Ch. 08: New Supreme Leader.

After Ethan was done talking, there was a brief moment of silence that hung over the car. None of them knew what to say afterwards. It was almost like someone had sealed their mouths off with tapes.

"So about the proposition from the Order, are you going to take it or not?" Luke asked, breaking the once sacred silence. 

Ethan let out a breath of surrender. "I don't know, Luke. I don't think I can take it. It seems so much like a grand thing to do. Way grander than anything I can undertake.”

"Really? Why?" 

"Like I said, replacing Grandmaster Humber of the Order, is not something I think a person like me can undertake."

Luke furrowed his dark eye brows. "That is exactly what I don't understand. You're the Ethan. The one Grandmaster put his faith most in, how can anything be bigger than you who was chosen by him? Grandmaster Humber doesn't make mistakes of this sort. This much I know of him. And he trained you for this day.”

Ethan was quiet for a while. 

"Besides what exactly is in this city that you can't leave for the Order anyway?" Luke asked once more, anticipating Ethan's answer.

"I can't tell you," Ethan replied. "Not right now. But I am not saying that I will not go back and take this honor that has been bestowed upon me, I just mean that right now is not the Right time."

Luke took some time to stare at him, as though he was trying to ponder on his words, to see the reasons why he wouldn't come. 

In a short while, he broke out into a sigh of relief. "Okay," he said. "But I still stand by my advice, come and take the mantle into your hands. We need you at this moment, Ethan."

"I know. I'll be back soon, Luke. Just please help me keep everything tidy while I'm away. I will be back soon. I just need to finish up the task at hand. I know you will understand. You are Luke." 

"It's cool, I understand." Luke nodded. "But before you go, let's exchange contacts. A lot of people don't know you are alive. A lot of people think you are dead as we speak. For this reason, when Grandmaster Humber named you as his successor it caused an uproar. Because many people don't know that you are alive. They thought that the Grandmaster sure must have been crazy to have picked you who were not around, when there were so many others to pick from."

"Of course, I expected that." Ethan nodded slowly in agreement.

"There are also subordinates of the Order in this city. I will give you their number soon enough. Anytime you need anything, don't be afraid to reach out."

Luke gave him the contacts. and stopped the car somewhere Ethan had previously told him to stop. Ethan went down from it.

"I hope to see you soon, brother," Luke said, placing the first two fingers of his right hand on his forehead as a form of salute and solidarity. "Farewell, new supreme leader!" 

Ethan did the same. Luke drove off after that, leaving Ethan holding nothing but the bags of clothes in his hands.

"And now I have to go to the mall," Ethan said, walking away. "This is all too stressful," he said.

But he did go back to the mall. He did get the clothes, the right ones that Kelly had wanted him to get. This time she called him back like she had been monitoring him through some hidden camera in his phone.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Did you get the clothes?" She asked just as she had questioned before, without no regard for his greetings.

"Yes," he said, showing the clothes to her, without her asking.

"Good." She immediately hung up the call after saying that, much to his surprise. He was wondering just how she could be so erratic when she sent a text to him in the next minute. 

"I want to see you in a hotel right this instant," the text read. "Come to The Beach Side hotel."

A hotel, he thought. Well this is getting far too interesting. He couldn't help but feel a crushing awkwardness.