“Haaa!”

Kairen leaned against the back of the chair, exhaling a deep breath. He ran away from the kid’s room as soon as he fell asleep. It took him 11 fucking episodes to finally sleep!

Now, sitting on a chair in the yard, he took in the fresh and cool air of the night. Despite having to suffer so much, he didn’t feel bad. It was actually nice. Spending a night with a cute kid and people who know you after having to deal with corpses and crazy people… was really stress-relieving.

“You were here!”

Kain’s voice brought him back from his thoughts. Kain sat down on the chair beside him with a smile.

“Ahem!”

Kairen turned and looked at him as he seemed to have something to say.

“….”

Kain opened and closed his lips a few times, but no words left his mouth. In the end, he just smiled bitterly and looked down at his hands. He started fidgeting with his fingers and avoiding Kairen’s eyes.

“….”

‘What is it?’

Was he still worried about Kairen?

Kairen actually had a hard time dealing with this man’s worries. He was even worse than Reyan, continuously texting him and checking how he was. He treated Kairen like a 5-year-old kid.

‘Why is everyone around me like this?’

He didn’t know the reason, but everyone that knew the previous Kairen seemed to care a lot about him. He wondered sometimes, just what kind of person was this Kairen? He knew he was similar to him but yet different… but there was no way he would have these nice people around him if he was similar to the current Kairen… Kairen actually felt kinda envious…

‘It feels like I’m deceiving them…’

Kairen sometimes felt guilty as he was somehow fooling them. He wasn’t the one they thought he was…

“I know it may not be the right time…”

Kairen stopped thinking and turned to Kain who seemed to finally be able to start the conversation.

“…But I just wanted to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

Kairen tilted his head. What is with a favor suddenly?

Kain was still fidgetting with his fingers and avoided Kairen’s gaze.

“Do You know what our job is?”

“No.”

How would he know?

Kain touched his forehead while sighing.

“Well, me… also Alessia, we both work for the Special Military Forces.”

“What?”

Kairen was greatly taken back. These two worked for SMF? Holy moly! Also, why was there something related to the Special Military Forces wherever he went? Stop it! It’s becoming a cliche!

As if reading his thoughts from his face, Kain smiled and gave an explanation.

“Well, all three of us lived in a special orphanage designed to train kids with unique skills, so it is natural. Don’t be so surprised.”

“Ah?”

There was something like this? He was obviously unaware of that.

“So, as you know, our job is a dangerous career. Anything may happen to you during your mission.”

Kairen nodded his head. He was well aware of that. Kain lowered his head again and looked back at his hands. He bit his lips as if it was hard to way what was in his mind.

“…I know you have a lot of problems now… and I also know that you are going through a hard time….”

“….”

“We have talked about this before, but I’m worried as you have most probably forgotten it.”

“Right…”

“I… um… you see…”

“What is it?”

The atmosphere was really serious. Kairen stiffened up and sat up straight at the sudden change. Kain took a deep breath.

“If… If anything happens to the two of us…”

“….”

“My son… Can you, If we both… um… I mean…”

Kain couldn’t say his sentence completely but Kairen could understand what he meant.

‘You want me to take care of your kid if you die?’

“….”

Kairen felt his heart go cold. Why would he say something like that?

“Wait, what are you-”

“I know it’s not appropriate to ask you something like that.”

“No that’s not-”

“I am just worried.”

“….”

Unlike before, Kain quickly said everything he wanted, not even listening to Kairen.

“I just… don’t want him to grow up the way we did.”

“Can you please for a-”

“I didn’t want to talk about things like this today, but I have to go on a mission soon… You don’t know what will happen to you tomorrow.”

“OY, listen here-”

Kairen was getting really annoyed. Are you deaf? Stop talking for a moment!

“You don’t have to accept anything. It’s just that we only have you to trust.”

‘What is this idiot saying for himself?’

Kairen blankly looked at the stupid man in front of him who was babbling nonsense continuously.

