The Curse Of The "⬛"

A few years ago.

After Aaron had finally reached the entrance of the Lohengramm mansion, twisting his wrist, he looked at the watch.

[4:16 AM]

𝘍𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵, 𝘩𝘶𝘩... Using the wall as support, Aaron continued walking until he saw the guards guarding at the entrance.

Using his last bit of mana, he activated his skill to go past them without anyone noticing.

[Flowing Wind]

Immediately, his whole body was suddenly wrapped in air, slowly making him invisible.

With this, he went inside and tried his hardest to find Celestia in the mansion without any of the maids and butler noticing.

*Rustle~*

Under the soft rustling trees was a girl with long cascading brown hair, and emerald green eyes looked above at the rising sunset on the horizon.

"Celestia."

"Aaron."

Both of their words synchronized in under their breaths as Aaron swallowed his saliva, and made his way towards her.

Breathing out a deep sigh, Celestia then brushed her hair behind her ear before turning to her back to leave.

It was then Aaron decided to deactivate his skill.

"...."

"...."

These moment, they called only looked at each other in silent.

"I'm just imagining things..." Celestia quickly denied her thoughts, ignored the man and continued walking.

Just when she was about to enter the mansion, Aaron promptly rushed towards her and grabbed her wrist.

"Celes..."

Celestia became speechless because of this, and stared at Aaron with disbelief.

"Aa...ron?"

Smiling, he nodded his head.

"I'm back."

And so, Aaron began telling her what his journey was about. From the beginning when he met that person until the end.

Of course, he didn't tell her who he was with during all this year's because knowing Celestia's personality, she would throw some pointless tantrum.

"I'm... Just glad your back..." Celestia sobbed, resting her head on Aaron's chest. "Our son... He just left an hour ago. Do you want to meet him? I still can pick him up since I know that he haven't left the town yet."

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Aaron replied, "I can't..."

"Eh? ...Why?" Celestia stopped sobbing and became confused after hearing what he just said. "Don't you want to me--"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Aaron cut her off by saying, "The curse... I won't be able to last longer."

"What curse?"

"...Sorry."

She didn't know why he apologized, but for se reason, she felt her heart become heavy.

"Why...?"

"Although the curse may never be broken, that doesn't mean that it can't be changed."

With his fingertip, Aaron wiped the tears that'd softly fallen from her eye.

"No matter how many times we die, no matter how many times we reincarnates, no matter how many this world reset, there's no denying that we will be able to get through this never ending cycle."

Grabbing ahold of her waist and lifting her chin up, Aaron slowly pushed his head forward towards Celestia until their lips connect onto each other for a gentle kiss.

'The soul that was long linked together will always be fated to become together.'

After their lips parted, Aaron slowly walked back, closed his eyes and smiled.

"Look after Athan for a few more years for me."

"But- we just-!?"

Pushing her body away lightly, a tear fell from Aaron's eyes, turning into particles of light that slowly dispatched into the air.

"Aaron- what are you?"

Slowly, after this, some part of Aaron's body began to light up brightly.

"It's not that I wanted you to die, but it's just that it was already bounded to happen because we are his parents. The supposedly 'Villain's Parent' of this shitty story."

The curse of being connected to "⬛" is much more painful than he thought it would be.

"Our souls' are binded together. We'll see each other soon."

"Aaron, no! Don't leave us again!"

Desperate, Celestia ran towards Aaron, trying to grab ahold of his clothes, but her hands went right through him.

"We will meet again..."

*Crack!*

Just right after he said this, Aaron's whole body shattered like a piece of glass that slowly dispatched into the air.

"Aaron!"

***

"And that was the last day I saw your father."

My mother, Celestia, forced herself to smile before breathing out a long sigh, and said, "After hearing what he said about 'reincarnation', I decided to ask Eva for this case since I knew that she must've know something about this matter."

"At first, she was quite hesitant when I asked her this question. Because of this, I managed to confirm that she already knew what I meant, and was somehow connected to your father for a few years during his sudden disappearance." She walked towards me and stopped when she was only a few meters away. I could only bit my lower lips and force myself to avoid her gaze.

She slowly raised her hands to reach out for my cheeks, but I evaded it by taking a step back.

"….."

"....."

While we both remained in silence, the tensed atmosphere continued until my mot- Celestia, calling her mother now feels wrong, so... anyway, she spoke.

