236 You are already dead to me

yuta walks out of his room. the house is quiet and dark. he stands in front of his parents' room. it seems like they are asleep. they are constantly teasing each other at day time, but they are sleeping when they are alone? yuta shakes his head. why is he listening in the first place? it's good that they are sleeping tonight. he has to sneak out of the house for a while.

he can't get rid of this anxiety in his heart. it feels like something bad happened or something bad is going to happen. it's better if he brings mira to his parents' home. if he pressurizes his father a bit, he is sure that his father will agree. darn! there is enough evidence to call child protection services. but he doesn't want mira to end up in an orphanage or anyone else from the consortium. 

in the night, the four-year-old boy stands in front of the yellow house. he stares hard at the window. the lights are turned on. is she awake? isn't it little late for a child? this time, he climbs up the tree with ease. he sees her sitting on the bed with her back to him. she seems to be alright. since he's already here, he should visit her once. 

"it's easier this time." he climbs down the window. "why are you not sleeping?"

mira stands up and turns around. the blood on her face and clothes startle him. he reaches for her face and asks with a frantic voice, "how did you get hurt? did your mother do this to you?"

yuta freezes on his spot. this blood is not hers. then, why? the grey eyes meet the brown ones. he becomes pale. how is this possible? she was fine when she left with this morning.

amused, she gives him a slow smile. "you already died once, but you still haven't forgotten your assassin habits."

"mira…" yuta feels like he's being choked with complicated emotions. he didn't want this. this is the mira he fell in love with, but she is also the one who killed him.

"you managed to change your parents' fate." mira claps her hands. "congratulations, you did well."

"what did you do to mira?" he grabs his shoulders and shakes her. "the girl who was not you…"

"the same thing that happened to yuta who wasn't you yet." she laughs. "i didn't expect that. are you a masochist? not only that i betrayed you, but i also killed you. you don't know i killed you. yet, you invited me to your house and fed me natto like you used to do it when we were in a relationship."

"why did you lie to me?" he pushes her against the table. she winces in pain. yuta loosens his fingers, unable to hurt her. he didn't think that he would the mira who killed him. he's been giving himself excuses. he's been telling himself this and that. she might have done it because she had no choice. she might have been afraid. she could have been forced to do it. she might have done it because she loved him. "was it all a lie?"

mira chuckles, not bothering to answer his question. "if you want to kill me, kill me right now. don't worry about the consortium's repercussions. an assassin like you can easily fabricate evidence and put the blame on the person downstairs."

this woman doesn't regret it. she is provoking him right now. since the first moment to the last one, she gave him a lie. 

"you hate me, right?" mira takes out the fork from her pocket and puts it in yuta's hand. "do it. i am offering you a chance to have your vengeance."

the fork has someone else's blood on it. yuta presses it against her throat. "tell me why did you do it."

"because i hated you." mira gives him the same smile that he loved about her once. her eyes are laughing. "icarus, i told you that i would be your sun. didn't the sun kill icarus in the end? to be honest, i used you as my shield. yuan bo and valerie were looking for me. i needed a good place to hide. you were perfect. you even killed yuan bo in the end."

a drop of blood trails down her throat. she grabs the trembling hand. "even after coming back to the past, you thought that i loved you. i will always be the woman who killed you, yuta. the future might change for your parents or other people. you might take the different path this time. but you are still the man who had taken many innocent lives."

he puts down the fork on the table. he can't kill this woman. but it feels like she has killed him all over again. 

"i hated every moment that i spent with you." mira leans closer and speaks to him with a low and smooth voice, "every time you held me, i hated it. i lied about liking the food you liked because i needed to get closer to you. it was difficult to make you fall for me, but you were a blind fool once you were in love with me. i already had the consortium by then. i didn't need you anymore. so, i killed you."

he pushes her away from him. "i heard you. you don't have to say more."

the woman cocks her head and crosses her arms, watching him walk toward the door. "if you don't kill me now, you might never get the chance again."

the boy stops at the door and looks back at her, hiding all the pain that is piercing his soul. "you are already dead to me."

yuta closes the door behind him and walks away from his past. he can't kill this person, but he doesn't want to see her again either. he won't risk his family's safety for this woman. she doesn't even deserve his hate. 

downstairs, he sees the corpses. he doesn't pause once and leaves through the main door. 

on the top of the stairs, daniel nagasawa asks mira with a questioning look. "why did you let him go? if he says anything to anyone, we might get in trouble."

"would we?" mira gives him a side-long glance. "do you think a normal child would walk away like that after seeing two corpses?"

"that…" daniel has always found the boy a little odd. he realizes that both children are similar in some way. the children aren't children, but strange adults in children bodies. did they both get possessed? how could everything change in a day?

"a servant should not think too hard about the things that he can't understand." mira stares at the main door of the house. "i have changed my mind. organize a funeral tomorrow. remember to invite my only uncle, adrian ash."

"why do you want to call him?" daniel frowns at her. "his daughter is also a candidate."

"so what if she is?" mira raises her brow sharply. "he wasn't able to attend his step-brother's funeral. i should let him see his step-sister for one last time."

"as you wish." daniel doesn't argue. it seems that the girl wants to meet adrian keenly.