14. Chapter 14

This restaurant, or cafeteria, or food zone, as these beings call it... is messy, and noisy. I don't want to be here at all.

Zil sits next to me, busy munching down his bowl of weird stuff. It is orange like minced pumpkin, but it doesn't smell that way. He has bread in his other hand, which he dips into the orange oozing thing at times.

I have a set of those in front of me, but I don't even want to touch it.

"Zil..."

"What?" he swallows his food, seemingly fine with eating those.

"How can you put these into your mouth?" I pick up a spoon, getting a scoop of the thing. The texture seems to resemble custard, but maybe it is rice that's far overcooked. "Really?"

He scowls at me. "What's the problem? I thought this is what the uzain brought you for your first meal."

I stare at that. "Are you sure about that? The thing I ate didn't seem this bad."

"Just eat. The food is fine."

I lift the spoon to my nose and sniff at it. I have no idea what it even is. "Are you sure?"

He gestures around. "Everyone is busy finishing breakfast. Shifts are starting soon, so I have to hurry."

I stare at him as the bowl of stuff disappears into his mouth. "Do you enjoy the food?"

He blinks, seemingly having never thought about that before. "The ones I had on the previous ship are better. This is fine."

I wince when he scowls at me. I lick the spoon for the orange semi-liquid. The thing is salty, and... I don't even know what that is. "What's this?"

"I don't know. Food."

There are pieces of chopped vegetables in it, which are the only ones I can identify.

I pick up the bread instead. It looks like a messily baked one. I take a bite, my teeth almost fall off. This thing is so hard that if I throw at an enemy, their armor may break.

Geez... How do these uzains even survive? One would imagine warriors would get better food, but the kitchen seems to hate them. Or are these beings so broken that they don't even care about food?

I dip the bread into the bowl of goo. I stare at it, trying to make myself put it into my mouth.

Fine... Maybe it would be a bit better if I just used the rock-hard bread.

I lick the bread, fighting it to get a bite without hurting my teeth. The bread is tasteless and nothing like what I tried before. I may die from starving.

Zil stands after he finishes his food. "Look, I want to be here with you, but I have to go."

"Oh... Where are you going?"

"To the training field. I'm overwatching a session."

That sounds a lot more interesting than finishing this bowl of stuff, which is torture. "Can I go with you?"

His frown deepens. "You should eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"You don't get to be picky with food."

I pity them for having to survive on this, but at the same time... "Do you really think this is fine? Like... Have you never imagined having a bit better stuff? Stuff that's actually edible?"

"What about the porridge isn't edible?"

"I mean, different from just stuffing things into your stomach without throwing up. Like, actually enjoying your food."

"I don't care about food."

Maybe this is why he is always grumpy, as if someone wronged him. "Fine. But still, can I go with you?"

He looks at my bowl. "Are you sure you are done with your food?"

"Yeah."

He still seems undecided. I'm the only human here and all these uzains around me seem to be hostile. I don't think they want me here and their hungry eyes are scary.

I add. "Look, you want to make sure everyone knows I'm your mate, right?"

He lifts his eyebrows. "Do you mean...?"

I hold his hand. "Look, you would want to be with your mate all the time, right?"

He lifts my hand and kisses it. "I suppose so. You can sit on the balcony and watch."

"Oh... That sounds better."

He picks up our bowls and heads to the collection area to set down the tray. I follow him, which is going to be better than staying here on my own.

I understand these uzains are probably curious about me, but the way they look at me is scary. Maybe I'm just nervous because they are a lot larger than me and can crush me easily.

Zil's face is still cold. I wish I understood what's in his head. Maybe he is a pretty cool guy, but if he doesn't talk to me, I'm not going to get to know him.

There has to be a reason for him to risk it and fight the captain. Just because he is nice to me? What's that special about me, anyway?

I'm just a human trying to make it in the space station.

When he puts the tray in the racks and turns around, I hold his hand at once. Maybe I should try harder to look as if I'm dating him and is his mate.

It feels like fewer uzains are watching me. Maybe they already spent enough time staring at me or maybe they figured they shouldn't stare at Zil's mate.