“I don’t mean to push you or something just-”

“SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT!”

Kairen nearly shouted this time. Kain flinched at his yelling and peeked at Kairen. He seemed angry…

Kairen was really angry. Even he himself was surprised by how angry he got all of a sudden.

‘Why am I so mad about what this dude is saying? I’ve only met him a week ago! I don’t really care about you bro!’

Despite that, Kairen was so pissed that he felt like he would explode if he doesn’t say all the words inside his head.

“What do you mean by taking care of your son? Why would something happen to you? Take care of him yourself!”

Kain was startled by the sudden anger. An angry Kairen was sitting beside him. Danger! It is dangerous! He tried to prevent the disaster before it happened.

“Kairen I-”

“Shut up!”

“Ok.”

But it was too late. Kain lowered his head at Kairen’s angry response.

‘Shit! I made him mad.’

He didn’t want to, but he unknowingly made him furious. When Kairen’s angry mode was activated, it wouldn’t end with one word or two. Well, you could somehow calm him down if you were brave enough… Kain closed his eyes and prepared himself for the upcoming attacks.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? If you are afraid of death then don’t have a child from the beginning! You irresponsible people! Quit your job if you think you may die! Why should I look after your child? Why would the both of you die anyway? Look after him yourself! Are you a fucking idiot? Saying stupid things with a serious tone won’t make you look any intelligent! Oy brainless bastard!”

“….”

“Yeah yeah, YOU ARE NOW IGNORING ME!!”

‘But you told me to shut up…’

Answering him would only make the matters worse, but keeping silent would make him even more pissed off.

“Sorry…”

Kairen grabbed Kain’s shoulders and shook his body.

“What do you mean by sorry? Only sorry for all of that nonsense I had to hear? Do you think you can say anything then say worry? HUH? HUH?? You shithead! Brainless stupid fool! You think you can make people annoyed and then say sorry? What are you even apologizing for? Answer my questions first! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT SUCH STUPID THINGS?”

‘Heavens! Help!’

Kain desperately prayed to the god as he was being shaken back and forth.

‘Does he even breathe between his words?’

“You are not even listening to me! Am I a joke to you? Who do you think you are? Wait, did you invite me here only to say those stupid words? You used Ariyan as bait! Heartless!”

“No! Calm down a moment.”

“Calm down? YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?”

“You have turned red! Calm down!”

“No, I should make you understand how stupid you are- HAAAAA”

Kairen took a deep breath. He had talked so fast that he didn’t have the time to breathe…

“Yes I know I am stupid. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Kain took advantage of his momentary silence and said in a soothing tone. He patted Kairen’s back with his hand and started using special anger-reducing technics, gathered by shedding tears and sweat over years of experience, that would only work on Kairen.

“Sorry, I was just worried. I didn’t mean to UPSET you.”

Kairen’s eyebrows twitched at his words. Upset? Why would be upset? He was just angry at how stupid this man was! How can people mistake being angry and being upset?

‘Who do you think you are? You don’t value that much for me to become upset because of your words!’

“No, don’t misunderstand. I am not upset, just angry!”

Kairen answered him sharply, still with a frown and angry face.

“Didn’t you become angry because I made you upset?”

“NO! I got mad at how stupid you were! Why would I even care about you?’

Kain’s lips twitched as he looked at kairen. Kairen has always been like that. Kain could see Kairen’s brown-green eyes that were now kinda teary. He wasn’t crying, but it was because of anger. Kain knew Kairen wouldn’t cry that easily but he continued teasing him to calm him down.

“Yes yes, you are not upset at all.”

“Don’t laugh at me! It’s from anger! ANGER!”

“Yes yes.”

Like a balloon that was hit with a needle, Kairen’s anger went away in an instant, and what came after that was annoyance. And after that, he was filled with a huge amount of embarrassment.

‘What happened to me? Why did I say all those? Ah, I want to die right now.’

He quickly stood up and ran inside the home, not wanting to see Kain’s face again.