Chapter 19

Taria got closer to knowing Tian's true identity every minute she spent at that house, but having the full image was still far away. At night, Taria couldn't sleep, and her brain kept thinking about weird things while she was rolling in bed, then suddenly, "what was Tian like as a child?" snapped in her mind as thunder. She rose up as if that question electrically shocked her, then she wore her slippers and went to Tian's room without thinking.

Taria was walking slowly as she didn't know where Tian's room was, waiting for someone to show up and guide her, but no one came.

"Why are all the doors the same?" Taria said, trying to ease the heavy feeling she felt all of a sudden, then, a muffled crying sound coming from behind one door stopped her.

Taria didn't know what to do. Should she run away? Or should she open the door and satiate the curiosity that was weighing on her mind?, and after a while of thinking, the latter won.

Taria opened the door with shaky hands, while the crying voice got louder, however, what she saw made her regret her choice. Tian was standing beside a man tied to a chair, and they both were covered with blood that was obviously not Tian's, while Ve was watching them calmly. Tian punched the man on his face, leaving his blood to splash and adding another wound to his smashed face, then he wiped his hand calmly with a cold and sharp look in his eyes that Taria never saw before. After that, Tian took a pistol from a plat full of torture instruments covered in blood, and he shoot the man exactly three times, on his leg, on his stomach, and finally, on his head, and he did it without even blinking.

Ve stood up, holding a glass of wine, then he patted Tian's shoulder who was wiping the man's blood off his chin, yet once he saw Taria standing on the door with fading expressions, he pressed on Tian's shoulder.

Tian turned after Ve pressed his shoulder to see Taria who was frozen at the door. The sparkle of her eyes faded, and her face was white as if there was no blood reaching it, she couldn't even feel her blood dripping from her hand that her nails were embedded in.

The wipe covered with blood fell down from Tian's hand, and he ran towards Taria after taking off his dirty clothes. He shook her but she didn't blink, then Ve came and started talking to her as well, after that, a tear came out of her eye, she gasped, and started coughing as she forgot to breathe after what she saw. She hugged both of them, and kept crying until she fell asleep after wetting their clothes with tears.

Tian carried Taria to her bed shaking, he covered her well, and squatted beside the bed while holding her hand. His heart hurt as if it shattered into million pieces, and his head was tilted down as it felt heavier for him, then he looked at Taria who was lying in bed, and wiped her tears that were still coming out of her closed eyes and hurting him more than a bullet can.

Tian opened a small closet at the corner of the room, taking out a first aid kit that reminded him of their first meeting, then he sat on the bed beside Taria, held her wounded hand gently, put some medicine on her wound, and bandaged it softly. Tian stayed beside Taria for a while, not doing anything other than holding her hand and staring at her while wishing that she would wake up with her usual sparkling eyes, but she didn't, so he walked out of the room to see Ve standing there waiting for him.

They both went to the lake side, but no word came out of their mouths as words were shorter than describing how they felt. They sat down, calm on the outside, but exploding on the inside. Tian stood up after a while of swinging in place, then he punched the wooden pole that was beside him as hard as he could, and he kept punching it, leaving it covered in his blood, until Ve stopped him. Tian was about to punch Ve instead of the pole, yet he held himself back at the last moment, while Ve didn't blink.

"Physical pain won't stop what you are feeling. You tried that before, Tian, and it didn't work, did it? A Leo would never try what he tried before", Ve said calmly

"FUCK BEING A LEO. IT'S THE MAIN PROBLEM THAT I AM A FUCKIN LEO. IF I WAS JUST A NORMAL MAN, if I was just like anyone else, if I.. wasn't born then SHE WOULDN'T HAS SHED THOSE TEARS", Tian said, then he slapped Ve's hand away and walked into the house.

Tian got drunk, then he walked towards Taria's room swaying. He sat beside her, and ran his fingers through her brown hair. Taria, who was awake but pretending to be asleep, felt a water drop fall on her face, but she knew after smelling alcohol from Tian that it wasn't water, it was his tear.

"Sorry, Taria, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have been born. I shouldn't have entered your house that night. If I haven't met you, then you would have been safe now", Tian said while his tears were wetting Taria's face.

"If I haven't met you, then I would have been fighting my loneliness on the ground of my room", Taria said while pressing on Tian's hand that was holding hers, then she opened her eyes, and saw Tian who was close to her to the point their noses were almost touching. Taria pulled Tian into the bed, then she covered him with the blanket and hugged him softly.

"Sleep now, we can talk after you become sober", Taria said, then she ran her fingers through his hair until he fell asleep hugging her, meanwhile, she stayed awake, unable to even close her eyes.

"You know that he is a killer, why is your heart shaking?" Taria thought, then she looked at Tian who was hugging her waist, and she buried her face in his hair.

"I shouldn't be the one shaking. How could he handle this twelve times when I can't even handle seeing it from far away once? Is that why he became cold? Is that why he feels uncomfortable touching other people? Is that why he had to build a wall around his heart? This is unfair", Taria thought, and her tears started falling down again.