Thursday, August 17th, 5 PM.
William was currently at a cafe, accompanying his little sister Maria who was eating sweets adorned with cherries.
"Maria, it's getting dark soon, don't you want to go home?"
"Ehh? Come on, just a little longer. You like french fries, right? Just order some more."
"No, thank you, I've already had them four times, at four different places."
"What's wrong with that? If you like it, there's no problem, right?"
"It's not good to overdo it, you too. You'll get fat if you eat sweets every day."
Maria frowned at that and said, "Did you say something?"
"No... Nothing..."
William gave up trying to convince Maria to go home at that moment.
Well, it didn't matter anyway, there was no one else at home besides me and her, Maria must be lonely at home lately.
Mom... Dad... Come back home soon. You have two kids at home!
Suddenly, William's phone rang, making him look at it and see that it was Clara calling.
William looked at Maria and said, "Clara."
"I understand, go ahead."
"I'll be back quickly, yell if anything happens."
"Just don't worry about me! Clara calling means something important, right?"
"I'm serious, I'll always be close by, so yell if anything happens," William said again, emphasizing his determination to Maria with a serious gaze that didn't waver even a bit.
Maria, seeing her brother's seriousness, could only smile happily and reply, "Okay, I understand, brother. I love you too, brother."
William smiled after that and went out of the cafe to find a quiet place to talk.
"What's up, calling me out of the blue, Clara?"
"I just wanted to tell you that the secret room you mentioned actually exists."
"Really? Then I'll go there again tomorrow to discuss the next plan."
"No, I want you to come here as soon as possible. If possible, tonight, please."
William, sensing that something worrisome was happening, asked, "What happened?"
"One of the agents I sent disappeared the next day after he shared this information with the allied informants. Even though we achieved our goal, I don't want to lose my subordinate."
"That's a very selfish request. To gain something, you have to sacrifice something."
"I know! But at least we can still save him, right?" Clara's voice began to rise along with her mixed emotions.
"I don't know."
"No one knows until they try!"
"You're a really kind boss."
"I'm not a good person. You just don't understand! You're someone who's never experienced the loss of someone precious, you won't understand how I feel!"
"...," William remained silent.
"..."
"..."
Silence hung between them for a few seconds.
"Anyway, I don't care anything that happens, you have to come tonight!" After shouting for the last time, Clara hung up without letting William say a word from his mouth.
William was silent, he didn't know what he was feeling at the moment, but he understood that he had experienced this before.
This is the same as Beako back then. Making myself a target to satisfy herself.
But I'm not angry, I don't hate this at all. Because this time is different, I did it on purpose.
Is this the best way for her to escape worry by cultivating hatred towards me?
Maybe this is the best way for her, but bad for me. But I don't mind, at least I can be useful to others. Even if that person doesn't realize it at all.
William returned to where Maria was. But he stopped after seeing Maria on the phone with someone, happily smiling.
After Maria finished her call, she laughed to herself for unknown reasons. William could have controlled the sound waves so he could clearly hear the conversation, but he felt it wasn't necessary and felt it was the wrong thing to do.
Maria can smile happily even without me, that's enough.
After finishing laughing alone, Maria seemed to remember something and looked around frantically. After she found her brother, she smiled, waved, jumped up and down, and shouted, "Brother, why are you just standing there? Come here!"
All the customers at the cafe, and even the waiters, looked at William because of Maria's actions.
I can see you even without you jumping up and down like that. Do you think your body is that small, Maria?
William sighed and went back to his seat so Maria would be satisfied and stop shouting and calling for her brother continuously.
Even for a moment, it made William forget his own problems. It made him grateful to have Maria as his sister, even though he sometimes felt that her actions were always excessive.
Suddenly, William's phone rang again, the same call as before, from Clara.
I'll just accept it now, anyway, I don't think I'll say a word.
William accepted the call and put the phone close to his ear.
"Um... Will, are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"No, you don't need to answer, I know you're there."
"Yeah, I know."
"Why are you just silent, are you disappointed in me? Are you angry?"
"No, I'm not disappointed, I'm not angry, because from the beginning I didn't expect anything from you, never will."
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you must realize that you are the one who is wrong."
"I knew that from the start."
"I'm not going to apologize."
"You don't need to. You shouldn't."
"But I believe you're a good person, even though I don't know why you sound like you don't care someone."
"I'm not a good person, I'm human. I just protect what's precious to me, and don't care about anything else."
"But I understand you, you're a good person."
"You don't understand me, never have and never will. No one can perfectly understand Others."
"You must be making a plan where you'll get punished and solve the problem at the same time."
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter, you don't need to be honest with me, be honest with yourself."
"Why do you think I'll do that?"
"Are you running away again? Satisfying yourself by punishing yourself. Do you think doing that makes you different from others? You're a hypocrite, you know that?"
"What are you talking about?" William said, even though in his heart he said, "I know."
"But it doesn't matter, I don't mind that. You don't need to contact me anymore, you don't need to get involved with me anymore."
"Then what about the plan for tonight?"
"Cancel it, you don't need to come. Even if you do come, I won't be friendly to you anymore."
"Why suddenly? What are you talking about? Are you joking?"
"No, I'm serious. You also realize that I'm not lying."
"What do you know about me!"
"My voice doesn't tremble at all, right?"
"Huh?"
"Don't think I don't know how you see this world."
"Stop joking like this, it's not funny at all!"
"Of course it's not funny, because I'm not joking."
"Hey!"
"You're not the one and only human who doesn't trust other humans, Harrington," after saying her last sentence, Clara hung up.
Meanwhile, William was unconsciously standing up from his seat and was the center of attention of the people there.
"Mommy, it looks like he broke up with his girlfriend over the phone," said a little girl who happened to be there.
Her mother, who was holding the girl's hand, smiled to show friendliness, even though it was a forced smile. She took her child to the cashier to order, but also to get away from the problem.
William, for the first time, raised his voice when talking to someone. That person was Clara, for an unknown and very confusing reason.
He was very surprised by the current situation, because everything that happened was not like what he had planned.
He looked at Clara's contact, and he was already blocked, making him even more convinced that what he had experienced earlier was real.
He didn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it, but reality hit harder to make him realize that everything that happened was real.
In the end, no matter how intelligent William was, no matter how strong William was, he would never be able to change the reality that had happened.
It made him only able to sit back down silently, regretting his actions and thinking about finding out why all this happened to him.