Chapter 7: Meeting Again

"What do you think?"

"Inconceivable"

"Hahaha..."

Inside a small tidy office within the construction site, an aged bearded man with a soft but stern look on his face laugh while sitting with a desk beneath in front of two people.

One is a Black Haired Young Man with a small frame for a body that it be pressing to wonder why someone like him is working hard labour.

But the young man have the physiology of a Conqueror, people with strength beyond normal human capabilities, allowing to lift more than the biggest man in the construction site.

Henry pondered over a matter presented to him by the Foreman in his office.

His face nowadays looks more lively than in the past, his eyebags clearing, and his long hair finally being kept properly.

"I just started recently, wouldn't It be better for someone else to teach her the works?"

"You're right, that would've been the case, but seeing as how you smoothly adapted these weeks working, I thought it would be better to put two Conquerors together to better the workloard."

"Wait... She's a conqueror?!"

"That's right, hehe...! I may not look like it, but my delicate skinny arms can definitely lift a lot more than the average person!"

A Young Beautiful Woman also around the same age as Henry stand beside him, look at him, and made a comment, laughing to make a light of herself.

Similar to him, despite her much small frame, much smaller than him, she would be much stronger than anyone within the site due to her strength.

(But still, I somehow got a bad feeling about this. Uhhh... Whatever, let's just get on with it.)

Agreeing anyway, they step outside, and she cheerfully followed him.

The sounds of machinery, people shouting just to be heard from different locations was in complete contrast compared to the confines of the office.

"What's your name by the way, I'm Henry?" Knowing they be working together for quite some time, he asked for her name as a first step to make each other's acquittance.

"Sera, call me Sera."

"Cute." Henry made a light remark.

"Thank you." She giggled.

As they continue to walk through the site, heading to the upper floors of the building under construction, some people spotted them along the way whilst busy working.

"Oh, Henry, who is that?!"

"Just a Newcomer, Barry, also a Conqueror."

"Two newcomers working together, and a Conqueror on top of that, well this is unexpected." The familiar coworker exclaimed in confusion.

"Hey Henry, don't go flirting during working hours, I know you're still young, but try to keep it in your pants, hahahaha." Right beside him, due to the image of two younger people around the same age, with a commonality to share, anyone would think so, and make a joke about it.

"Shut it, muscle head, go back to work." Growing some familiarity amongst his new found friends, Henry threw some friendly insult.

Everyone laugh, and continued along the way.

"Everyone is so friendly, alright, I do my best!" Sera motivated herself, and Henry upon hearing that smiled.

Hours passed, Henry made sure to taught her well, she did so accordingly and was doing well on the job, it was almost no different from any other day.

—

Break time, everyone is eating at the usual place around the middle floor of the building where the wind flows nicely, freshing up everyone's sweaty bodies.

Sera made sure to sit by Henry's side, mirroring Henry back then who sit with the most familiar one, it's a common behavior.

"Is no one gonna bring up the elephant in the room, or should I just ask about it?"

"We're in an open space you moron, the walls are still not set up, calling this a room doesn't cut it."

"Pfft." Henry snarked as soon as he heard that.

"What elephant?" Sera wondered as her eyes darted around.

"Well, we never had a Conqueror working with us before, then Henry came in, and everyone's job got a whole lot easier, then another one sprouted out of nowhere. It's kinda a coincidence don't you think?"

"What made you want to work with us, Sera, you could be conquering Dungeons right now, and living glamorously, but here you are here, you could not answer if it's something personal."

The same similar question arose from one of the workers, but this time, it's pointed at Sera, Henry listened to the questions and anticipated for her answers just like everyone else.

"Hmm... I guess it's because I just wanted too, hehe..." Sera answered jokingly.

"... What a killjoy!"

"Yeah, at least Henry got something more interesting."

The people seems dissapointed after hearing her answer, and immediately comparing it to Henry's backstory.

"What is Henry's reason, I might ask?" Sera being compared made her curious towards Henry's reason for working at the site.

The workers look at each other, as if waiting for someone to blurt it out, but was unable to do in consideration of Henry's personal life.

"I cheated on my ex." Henry ate a piece of his food as he spoke, implying he doesn't mind.

"Ehh...!" Sera gasped with a hand on her mouth agape.

"Wow, that's harsh, Henry, I didn't expect you to be a playboy, hahaha!" Unexpectedly, Sera didn't find it too disturbing and instead made a joke about it, while also lightly tapping her elbow by his hips.

"Well, what's the whole story, I feel hurt if im the only one left out, right."

With Henry's words indicating his approval towards the matter, his coworkers then proceeded to recount the story to her, and in the end.

Tears sliding down Sera's cheeks, her eyes drowning in, she cried.

"Waaah, that's so sad, how can she be so cruel to reject you of progress and opportunities, why didn't you fight back, Henry, that's just cruel!" Sera then wiggled Henry like a ragdoll asking for answers, her eyes still full of it.

"Get off me please." Pushing her back to free himself with considerate force as to not hurt her.

"Still, what you did was really wrong, but what your ex did was far more cruel, if i were you, I would definitely gone for revenge."

(She's really lively, reminds me of a particular someone.)

A brief flash of image suddenly occupied Henry's mind, the image of a red haired woman lively teasing him, and laughing with him, but he quickly erase such thoughts and face Sera.

"I guess I'm just too tired or don't even wanna think about her anymore, so I just let it go." Henry said so.

