Once Again... I'm in Love with You - Chapter 3A
He flipped the pages in the books. No, none of the books he read had provided him with what he was looking for. He still couldn’t find the weakness of Raitorian.
He was greedy, he knew that. He was born as a prince and now he was a king. He inherited a kingdom named Daku from his father. A kingdom that was located in the north. However, it wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to conquer the kingdom in the south. A kingdom named Raitorian. But, they were more powerful than the people in his kingdom. It must be because they had the Key. The Key that can open a gate. What lies beyond the gate was not known to the king. The Raitorian wouldn’t share the knowledge with him. But, it was said that the things hidden beyond the gate will give him the power to conquer the entire world.
“Ughhh!” He let out a frustrated sigh and pushed the books that he had been reading. Useless, all these books were useless. There’s nothing in the books that could help him.
“Your Majesty.” He frowned to hear a voice calling him. He was supposed to be alone in the library. Nobody would dare to enter the library if he was around. Furthermore, it was already late at night.
“Show yourself.” He ordered the intruder. Slowly, from one of the shelves, a tall young man appeared. He had to be around the same age as him. The king took some time to recognize the young man. He wasn’t from Daku. Instead, he was one of the Raitorian. He was a member of the delegation that accompanied the Raitorian King for his annual diplomatic visit. But, he wondered why the man was still here. Raitorian King and his delegation had left his kingdom yesterday.
“Forget your way home?” He asked the intruder. To be honest, he was furious. But, he knew there had to be a reason why the intruder stayed while the rest of the delegation went back to their own kingdom.
“This is where I want to be. I am honoured to finally have the chance to meet you, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, really? Why do you want to meet me? Don’t you know that I can punish you for trespassing in my property? Your king will not be happy if he knows this.”
The man didn’t answer him. Instead, he continued to stare at the king with a smirk. It made the king furious to see someone dared to look at him straightly. Was the intruder trying to make fun of him?
“Don’t worry, Your Majesty.” The intruder said after a while. “I’m here because I want to join forces with you. Both of us want the same thing. We want the Key that the Raitorian kept and to see the kingdom crumbled. You have been looking for ways to defeat them, right? Did you find any?”
The king remained silent, refused to admit his failure.
“Fortunately, I found the way, Your Majesty.”
The intruder smiled at him. He wasn’t lying, the king knew that. But, can he trust the intruder? No, he doubted that.
“What are you doing in my house?” Ohno asked Aiba, half shouting. He cannot think rationally right now. A part of him was screaming, telling him that the guy who stood by the door murdered his parents. But, another part of him denied the accusation. The wounds on his parents’ bodies didn’t seem to be made by humans. But, why was he in his parents’ house?
“ANSWER ME.” He shouted at the top of his lungs when Aiba remained silent. Aiba flinched when he shouted but he didn’t answer him, much to his annoyance. “Do you kill my parents?”
“He is not responsible for the death.” A familiar voice behind him said. He turned around to see Nino walking towards him, looking different than the guy he met in the coffee shop. He emitted a cool aura, not playful and friendly like the way he was with Jun earlier. Even Jun was looking at him differently.
“Then, who is responsible? Is it you?” He asked, trying to keep his emotions in check.
“No.” Nino shook his head. “But, I know who is responsible.”
“Oh, really?” He retorted. “But, can I trust you? Maybe you’re trying to trick me.”
He didn’t miss how hurtful Nino looked because of what he said. But, he didn’t care.
“Sa… Ohno san…” Nino uttered while trying to remain unaffected with the way Ohno talked to him earlier. Ohno noticed the slip out but he was too furious to say anything about that right now. “I know it’s hard for you to trust me. It’s even harder for me to explain. So, please forgive me for this.”
For no reason at all, Nino suddenly snapped his fingers. And automatically, Ohno felt his head getting heavier.
“I’m sorry.” That was the last thing he heard before he slipped into unconsciousness.
The sound of alarm roused Ohno from his sleep. Even though his head felt heavy, he opened his eyes and looked for his phone to switch off the alarm. 7 AM. It’s time to get ready for work.
He frowned upon seeing the date for today. May 15? Hmmm… Why did he feel like he had seen the same date yesterday? Somehow, he couldn’t help but feeling curious to see the same date today. But, he ignored the feeling when his phone rang. It was from his mother.
“Moshi Moshi, mama.” He greeted his mother cheerfully. It had been a habit of his mother to call him every morning since he moved out of the house.
