Cursed With Loneliness(1)

The duo spend the next few hours lying on the bed. They watched some latest anime and played video games to relax.

This continued until it was time for them to eat their dinner. The duo got up from the bed and made their way to the kitchen. Normally, Lex cooked the food while Rio just enjoyed his food.

Sometimes, Rio helped with minor tasks to speed up the process. 

"Should we make something simple?" Lex asked, knowing well that Rio was not good at cooking everything.

"I want to eat fried rice. Is that fine?"

"Sure. I will start cutting the vegetables."

"I want to help too."

"Respectfully, don't touch the knife. You remove half the vegetables while peeling them. Your cutting skills are so bad that everything becomes uneven."

"Ouch…" Rio pretended that she was hurt by Lex's comment. Despite that, she didn't pick up the knife and let Lex cook.

She occasionally helped him with simple tasks and soon enough, the food was prepared. 

"You cook like my mother used to cook," Rio commented out of the blue.

"I do?"

"Yes, you do. Your cooking tastes like her cooking as well." 

Using a spoon, Rio tasted the fried rice. A nostalgic expression appeared on her face when she ate the fried rice.

"Rio, what happened to your parents?" Lex asked in a serious tone.

"I will tell you after dinner. For the time being, let's enjoy this food." Rio replied with a sad smile on her face.

Lex nodded his head and the duo returned to their room. Neither Lex nor Rio indulged in any form of conversation while eating.

[ I think we are going to hear some serious things. Be prepared. ] 

'I know. It's obvious that she is facing difficulties while trying to speak about it.'

A few more minutes passed by in silence before Rio decided to speak.

"I don't know where to begin. I wish I could show you my memories like you did because reciting everything might not be easy." Rio said in a low voice.

[ Tell her that she can do that. She just needs to hold your hands and think of the memory that she wants to show. Since she is counted as your lover, the system will be able to show her memories. ]

"Rio, my ability can allow you to share your memories. If you prefer that over speaking, we can do it. Just touch your hands with mine."

Rio looked at him with an incredulous gaze. She slowly nodded and placed her hands on top of Lex's hands.

"Now think about the memory that you want to show me." 

Rio took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Words appeared in front of Lex's eyes, indicating that the system was working.

[ Memory has been chosen. ]

[ Memory Replay has started! ]

The furniture inside Rio's room began to disappear and was replaced by older wooden furniture. The entire room turned from a modern room to something seen in old movies.

"This mansion belonged to my parents. It serves as the last remaining thing related to them." Rio explained. "Me and my brother grew up here along with maids and butlers. Sometimes, my parents brought their friends and held parties."

The surroundings kept on changing, showing various parts of the house. The house gave the vibe of a noble mansion from older times.

Lex caught sight of Rio's child version running in the halls. Her silver hair were shorter, reaching down to her shoulders. Her ocean-blue eyes contained a strange glow, drawing anyone to them.

Behind Rio, another child with the same silver hair and blue eyes ran with a smile on his face. His facial structures were identical to hers, marking him as her brother.

"His name is Victor. He was born two years after me. Our parents were quite important in the city and held important positions in the government. Unfortunately, their abilities were quite weak.

Me and my brother weren't allowed to go outside the mansion without supervision. Since our parents were so important, we were always under supervision. Despite that, Victor and I enjoyed each other's company."

The scene shifted to the yard of the house, showing the two children as teenagers. A group of maids and butlers followed them, ensuring that they didn't leave the mansion.

"Victor awakened his ability before I did. He was 15 when it happened." Rio explained while looking at the yard. "It happened when someone managed to breach the security of the mansion and shot a bullet at me."

A nighttime scene appeared in front of Lex's eyes. Rio and Victor were settled on the grass, watching the stars together.

*WOOO!*

An alarm rang throughout the mansion, startling the two teenagers. The gates around the mansion came crashing down and a man rushed through the main gate. Two black cars stood behind him. 

The man held a strange gun in his hand. Blue sparks surrounded the gun, making it glow.

"He possessed an ability to shoot strange metallic bullets. Getting hit by those instantly poisoned a person. Our security dealt with him but not before he managed to shoot a bullet towards me."

The man pushed the trigger of the gun while aiming it at teenage Rio. The latter tried to move away but her body was frozen to the spot.

"No!" Victor shouted, raising his hand towards the bullet.

The bullet paused mid-air, floating above the ground. The man who fired the bullet was shocked by this development.

Unfortunately, he was struck down by a well-aimed knife shot. One of the maids in the house was responsible for striking him down.

"Victor's possessed the magnetism ability. It's graded as a rank 8 ability. Everyone was surprised to find out that my brother awakened such a high-grade ability when our parents possessed rank 6 abilities.

From then onwards, we were allowed to go outside as long as we brought some security with us. Though we were targeted sometimes, Victor and the guards always protected me."

Rio showed Lex a couple of instances where she was saved by her brother and bodyguards. Lex was surprised to see that even Rio used to be so helpless once upon a time.

"I thought everything would be alright since my brother possessed a strong ability. Unfortunately, I was wrong." Rio's eyes darkened. "Everything changed the day a man called Allen became the king of the underworld."