It was just past five in the afternoon but every one of them was already at their respective rooms, resting. Everyone one of them was tired from having fun the whole afternoon. And while every one of them was busy resting, Kasey decided to take a walk, as she waits for the sunset.
She was strolling at the night market near the resort they are staying at when she unexpectedly saw Nice, and just like her he was also strolling and trying out some food.
And since they are not that close to each other, they just walk past each other without even greeting.
"Hey, Kasey!"
"Huh? Me?" she asked puzzled while pointing herself.
"Is there anyone who has that name aside from you here?" Nice answer a bit irritated.
"Sorry." Kasey apologized half-heartedly.
"Who else has the name Kasey here?" he said sarcastically. "Isn't it you?"
"Okay, sorry, Mr. Nice," Kasey answered back as she secretly rolled her eye. "Nice?, his name doesn't suit him, his name should be Naughty" she whispered.
"What did you say?" Nice asked her glaring at her as he heard her murmured something unclear.
"Huh? It's nothing." Kasey answered as she smiles flatly at him.
Nice just stare at her for a second before he averts his gaze away from her. "Where are they?" he asked referring to their friends.
"They're resting." she just answered and he just nods as a reply.
"I'm heading back then," he said as he walks past by her.
Kasey chooses to continue walking and strolling around while she was looking for some souvenirs she could buy for herself and her grandfather.
She was about to go home since it was already past nine in the evening and her phone was already in a low battery when four suspicious guys approach her.
"Miss, are you alone? do you want us to accompany you?" one of the four asked her as he kept staring at her weirdly.
"N-no.. t-thanks," she answered stuttering as she tried to walk away from them.
She's starting to feel anxious, her knees were trembling as she felt her cold sweat around her palms.
I'm scared, I don't know what to do.
"Bro, it looks like we are scaring her." one of them said as he tried to approach her.
"Miss you don't need to be scared were nice. Right?" the other one said as he tilts his head to face his friends and the next thing she knew he was already holding her arm.
"Let go of me," she begged while pulling her arm from the grip of the man holding her. "Let go."
"Huh? I don't want to," he responds. "Let's go miss I'm sure you'll enjoy our company," he added as he pulled her closer to him and then wrapped his arms around her waist. While the other one sniffs her shoulder.
"Onii-san," Kasey mumbled in fear as they tried to drag her towards the other side of the market where there is no one and dark.
Kasey's fear is getting bigger and bigger as she kept smelling the scent of alcohol from them.
"I said let go of me!" she shouted as she tried once again to free herself.
"Heh? It looks like our little miss was a feisty one."
"Miss just come with us, okay?"
"Oi bro she's crying. Miss cry, it doesn't suit your beautiful face, don't worry we won't do anything bad at you, we will just have some fun that's all." one of them said followed by his laughter.
Kasey wasn't able to utter another word, her mind went blank as memories of the previous incident came back to her like a high-quality definition movie.
How I wish that my brother was here because I felt so hopeless right now.
-
"Kasey pick up your phone!" Kei murmur to himself as he re-dialed Kasey's number.
It's already past eight in the evening she hasn't come back yet, making him worry at her as high as the ceiling.
"Nice, you said you saw her this afternoon right?" Kei asked Nice.
"Yes, but why are you so worried about her, she was old enough to take care of herself, she's already graduating from senior high school."
"Because I can't let her outstay late at night outside, what if there's something bad happen to her, what will I do, what if she became traumatize again like what happened before, hey Nice tell me where did you last saw her?" Kei said continuously while shaking Nice's shoulder.
"Kuya Kei calm down, okay?" Nice tried to calm him down as he made him stay still.
"What's with this traumatizing thing? Does it have something to do with Kasey being aloof and avoiding every guy in our class?" he asked. "Because she always freaks out when we touch her."
"It seems, that I need to tell you the reason why she was like that," Kei said as he finally calmed down. "The truth is, she's not like that before, she was cheerful and she didn't hate boys before not until that tragedy happened, it was already one and a half year ago when she became a model like me…"
Kei told him everything, and now Nice finally realized and understood why Kasey was acting like that.
And with that he volunteered to go and look for Kasey, Kei also tags along with the boys while the girls stay at the rest house to watch over, in case Kasey came back while they were outside looking for her.
Nice decided to search for her where he last saw her but Kasey was already nowhere to be found. He was about to leave when he saw a glimpse of a young woman not that far away from where he is. And when he went out of curiosity and to check if she's not in trouble.
And without a second thought, he immediately helped her as soon as he saw her tears flowing down her cheeks.
-
I'm scared, I don't know what to do, I feel hopeless.
Onii-san, where are you? Onii-san. Kasey kept on calling his brother in her head as her tears kept from falling.
She continues trying to free herself from one of the guys who was now holding her but despite all of her efforts to escape she can't still free herself. A girl like her doesn't stand a chance against a big guy like them.
Kasey was still busy pulling herself free and struggling when a familiar person came and punched each one of them, but, the other party won't back down and in just a blink of an eye it turned into a fistfight. Despite being at the disadvantage, Nice doesn't seem to be bothered being outnumbered even though it was clear that he can't fight the four of them at once.
"Damn! What are you doing?!" Nice shouted as he took a glance at Kasey, their eyes met despite him being busy avoiding the punches that those drunk thugs throwing at him. "Do you plan to stand there all night long?!" he continued as he throws a punch and kicks at each one of the thugs. "Go! Run!"
"B-but!, I can't leave you here, fighting all of these guys!" Kasey shouted back, her voice was trembling just like her body.
"You're so stubborn!" Nice complaint. "If you can't then we will," he added as soon as he makes a quick escape from the drunkards' punches. "Let's go!"
