"Please look ahead."
Benjamin immediately straightened his head when the SURVIVE agent who was escorting him said that. It wouldn't have gotten him there if he hadn't met them in the first place.
Early in the morning, a man and a woman dressed in dark blue uniforms arrived at his safe house. He opened the door without checking who was there because he was in a hurry. Turns out, they weren't who he expected to come.
Though the two agents had promised not to harm him in any way, he was troubled by the reason he had been brought there: his father. He also heard Brissia's name mentioned several times by passing agents.
Clack!
"Come on in," one of them said to Benjamin as he pushed the door open, prompting Benjamin to enter a room where agents sat behind tables and stared at him blankly.
Benjamin found their expressions on their straight faces to be scarier than his father's and the bandits' irate faces. However, his gaze then fell onto a paneled room, where his father was restrained by the two cops from throwing a tantrum at an agent who was interrogating him.
"Father!"
The calm and dignified expression on his face instantly faded.
"He's innocent! Someone had trapped him by sending those people on his behalf!" Benjamin exclaimed, trying to get away from the two agents who were clutching his shoulders, trying to stop Benjamin in his tracks.
"Hey, shut up."
Benjamin turned to a burly male agent who gave him an upset look.
"Hasn't he mistreated you?" he continued, sounding both pitiful and disturbed.
Benjamin flinched, fell silent, even until the two agents holding him had let him go. The faces of all the agents there changed, showing a concern that Benjamin would never have realized because he was the center of their attention now.
He then walked down the corridor, escorted by the same two agents as before. However, he stopped as soon as he remembered something.
"Pardon me, but can I see Harris Reister?"
The two agents, who appeared to be his age or slightly older, exchanged a quick glance before turning their heads. Following their gaze, Benjamin discovered a glass door at the end of a hallway beside him.
As soon as they entered the room behind the glass door, those turquoise eyes fixated on a brown-haired man lying on a bed with a nasal cannula. He dragged his feet toward him, causing the man to turn his head in an instant.
"Hmph," Harris snorted in annoyance, "took you so long to brace yourself and come out of your shadow, aristocratic brat?"
"You told them?"
Benjamin's eyes flaring as he approached Harris closer. "You told them my safe house?" he repeated.
"I did," Harris answered indifferently. "And I have no regrets."
Harris's words not only made his jaw tighten, but also his fists trembled. His desire to expose Harris's disregard for all the support he had received was so strong, but all he could say was…
"How could you tell them a secret I entrusted to you?"
"Oh, Benjamin, Benjamin."
A sarcastic chuckle that escaped the hazel-eyed man's lips lifted Benjamin's face, keeping the distaste in his turquoise eyes.
"I also wouldn't have told them had you not told your friend about SURVIVE's hall."
"What do you mean?"
The confusion that painted Benjamin's face gritted Harris's teeth. Several agents immediately restrained him who was about to leave the ER bed, while Benjamin was stunned.
"HE STRUCK US AND THREW US OFF A FORTY-FOOT HALL!"
Harris glared at Benjamin with a raging breath, ignoring everyone's shock including Benjamin. In a low tone, he asked, "Did you know that Brissia disappeared?"
Benjamin remained silent.
"Did you know that you and your confidant could have killed her?!"
"Geez, Harris! Calm down!"
The appearance of a red-haired girl diverted Benjamin's gaze. For a second, their eyes met. But as the girl continued walking toward Harris, he looked away.
"You almost burst my eardrums! You probably don't even realize that your voice is reaching down the hall, don't you?!" she scolded him.
"Why are you even angrier than me?! Are you trying to protect him?"
"What?"
The girl glanced briefly at Benjamin, who turned to leave.
"I just saw him a few seconds ago! Ugh, nevermind! I'd better get out of here quickly or else I'll become crazy like you!"
And that's how Harris was left again in the midst of a silence filled with tension and people looking at him warily.
Meanwhile, a male agent glanced briefly at the group of agents huddled in conversation to spot a girl with shoulder-length hair who wasn't wearing a dark blue uniform. He turned around and entered the ER, approaching Harris who sat on his bed while applying ointment to the wounds on his waist and shoulders.
"Brissia's back. She'll most likely be here soon."
Harris looked up, dropping his vial of ointment, causing an agent of his age in a nurse's coat to rebuke and glare at him.
"Oh."
"What's with that cold reaction of yours?" he chirped as he picked up the ointment bottle on the floor, handing it to Harris. "And if you don't want to experience another embarrassment, shouldn't you put your clothes on first?"
