I Will Love You Forever.

Nick entered the lock code at the entrance gate and entered the courtyard, the sun rose above the horizon and shone with a bright light, announcing a new day. The smell of fresh, fragrant baking that he was carrying in his hands added a bit of mood to his usual gloomy state.

Not that he was completely gloomy, he was far from David in that matter, but the situation with Elena bothered the young man no less than others.

"Oh, Aunt Lee, do you want a couple of cakes? On the way, I jumped into the candy store to Corey, she stuck me up a whole packet of sweets!"

"Haha, no, dear, thank you," Liu Yang greeted the young man with a smile as he entered the house, "Are you going to be free anytime soon? Chen called me and asked me to come home when I can. Will you keep an eye on Elena?"

"Tsk, you don't even have to ask! I practically live in this house, so I consider it my duty, otherwise, David will kick me out for being lazy," Nick laughed.

For the first couple of weeks, David was not very pleased with the presence of a stranger in the house, but gradually he accepted that fact and even got used to it, and after Elena fell into a coma, the man's thoughts were focused on another thing.

So he was not even interested in what Nick was doing and what he was busy with all this time. Well, it actually played into Nick's hands. It is unlikely that anyone will suspect a close relative of something wrong, right?

The young man saw Liu Yang off with a smile and closed the door behind her. Silence reigned in the house, even the hands on the clock on the wall in the living room were ticking barely audible so as not to disturb the general peace.

Nick put a bag with baking on the table and slowly walked up to the second floor. The door to the bedroom was slightly open, and sunlight falling through large windows seeped from the room into the corridor. The young man opened the door and entered the room.

The woman was lying on the bed, her eyes were closed, her face was relaxed, from the side she looked just sleeping. Such as the sleeping princess is usually represented in children's fairy tales, the only thing that distinguished her from that fairy-tale image was not the lack of luxurious decoration as in some kind of castle, but the presence of different sensors and monitors connected to her body.

The young man approached her bed and ran fingertips along her cheek, the signals of the monitors remained unchanged, she did not react at all to his touch.

The phone in Nick's pocket vibrated, he glanced at the display and smirked, "Hmm, must this guy suddenly remember me? My dear, your husband is so funny, look, he decided to check my personal data in the network," the young man turned the phone display in the direction of Elena, although he knew very well that she would remain indifferent in his conversation.

The application on the phone displayed several notifications containing the same text, [Search for personal data requested. Name: Nick Anderson. Request source - IP address, geo-location of request on the map...]

Nick deleted the notifications from the screen, sat on the bed next to Elena, went into the phone menu and opened the application.

[The username.]

"Nick Teser," said the young man.

[Voice identification successful.] A system notification sounded.

[To access the system, scan your retina.]

The hidden side camera moved forward and turned green, Nick raised the camera to his eyes.

[Error. A copy of the retina does not match the user. Access to the voice assistant is blocked.]

"Agh, damn, those stupid lenses, I completely forgot about them," the young man cursed, rubbed his eyes and brought the scanner to his face again.

[Login confirmed. The loading of the 3D model will be complete in three seconds.]

Three seconds later, the phone's monitor flashed, and a three-dimensional model was displayed above the screen, showing points on the map and query options with data.

[The voice assistant Alice is activated. How can I help you?]

"Alice, find online data that matches search queries and create mirror pages using my personal data," Nick commanded.

[Executing. Copies of profiles created. Current software versions do not support the installation of the 3D images. Do I use the 2D images created in the last three months?]

Nick rolled his eyes if this phone weren't the only one of its kind and so sophisticated, he would have already flushed it down the toilet a long time ago, because at the moment it was completely useless. If it were not for the need to maintain his identity in secret, the young man would prefer to buy some primitive modern cell phone.

"Alice, process the photos taken in the last two months."

[Executing. Profiles created successfully. All incoming requests will be automatically translated to them.]

"Thanks. Sign Out."

[Goodbye, sir.]

The phone screen went blank, and Nick looked sadly at the black display, 'Damn, I had to look at old photos. Okay, next time,' he thought to himself.

At that moment, something light touched his hand, the young man flinched and turned. Elena was looking at him with wide eyes, her face did not express any emotions. But her gaze was not as usual.

Nick swallowed, a heart-pounding tremor ran through his body. The woman silently raised her hand and extended a palm to his face, her eyes were black as night and it seemed to the young man that she was looking into the very depths of his soul.

He took a breath, closed his eyes, and pressed his face against her palm.

Thousands of pictures flashed through his head, some of them were crisp, some were blurry, some were white, like a light-struck film, and some were bright and full of emotions. These were his memories, from childhood to the present moment.

Emotions surged forward with a new force on the young man, he did not notice how a tear rolled down his cheek.

Nick opened his eyes and could not restrain a sob, Elena looked at him with a smile full of love and tenderness. "I'm so sorry, have you been having trouble all this time without mom? I know how it feels because I myself grew up without her. Come to me," the woman whispered, and the young man pressed himself against her while she was stroking his back and saying soothing words.

"I missed them, but when I saw you and David, what love you have for your child, only then I realized how much I missed my parents all these years," Nick was crying like a little boy.

"Shhh, I know everything will be fine. I am here and I love you, everything will be fine," Elena said quietly, "I understand your pain, but I see deep hatred in your heart. You can die if you let this feeling take hold of yourself."

"This man killed my family, all the people I love. I will not calm down until he faces the consequences for his actions," Nick sat up straight and wiped his eyes, anger and a thirst for revenge reflected in his gaze.

"My boy, am I not your family?" Elena asked, and the young man was a little confused, his eyes immediately became softer, he smiled and nodded his head.

"Nick remember, sometimes things are not as we see them. Do not let hatred blind you and then you can see the truth. Leave your heart open and it will show you the right path."

"Ok, I'll try," the young man replied.

Elena closed her eyes and added, "Sorry, this body is not yet ready for new powers, when I wake up, I can forget our conversation, so remember - no matter what happens, I will always love you because..."

The woman's phrase was cut short, her breathing calmed down and she fell into a deep sleep again. Nick sat on the floor, put his head down on the bed next to Elena and answered in a whisper,

"I will also love you forever," he took her palm in his hand, closed his eyes and fell asleep.