“Satoshi! How are you? Did you sleep well yesterday?” His mother asked. The same question as always. After Satoshi told her how well he slept yesterday, his mother continued to talk about what happened to her the previous day. Ohno smiled as he listened to his mother’s story. However, he was startled when he saw an image of his mother lying on the floor with bites and scratches all over her body.
“Mama, are you okay?” He instantly asked, cutting over the thing that his mother was telling him.
“Yes, honey. I’m okay. Why are you asking?” She asked with confusion.
“Nothing.” He answered. “I better get ready. It’s almost time for work.”
“Okay, bye, dear. Do your work properly, okay.”
“Okay.” He said, ready to end the conversation. However, he thought about the image flashed in his mind just now. Thinking of it as a reminder that he hadn’t visited his parents for a while, he informed his mother that he will come home today after work. His mother squealed excitedly and promised to cook his favourite dishes for dinner.
“Ah, yokatta,” Ohno mumbled to himself. He was glad he woke up in time before he missed his stop. Without wasting any more time, he immediately went out of the train once it stopped. As he walked, he stared at a row of shops near the station in confusion. Wasn’t there a coffee shop yesterday? He vaguely remembered buying a cup of French vanilla for breakfast and lunch.
However, Ohno ignored the uneasy feeling he had because of the missing coffee shop. There were other shops he can go to buy coffee.
Once he arrived at the office, Ohno checked his schedule. What a relief! He didn’t have any meetings today. Next, he checked his emails, sighing for comments he received from the clients regarding his design. It seemed like he had a lot of modifications to do today.
Ohno began working in silence. It was a peaceful morning with only a few staff bothered him for advice with their works. Too peaceful that he thought it was a weird morning. That was when he realized Jun hadn’t bothered him at all this morning. He glanced at the clock, noticing it was already 11AM. Deciding to take a little break from work, he left to go to the washroom and then headed to the diva’s office to bother him.
Huh? Diva? Why did he call Jun Diva? It seemed like he heard someone called his best friend a diva before but he cannot recall where he had heard it.
“Good afternoon, Ohno san.” Mao, Jun’s secretary greeted him.
“Good afternoon, Inoue san. Is Matsumoto san busy?” Ohno asked. All of the staff knew of his good relationship with Jun but he preferred to be formal whenever he met Jun around office hour.
“Matsumoto san is not here,” Mao informed him.
“He has a meeting outside?” He inquired more. But, Mao shook her head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know much. He called me this morning, telling me that he won’t come. Sakurai san is also not in the office today.”
“Oh, okay.” Ohno excused himself. It’s strange. Both his bosses, who were famous for being a workaholic, were absent today. He wondered if anything happened.
Ohno continued with his work after that. But, he found it hard to concentrate. He kept seeing a glimpse of a pale guy with black hair whenever he closed his eyes. Who is that guy? He felt like he should know him but nothing came to his mind.
Ohno shook the image away, trying to focus once again on work. He skipped lunch, deciding that it would be better to keep his stomach empty for dinner with his parents. When it was almost time for work to end, he checked his work once again to make sure he had adjusted the design as requested by the clients. Feeling satisfied with his work, he sent emails to his clients, hoping they will not complain about his design this time.
Even though his parents’ house was quite far from his office, Ohno decided to walk there. He was thrilled to meet his mother but he wondered if his father would be excited to see him. His father wasn’t really fond of him, that’s what he thought growing up. He often scolded Ohno when he was small and now, they were totally awkward with each other. That’s why he rarely came home after he moved out.
Ohno tried to get rid of negative feelings. No, they’re family. His father didn’t hate him. Taking a deep breath, he took out his phone and sent a message to his mother, informing her that he was on his way home.
The dinner went better than he expected. True, both Ohno and his father didn’t talk much to each other. His mother did all the talking, asking him about his life even though he had reported it to her every morning. Even so, he enthusiastically answered each question, knowing that his mother was asking those questions because of his father. His father didn’t really say anything but Ohno was glad to see the way he silently paid attention to everything he said.
“Why don’t you stay here tonight?” His mother asked, looking hopeful.
“I’m sorry, mama but maybe next time. I have to be early for work tomorrow.” He declined politely.
Ohno quickly excused himself before his mother could persuade him. To be honest, there was something about the house that made him uncomfortable tonight. But, he didn’t know what it was.
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