[22 October 2027. The military's mysterious 'Red Lieutenant' is rumored to be retiring after serving our country for six years.]
The sound of a TV can be heard in the airport.
'It feels good to be back home again.'
He exhales loudly, knowing that he is finally back in his hometown. The past few years for him have been packed with interesting events. But, even though he had fun, he always wanted to go back to where he originally is.
[He is the reason why our country can be as peaceful as it is now. He and his platoons, singlehandedly, are the ones who have successfully eliminated almost all the rebels in our country.]
'I can't wait to meet them again; I hope they are still fine after all these years.'
He wanted to call his family to announce his return, but unfortunately, he didn't have any of their numbers.
[It has been confirmed that his actual rank is higher than First Lieutenant, but he refuses to upgrade his status. After we interviewed one of his platoons, they revealed that he doesn't want to exceed his teacher, Cpt. Hans, who is currently a Captain. After multiple rejections from him, our military decided to create a new rank solely for him, the 'Red Lieutenant'. It is their way of showing how thankful they are for his service to our country.]
[It is also rumored that almost all his platoons from 'Red Crow' are planning to quit the army to follow him. But he himself pleaded with them to stay in the military and continue hunting the rebels.]
'Look like I need to call a taxi to get home.'
He thought to himself before hoping that the house they are living in right now is the same as six years ago. He doesn't want to come back just to be greeted by a complete stranger.
[Almost half of his platoons were reportedly saved by him from the rebel camps, and the other half were the ones who had known him since the first day he served the army.]
"Mister. Is your taxi free right now?"
"Ah, yes, I don't have any customers yet; feel free to get in."
[His actual identity is still being kept hidden, but on January 1 next year, he will reveal his identity at Sainttish, the capital city of Erusea. Regardless of who he is, we here at BlockNews are thankful for his service.]
After putting all his luggage inside the trunk, he sits in the back seat of the taxi.
"Good afternoon, sir; where are we going today?"
"Green Rock street."
"Okay, sir, please wear the seat belt." The taxi driver asks Henry before driving to his customer's location.
Henry starts getting comfortable in the taxi to prepare for the long trip home. While waiting until he gets there, he looks outside the window, thinking of Sera, smiling.
'I've missed you so much, Sera. I can't wait to see you again.' He thought to himself while waiting for the taxi to arrive at his house.
"Where are you from, sir? It looks like it has been years since you have been here." The taxi driver suddenly asks to start a conversation.
"Oh, I was actually just back from the military."
"Are you taking a short break right now, or have you just decided to call it quits? You still look young though, so maybe you still want to pursue your interests."
"Yeah, I actually just quit from the military. It's been years seen I've last seen my family, so I decides to leave the army to meet them again and do other things as a normal citizen. But if the military decides to call me to do any important mission, I'll be back there."
"Ohhh, I understand how it is. Do you have any story that you can share with me when you are serving in the army?"
"Yeah, I have. There is this one time when I was requested to go to Italy.."
They then continue their conversation to fill the time until they arrive at Henry's house. Although the taxi driver keeps asking a lot of questions, Henry only tells him the general answer or straight-up lying to keep his identity secret.
-----
After a few hours of travel, Henry finally arrives at his home. It looks like they are still living at the same house as Henry can still see Selena's car from years ago parked in the driveway.
He takes all his luggage from the taxi and says bye to the taxi driver before ringing the house doorbell.
*ding dong*
'...'
He waits at the front gate silently.
*creak*
After waiting for a few seconds, somebody can be heard opening the front door. A woman in her early 40s can be seen coming out of the house slowly.
She has long white hair and pale yellow eyes attached to her face. She can be described as ageless as she still looks the same as she did years ago.
She looks outside her house to see who has just come into her place in the evening. If she remembered correctly, she didn't have anyone who said that they would come today.
'Who is the one who rings the doorbell? Is it those scammers aga-.'
She wondered who it was that wanted to meet her before laying her eyes straight on Henry.
"Hi." Henry just smiles and waves at her after seeing her surprised face.
"HENRYY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs before running to hug Henry.
*thud*
"Why didn't you tell me that you would be back today. Do you know how much I miss you?"
Selena says while tightly hugging him around the neck with her leg off the ground. It looks like she is very excited to meet Henry again after all these years.
"I miss you too, Selena. I miss everyone." He says before hugging her back.
They spend time hugging each other for a while before Henry decides to put her back down. They have not met each other for six years, so they want to enjoy their first interaction after a long time. Selena then proceeds to circle around Henry to see what has changed.
"What? Is there anything wrong?" Henry asks her after seeing her weird behavior.
"Nothing Henry, you look like a proper man now. You have grown so much taller and more handsome." She compliments him with a smile on her face.
"You too, Selena. You are still looking gorgeous as ever."
After they finished complimenting each other at the house's front gate, Selena invited Henry to come inside. She thought Henry must have been very tired right now as the nearest airport is at least 3 hours away.
"Go put your luggage in your room first, Henry. I will make you a drink while I wait, and after that, we can continue our talks."
"Is it the one from years ago?"
"Yes. The same room you lived in since you were 12."
Henry then starts making his way to his room slowly. As he goes through the house, he can see that many things have been renovated. It looks like this house and the one he had previously lived in are two different places.
After he finally gets to his old room, he stands there to readies himself before entering the room. It's been a long time since he had seen the inside.
'Fuuuh, let's go.' He calms himself as he places his hand on the doorknob.
*click*
He opens the door to his room, and inside, everything is still the same as he remembers. Every piece of furniture he had used and even the light peach wall paint are still there.
The room doesn't even have any dust and is very clean. Selena must have cleaned this room every now and then.
As Henry enters the room, a big wave of nostalgia hits him. He remembered every little thing he had done in this room. After his parents died, this room was the one where he stayed and made memories with Sera.
He has gone through a lot of things, and this room is the one where he returns to cry by himself, while Sera and Selena will always try to cheer him up.
As he walks around the room, he glances at the table beside his bed and sees a framed picture of him and Sera. For some reason, it looks familiar.
He walks slowly to the framed picture and grabs it to look closely. Inside, a candid shot of them can be seen when they celebrated Sera's 14th birthday. In the photo, both are smiling happily together while holding an ice cream cone.
'So this is the picture you chose for the watch background, Sera. No wonder I always felt that I had seen it before.' He thought to himself while holding the picture and the pocket watch side by side.
The pocket watch that Sera gave him is already out of batteries. The picture changes feature is also already broken, so it just shows a picture of them all the time instead of only at night. But even after that, he still keeps the watch with him to remind himself what she looks like every night.
After he has done looking at the picture, he places his watch next to it. He then starts organizing his luggage and storing all his clothes in the closet.
After everything is done, he continues making his way to the living room to continue talking with Selena. He has a lot to tell her.