The walk to get out of the food zone is longer than I want. I stick close to Zil when he strokes the back of my hand. He says, "Don't be scared. Everyone is nice. They won't hurt you."

"Hard to tell when all of you are scary. And... I still hate all of you, kidnappers."

He chuckles. His voice makes my heart skip a beat. Does he think that I'm being funny with him? "Maybe I should have kidnapped you myself. You are so perfect for me."

What the fuck?

I glare at him. he smirks and doesn't seem to care. I'm about to argue with him when he presses a finger on my lips.

He says, "Don't be a tease in front of everyone."

Oh... Is he saying that for the others? Maybe I should try harder to pretend to be his mate.

I clear my throat when he finally lifts his finger off me. "You should have warned me first, then no one would have to kidnap me. The world is so huge, but somehow my mate shows up for me."

There are sparks in his eyes. Did he think I meant my words? I thought we were pretending. Now this is confusing.

He says nothing else. In the corridor, there aren't a lot of uzains either, probably there's no need to pretend as hard.

We go down the corridor. He is still holding my hand. I don't feel like taking my hand to myself, anyway. His big hand is comfortable, and I don't mind. Not to mention this may be a bit smoother and to the expectation of the uzains if we run into someone.

I ask, "Are you going to tell me what's going to happen?"

"Nothing big. I'm the coach, I train uzains to battle and be ready."

These are probably the bandits in space, looking for their next prey. That'll explain how the captain saw no problem in kidnapping me and acted as if he got to do whatever he wanted. That's pretty much bandit behavior.

We arrive at a large room, or maybe it should be called a big plaza. It is a rectangular field with white lines at the edges. There are a few benches along the sidelines. There is a line going across the field at the center, dividing the whole field into two sides. Maybe this place is also used for sports. On the wall on the other side, there are weapons hanging, but there isn't a lot there, maybe most are kept elsewhere.

No one is here yet. Zil is the coach, so he probably is here early to get ready.

When we are inside the field area, this place seems to be a lot larger than looking from the outside. I close my eyes, imagining all the uzains training here. "How many are on the spaceship?"

"A hundred and fifty, that's including the captain and me."

"Okay... That's a lot."

"Not really. There are bigger uzain battleships out there. This is a medium-sized one."

Well, I don't know whether that's good news. A hundred and fifty is a lot of uzains, which won't make fleeing from here safely easy.

I take a breath, trying to calm myself. When Zil is here with me, I should try to act normal. Who knows whether uzains can read other's minds?

Zil turns around and points at the stairs that are close to the entrance. "You'll go upstairs. There are benches. You'll stay there and wait for me."

I point at the benches to the side of the field instead. "I can't sit over there? I won't interrupt you."

He huffs. "No, you'll sit further away. You're my mate and are for my viewing pleasure only."

My cheeks burn at that. Is he still pretending that we are mates? But there is no one here to overhear us.

The certainty in his eyes is strong, making it feel like I shouldn't argue with him. But at the same time, I'm not sure whether I want that.

He says, "I'll keep my mate safe."

"And won't that require staying close to your mate?"

He watches me with dark eyes. "Are you arguing with me?"

I put up my best cute face, even though I've never been someone like that.

He sighs almost at once. "Do you really want to be here? I thought everyone looking at you in the food zone was stressing you out. You didn't even want your food."

Now he reminds me of my empty stomach. I shrug. "If you insist. I didn't think about that. I just want to be close to you."

He wraps his arms around me and hugs me tight to his chest. "I appreciate that."

My body is on fire and I love his warmth.

I thought I was here to pretend to be his mate, but saying that feels a lot more natural than I expected. The warmth in me is inviting and seems to pull me to him again, just like how I wanted him last night.

I take a step away from him before I'll end up in trouble again. My heart is already racing and I'm seeing how I kicked him off me again.

He frowns at me, but before he says something, I say, "Maybe the others are coming soon. I should go upstairs."

He sighs. "Right. I'll meet you again soon."

I turn around and head to the stairs before I can stop and give that another thought. I have one goal here, and that's to go back home. It's not flirting with Zil and falling for him, absolutely not.