-I was also greedy to have you-

-2 days later-

The Bamboo house

The sleepless nights and insomnia, the haunted thoughts that creep into my brain every single night after she's gone. Even though I knew that she would be back, it didn't put my heart at ease like the words she wrote in the letter.

It's been two weeks, two weeks, that I haven't seen her face, I haven't held her hands, her body. I tried to work and get rid of the thoughts, but every time I came back home, my eyes were always in her room.

I miss her. I miss you, Zephyra. Don't you miss me just for a bit? I wonder if I have been through her mind once.

I am leaning my back on the couch and trying to close my eyes. I know if I close them, I can see you clearly, in the dark, in my imagination. In my dreams, I can feel you; it seems more real than reality when I open my eyes.

"Zephyra... another night that I can't fall asleep... If you come back... I promise…I..will never let you go again...and keep you by my side...never let you get out of my sight...ever again."

"..."

"Master!"

Jay calls me from behind the door.

"...What?"

I barely have the energy to talk to him.

"Thug!!"

And he slides the door aggressively.

"..."

I look at him and see his eyes, which look shocked and wide open.

"!!!"

He nods to me.

What!? Don't tell me?

I get up and walk to him.

"We found her."

"Where!!"

"She's back...at the Flower House."

"!!"

Then I grab my coat and run out to the front door with Jay. 

Jay hurriedly gets into the driver's seat.

"GO!"

I tell Jay.

"Yes, sir."

He drives away.

While Jay is on his speed to the place, my hands are shaking like crazy. Even if I haven't had full rest, my body still has energy when it comes to her.

"How...When did she?"

"Our man saw her at the train station this evening, but we weren't that sure...because..."

"What..?"

"We want to really make sure this time, sir, so we don't inform you earlier..."

"Is she alone?"

"No sir, she's with her man, but we didn't recognize him at first...he changed."

"..."

"She also changed...but it's them, sir. I can confirm that."

"..."

While I go in silence, I think about her and imagine how she can change. The looks? What did Jay mean but... I really want to see her now.

"She isn't hiding, sir...She got out of the train and regularly did normal things, not like the way she left. There were no traces at all."

Jay continues to inform his report.

"That means she wants to be found..."

She would like me to find her...

The Flower House

Finally, we arrived.

I see the gate door has slightly opened, giving one person some space to get through. I push the gate to open more and walk inside. I walk through the grass that I ordered the gardener to take care of carefully every day. I notice the big pink and white flower bouquet on the grave of Zephyra's mother.

She was here...

Then I turn my face to see the dim light from the room peeking through the window, on the second floor.

And suddenly, the water drops into my eye. I blink and wipe the water, and the rain falls hard from the sky. 

I try to see the dim light, but it's fading away.

"!"

I quickly run inside the house. 

It's dark, and there are no lights turned on. Even though I want to see her face, to see her real body, I'm scared. My body is a little bit shaky, and as I am about to step up the stairs, I see the shadow figure in front of me.

"Thun!!"

The thunder screams so loud, and lightning flashes out. I can see the figure facing me clearly now.

"Where is she?"

I ask the man who has been following her everywhere, every day for the past two weeks.

"..."

He doesn't answer, and then I walk up the stairs closer and closer. He glares at me while I am stepping up step by step without a word. He also shows me nothing that tells me the signs to stop me except the eyes that give death glares deep inside my body. I'm walking past him while I glance at his hair. He cut his hair short. I can see his thick neck with the tattoo I've seen in the history book, The House of Samurai, like on his father's body. 

He doesn't stop me.

That means she's waiting for me to come in.

I'm on the second floor. I assume she's in her mother's room after seeing the flickering light from outside. The same room that I first came here when her mother passed away. Like it all in a circle.

The door was already opened.

My body isn't just shaking; my heart is totally, completely nuts like there's an earthquake inside my body. My organs are crazily doing something that I couldn't tell in my stomach, and it's like they're not in their right positions. Even so, my legs are running toward that room nonstop. 

"!!"

I step inside the room.

And I see her... she's sitting on her knees facing the big glass window, watching the rainfall. 

I step inside...she knows that I'm here, but her face is on the other side.

I step closer. Her tiny body...looks tinier than I remembered what has happened to her for the past two weeks.

"!!"

Suddenly, she grabs the sword and slices straight through the air in a half circle along with her face and stops at my neck.

I pause myself and look directly at her face, her pretty face...and shift to her eyes, her piercing eyes that even piercer like the sword that she's holding.

"Thun!!"

And the thunder cries out again and flashes behind her body. Her red eyes, with a white flash together with a blue reflection of her sword, reflect in her eyes, turning into purple.

She looks right through at me. My eyes are not steady anymore. I don't even want to blink. I'm scared that she will disappear from my sight again. 

"..."

I step closer to her, but the sharpest point of the sword pokes against my neck, and I don't care. I want to get to her. I want to hold her.

"Zep..."

I am trying to call her name. Then she lowers her sword, turns her face back along with it, and puts down her sword beside her.

Your eyes... are swaying... Zephyra.

What exactly happened to her? Her new sword and her hair. She also cut her hair, like that man. 

She changed as Jay said. But,

"Zephyra..."

"..."

I step closer to her and sit behind her.

"I miss you."

I tell her.

"..."

"I'm sorry...for everything...I'm sorry."

"..."