"I'm not angry, nor do I feel disgusted for raising a man who was older than me-" Before she could continue, I cut her by saying.

"I'm only 22 in my previous life before I died... But, if my age in this life is included, technically, I'm already 32 this year," I said, still avoiding making an eye contact with her.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺...

Lowering my head, I clenched my fist hard until blood dripped out. My nails which I long didn't care about were digging through my skin. As of now, due to me clenching my fist harshly, my palm now had a thin crevasse of red.

Celestia who noticed this, once again raised her hands to reach out for my bleeding hands. Though, this time, she managed to grasp onto my hand on time before I could hide it away.

"Like I said, I'm not angry--"

"Lie."

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢- I stopped myself after raising my head slightly and saw the expression she was making.

Unexpectedly, she was smiling.

It was not forced, nor her casual when she was talking to me. It was an unfamiliar smile that made all my doubt and fear vanished.

"Why...?" I asked. "Why are you smiling? Even after learning all of that. Why aren't you calling me disgusting, hideous, asshole for taking your son's body, or some sort?" I forced myself to raise my head up to look at her. Then, she just gave me an unexpected, probably what the usual her would say, answer.

"You didn't took away my son's body. You're reincarnated as my son, Aaron's son, and most of all, you are human."

"....."

In my previous life, I would often hear people talking behind my backs calling me a monster, genius, devil, and many more kinds of nicknames.

But...

Never once did I was called a human.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵... 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵. I thought as I once again lowered my head to avoid her determined gaze. But, before I could even do that, she managed to wrap her arms around my head, and my head fell just below on her shoulder because of our height difference.

I immediately tried to move away from her because of this, but she tightened her arms not letting go of my head.

"Now now, there's no need to be shy. Although you are an adult in your previous life, you are still my son... Or perhaps, you want me to drink some growth potions before hugging you again?" She jokingly said, raising her right hand slightly to pat my head.

"Shut up."

"Mm-hmm, my son is really embarrassed."

"...Tsk!"

She continued on her teasing, and I couldn't do anything about it.

Right now, I'm a bit thankful that she was this kind of person, unlike any normal mothers I often see in the park, television, or streets.

Finally, the long tensed atmosphere ceased.

We remained like this until...

While my mother and I was hugging each other tightly, my phone inside my pocket suddenly vibrated.

*Ding!*

[You have received a notification!]

"...hmm?"

Letting go, Celestia took a step back and looked at me in confusion. "Who's that? Your girlfriend?" Her lips curled up into a teasing smile.

"I don't have a girlfriend." I said to her bluntly. She didn't believe this of course, and crossed her arms to her chest as she raised a brow.

"Mm-hmm, do you perhaps have a girlfriend in your previous life?"

"I do, but... we broke up." I shook my shoulders. "Anyway, let's see..." Taking out my phone inside my pocket, I looked at the notification before clicking it. It came from an unknown account.

After reading the mail up until the end, my whole body froze. I could only gaze at the screen while remaining in silent.

Seeing this, my mother looked at me worriedly, and placed her hands to my shoulder. "Is there something wrong with the message? You kinda look pale."

After recovering from what I saw, I promptly placed my phone inside my pocket before smiling at here, and responding, "... I'm fine."

"You sure...?" My mother didn't immediately let go of this matter and continued asking me some question. "What does the mail say?"

"Mm, it's nothing to worry about really. Someone I know sent me a funny picture, and I merely froze because of that."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"..."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Celestia sighed deeply.

"Fine... As long as it doesn't bother you that much, I guess I'm fine with it."

I nodded.

"Anyway, you can go now." She waved her hands and I waved back. Because of this, her expression suddenly brightened. "Be sure to sleep early tonight, so that you could see us go off."

Today was supposed to be their last day on staying in this city, meaning, tomorrow is the day my mother and Adam will leave.

"Yes." Turning around, I got out of the room and closed the door behind.

Taking a deep breath, I took my phone out and looked at the mail, trying my hardest not to show any of my expression outside, with indifference.

[From what I can see, looks like you're enjoying your life there, am I right, Athan? So, why don't we make things more fun, shall we?]

Scrolling down once more, I unconsciously gripped on the phone hard that the screen cracked.

[ Timer left : 01M : 29D : 03H : 17M : 38S ]

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦... 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬.

[A/N : I apologize. I know that none of you guys felt what I felt this scene... I'm still practicing on making an emotional damage scene, so that when I start writing the ⬛, you'll understand what he felt.]