Chapter 102- Different
Kia felt the whole world around him turn into a monochromic blurry mess as his eyes rested on the girl coughing profusely in front of him. For some reason, he couldn't get his eyes away from her.
Seeing her breathing even when she was struggling with the water still inside her lungs, it made him feel something that he couldn't comprehend. His panicked mind also calmed down as a feeling of relief washed away all of his urgency.
He felt as if for a second, he was pulled out of a dark hole that he was slowly descending into. But, all of this wasn't something Kai could understand quickly.
'Why am I feeling this?' He thought to himself.
It was certainly conflicting for him considering the lack of changes in his emotions for the past 10 years or so. He completely forgot what most feelings were. The only thing he could easily distinguish was annoyance and anger, other than that, he was as clueless as a toddler.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Meanwhile, Eva's coughing finally stopped as she heaved up and down as her hazy red eyes rested on Kai. Her pale expression suddenly lit up weakly.
"K-Kai…" She murmured his name with a feeble tone.
"It's me." The latter shook his head to disperse his thoughts before he focused on Eva again. "You almost killed yourself. What happened?"
"I… couldn't… I was fighting the tentacles and then… I think I made a mistake and got hit by one of the tentacles. I couldn't recuperate quickly enough and lost all the oxygen in my lungs. But… I-I didn't want to let the tentacles focus on you when you're down there so I used all of my powers to keep them at bay for as long as I could…" Eva explained as she closed her eyes.
She could still vividly remember as she was losing consciousness. Her thoughts were only filled with Kai. On one hand, she was worried that she might've failed in her task. She wanted to be useful to Kai as much as she could so the fact that she couldn't keep the tentacles' attention for the required time really pained her greatly. On the other hand, she felt sad that she might die.
The concept of death isn't foreign to Eva. She reached near-death situations before and each time, she didn't feel much about it. So what if she died? This world wasn't worth longing for. Death to her was akin to a quick exit from the cruelty and disgusting nature of life.
However, after she met Kai, that idea shifted completely. She started longing for life simply so she could stay by his side. The more she found herself in danger the more she wanted to not die. At that moment of her vision blurring and the burning feeling in her chest turning into numbness, she only thought of one thing.
'Would Kai be sad… If I die? Would he grieve my death?' She asked herself a question she never thought of before.
Did she really reach a level where Kai would care if she died or not?
Sadly, she had no answer to that at that moment of death. Instead, she could only appease her last few heartbeats with the fact that Kai will feel sad. It was an assumption but she embraced it willingly. At least, if she was going to die, she would rather die with a smile on her face than a frown.
But, as if fate decided otherwise, she found herself alive, next to her beloved. She did not die. When her clouded mind reached that conclusion, a surge of happiness filled her heart.
"I… was scared… I thought I will leave this world before you… Hick… I-I don't want that…" Tears welled up in Eva's eyes. She didn't want to cry but the sheer amount of relief she was feeling at that moment overwhelmed her.
"Idiot…" Turning around Kai slid his hand through his hair as he murmured those words. "If you were scared, why didn't you escape?" He asked.
Normally, when someone feels fear, their first instinct would be to escape and from what Eva said, Kai deducted that she did indeed have a chance to escape. Yet, she decided to risk her life and continue pulling the tentacles' attention.
"Hick… I was even more scared of the fact that if I don't stop them, it might put your life in even more danger than it already was…" She said as she lifted her head weakly and tried to wipe her tears.
Kai froze in his place hearing such words before he looked at Eva.
'This girl… What is wrong with her?'
For someone who can read people's minds as masterfully as Kai, Eva was akin to a whole new book in his eyes. She didn't follow any of the patterns normal people that he met during his life would. She would always do things he never expects and yet he never found that annoying. In fact, now that he looked at how relieved he was that she didn't die, Kai was almost certain that Eva wasn't the same 'trustworthy Acquintance' he considered her to be for the longest time.
He didn't know what he thought of her but he was certain things changed without him noticing.
"Sigh… If you really want to help me… Don't put your life at risk again." He said with a cold tone.
Eva's eyes widened in surprise as her tears continued to fall down freely. Then, she nodded her head dumbfoundedly.
'Was Kai… worried?' She asked herself. His tone was no different from usual but his words certainly were not the usual. That made her heart beat loudly before Eva found herself latching her arms around Kai's neck as she buried her face into his neck.
"I'm sorry… *Sniff*... I'm really sorry!!" Her crying didn't stop at all and instead intensified when she felt Kai's warmth close to her.
"You don't need to be… You did help me. I'm the one who should be grateful." He said as he touched her back to support her from falling.
Kai's tense body also instinctively relaxed at her touch. He simply sat there silently as he listened to Eva's cries and small whispers.
"Kai… I want to become stronger… I don't want to be powerless… I hate it… I'm too weak…" She suddenly said as she tightened her hug around him.
"Aren't you already training?"
"No, it's too slow. I have realized that I can't really keep up with the ever-rising threat that is attacking us. Especially now that I became the target of the guild. I don't want you to worry about me anymore. I want to be able to stand on my own feet and fight anyone."
Even though Eva was a top 100 hitman that was able to kill a top 50 hitman with pure skill, she still found herself completely weak in front of many people that targeted her and Kai. At first, she ignored that. But, now that she found herself on the edge of death, closer than ever before, she didn't want to feel like that ever again.
She didn't want to die before Kai.
"So… When we find that woman and come back home… Can you train me?"