"Boss." Dane walked in with another young man beside him, breaking Vernon out of his dangerous contemplation.
Nixxon felt relieved by the men's entrance, they removed that monster's attention from him, he looked at the men and recognized Dane immediately but couldn't recognize the other person beside him; the new guy looked scary but not like Vernon, but still scary, his black leather jacket added to his fierce look.
The fierce-looking guy walked forward and bowed to Vernon, "Boss, here are some pictures and documents regarding Raja's recent mission," He spoke in a deep but controlled voice.
Vernon took the pictures from him and scanned through them; he was expecting to see pictures of people and faces for identification, preferably Nixxon's face; it would make everything easier and end faster. Instead, what he saw were pictures of a car; different views of the car were captured, but none of the person driving the car.
"What does this mean, Damon?" Vernon asked, raising the picture to Damon's face.
Damon straightened up before speaking, "Those are the pictures captured of the spy Raja sent to you a day before you found this guy." He paused and pointed at Nixxon.
Nixxon shifted uncomfortably in the chair; he didn't like this Damon guy; he reeked of danger; he was just a little less frightening than Vernon.
"And how does this picture prove that he is the one in the car?" Vernon questioned, frowning.
"Our spies were not able to capture the man's image due to situations, but they did describe him, and from what I'm seeing, this guy does fit their description: Fair skin, dark hair, blue eyes." Damon's eyes scrutinized Nixxon from hair to toe.
Dane suddenly cleared his throat. "They also did mention that it wasn't just the guy in the car that was sent to you, Boss," He informed.
Vernon narrowed his eyes at him. "Go on," he said.
"I did manage to get a few pictures of the other spy from our men that had been planted in Raja's men. Here it is. Our men confirmed overhearing Raja instructing his spy to find out all your hideouts; again, their description did match Nixxon's image, and this picture looks so much like him, even though it's just the back profile; it does look much like him." Dane handed Vernon another set of pictures.
Vernon took it and stared at it, he was a hundred percent convinced that the person he was staring at was Nixxon. He was glad he chose to keep Nixxon; now he knew that he was completely pretending with his amnesia.
He smirked and looked at Nixxon. "Do you still insist on playing dumb, Mr. Amnesia?" Vernon moved with purpose as he strode toward Nixxon.
Nixxon shrank back as Vernon lowered himself in front of him, trying to lean away from him as much as he could.
"Answer me!" Vernon pushed the pictures into Nixxon's hands, his face twisting dangerously.
Nixxon's heart was racing, he curled his toes as he felt the smooth material of the pictures in his hands, he glanced at Dane for help but he felt helpless when he saw that Dane wasn't even looking at him, his face was lowered, almost an if he wanted no part in whatever Vernon was doing to him.
Nixxon gulped and looked down at the picture, his thumb tracing over the smooth copy; he immediately started to compare it to how they preserved images back in his kingdom; they used carvings and statues, while these humans used some sort of thin material; he feared he would tear it if he held it tightly.
He slowly looked up at Vernon's face, staring into his gray eyes. "Not me," he said quietly.
"Bastard!" Vernon was about to hit Nixxon when his phone suddenly rang.
He scowled and stood, sliding his phone out from his pocket. "Lock him up in there, guard his door," He ordered and walked off to answer his call.
"Get up and follow me," Damon said to Nixxon as Vernon left.
Dane sighed. "He can't walk. Give me a hand; he might look lean, but he weighs a ton." He glanced at Damon before going over to help Nixxon up.
Damon hesitated before going to pull Dane away from Nixxon's side. "I'll take him," He said and knelt in front of Nixxon.
Nixxon had already learned the back climbing technique from Armani, so it wasn't hard for him to cooperate with Damon.
Dane walked behind them as Damon carried Nixxon back into his room.
**
Outside, Vernon stood in front of his house with his phone held close to his and a cigarette between his lips. His face was set hard, jaws clenched as he listened to the person speaking from the other side of the phone.
"What do you mean, Zee?" He asked in a low voice.
