From this chapter and the next chapters, focus on the original storyline
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Memories of the past are carried away in Noel's dreams, unearthing memories that have been buried in oblivion for years. When he opened his eyes, Noel found a teenage figure staring at him intently. The look in his eyes reminded Noel of a young man, his Batman in the past.
Noel sat up slowly and occasionally rubbed his eyes. Thinking, maybe the teenage figure was just his hallucination from the flower sleep that was accidentally brought out of the subconscious.
It looked like someone was cooking bacon lettuce tomato in the kitchen. The aroma wafted into the air as Noel pulled back the covers and sat up to wipe his face with his feet on the fur rug.
"Good morning, Noel," greeted a friendly teenager who hadn't moved in a while.
Noel didn't answer immediately. He didn't mean to answer either. He thought he had heard wrong. However, after looking closely at the teenage figure sitting next to his bed, Noel realized that this teenager was real.
"You ... how are you here?" Noel asked, stuttering slightly. Remembering his disguise as Nate, it was too late to act like Nate. The teenager, Rolan, had mentioned his name explicitly in greeting.
"You're awake?" asked the brown-haired head that appeared suddenly in the doorway.
Noel immediately cast a glance over and found Gregory with a faint smile continuing, "I've cooked breakfast, hurry up and clean yourself up and eat." Less than a second after saying that, Gregory had already disappeared, returning to the kitchen.
*
The dining table was engulfed in an atmosphere of silence other than the sound of cutlery from the three people having breakfast.
Gregory rose briefly from his seat to fill the tea with warm water. On the other side, Noel and Rolan looked at each other.
Acting casual, Rolan casually ate his bread and bacon. Meanwhile, Noel couldn't be as calm as Rolan.
When the teenager was caught off guard drinking the milk in the glass, Noel took the opportunity to whisper into the ear of Gregory who was sitting next to him. "Why is he here?"
He was Walther's adopted son. Rolan immediately looked intensely at Noel-after hearing his whisper. Noel, who was staring at Rolan like that, was immediately struck with nervousness.
"It's okay, I figured it out, Noel," Rolan said, wiping the remaining milk from his lips.
Noel turned to Gregory. Gregory looked back at Noel as if to say, why look at me?
Rolan smiled, a slightly forced smile. "Uncle Gregory told me everything."
Rolan looked alternately at the two men in front of him. One of them; the brown-haired man, was probing like a detective interrogating a high-profile spy.
"So, which side are you on now? Our side or Walther's side?" One question was asked by Gregory for Rolan, and there were still a series of questions waiting for their turn to be asked.
"Me?" Rolan pointed to himself, his eyelids flickering a few times to reveal an innocent teenage figure. "Of course I'm on your side," he replied with a sweet smile. "And Walt Daddy," he continued. One eye blinked as if giving a code.
Although his question had already received an answer from the person in question, Gregory seemed unsatisfied with the answer. "Seriously, what kind of answer is that?" his protest to Rolan's vague answer.
"That's my answer, sometimes I'm on your side sometimes I'm on Walt daddy's side," Rolan defended, his voice rising an octave to state that he was truly on both sides.
A gasp escaped Gregory's lips, the man looking at Rolan more seriously. "Would you still say an answer like that if it was Nate asking you now?"
As soon as Nate's name was mentioned, in an instant the teenager's expression turned glum, downcast. Deep down, Rolan really missed Nate. That night, when Gregory told him the unacceptable truth; that Nate had summoned someone's soul to use his body as part of his plan managed to break his heart as Rolan thought he had actually reunited with Nate. Holding him like he did five years before he actually lived with Walther.
Silence fell as Noel, who was beside Gregory, observed the two people in front of him with serious expressions. Still reluctant to say anything, Noel realized he was just a stranger who still didn't understand anything about Nate and the people around him.
In the end, Gregory let out a sigh as he finished speaking, "Well, if you were in favour of Nate, you wouldn't have told Walther about Nate's current condition, would you? You would have kept it a secret even if you were in Walther's favour."
Rolan quickly nodded twice. "No, I won't tell Walt Daddy, I promise." The teenager pointed his right little finger in front of Gregory, as well as Noel. As Nate had always done with Gregory, it seemed like the teen was actually modeling what Nate had taught him.
Gregory stared intently at the teenager, trying to guess his train of thought right when Rolan made the promise. "Alright, I trust you."
In the end, that was the decision Gregory made because there wasn't a speck of deceit he could find in that look of earnestness. He trusted Rolan completely, just as he had all those years when the teenager was still with Nate and custody hadn't been replaced by the man he now called Walt Daddy.
