Red Princess

55. Breaking In

Kaidon

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

But now, I am not sure who can even be trusted.

"Why in the world did you meet with Lancelot Ford?"

They were targeting Alice. Fords were the only people I could turn to for help; for leverage.

"Isn't he your grandfather? Why are you referring to him by his name?"

"You don't just become a grandfather because you are related. You ought to do stuff that would make me call you family."

He would have done it. He would have protected Alice if he knew she was family.

"He didn't know. If only I had paid more heed to the way he stared at Alice-"

"Wait, come again?"

"He wasn't aware that-"

"You made my sister meet with them?"

I didn't. His sister is a thickheaded moron.

...

was a thickheaded moron.

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Why didn't Lancelot Ford tell me that day that Alice looks exactly like his grand daughter Ariel?
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The thoughts kept spiralling in my head as I unlocked the door I always dreaded to enter through. Her presence still lurked in there, her lingering scent tantalizing my senses, perhaps even mocking me. The glittering rays of the setting sun through the window blinded my vision for a second. As my eyes adjusted to the light, memories flooded my thoughts. I took a step in, and then another forward, sounds of her laughter echoing in my ears. There were pictures of her everywhere; pictures that I had snapped and then framed them in this room to torture myself. It all felt so real, so spine chilling that I almost expected her to walk through the door behind me.

"Kai-"

My eyes widened in disbelief.

That voice... that name... How could-

At that moment I felt like I was living a dream. When you are unconscious and lost in that other world, you tend to forget reality. You don't remember what is the present and what is the past, what is real and what is fake. You just trust in what is right before your eyes.

This is why I want to fall asleep once and then never wake up again.

Right at that moment, my mind denied everything I knew and just wanted to believe in what it saw before its eyes, what it heard with its ears. Her face, her voice. My Alice.

I didn't realize I had teared up until her image blurred before my eyes.

"Kai-"

Alice.

Alice..

I had voiced out that name already. I must look so pitiful.

"Kai...don..."

Please don't take my name in that voice of yours. Please. It's painful.

I half expected her to scoff or turn around and leave. Why should she care? I am nothing to her. Hell she is no one to me.

She proved me wrong as she took one daring step in my direction, then another, and then another one. She stood before me, her eyes laced with a weird emotion that I couldn't interpret.