Getting revenge would've been ideal for most people, but some can be either incapable or just become numb to the whole thing under specific circumstances such as Henry right now, as a result, getting revenge might bring him short term satisfaction, but doing so would be the same as him in the past where he deliberated himself into suffering as a form of repentance.

—

The day passed without any issue, Henry was about to leave, when Sera dress up nicely approach him before he could leave.

"Hey Henry, want to grab a drink, my treat!" Sera said with a smile.

Henry saw her approach, and having no reason to refuse since its also her treat anyway, he followed again, without expecting anything in return.

Inside a simple establishment, Henry and Sera took a seat, and Sera ordered some of the most expensive ones.

(Is she rich perhaps? These foods, they're too expensive for someone to be working construction!) Henry exclaimed inwardly.

"Come, take a bite anywhere you like, hehe."

"It's your treat, don't expect me to pay for thing after!"

Henry then indulged himself with the delicacies in front of him without holding, Sera just smile at him while taking some light bites of her own picking, some minutes passed, Sera initiated a conversation.

"How is it?!"

"It's very good, you should try the chicken, it's really delicious!"

He happily answered her question, then Sera followed with another one.

"Tell me Henry, are you still thinking about your ex?"

"What kind of question is that, can't we just forget about it, let's just eat!" Henry not wanting to talk anymore about her pressed against the issues.

"I just couldn't help but think, Henry..." Sera mood suddenly changed as she stared at him intently.

Henry noticing her gaze couldn't help but meet her gaze head on.

"When did you think simply suffering would make things right?"

His thought processes suddenly stop working, his gaze locked as he couldn't think of anything all of a sudden.

(What is she suddenly saying out of nowhere?)

"Tell me Henry, why did you abandoned Mary?" Sera spoke of her name with great familiarity as if she knows her personally, and the smile she usually held across her face disappeared.

With such a question, Henry then came upon a realization that despite all that, he never really did make the right approach, he suffered alone, but so she did so too.

"What do you mean abandoned?!"

"It's just as you heard, I'm rather pressed against this matter, in a sense, I don't like how it ended, did you know that she's still expectant of you making an appearance?"

"Expectant? Don't make me laugh, she destroyed my life and pushed me away!" Henry suddenly raised his voice.

"Yes, I can see that, but also, you a have fault of your own, you can hate each other all you want, but forgetting each other would be impossible, so I'm offering you to tie this loose ends properly." Despite his voice, Sera remained calm.

"Who exactly are you?! Why do you talk like you know everything that happened, as if you're part of it?" Henry's face was that of shocked and fear as his eyes widened in complete surprise, trying to figure out what exactly is happening.

"Follow me..." Sera then stood up.

Henry, curious followed her.

Leaving the establishment, with Sera paying for the food.

Within the vicinity of a park, the place is empty, with no one at sight, Henry and Sera found a bench to sit together and continue their conversation from there.

Not intending to hide anything, Sera faces Henry head on, as she put her hand by the side of her face.

"Tell me, do you still remember this face?" Sera's face suddenly morphed making Henry greatly wary of her and a scared expression across his face.

The face of suddenly changed into a much more mature one, it was that of one Henry was really familiar with since childhood, a face she used to see often as he played around the neighborhood, it was that of an aged beauty.

"Ma'am Marilyn?!" Henry stood in surprised and shocked as he blurted out a familiar name he used to say very often.

It was the Queen, Mary's mother who sat there right beside him.

"Just call me Marilyn, Henry." Marilyn, formerly Sera still smile as usual as if nothing happened.

"Wha- what are you doing here?!" Unable to properly comprehend the current situation, Henry stuttered.

"Sit down first, let's have a proper talk." Marilyn tap the side of the bench she's sitting on.

Henry gulped, and obeyed her.

The person who he talk so casually earlier that day, and engaged with almost no differently, was actually the Queen this whole time, as such, he found himself in shame and embarrassment, but due to his great familiarity with her, often seeing her in the neighborhood, he slowly find himself and calm himself down.

"Do you still love her?" Marilyn Red went straight to the point.

"I... I don't know..." Hearing those questions, a deeply personal and interconnected one to his life, he answered weakly with his head down.

"Do you want to fix your relationship with her?"

"I do, but how could i? I can't even approach her level or come close to her status, I'm just a nobody."

"That might be true, it's a reasonable why you couldn't properly approach her during those days, but don't you think you simply took the simplest path, why did you think suffering would be enough to make amends with her when the right course of action would've been to meet her properly?"

"I don't know."

Henry never properly tried to make amends with her, as such, for the first time in years, Henry's and Mary's meeting was met with disaster with them hating each other even more and feeling greater resentment more than ever, reaching the boundary akin to numbness.

"I wish to make amends with her, but I used to think that if I did, she would just hate me if I show my face right towards her, it was an unconscious act of mine now that I realize it, it was simply a foolish hope, a very foolish one."

"Would you like to meet her right now?!"

Henry heard those words and his foundation was immediately stirred, that as soon he raised his head, Marilyn's finger was right in front of his nose, pointing at his side.

"What is my Mom thinking bringing me here, it's already so dark and empty?!"

The voice a young woman ring in Henry's ear, it was something he used to cherish, a voice of someone he used to love in the past.

Red hair lightly flowing with the cold breeze of the night, in casual clothing, wearing a pink hoodie, Mary emerged from the sides.

And upon approaching the destination her mother told her to come, her eyes locked upon someone she used to held in high regard, muttering each other's name, they were frozen in place.

"Mary?"

"Henry?"