"Tsk. I told you already…"
His hazel eyes shifted to another direction as he paused.
"…That was because Mr. Sieger told me that my lover was standing at the door of my room. How could he call her my lover?"
"But isn't she?"
While wearing his light blue long-sleeved shirt, Harris looked at him straight, causing him to wince.
"Hansen, grant me one wish. If she gets here, walk out as if you don't know me. There's something we'd like to discuss privately."
The man with dark-walnut hair nodded as calmly as a gentle breeze. As Harris laid down on his bed and fixed his nasal cannula, he looked around him.
In less than five minutes, the girl they were talking about came to the ER. It automatically moved Hansen's feet in the opposite direction of the girl. He also drew the two girls who were about to cross the doorway out with him.
"Harris?"
Harris opened his eyes, looking dimly at Brissia. "I thought… I had lost you forever, Brissie."
"No way. I haven't been gone for long and you already think so of me?" Brissia said, straining her smile.
Harris got up to sit down then lowered his gaze.
"Hey, look at me," Brissia said, cupping Harris's face carefully.
However, what she found was Harris's weak gaze on her, which made her unblink. That pair of hazel eyes seemed to hypnotize her, freezing her in the heat that was transferred to her body through her palm.
"Gabriel was right. You're… prettier without that dark blue cloak, Brissie."
Harris's words caused Brissia's heart to sink. A great sense of guilt hid in his slightly hoarse voice. It made her think, if she had met Harris wearing her uniform, would Harris have regretted it even more?
"I'm—"
Suddenly, he pulled Brissia against his body, causing her to stagger toward him. She managed to rest one hand on the mattress Harris was sitting on. However, their noses almost touched.
A painful chuckle pierced through Brissia's ears.
"I… must sound pretty selfish, don't I? Saying this after I convinced you that becoming a SURVIVE agent was the right choice."
"Harris, don't say that," Brissia said in a hushed voice.
Harris's grip on her wrist loosened. She felt his breath shortening. But then, he buried his face on Brissia's shoulder without a word, making Brissia anxious.
Brissia was about to call for the nurse and doctor, but Harris immediately held her hand.
"Don't. I'll be fine," said Harris while raising his head.
"You always say that. If you were dying, would you say the same?"
"If 'fine' will encourage me to become stronger, I will continue to say it."
"Harris…"
Brissia covered her mouth with a blank stare at the man who smiled weakly at her. When a doctor came and said she had to do a check-up with several other nurses, Brissia turned and walked the other way.
Three agents stood by the wide window near the entrance to the ER with blank stares.
"You came back earlier."
The man Harris had spoken to earlier turned to Debora with a deadpan look.
"Is it because you miss Fayrl?"
Fayrl who glared at Debora made Hansen just chuckle softly. No matter how curt her was toward the people around her, Hansen never bothered to see her.
"We found the target earlier than predicted. So, I chose to go back," Hansen said with a faint smile.
Fayrl took a glance at Hansen while sighing quietly. Then, they turned their heads to see Brissia coming out of the ER.
"Brissia, coach has been looking for you out of concern," said Fayrl with a straight face.
Brissia turned her head in surprise, seeming to snap out of her reverie.
"Ah… right. How will I deal with my absence?" she asked, looking worried.
"Apparently, you also consider that attendance affects passing the exercise," said Hansen with a small grin.
Fayrl and Debora suddenly snorted with laughter, making Hansen turn to look at them. However, his gaze automatically landed on Fayrl, who smiled trying to suppress her laughter.
"Harris was their 'favorite', while I was 'cared for' by headquarters as much as he was though we're not the role models. Maybe you can ask these two for help," Fayrl said, glancing at Debora and Hansen.
As Hansen and Debora looked disapproved, Brissia glanced at the two agents who were passing by and said the word aristocrat. Her mind instantly replayed the face of a turquoise-eyed man.
***
"…Even fell from that height into a two meter river."
On a payphone, Benjamin listened to someone behind the call. The deserted condition of the sidewalk made him able to listen carefully to every word the person said.
"Impossible," Benjamin muttered, "I saw him—Harris Reister—there and yelled at me among his colleagues."
Benjamin fell silent with a complicated look for a moment. Until then, he heard a voice again from the other side.
"It seems as…"
Benjamin's eyebrows shot up as the person hung up on his words.
"…As if they were saved by a purple halo that obliterated them in the air. I got to see it."
Benjamin's gaze widened. He was stunned for a moment.
"Well… thanks, then. I'll end the call."
"My pleasure, milord."