With Rolan out of the way, Gregory's focus shifted entirely to Noel who was propping his chin up with his hands on the table. Realizing that two pairs of eyes were staring at him, Noel immediately straightened his sitting position and looked at them in turn with a confused expression.
"So you really met Rudolf Malevsky?" asked Rolan enthusiastically, not expecting that the person whose soul inhabited Nate's body now could escape after being caught by Rudolf.
Noel nodded although he seemed reluctant to recount the events of that time.
"How did you get away?" This time it was Gregory's turn to ask, curiosity filling his face. "Are you sure it's Rudolf?" At first glance there was a sense of disbelief, he knew how cunning the man who was the son of the Bratva mafia boss was.
Thinking back to the previous night, Noel remembered very well how the man named Rudolf laughed and said some insults to him, or rather to Nate. So Noel acknowledged his encounter with Rudolf even though he wished he never had to meet such a person again. "Yeah I'm sure it was him, as soon as I said his name, he laughed."
"How did you meet him?" Gregory asked again.
"When I looked for you in the parking lot, you and your car weren't there."
Gregory and Rolan exchanged glances. "That's because I was chasing him," Gregory pointed at Rolan, while the latter showed a grin. "Continue."
"Then, just as I was about to look for you elsewhere, a car came. Several armed strangers got out of the car and they immediately detained me. While I was being held, a man with an annoying face appeared. He pointed a knife, then a gun at me, but I managed to fight back. I ran and a shot hit me in the shoulder, it hurt like hell, just when I thought I'd beaten them all and gotten away..."
Gregory interrupted, "Wait, you beat them all?"
Noel nodded. "I shot them in the dark, bang bang bang and I managed to run from the basement parking lot into the building for help." Noel told the story like he was narrating an action movie in which he was the main character. "Just when I thought I had beaten them all and escaped, I was wrong. One of them managed to find me. I was out of ammunition and that person was ready to shoot me. Just when I thought I was going to die a second time, that guy came and shot him first."
Gregory interrupted again, "Wait a minute, who do you mean, that guy came to shoot that guy first?"
"The one who first shot the one who wanted to shoot me, you mean?"
"Yes, yes he is."
"He's... Walther." Noel looked down at the mention of the man's name. Shaking off unwanted pieces of memory from the night before, when Walther had treated his wound.
Noel said something again. "Umm... can I ask you something?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his mind.
"Just ask," Gregory said.
"Has Nate ever been arrested by the syndicate called Solntsevskaya Bratva?"
Gregory was a little taken aback by the question, which he reluctantly admitted. "That was a long time ago."
"No way, which person would dare to arrest him, unless that person wants to find death," Noel commented incredulously.
"He betrayed them, no. It was more like they betrayed Nate secretly first, they scapegoated his father and killed him in front of his own eyes." Gregory's eyes turned cold remembering what they did to his best friend. "Nate is angry, and wants to get back at them, but something they did was planned a long time ago. Just like his father, Nate was framed."
Hearing Gregory's explanation, Noel was unable to utter a word, while Rolan looked at Gregory with eyes that had turned red as if he wanted to cry and was holding back tears.
"Why didn't you say that a long time ago?" asked Rolan.
"I'm sorry," Gregory replied remorsefully while stroking the teenager's head. Rolan was only two years old at the time, if Gregory had told him then, he still wouldn't have understood.
As Noel was about to say that it was Nate who helped him fight Rudolf and his men, he recalled one thing Nate had said to him that night. While being held in a room by Walther.
"Don't say this to anyone, understand?"
The moment Noel felt his body move on its own, kicked the window on the third floor, then jumped downstairs, running fast, a car almost hit him. Just the thought of that moment made his face pale and his heart skip a beat.
Gregory stood up. "Well, it looks like there's nothing else to suspect. Noel."
"Yes?" Noel looked up.
"If you feel bored in our absence, you can go out for a while to let off steam, but don't let anyone recognise you."
"Where are you going?" asked Noel.
"To work." Gregory replied briefly.
Gregory's departure left two people in the room, Noel and Rolan. Both sat in awkward silence.
Rolan looked at Noel. "Noel." called Rolan. Noel turned to him. "Even if I accept you as Nate's replacement, I will never accept you taking his place in my heart." Rolan continued, "Even though Nate was a murderer, to me he was a hero in my life. The one who raised me all these years, gave me love, a feeling he probably wouldn't give to anyone else."
Noel smiled, nodding his head in understanding, now he knew more about Nate from the other side. Now Noel learned a new lesson that judging someone from one side is indeed a mistake without seeing from the other side.
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