She was beautiful.

More so than anyone I’d ever seen in my life.

She was someone whom I couldn’t take my eyes away from.

She was the love of my life.

My everything…

***

“What do you think? I think it looks quite nice?”

The air seemed to echo with a soft but endearing voice. It belonged to a beautiful young lady in her early twenties, whose brown hair waved at the ends. Her features were flawless, and her face was soft.

She was beautiful. Extremely so.

“It looks awful.”

A man muttered. He recoiled in horror at the sight of the room, which was dominated by the color pink throughout. He cast his gaze in her direction.

“You took this too far.”

“Oh, please.”

She rolled her eyes while casting a glance toward her belly. It was slightly bulging.

“Since you’re training all the time, I took it upon myself to decorate the room. If you’re unsatisfied, then you should’ve spent more time with us.”

“Ugh.”

After groaning, the man sighed and sat down on a nearby stool. As he continued to survey the surroundings, he eventually gave up and lowered his head.

“You’re right. I guess this is the price I have to pay for being busy…”

“Ey.”

The woman glared.

“You’re making it sound as if it looks terrible. You know, I’ve put a lot of effort into this place.”

“Oh, sure, sure.”

The man raised his hands in resignation.

“You’re right, and I’m wrong.”

The woman smiled. Extremely pleased with the man’s words.

“It’s good that you know.

***

I was satisfied with my life.

Happy with it.

Every day I would wake up happier than the next.

Life was perfect.

I loved it.

I thought it’d last until my last days.

I could still envision my future back then.

It was beautiful.

So, so beautiful.

Every day I’d wake up with joy just thinking about that future.

I was naïve.

***

The surrounding walls were almost entirely dominated by the color white There was a lingering smell of stale alcohol in the atmosphere, and in the background, there was a faint rhythmical beeping sound.

Her lips were dry, and her eyes were hollow.

A hand grasped her hand tightly. It belonged to a young man. He looked at her with distraught eyes.

“…She took her first steps today. I wasn’t there, but I got a video of it.”

He took out his phone and played the video.

A cute girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and sporting a cute little frown was seen approaching the camera. She had just taken two steps when she tripped and fell forward, at which point she began crying.

The husky figure slowly turned her head to look at the video.

“Haha.”

The man laughed, finding the little girl cute.

“She looks just like you. Even her frown is the same…”

He covered his mouth with his hand and rubbed it. His eyes started to redden a little, but he didn’t show it.

At long last, a response came from the woman. Even though it was only slight, Octavious noticed that the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly.

Before he knew it, something warm began to run down the side of his cheek, and he squeezed her hand even more tightly.

“You think she’s cute too, right? Haha, of course, she is. She looks just like you, so get better…”

He pursed his lips.

“Get better so that we can finally be together and live like a family as we’ve always dreamed of… Okay?”

Near the end of the sentence, his voice began to crack, and warmth continued to trickle down the side of his cheeks.

***

She was still beautiful to me.

Even when she was like that.

In my eyes, she was the most beautiful person in the world.

Nothing could take that beauty away from her.

So…

Why did she have to leave me?

Why did the world take her away from me?

***

“Uwaaa! Uwaaa!”

The wail of a child could be heard all throughout. They went on and on and on, stopping only when the child became tired.

Octavious lay on the sofa, his gaze directed toward the ceiling of the room. It was pink. A color he hated.

“Hu..huh.”

His chest trembled as he took a breath.

He turned his attention to the right, where a glass pane stood, and looked at his own reflection in the pane. His eyes were sunken in, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were a mess as well.

‘Who is he?’

Octavious found himself questioning the look of the man that was reflected on the glass. Was that supposed to be him? He looked nothing like him.

‘That’s not me.’

He tore his gaze away from the mirror, adamant in his belief that he was merely seeing things.

“Uwaaa! Uwaaa!”

Right then, the child began to cry again, and Octavious turned his gaze toward the small girl who was laying on the white crib opposite him.

‘She’s probably hungry, right?’

It was the only thing that could explain why she was crying. Octavious blinked a few times before leaning his head against the sofa and turning his attention to the bottle of milk that was sitting next to him.

After pondering for a while, he chose to leave it where it was and continued to listen to the child’s cries.

