Nian stepped out of his room with a soft smile on his face as he slowly closed the door behind him, careful not to disturb Lara, who had finally drifted off to sleep.
The smile lingered on his face as he made his way through the narrow passage of the costly wooden house his team had rented for a brief stay, descending the stairway that led to the ground floor.
The second floor contained just one room, while the other two rooms, occupied by his sister and the male teammate, were located on the ground floor.
He hummed, recalling how Lara had urged him to share everything about himself, and he had willingly opened up—revealing every detail of his life to her.
Nian had expected it to be difficult... but surprisingly, it felt effortless, all because of her attentive gaze that conveyed how much his words meant to her, more than anything else in the world.
He halted in his tracks as he reached the ground floor upon seeing Ove, one of his companions, pacing in front of his room with a deep frown and worry etched on his face. Nian made his way toward him.
"Ove, what's wrong?"
Upon seeing him, the brown-haired man clad in a tight suit hesitated for a second before letting out a heavy sigh.
"It's Sia. She isn't present in her room. I hesitated to inform you since it's not a big deal, but it's been a few hours since I last saw Sia. She's strong, and this area is safe, but I can't shake off this feeling of worry."
Nian's expression hardened. In this place filled with countless dangers, he couldn't take Sia's disappearance lightly.
"Let's go find her!"
He turned and vanished. Ove stared at his afterimage for a moment before he too disappeared from the wooden house.
****
An hour later, in the dimly lit room, Lara's eyes snapped open at the faint sound of distant screams and cries.
She abruptly sat up in bed, her hand desperately searching for the man who should have been sleeping beside her.
Her heart thundered anxiously when she discovered the space next to her empty.
"Where did he go?"
Sweat glistened on her forehead as she flung the blanket off her body.
Hastily, she grabbed a dark sweater and trousers from the system's storage space and quickly put them on before leaving the room with furrowed brows.
A dark aura emanated from her body, yet she sensed no one in the wooden house. That's why she disappeared, and in the next second, her floating figure reappeared in the sky above the cluster of wooden houses.
Her gaze sharpened in the direction from which the unsettling cries and screams she could hear were coming.
Lara's eyes dilated upon seeing that a section of the stone walls surrounding the wooden houses had been shattered. The lizard-like creatures from the surrounding mountains were flooding in, engaging in combat with the players in the area.
"Nian!!"
She vanished, and instantly her figure reappeared in the middle of the battle.
Blood splattered across the surroundings, painting the land, as many players clashed with the massive lizards, desperately trying to evade the creatures' sharp claws that aimed to tear into their flesh.
Disregarding the chaos around her, Lara's frantic gray eyes darted in all directions, searching for Nian's familiar face.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and her stomach twisted in painful knots.
The longer she couldn't find Nian, the deeper her despair grew. It was a foreign yet familiar old pain that she didn't like at all.
As a hissing lizard lunged at her from behind, she swiftly retrieved her sword from the system's storage space and effortlessly sliced the creature in half.
Many players in the surrounding area were left in awe as she had just slain a high-level monster with a single strike.
Yet, Lara's entire focus remained on searching for Nian's familiar face because she thought if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to hold herself together.
"Nian! Where are you! Nian! Nian!"
She shouted his name repeatedly before rushing deeper into the group of massive lizards toward the forest outside the stone walls, slashing her sword to clear a path.
"Nian..."
At last, she felt as if the breath that had betrayed her earlier had finally returned when she spotted the familiar back of the man standing in the distance.
A faint laugh escaped Lara's trembling lips, but it faded into the surrounding noise as she finally accepted the sudden realization that had settled in her heart. She could no longer imagine her life without this man; otherwise, she would lose her sanity.
Her earlier state, in which she felt as if she were descending into a bottomless pit, with her heart constricting in pure agony, was undeniable proof of that.
Now she was completely sure that the attraction she felt toward Nian was more than mere interest that would fade.
She needed him utterly and completely.
Why?
Because she had once again fallen in love, and to make it even more exhilarating, she knew—she knew Nian felt the same. She had seen it in his ocean-blue eyes.
Oh, how she longed to hold him tightly, wishing for him to stay with her for eternity.
The Bella of the past had sworn never to love again. Yet here she was, the Lara of the future, once more willingly stepping into the same patterns as the old Bella, embracing love again with open arms. But she didn't regret it at all. Not even a little bit.