"All I'm saying is that the patient needs to be kept close to you at all times to help his brain recall if there's any memory of you in his mind, and he also needs to avoid witnessing or facing hostility as it might inflict a sense of fear which will make him feel insecure in the environment; and if he feels insecure, his recovery might never happen as he would never be comfortable to let himself heal. All these are just my suggestions, Mr. Vernon. I'm no one to tell you how to rule your home," Dr. Zee's polite voice cautiously spoke through the phone.
Vernon's anger had just skyrocketed after hearing Dr. Zee's words; his lips puffed his cigarette continuously, the evening wind scattering the tendrils of his smoke.
"You shall not call me for such reasons again, am I understood?" Vernon questioned in a calm voice, but his body language screamed with rage and undiluted hatred toward Nixxon.
"Yes, Mr. Vernon, I understand. I apologize," Dr. Zee replied.
Vernon ended the call, his eyes staring at the trees in the distance, watching them dance to the wind; the gurgling sound of his fountain traveled into his ears, trying but failing to calm his emotions.
He loved nature, that's why all his houses were built close to or with nature. However, the scenery wasn't as appealing as it used to be; he was now more concerned about uncovering Nixxon's true identity.
Now, Dr. Zee dared ask him to treat his suspect with kindness and gentleness; he'd rather kill Nixxon than show him any of those.
He frowned and looked away from his fountain, entering the house.
**
Up in Nixxon's room, he was sitting on his small bed with a tray of food in front of him, and Armani was sitting across the table, teaching him how to eat the food with a fork.
The journey to finally finding something Nixxon could eat hadn't been an easy one. Armani had first brought him a sandwich, but Nixxon almost barfed, and he had the same reaction to ten more foods that Armani had brought into his room.
Armani was almost giving up, and as he brought the last set of food to Nixxon's room, he promised himself to quit the food quest if Nixxon rejected it again.
However, his fear was cleared when he saw the look in Nixxon's eyes the moment he entered the room.
"Food!" Nixxon had announced excitedly when the familiar smells of fish, crab, prawns, and oysters reached his nose.
"Oh, finally! You love seafood?" Armani asked as he placed the food down on the table he had placed in front of Nixxon.
Nixxon didn't understand the term, 'seafood," but he nodded, aware that he loved the food Armani had brought to him.
He was so surprised and delighted when he discovered that humans also ate the little sea creatures the Mermen consumed down there. He guessed it was a food chain; just as the eaters prey on them because they're smaller, they, too, also prey on smaller life forms.
"Awesome, just like that." He patted Nixxon's head. "You're a fast learner," He praised.
Nixxon nodded with a smile, not looking up from his plate; he busied himself by forking the food into his mouth, not waiting to swallow first before he filled his mouth with more food. He'd never tasted anything this yummy before, they ate their meals raw.
In his kingdom, the hunters caught food for them, and the only thing they did before they served it to them was to cut it into tiny chunks, and that was all. He was used to eating with his hand, not with the weirdly shaped object in his hand, but it worked fine; it made him eat faster, too.
"Woah, hey, hey, calm down, easy, good, easy. Finish with that in your mouth, and I'll give you some water, okay?" Armani placed his hand over Nixxon's, stopping him from stuffing his face with more food.
Nixxon nodded, looking at Armani with his cheeks puffed out as he chewed his mouthful of food.
Armani laughed quietly. "You're cute." He was about to touch Nixxon's face when the door slammed open.
Nixxon choked on his food the moment he saw Vernon's figure walking into his room with a cold and menacing aura.
He coughed, his eyes red as he forced the food down his throat.
Armani was on his feet, rubbing Nixxon's back and feeding him water to drink.
"Leave," Vernon ordered Armani, his eyes locked on Nixxon.
Armani bowed and left without a word.
Nixxon felt a cold chill run down his spine as Vernon walked over to him, drew his table of food away, and stood right in front of him. His eyes were at Vernon's stomach level, and he stared at him, scared and confused.
"Get up." Vernon's face was unreadable as he offered Nixxon a hand for the first time.