Second Meeting

Achilles woke up feeling groggy as he tried to slowly open his eyes to survey his surroundings. He had no idea how long did he sleep.

'Argh, my head...what time is it?' He massaged his temples as his vision gradually got clearer.

The bright room filled with sunlight from before was now gone, leaving behind a dimly lit room by the gentle moonlight through the window.

Achilles stood up and checked the time, he was surprised to find out that it was already midnight.

'...I slept quite a while.'

He then went to get himself a cup of water to quench his thirst. After that he sat on the bed while admiring the full moon as he thought to himself:

'I don't feel like sleeping again, maybe I should go out.'

With that in mind, he put on his hoodie to cover his face, then got all his necessities and left his room.

He arrived outside the empty street with occasionally a few cars passing through. This particular section didn't often have nighttimes when people go out to have fun like other more bustling parts of the city, so it was just him in the silent street.

He began walking around the area with no certain direction in mind whatsoever, he was just taking a stroll to relieve his stress a little. When the sun rises, it would be when his hunt would start, he would traverse to a destination where dangers lurked everywhere and if he was not careful, he could easily lose his life.

While he was getting lost in his own thoughts, a melodious but cold voice suddenly rang out from a distance, which woke him from his stupor:

"Mr.Stephen?"

Achilles turned around and saw someone he did not expect. The individual he saw was wearing a white hood covering herself, only revealing some strands of white hair near her face. She walked toward him still with a polite smile on her face as she asked:

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

She was the weird woman who asked him a bunch of strange questions out of nowhere he met a week ago. He didn't know why he had met this woman again so he was silent for a second, then said:

"Well, I couldn't sleep. What about you...uh..?"

"Anastasia. You could call me Sia if you want." The woman who called herself Anastasia said while chuckling.

"As for your question, sometimes I go out to enjoy the breeze. It is a rare opportunity that there are no people around after all." Sia said while still maintaining a cold smile, Achilles felt that what she told him wasn't the whole truth.

'Anastasia...why does it sound so familiar?' Achilles felt like he had heard this name somewhere before.

Noticing his silence, Sia tilted her head slightly as she asked in puzzlement:

"What's the matter, Mr.Stephen?"

'Cute...Wait, what?' A strange thought suddenly flashed through his mind when he saw Anastasia's gesture, but he quickly regained his sanity.

"Uh, no, I'm fine. I'll see you later." Achilles quickly ended the conversation in a slightly panicked voice.

For some reason, he felt weirdly drawn to this woman, it was like she had some sort of crazy charm that could tempt any man into an animal if she wanted to. He was alarmed by this since he had a considerably strong mental prowess, but even then he was attracted to her.

Achilles was preparing to leave, but it seemed that Anastasia wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily as she asked:

"It is rude to leave a lady alone in the middle of the night you know, why don't you accompany me a little?"

'...If you know you shouldn't go out, then why did you come here in the first place?' Achilles retorted annoyingly in his mind, but outwardly he flashed a friendly smile while saying: "...Fine."

If he didn't do what she wanted then this woman would just come to trouble him even more so he decided to play along a little.

"Let's go then." Anastasia said with a neutral expression.

They started walking next to each other for a while, but no words were spoken between the two of them. But strangely enough, Achilles felt a peculiar sense of comfort along with a feeling of unsettled, dread and nervousness.

These chaotic emotions made him confused since he had no idea what was causing them. In order to divert his attention, he decided to let his mind wander around a little:

'Am I having a midnight date right now? No, no, this doesn't count...right?'

His thoughts turned out caused him to be more uncomfortable than he already was, so he just stopped thinking altogether and just gazed at the moon with a blank expression.

"Mr.Stephen, do you mind if you tell me a little more about yourself?" Anastasia's beautiful voice suddenly reached Achilles' ears, which drew his attention back to the mysterious beauty next to him.

'Why do I even think of her as beautiful again? I can't even see her face.'