Nice immediately grab Kasey's wrist and ran away as fast as they could, as far as they can.
"I don't think they could follow us here," Nice said as soon as he stopped to catch some air to breathe.
"T-thank you."
"Tsk." Nice clicked his tongue in annoyance as he turns to face Kasey. "Why didn't you call nor text anyone of us? Huh?" he ranted. "Didn't you know how worried your brother was? What's the purpose of having your phone when you're not even using it."
"Sorry" Kasey apologized as new drops of tears began falling from her eyes. "My phone was out of battery, a-and.. and--"
"You know what?" Nice interrupted as he looks at her, skepticism written all over his face. "Forget it," he added as he avoids his gaze.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly as he notices that Kasey was still trembling.
"I.. I'm fine," Kasey assured him with a faint smile on her face. "How about you?"
Kasey began examining Nice from head to toe confirming if he was alright.
"You're bleeding!" Kasey gasp in surprise as he saw blood on his knuckles and a small cut on his upper left cheek. "Does it hurts?"
"Of course it is! So don't you dare touch it." Nice warned her before her palms could even reach his face.
"I'm just worried," Kasey mumbled to herself, pouting.
"Let's go, let's go back it's already late," Nice said as he averted his gaze away from Kasey.
Tsk! She's not cute, she's not cute! He chanted in his head.
They began walking back towards the rest house in silence. But strangely that silence was enough for Kasey to calm down and feel assured. Nice's presence was enough for her to feel that there's nothing she should be afraid of anymore, no one will come after her, those drunkards won't approach nor harm her anymore, it was like Nice's presence was enough to give her protection and assurance.
"What the!" they both exclaimed when a sudden pour of rainfalls. "It looks like I need to call them now." Nice talk to himself while dragging Kasey towards the nearest gazebo nipa hut along the bay walk.
"Sorry." Kasey apologized once again while he was on the phone talking to her brother. "I shouldn't have stayed longer at the night market, I should have return earlier. If... if I did that--"
"You don't need to apologize to me." Nice cut her off again. "You should apologize to Kei, your brother."
Kasey wasn't able to answer back, it was like her tongue became numb as the image of his brother flashes in her mind.
Kasey was in deep thought when something warm wrapped around her shoulder.
"Wear this, it's cold," Nice said after putting his polo over Kasey's shoulder.
"But what about you?"
"I'm fine, just wear it." Nice insisted.
"B-but--"
"You don't like it? You're not used to it because you're aloof towards the opposite sex, because of your trauma?" Nice blurted out without thinking twice.
"Huh?!" Kasey was taken aback in surprise by what she heard.
"You're brother told me," he said as he saw her surprised expression.
"He? What?" Kasey questioned. "Did he told you everything?" she asked, still can't believe that her brother would tell someone about her.
"No, not at all," he answered, assuring her that her brother didn't tell anyone about her past nor secrets. "Kei told me that if I want to know the rest of the story and the cause why you ended up with trauma, I should ask you instead," he explained.
"Onii-san," Kasey whispered to herself as the image of her worried brother flash clearly in her mind.
"I'm sorry, onii-san." she mentally apologized.
"I don't understand and I don't know the reason behind it, all I can understand was that your brother, Kei is extremely worried about you." Nice continued when Kasey remained silent, surprising her with his sudden change of attitude towards her.
"So next time be careful and if possible I think you shouldn't go out on your own at night, in that way you can avoid any possible incident like this." Nice lectured her.
"I know… I'm also sorry, because… because of me you got into a fistfight."
Seeing Nice acts kindly and gentle towards her makes her think that she should and maybe she could tell him. Maybe it's about time for her to tell someone what happened before and the reason why she was like that towards the opposite gender. Maybe it's time for her to let everything out that he bottled up for the past year and months.
Kasey took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, calming herself as she prepares herself to finally open up a part of her that no one knows except her brother.
"Kei onii-san may tell you this but, I'll tell you the whole story." she started after heaving a sigh. "My whole story, if it's alright to you?" she nervously asked while drawing an invisible circle on her left arm with her right thumb.
Nice didn't say any words as an answer instead he just sat comfortably as if he was telling her that he was ready to listen to her story. That he was all ears to listen to her, and that simple gesture and silence make Kasey much more comfortable around him more than she is a while ago.
"Three years ago when I was at my third year in middle school..." she began. "My mother was diagnosed that she has cancer, at stage four to be precise. And all of the doctors whom we consulted always tell us the same, that my mother's life will be not that long enough and her chance of getting cured. But, we still believed that she'll be cured to the point that my father choose to bring her with him to America." Kasey continued as she reminisces her memories with her mother.
"Doctors tried their best, but, it's just that… it's the end of the road for my mom." she paused for a second as she felt a small lump on her throat. "She died just a week after my graduation and since then my father moves to America to manage our business there.
"We knew that it was hard for him to stay in Japan since we have lots of memories with mom over there. While Kei onii-san and I tried our best to move on with our life. My first year in senior high school went by smoothly but on the second term of my first year in senior high school it began to change at a pace that's quite hard for me to catch up with."
Kasey just continues telling her story while Nice was just simply watching and listening to her with a small smile on his face.
"When my brother asked me to be a model and I immediately accepted it, though my classmates didn't know that I was a model because I specifically asked for it. I always wear wigs, quite heavy makeup, and contact lenses so in that way they couldn't recognize me that easily."
"They only got to know about it when I and my brother was caught in a certain issue, they all thought that onii-san and I were a couple when a paparazzi got a picture of us together having our normal day at a mall. We've got no choice at that time but to reveal my real identity and my relationship with my brother."