"T-This lunatic!" Keira thought as she tried to push him away using her right arm, but Lucas is a man of steel that her struggle is no match. She can overpower him, but her strength has already depleted and at its limit after chasing and exorcising unclean spirits for four consecutive days with little to no sleep.
"Whoa!" Harold and the others were frozen and surprised, especially the 4th Division members of Veritas.
When their mouths were parted, Keira gasped for air while Lucas is chewing the strawberry mochi that he stole from her mouth, and commented, "Too sweet."
She was about to slap him using her right hand, but he grabbed that arm and kissed her again. Their lips parted thirty seconds after the car from the Special Division arrived.
"Now, I am not just a random guy." Lucas said as she let go of Keira. He caressed her furious face and gently smiled at her. Keira is trembling in anger and was about to raise again her right hand to slap him hard, but she felt chills all over her body and instead of using her hand to slap him, she used it to cover her mouth but the blood that she coughed burst in between he fingers.
'Ugh. This is really my worst day.' Keira thought as she is starting to lose her consciousness. She saw the widened eyes of Lucas before her vision became all black and heard the panic voices of her fellow members in the Special Division.
"W-What is happening this time?!" Lucas furiously asked while he is carrying the unconscious body of Keira towards the car of the Special Division, following him are Rylan, Reverend Anthony, and Theo.
"She's fine. Three parts of her body are damaged by the DCs she encountered today. Compared to before where she got nine damaged organs, this is nothing. That ugly monster just overworked herself who knows for what reason." Theo's reply is cold and irritated when they settled inside the car. He is worried too, but he does not want anyone to know what he really feels.
"Her anniversary is near, that is why." Rylan said with a small smile on his face, but his eyes are speaking in contrary. Theo also lowered his head and did not spill any word until they reached the hospital.
Reverend Anthony is Keira's guardian, so he rapidly settled the papers needed for Keira to be admitted in the hospital. The three gentlemen did not leave Keira's side while a doctor and nurses attended the unconscious body of the Exorcist.
While she is unconscious, Keira dreamt the story of Mariam Celeste before she came to this plotline, the time when Mariam left her prestigious surname and life.
10 years ago.
The sixteen-year-old Mariam is standing beside her adoptive mother, Lianne Celeste, a woman who have an extravagant feature that exude an aura of a western royalty, similar to the beauty of Amor Celeste.
"Mariam, this is the youngest son of Aguero Construction Firm." Gilbert said while smiling and looking at one of the heirs of the Aguero Construction Firm, one of powerful family-owned firms in the country. When Mariam saw the emerald gem-like eyes of the young Lucas Aguero, she felt her heart skip a beat. It was love at first sight, but she is yet to discover it.
"You have beautiful daughters Mr. Celeste. Lucas and Mariam's engagement will certainly bring our families closer." Oscar Aguero, the grandfather of Lucas, calmly said as he smiled at Mariam who also gave back a smile as courtesy.
"What do you think, Lucas?" Oscar asked him, but Mariam noticed that since the start, he has been staring at Amor, who is standing beside Gilbert. But he immediately reverted his gaze from her when he heard his grandfather and replied in an authoritative tone, "Who is Mariam among them?"
His deep voice caught the attention of Mariam who is starting to like the young lad in front of him.
"This beautiful young lady is the first daughter of the Celestes." Oscar extended his hand towards Mariam, and that is the only time that Lucas looked at her. He stared at her for a while which makes her shy and got her cheeks red.
"Isn't she cute and elegant?" His grandfather excitedly asked, but Lucas just ignored her and looked disappointed. The elders may not notice his disappointed face, but Mariam did, and she felt her heart ached a little.
"I guess they are still shy with each other. You still have enough time to get to know each other. My grandson will be transferring to your school starting tomorrow. Will you help him adjust? As you can see, he is a man of few words." Oscar delightedly said with a bright smile.
"You can count on me, Chairman Aguero." Mariam replied with elegance and calmness, even though she is nervous not because of the Chairman, but because of the spirits who are pestering the diners in the restaurant. They are mischievous that few of the diners were getting some drama.
"You will definitely enjoy our school because Ate Mariam is the President of the Student Council, and she make sure that everyone is having their best time." Amor excitedly said as she is proud and adored her older sister. When she speak, the atmosphere became bright, light, and warm that matches her angelic face.
"If you say so." Lucas replied. Amor smiled brightly at him and his emerald eyes widened a little, but he immediately realized that it was a wrong reaction, so he avoided her gaze and covered his mouth.
During their dinner, Lucas excused himself as he need to go to the comfort room. Mariam took this opportunity to get to talk to him as she somehow feels that he will not head to the comfort room, but for a place that he can breathe. She also excused herself and gave the same trick. Lo and behold, Mariam saw Lucas in a balcony and did not hesitate to approach him, but he gave her a hateful glare that hurt her a little.
"Do not be so obvious." Mariam said with an awkward smile on her face. "I am just here to assure you. No one in the school will know about our relationship. I too am already satisfied in my serene school life. All I want is for us to become friends until we graduate. After we graduate, we can think of a strategy on how we can call off this arranged marriage. What do you think?" Mariam said, but she got silence as a reply.
"You like my younger sister, right?" She added, and she successfully caught Lucas' attention as he finally looked at her with a shocked expression.
"No… maybe. I don't know." Lucas replied and cleared his throat.
"You were charmed by her." Mariam said and giggled. "She is always a people-charmer although she is clueless about it."
"Both of you are so close." Lucas commented. Mariam smiled and looked at the stars above the sky.
"Of course. She is my one and only sibling. I will do anything for her happiness." She replied, but in reality, she also wanted to have the same attention and love that her younger sister is receiving without exerting effort, unlike her who needs to work the hardest so she can earn that love and attention.
"What about your happiness?" Lucas asked and his question made Mariam taken aback, making her speechless.
"Mariam! Lucas!" Amor called them, they saw her panting, behind her are some bodyguards. "The elders are looking for the both of you. Something happened in the dining room, so they got worried." She added with a worried look.
"We just had a small talk." Mariam explained.
"M-Murder… there is a murder…" Amor said as she trembled in fear and the eldest sister held hand to calm down, while Lucas got worried about her being traumatized because of the incident.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay." Mariam said to calm her down while holding her younger sister's hand.
Before they left the restaurant, Mariam took a glance at the dining room and to her surprise, some of the unclean spirits' appearances became more hideous than before. She shut her eyes and gulped her saliva, praying that none of them will be near her.
"What are you doing?" Lucas asked.
"N-Nothing. Let's go." Mariam replied and she hurriedly walk, and Lucas followed her.
Just as Mariam promised, no one in their school knew that she and Lucas are unofficially betrothed as the two families agreed that the engagement party will be held once they reached the legal age of 18. Also, because of Mariam, Lucas was able to get closer with Amor.
Six months of peaceful school days, a male transferee named Gio Alvarez, a handsome lad and heir to the one of the largest banks in the country, shook up the close relationship of the three as Amor fell in love with him, not knowing that the soon-to-be fiancée of her elder sister has been falling in love with her every single day. In the end, Amor and Gio ended up being together, leaving Lucas broken-hearted and lost. This is also the start of the messed-up relationship between Mariam and Lucas.
At that time, Lucas was so drunk that he and Mariam made a drunken mistake of a one-night stand. Mariam endured the physical penetration while Lucas called out Amor's name instead of her, convincing herself that she is just helping him to get over his emotional pain.