Chapter 181 Chapter 181- Normal Life (Part 1)
*RING* *RING*
Early in the morning, the sound of an alarm clock echoed across the room. A second later, the figure hidden under the blanket moved, rustling the bed in the process. Then, an arm extended and turned the alarm off.
Kai then woke up from the bed and walked toward the bathroom to wash his face. His daily routine was always and will always be simple. He knew that people loved to make their morning routines as productive as possible. But, he didn't see any reason for that. They have the entirety of the day to accomplish things, so why the rush?
Well, in any case, he had no reason to try and do anything new in the morning. Just his sacred one hour of meditation.
It has been exactly 1 week since the Hitman Guild incident and the events that transpired during this short period of time were rather eye-catching.
First of all, the whole underworld was shaken to its core that morning when they found the whole Hitman Guild destroyed completely. Nothing was left of the previously majestic Organization. The ones that were shocked the most were the hitmen who worked under the Guild, then there were the clans that had deep relations with them, and finally, Divinity.
Each one of these groups was shocked by this event, for different reasons. However, they all shared one single thought. 'Who did it?'.
To topple down an Organization of the Guild caliber in one single night was something one can't even imagine in their wildest dreams and yet reality said otherwise. So, naturally, everyone would turn around to look for the culprit.
The ones who didn't know were the hitmen and the Guild clans. Divinity, on the other hand, quickly realized the answer since their Archangels had participated in that event. Kai still didn't know what Divinity did to the Archangels, especially after one of them died.
But, he could easily predict that they were quite delighted with the outcome. Losing their biggest rival in one night was the best gift the higher-ups of Divinity could ever dream of.
All in all, the underworld was now a chaotic mess. It didn't take Kai long to hear news about families attacking each other, hitmen murdering one another in mysterious circumstances, and even the rise of new Organizations that wanted to take the Guild's place.
However, all of that didn't matter to him. The underworld could burn to ashes and he wouldn't even bat an eye. They were no longer of his concern.
Anyway, Kai, Eva, and Kaya had other things to deal with. The first one was to get Eva to the hospital where she was able to recover in peace. It took Eva a few days to wake up and when she did, she ended up apologizing profusely to Kai while crying.
After hearing what she did, the sheer self-blaming she put on herself made her depressed. She couldn't forgive herself for putting Kai and Kaya's life in danger. It took Kai a while to appease her and make her understand that she wasn't to be blamed. In the end, it turned out well, even though Eva was still regretful, she was able to at least muster up a smile.
As for Kaya, she had to go back to Divinity as soon as she recovered. It has been a few days since she left and she hasn't come back yet, although she stayed in contact with Kai every day.
Aside from that, Kai was able to return to school two days ago. Nobody tried to question his absence at all and he quickly returned to the calm rhythm of his peaceful life.
After finishing his meditation session, Kai went to the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. It didn't take long before he heard the sound of the door knocking.
Opening the door, he found Eva outside, looking around the place curiously as if she hadn't come here a million times already.
When she saw Kai's face, her face bloomed into a mesmerizing smile.
"Good morning, my love~" Giving him a small hug, she quickly pulled away. "Sorry, I came a little earlier than I intended to. I was excited to eat your breakfast." She said.
"Good morning," Kai replied before he moved to the side, allowing Eva to walk inside.
The two went back to the kitchen. Eva sat down at the table as she watched Kai cook fondly. This has been her routine for the past few days. Kai had allowed her to come to his apartement for breakfast and Eva gladly accepted. Granted, they can't walk to school together. But, this was an improvement and Eva was more than happy to welcome it, as small of a change as it is.
"Is your family ok?" Kai broke the silence with a question.
"Yeah, I called them yesterday. No one dared to attack them. I guess the fact that our name is linked with the Black Phantom scared everyone away. Thank you for that~"
"Mhm…" Kai hummed quietly as he continued cooking.
The two remained in comfortable silence for a while. Looking back at the first time they reunited, Eva could only giggle slightly at how much had changed. They went on adventures across the world, fought countless enemies, and even trained together. All of this happened in a mere few months. The best months of Eva's life.
'A few months, huh… So that much time passed…' She thought to herself before looking at Kai's back again with a sad expression. Her fond memories of these past few months were soured by one single detail.
"How are you feeling now, Kai?" She asked with a hesitant tone. The pain in her heart from what happened a week ago was still as vivid as ever. Eva doubted she would be able to forgive herself for the rest of her life. But, she knew that she couldn't just stay depressed forever, either.
"I'm fine," Kai replied calmly. He could easily discern the complicated emotions in her tone.
"What about your…" She asked.
"I know how to stop the symptoms, no need to worry."
"I see…"
Hearing her downcast voice, Kai turned around. Eva was now looking down, a gloomy aura appeared around her.
"Sigh, I told you not to worry, didn't I?" He asked as he walked toward her.
"I know, it's just… No, it's fine, I will stop worrying."
Crouching down, Kai looked at her silently for a second. "You're clearly contradicting yourself."
"..."
"I'm making some progress on my investigation. It's not much. But, I'm getting to something."
It was the truth, in the past few days, Kai discovered some things about his sickness. Granted, it didn't get him any closer to the cure. But progress was made and he was satisfied with that.
"Really?" Eva's eyes lit up with happiness as she grabbed Kai's hands. "Show me what you found. I will see if I can find anything useful on my side."
"After breakfast." Tapping her forehead gently, Kai stood up and walked back to the kitchen counter.
"Hey! Don't treat me like a kid."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are. As an adult, breakfast isn't that important. Besides, we can go for weeks with no food and we would still be fine."
"You aren't an adult and going weeks without food will still harm your health even if it doesn't affect your body visibly," Kai replied.
"Tsk, unfair…" As Eva sulked playfully on the table, Kai simply shook his head and continued cooking silently.
From an outsider's point of view, the two seemed like a married couple bickering and flirting openly.