"Alex left without saying anything."
Alice thought to herself as she arrived at the orphanage to spend time with her brother. She couldn't understand why he would suddenly disappear without a word.
She considered the possibility that he may have been bullied in her absence, but after questioning those she suspected, she still couldn't find any answers.
Despite not being the brightest, Alice was determined to find out what had driven her brother to leave.
As she searched for clues, she grew more and more frustrated, especially when she discovered he had blocked her number. She couldn't understand why he would shut her out, knowing how much she cared for him.
Feeling hurt and abandoned, Alice began to doubt if she was truly special to him. Her anger only grew as she continued her search, but finally, her subordinate informed her of Alex's whereabouts.
Though still furious, Alice decided to confront him and demand answers for his sudden disappearance.
It was only then that a strange thought suddenly emerged in her mind - Did he love her?
She didn't know why it appeared, but it did anyway, and it made her anger dissipate as she started thinking about this topic.
As she made her way to his home, she couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions, wondering what his response would be when she finally confronted him about his actions.
She thought of him as a little brother to protect, not as a man who would protect her. How could she imagine that her little brother could be someone she would have a romantic interest in?
She knew her brother was very handsome. No, to her, he was the most handsome man in the world (the old Alex, not the new one, as he really is the most handsome man in the world), but she could only see Alex as her brother, at least the Alex she knew.
But then she threw these thoughts away as she could not find anything to prove this thought of hers right. She just thought that it was a random thought that appeared in her mind, how could she have known that it was just the plot that made that thought enter her mind?
When she arrived at the location provided by her subordinate, she found the door locked, but she knew the room belonged to him as she had verified it with the building owner. She waited there for at least half an hour, growing impatient.
Then, she saw someone approaching. She could tell he was very handsome, perhaps second only to her brother, even with a mask on.
He had shoulder-length, dense, ink-black hair and dark red eyes like her brother, albeit slightly darker. As he walked up to her, she realized his height was also similar to her brother's.
However, when he stood in front of the door to the room, not in front of her, she didn't need to be a genius to figure out that the person in front of her was her brother, not someone who just resembled him.
Her confusion was not unfounded, as he felt different from her; he was not like her brother. Her brother never had this strong, profound, seductive, or devilish aura around him.
He was just a normal guy with very handsome features. And even though he was not a pushover, he was also not someone who was this... big (Don't get the wrong meaning).
She struggled to find the right words to describe this feeling; it was as if she felt drawn to him and wanted to get to know him, but he seemed too imposing or grand for her to truly understand.
However, one thing remained the same – the lonely aura that surrounded him, though now it was less noticeable, she could still feel it.
Nonetheless, she gathered the courage to speak. "Alex?" she called out.
He replied, as expected, "Yes, please come inside. We have a lot to talk about."
She nodded in agreement and followed him, filled with questions and a desire to learn more about him.
...….........
Alex was now sitting on the chair in front of Alice, who was making herself comfortable on the bed as he offered her to sit on the bed. Alex also patiently waited since he knew she had many questions, and he was going to answer truthfully.
Was it because truth always prevails or something? No, he just didn't like lying. He would either answer a question truthfully or not answer the question at all - the things in between are always something that he likes to avoid.
However, he will lie if the situation really calls for it, but those are special cases.
"So, what happened to you?" Alice asked after sitting comfortably.
"If you are talking about me, then nothing happened to me." His answer was simple, but it caused Alice to frown.
"What do you mean I am talking about you? Of course, I am talking about you. Do you even know how worried I was when I couldn't find you?" Alice asked with some anger in her voice, though the cause of her anger was that he was still wearing the mask.
"And why the hell are you wearing a mask inside your own house?!" This time her voice raised a little.
When she saw him still wearing the mask along with the eyes that didn't look at her like they did in the past, she felt like he was treating her differently.
"You are misunderstanding something. I am not the one you were searching for," Alex replied calmly, not minding her behavior since he understood how she felt.
"What does that mean? Are you seriously saying that when I am sitting in front of you? Or are you just trying to push me out of your house?!" Now Alice was really getting angry, and Alex could see it.
"Remove the mask," Alice demanded and Alex didn't think too much about removing his mask, showing his face along with his full charm, making Alice's anger dissipate in an instant.
Alice was stunned when she saw him after he removed the mask. Even though she knew he was handsome, she felt that now even a handsome word would not be suitable for him.
Saying he looked godly would be more deserving. After a while, when she realized she had been staring at him for a while, her face turned red in embarrassment for thinking that way.
"I am not the Alex that you are looking for." Seeing that she was in no situation to ask anything right now, Alex said.
This resulted in her regaining her focus and frowning again. Even though his looks could give him a favorable position during a conversation with someone of the opposite sex, that doesn't mean that if he killed a whole family of a woman, and then smiled at her, she would start liking him.
"What do you mean? Aren't you Alex?" She asked with confusion as she really couldn't understand what he meant.
"I am Alex, but I am not the Alex you knew. The Alex you knew is now dead," Alex explained.
As Alex said that, he could see Alice was getting more confused since body takeover was something that only happened in novels and mangas. But when she heard that the Alex she knew was dead, her face became serious and she clenched her hands.
"What do you mean by 'the Alex I knew is dead'? I don't want to play around with words, so explain properly," she demanded while leaking her mana out as if she would attack if he didn't answer.
He thought that maybe he was just someone who looked like Alex or had done something to Alex, and now he was up to something. She also started to think that maybe he was using some kind of disguise ability and it was a trap from the start.
"Do you think you can command me?" Alex was being considerate of her, and here she was, not even trying to show any mercy. So, he decided to give her a lesson to see how talented she was.
He understood that his charms were not going to work on her now, not unless he used his charm as a weapon by smiling and flirting with her or directly transforming into Celestial Incubus.
"Yes, I can," she replied and got up from the bed. But Alex continued sitting on the chair in a relaxed manner, which caused her to become annoyed as she had already removed her disguise when she entered the room. She was sure that he knew who she was.
As an S-ranked Raider, she had pride in her power, and of course, someone underestimating her would make her annoyed.
....
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