Do you have money to reserve two seats?" I asked.
A small grew onto his lips and not long after, I heard him laughing. I frowned. "Don't laugh at me."
He stopped laughing but there was still traces of laugh in his crooked lips. "I owned the restaurant," he said.
I shrugged and looked sideways because I was still upset on how he laughed at me, but when the information sank in my mind, I gasped and looked at Anthony. A smile of triumph was displayed on his lips.
"You owned it?" I asked and gaped.
His smile diminished and he winced. "Technically. I inherited it from my grandmother."
My brows knotted at his confession. "So you're from this town?" A few seconds passed before he nodded. I blinked and then asked again, "That's why you're alone in the house. You're from this place."
"Yeah."
"Your parents are still alive?"
He snorted. "Yes. They're not my biological parents." A sigh escape from his lips. "They're my foster parents."
That made me sank in the passenger seat. So Anthony was adopted? My eyes squinted at him. "They never raised a hand on you, right?"
He glanced at me before he brought his eyes on the road ahead. "Never. They loved me as their own. Why are you asking me that?"
I looked outside the window. I saw glimpses of big houses as the car ran passed by them. I never had issues with orphans but my mind could not erase the look she had on her face when I saw her bruises. And even I still have the doubt. What if I was an orphan like her? Because of what I saw in her life and my life, I often associate orphans as battered children.
But I never encountered someone like Anthony who was an orphan yet his foster parents loved him as their own. And my mind wondered if she and I was just unfortunate to encounter foster parents as brutal as ours?
My jaw clenched. "They never reprimand you, insult you, nor raised a hand on you?" I asked again.
He was silent for a few seconds before he answered, "They once reprimanded me and insulted my works, but they did that to guide me to the right direction. But they never raised a hand on me." He cleared his throat. "Though, they made me kneel on salt as punishment."
The relief to know that he experienced what that girl and I experienced in our life made me sick. I should not feel happy that he experienced that, but at least I came to realize that foster parents always hurt their orphans. I shivered in that thought.
"So you lived in other town to escape from them?" I asked.
"Sort of." He clicked his tongue as the car entered an intersection. "But it's my decision to live alone. I wanted to do things on my own, you know..." He trailed of. "I want to buld a name with my hardwork and not because I was an heir of a magnate."
"An heir of a magnate?" I gasped. "You're rich?"
It took him a few seconds to react at my shocked face. He grinned. "It's not a bad thing."
"But... but..." I closed my eyes tight. "You never told me!"
"You never asked," he said between laughs.
I rolled my eyes and leaned back on the passenger's seat. Rogie was a child of a magnate. Lisa was a child of a duke, one of the priveleged people in the country. And these two bullied me to their heart's content.
And learning that Anthony was an heir of some powerful and rich business man, I could not comprehend how things on rich people work. I always told myself to hate, ignore, and to never entangle myself to the likes of these people. But I never thought that I was depending on someone who should I ignore too!
"Sydnee," he called when he noticed my silence. "I'm sorry that I never told you about it. But it's still me." His forehead creased. "Do you hate me for not telling you who I am?"
I looked outside the window. "Can I afford to hate you?" I spat.
I could not understand what I'm feeling. Part of me was upset at the sudden revelation, but part of me was also assuring myself that he was still my Anthony, who would provide me shelter and food to eat even if my parents would not.
He never hurt me. Yes. Anthony did not hurt me and he will never hurt me. Right. That's what I should believe.
I heaved a sigh and gathered my courage to look over my shoulder where I saw Anthony. He was looking ahead and a small creased was between his two brows.
I cleared my throat. "I don't hate you," I whispered. I noticed how he glance at me before his gaze moved back to the road ahead. "I'm just suprised to know the truth. I never entangle myself to rich people and the truth hurt my head. But I don't hate you for being rich."