Benjamin walked firmly on the sidewalk while thinking about the absurdness that his spy had said. Most people would think his spy was crazy if they heard his story. However, Benjamin didn't think so. It was also a reason that stopped him in front of an antique carved door.
He immediately entered after opening the door, found a figure of a purplish-black haired woman who was tidying up items on a wall shelf.
"You were a guest of my father's birthday party last year, weren't you?"
The woman turned her head slowly with a mysterious smile as Benjamin gave her a cold look. Her gaze no longer radiated the cordiality that had graced her face.
"You behave like a real aristocrat, memorizing the faces of every invited guest. Even if it was a small party."
Benjamin paused at Madame Ouden's chuckle. "Why was my father arrested?"
Madame Ouden's eyebrows rose one side as a crooked smile crossed her lips. "I'm afraid I don't understand the circumstance, Young Master" she said.
Seeing that the woman wasn't disturbed in the slightest, instead holding back her laughter, made Benjamin take a step forward. He stopped exactly a meter in front of her.
"I know which are my people and which are not. Then, you are wrong about one thing. I don't memorize the faces of every invited guest, but everyone."
Madame Ouden's chuckle made Benjamin glare at her.
"Going that far just out of fear of memory loss. Do you even remember who I am?" Madame Ouden asked, holding Benjamin's chin and grinning.
Benjamin brushed her hand away, taking a step back. "Please just stop all of this, including what you did to Brissia."
"Why do you care? She might as well betray you like Harris because—"
"Yes, I may have betrayed them by not telling them that there was an imposter among my people. But if it's a matter of whether Brissia will believe me, you can't sway me with her expectations. Because…"
Benjamin smiled formally at Madame Ouden before turning toward the door.
"...Brissia is the type to go beyond everyone's expectations."
The door was closed. Madame Ouden stood, staring flatly at the door. She then glanced at the dusty gun lying behind the counter.
She picked it up slowly, put it back in the drawer before walking in another direction.
Benjamin walked down the sidewalk with a cloudy look. He would be lying if he said Madame Ouden's words didn't bother him.
He stopped in front of a flowing fountain. A warm beam from the sky caused the fountain to refract the light, creating a beautiful small rainbow. But unfortunately, that beauty was just a passing wind for the pedestrians around it.
"Isn't it ironic when goodness is forgotten while evil continues?"
"Because true goodness will continue to flow, even if the whole world ignores it."
Benjamin's eyes widened. As soon as he turned to the right, his eyes didn't blink because Brissia was walking toward him with a faint smile.
"Brissia…"
He was at a loss for words when Brissia stood before him, looking at him in a way that was much different from Harris and Madame Ouden.
However, Brissia's body that suddenly staggered forward made him wide-eyed and immediately supported her with his arms and shoulders. He sat Brissia by the edge of the fountain and listened to the reason behind her pale face.
"…That's how it was," Brissia said at the end of her words.
Benjamin froze for a moment.
"It's my fault you have to see Harris like that."
His knees then hit the asphalt and his head bowed languidly. Kneeling before someone was something he had never done before as the son of an aristocrat. But if it was Brissia, somehow he didn't think before doing it.
"The people who attacked you were among my people, but it was too late for me to tell you," Benjamin continued, lowering his head even further, tightening his grip on Brissia's trousers.
Brissia stared sympathetically at Benjamin. She grabbed Benjamin's shoulders. Unbeknownst to them, several pedestrians turned to look at them as they walked by.
When her eyes met those of the morning sky, Brissia withdrew her hand slowly and stood up. Benjamin also stood up when the girl looked up at the sky, embraced by the morning breeze.
"I hope it's not too late for us to regain his trust. The three of us have to get together again if we want to defeat the real mastermind," said Brissia.
It occurred to her that her recklessness in the hall that night, which nearly cost both of them their lives, had the potential to take away Harris's trust in her as well.
"That's an extravagant hope. He's not the one who can be trusted and trusted easily," said Benjamin with raised eyebrows, reminiscing how upset he was.
"Great hope makes everything more likely to come true."
Benjamin's gaze shifted from the ground he was standing on to Brissia.
"When we hope for something great, our motivation is also great to make it happen."
Brissia's optimistic smile caused the doubts in Benjamin's heart to fade away.
"I guess you're right," Benjamin said, smiling faintly. His eyes reflected the warmth of the morning sun.
Their first encounter might not have instilled a strong sense of trust in him. At subsequent encounters, maintaining the trust of the two was even more complicated.
But in the end, Benjamin wanted them to trust not only him, but also themselves. As much as he believed that Harris and Brissia would be able to bring great changes to Archtier and him.