"Please, tell me...Why do you want to marry me...Why did you want me to be by your side...that bad by helping that family… tell me the real reason...if not, I'll leave you…for good."

She tells me.

"..."

"The first time I saw you, you were covered in blood. I had a mission to clear the mess in the city. One gang was ordered by an unknown source to get rid of a person. The time I was there, the gang was messed up. Some people died, some people were injured, and some people were still alive and tried to kill the victim. And then I killed a couple of men who were holding weapons, and I saw that person who was trying to survive from a group of men. It was a young girl..."

"..."

I step on my knees to get closer to her.

"She looked at me with a terrified look but not fear. She got up and walked past me after knowing I wouldn't do anything to her. Her body was full of blood, not hers. Since the guys were all dead mostly because of her. I wondered, so I followed her as she sat and tried to clean herself on the street. She was not crying. She was calm and helped my mission while she was the victim herself...I offered to give her a ride home, and she said she didn't want her father to know and kept on wiping the blood... I wondered why and how someone would like to kill this little girl and why and how she could face all of that without asking for help...It was you, Zephyra..."

"..."

"After that, I tried to know more about you, but it was a hard job since you were hidden in the Mansion and no one knew about you. But I tried and finally got your background, at least the basics. I got your picture, the silver hair with black, the red eyes almost just like mine. You were the daughter of Charon's third wife from North Mountain. And I knew that you were treated awfully by them. And that was it...Then I saw you once again...at the Academy...You were in the Sayamura Club...I don't know, Zephyra... after the first time I met you...I...have been digging your story again and over again even until now I still..."

"..."

She's listening but isn't showing any movement.

"After you were out in the open, I knew your story more easily. It was like an obsession. I was drowned more into you. I always have the urge to want to protect you, to keep you in my sight. If you were beside me, I could protect you from harm, from any men, from that family."

"..."

She tilts her head to the side a little.

"And I saw the benefits, then I grabbed it. Since I wanted to get rid of the Stygians anyway, I found the deal, but he was too greedy to continue the business...I... used you. I'm sorry, Zephyra. I was also greedy to have you. It was the only way to have you...not forever, but at least it could be as long as..." 

I step closer.

"So I tried to gain your trust...I want to treat you well and better, not just to hide the truth but because I really want it. And time after time when I was with you...the obsession and possessiveness are stronger..."

I continue.

"..."

I sit right next to her tiny back; she's carefully listening to me. It is embarrassing to tell my ugly and dirty thoughts out loud in front of her, but I don't care anymore. I see her tiny hand lying on the floor beside her sword. I move my right hand slowly closer to her right hand, which is a bit shaking.

"Being with you, touching you, seeing your smile wider and wider each day, makes my heart full of joy and pounding lively…"

I can smell her now. I put my face to the back of her neck with her hair covering it all over. 

"I fell for you, Zephyra. I am still falling for you...deeper every fucking day...It kills me that I was the one who hurt you… I'm sorry. Please forgive me...I'll do anything to clear up my mistake. I admit I was wrong...Please, Zephyra...Don't...leave me."

I tell her behind her neck. My voice and my eyes are softer and shaking even more. 

My right hand touches her right hand. I slightly hold her hand gently.

"..."

I hold her right hand and lead to her stomach so I can keep her closer to my body. She lets me.

I use the other hand to gently push her hair away from her neck. Then, I put my nose to touch her soft skin, slightly to the side of her neck. I can see her cut-short hair behind her ear. Then I put my lips to touch her earlobe.

"I miss you..."

I whisper in her ear.

And then I put my face on her tiny shoulder and lightly slide and move into her neck.

"I know something happened to you...if you don't want to tell me, I will not force you...but please stay… Let me fix what I did... I cannot live a single day without you anymore..."

I tell her softly inside her neck while my lips touch her skin.

"Please say something..."

I tell her.

"..."

Her right hand holds my fingers inside her palm. Then, I decide to do what I wanted to do for a long time. I kiss her neck not once but twice, and I use my left hand to touch her neck in front and touch her jaw to move her head lean back to my shoulder, showing her glass pale skin on her face and her neck along the way to her collarbones that look very delicate to touch. I purse my lips and let my tongue out to feel, to taste, and I suck gently and carefully along with the soft kiss I could give to her.

"Ah..."

She moans softly, Her moan is a sweet sound that I am always crazy for.

She glances at me. I pull away my lips.

"I love you, Zephyra."

I tell her while we are gazing on each other eyes.

She turns her body to the side, raises both her hands, and holds my cheeks and lower to my jaws while her eyes are on me.

I can not hide my true feelings toward her. My eyes are heavy, and I don't want to close them to see her in the dark. I want to open them wide and wider to see her, as it is right now. But the water is about to run out and block my sight away from her.

"Please.. .be with me..."

I tell her while my tears run down.

"!!"

And she puts her lips on mine. She kisses me deeper with her sweet breath. She opens her mouth and gives me her tongue. I surrender whatever she's doing to me. I hold her tight and kiss her even harder. She pulls herself up while her knees are still on the ground.

I don't want to let her go. I don't want to let her go. I don't want to let her go...

She pulls her lips away...

But I want to kiss her more. Then I hug her, holding her in my arms.

That means she forgives me..?

"...Kaiza..."

She calls my name while holding me into her as well.

"....Let's get married."

She tells me.

!!

-to be continued-