“Uwaaa! Uwaaa! “

The cries continued and stopped in cycles. Sometimes they’d go for hours, sometimes for minutes, before stopping…

Octavious spent his time listening to them with his eyes closed.

It was the only sound that filled his empty heart.

The only sound that reassured him that he wasn’t alone.

***

Losing my emotions…

It wasn’t purely just for the sake of power.

I just wanted to forget. Numb myself from the pain.

They call me strong.

The strongest human.

If only that was the case.

…I’m not strong.

I’m just a coward.

***

Ashton City Community Orphanage.

Octavious stared at the sign in front of him. It belonged to a small chapel, and he could hear the sound of children playing in the background. They seemed rather happy. In his hands was a small girl that was quietly resting with her thumb in her mouth.

His lips trembled as he gazed at the orphanage in front of him.

When he lowered his hand to gaze at the young girl in his arms, he found himself torn.

‘This is for the best…’

He didn’t want to, but he knew this was the best decision he could take.

He was a danger to her.

For her, he couldn’t allow himself to be near her. He wanted to love her with all of his heart, but… he was too broken to love her.

He didn’t deserve her.

“Huh…huh..”

His chest trembled once more as he gazed at the orphanage in the distance. Closing his eyes, he firmed himself to move forward.

Just that…

“Dada?”

His feet came to a sudden stop as a sweet voice called out for him.

Octavious felt his entire body freeze at that moment and he lowered his gaze to meet two innocent eyes looking directly at him.

They were so pure…

“Dada?”

She called out again, her little hands reaching out for his face.

Octavious’s lips trembled and he slowly brought his head toward her. Her hands soon touched his cheeks and she let out a series of soft giggles.

“Uhum”

Octavious let out a soft whimper as he heard her laugh.

He suddenly found that his legs were frozen and the orphanage in the distance was a lot further than he had originally thought.

Throb.

His chest throbbed and soon something trickled the side of his lips, dying bits of the ground in red.

“Hi, hi, hi.”

The young girl continued to laugh as she pulled his hair and played with his face.

‘Please stop.’

The more she did that, the greater the pain that Octavious felt.

His resolve was starting to wane.

‘No, I can’t allow that…’

He grit his teeth.

The orphanage inched closer. It was no longer as unreachable as it was before.

He was a danger to her.

He couldn’t allow her to stay with him.

“Come, Melissa, be obedient.”

With a wave of his hand, the little girl, Melissa closed her eyes and fell asleep. Feeling her rhythmical breath, Octavious took a deep breath and turned his gaze toward the orphanage once more.

He gently kissed her on the head before moving forward.

“Hello, is there anything that I can help you?”

Meeting him at the entrance of the building was a nun holding onto a small broom. She had a soft smile on her face and seemed rather friendly. When her gaze landed on the little girl in his hands, she came to an understanding.

“You want to leave her here in the orphanage?”

Octavious swallowed before nodding his head.

“Y,yes.”

“Oh, my.”

The nun looked quite troubled. Just before she could say anything else, Octavious took out a black card and handed it to her.

“There’s over a dozen million U in the card. Please take it.”

The nun looked surprised when she saw the card.

Looking back at Octavious, she asked.

“You seem rather wealthy, why are you leaving her here?”

Octavious smiled at her but didn’t answer. He pushed the card forward.

“Please…”

The nurse stared at the card for a moment before setting the broom to the side. She then headed toward the entrance of the orphanage. Octavious felt his heart drop when he saw this, but just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard her voice calling for him.

“If you don’t mind, why don’t you follow me into the orphanage? I’m sure you’d want to see the place before sending your daughter here, right?”

Octavious’s eyes lit up when he heard her voice and quickly followed her in.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

The chapel was rather small, with wooden benches on the side and stained glass all over. The place was dimly lit and its center was a small statue.

It was a man holding onto a book.

“Who is that man?”

For some reason, Octavious felt drawn toward the statue in the middle. He felt entranced by it.

“That?”

The nun smiled and walked up to the statue.

She moved to its side and looked at Octavious.

“This is our protector.”

“Protector?”

“Indeed.”

The nun smiled warmly.

“He is the one that grants us strength. He is the one that grants us food. He is the one that grants us… Protection.”

“Wh―”

Before Octavious could say anything else, the world around him suddenly turned white.