No more tears - Leon Kennedy

Chapter 21 - END

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭."

★ ---------------------- ★

After who knows how long of vaguely talking on top of that hill, we had come back down to eat at a restaurant that was far more pleasant compared to the welcome we had received at Rosanna's. And now, having been on the road to Washington for over four and a half hours, we weren't far from arriving at Leon's.

I couldn't help but feel that strange sensation whenever, amid our scattered conversation, our eyes met, or whenever his seemingly complete indifference sparked in me a mix of anger and guilt that I wasn't ready to interpret just yet.

Since I was convinced that my way of thinking was the right one—that is, to determine for myself if I truly had feelings for him and not just physical attraction before laying my hands on him—I couldn't help but let out a long, almost inaudible sigh as my gaze latched onto the window beside me.

Time was working against us, and I had possibly just ruined the only moment we could afford the luxury of saying these kinds of things to each other...

Given my inability to say anything personal, being far too entrenched in my ideology bordering on perfectionism that felt nearly pathological, I couldn't help but reflect on where I stood at that moment. If I were truly satisfied with having stopped working, or if it was just the lack of action and interest in life's affairs that was giving me too much time to overthink.

"Lucia, your phone is ringing." I heard Leon's voice—clear yet surprisingly husky—call out to me, my first reflex was to jump in my seat, pulling my phone from my bag to avoid missing this call, which seemed to have chosen the perfect moment to break the silence that had settled between Leon and me for a good thirty minutes.

"Yes, hello?" I asked, shaking my head quickly to snap out of that strange state of drowsiness.

"Yo Lucy, it's Will, can you hear me?"

I found myself smiling nervously when I heard his voice, which immediately reminded me that Will was probably one of the people Leon liked the least.

"Yes, Will, I can hear you. Can I do something for you?"

"No, I... I just wanted to check in. We haven't talked even once since you came to pick up your stuff..."

I sighed, glancing quickly at Leon before formulating my response.

"Sorry, I've had a lot going on lately..."

As we agreed on a time to grab a drink the day before my departure, I noticed we had arrived. And just as I hung up to free my hand to open the car door, Leon beat me to it. He didn't let out a single sound, not even a trace of emotion, as he grabbed my bag, stacked it on top of the box of belongings we had gathered earlier, and started walking away, leaving me momentarily confused.

I wonder what's going through his mind...

The following two days were as uneventful as could be; Leon threw himself back into work and disappeared, only coming home at night to eat, shower, and sleep, while I focused on updating my resume, gradually deciding to return to work.

My savings were dwindling fast enough to make me worry, and the gift I had planned for Leon—his theoretical Christmas present (a leather jacket in a shade of blue I thought would suit him quite a lot)—had cost me way too much to keep going like this. I needed to earn a paycheck again, or I wouldn't make it until next summer.

Besides, who didn't appreciate financial stability in a society that charged you a fortune just to get a broken arm in a cast?

When I saw Will the next day and heard about the wave of murders spreading around the Great Lakes, I couldn't help but think it might be a good idea to go back to working for the government. If there was one person who could recognize a pattern of strange events and start meddling in business that wasn't mine, it was me. And if it wasn't a sense of duty driving me, it was certainly my interest that would push me to use my skills to untangle yet another web—one that could take years to unravel.

The decision was tough, though. My body had already endured far too much when I was an agent for me to dive back in without serious thought. If I went back, it would be to make a fortune, cash out, and resign so I could invest elsewhere. In hindsight, the plan wasn't half bad.

"You sure you got all your stuff?" Leon asked as I placed my suitcase in the trunk, wiping the sweat off my forehead while nodding.

"Yeah, that should be everything..."

Then, a question burned on my lips.

"Why? Do you hate... having my stuff around?" I asked, my tone laced with enough sarcasm to make it clear he needed to answer honestly, given that our relationship had cooled slightly due to our packed schedules over the past few days.

At least, that was the theory I would stick to if he asked. In reality, what I perceived from him was a slight detachment from me... As if he had suddenly started down another path the day we talked on top of that hill.

"It would be a shame if you forgot something... You'd have to come back..." he finally said, breaking into an oddly amused smile. I followed his train of thought, appreciating the subtle irony in his words.

As he got into the car after dropping me off, I hesitated to ask him a question. A question so important that I had repeated it in my head over and over again during the eight-hour drive to Detroit, yet I didn't dare to ask it. I spent our final moments together in silence, unable to say anything that would allow me to move on.

That night, I simply convinced myself that I had made the right choice. That I had already tested Leon's patience enough, and that the next time we saw each other, it would be up to me to reignite the spark I had extinguished by rejecting him not once, but two times in a row.

Because I knew that with Leon and me, it was only a matter of time. Time for me to decide how I wanted to live from here on out and to truly commit to it. To be ready to spend the rest of my life with him if he wanted that too—maybe even take things further.

But now was anything but the time to hesitate. I still had to go see Dr. Chambers and get some answers about why exactly she needed the blood of someone who had never been asked for it until now.

It was when I saw her for the first time and she gave me some explanations that I began to connect the dots between the murders around the Great Lakes, the fact that she needed my blood for a new vaccine, and the sudden recall of everyone—including me—back to the field, even though it was supposed to be a vacation period.

That's when I understood.

That even I wasn't going to be spared from what was coming—events that would challenge everything I had ever believed in and fought for.