Chapter 78 - I Don’t Want A Tragic Ending

They were a four-hour drive away from reaching the Capital City. As such, Raine and Tyrone had a stopover midway to grab some lunch. Stopping over a what seemed to be an open restaurant, Raine let Tyrone order her meals. She wasn't picky with what she ate anyway.

"This is nice," Raine sighed in relaxation as she at the spectacular mountain view. The sun was up, and the luscious green trees seemed to glimmer with the sun's rays. They were simply too pleasing in the eyes.

"Yeah, it's beautiful," Tyrone whispered, looking moreso at Raine rather than the view.

Raine could see his wooing tactics from the corner of her eyes as she mumbled, "That's a cliche thing to say and do; looking at me while saying that I'm beautiful. At least use some new lines on me, please."

Tyrone chuckled, "Does it matter if the words are overused? I think what matters is whether or not the words are genuine. I just stated the obvious that you're beautiful. I even bet that no one will disagree with me."

"Then I suppose that I'm a beautiful disaster. I bet no one will disagree on that too," Raine giggled.

"I absolutely agree. It's nice to know that you enjoyed the entire retreat, engaging with the other employees and having fun instead of straight-up killing Xander Yang," Tyrone commented.

"Yeah, but this action will cost me a lot. We have to ensure his safety since my uncle will do everything in his power to wipe him out," Raine dribbled her fingers on the table as she spoke. "I've decided to remain neutral so that my uncle would keep on wracking his brain thinking about what's really going on inside my head. Whether I'm planning on killing Xander or not, I want him to get frustrated. I want to play a guessing game with him," she grinned, acting as if everything was just a simple game to her.

Tyrone breathed out a long sigh as he stared at the woman in front of him. He was worried about how things would eventually end up. He only hoped that he could protect Raine for as long as he could.

"What's with that look? Don't you dare fall in love with me," She scoffed. "It's like you're asking for death if you ever even try it." It was suspicious. She could see something in Tyrone's eyes…  a warm look of someone looking at the person they treasured.

At her words, he merely shook his head as he whispered, "I intend to live a long life, so don't worry about it."

Raine twisted her lips and mumbled, "Good for you then. Just don't say I didn't warn you, though."

Tyrone only chuckled, remaining silent as they savored the atmosphere. Soon enough, her orders arrived. The two began eating heartily as they simply soaked in each other's company.

After a while, Raine wanted to have a conversation, so she curiously commented, "So it says in your profile that you grew up in an orphanage. Didn't you try to look for your biological parents?"

"I'm not interested in knowing them," Tyrone casually answered.

"But why not?" she probed. "Aren't you curious to find out where you came from? Who still lives among your family? What if you have a brother or a sister? Or maybe even a twin?"

"As I said, I'm not interested," Tyrone insisted. "What for? It doesn't matter since I like my life now and I'm good at being on my own. I don't see the relevance in finding out more about my origins."

He kept a blank expression, more often than not. Such mannerisms almost made Raine feel anxious inside. She could often read someone's expressions, but it was almost practically impossible to do so with Tyrone.

"I see that you're getting interested in me. Can I also warn you not to get too curious?" Tyrone shamelessly threw her warning right back at her without any emotion whatsoever. "If you want to know more private information about me, then that also means that you're probably falling for me." 

"That fast? You just skipped the part of me liking you first before falling in love. Can't it be liking you first?" Raine scoffed as she returned fire.

"You already like me, so it's automatically interpreted that you're interested in taking the next step," Tyrone confidently stated, making Raine roll her eyes.

She wanted so badly to hit his head. However, she didn't bother to expand on the topic further. Instead, she moved on to more productive topics.

"I see. Your profile is very remarkable with how you grew up well despite being alone for most of your life," Raine began. "However, it's still all just words on a paper that can be easily fabricated. You see, I feel like you're hiding something. I feel like I need to know more about you. And by telling it to me personally, we can discuss the things that aren't written in the reports. After all, you can't disclose everything, right?" she disclosed her thoughts.

Tyrone looked at her and asked, "If you're suspicious, then why do you still trust me to be your right-hand man? Can you see the flawed logic in that?"

Raine had a wry smile on her face. What Tyrone just said was true. She had her suspicions, and yet here she was still letting Tyrone tag along with her. And the worst part of it all was that she even entrusted him with every single thing that she probably shouldn't have just simply given away.

"I simply applied the phrase 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' I want you close so I can easily crush you if you eventually show your true colors," Raine pointed out.

"You sure are confident, getting near me so that you can easily crush me," he scoffed. "But haven't you thought about the possibility that I could do the same to you?" 

Raine formed a pout on her lips as she leered, "But you won't do that, darling, right? How could you crush this beautiful woman so thoroughly? I've decided to make you my right-hand man since you said you wanted to stay by my side and assist me. I don't want a tragic ending, so let us at least not kill each other in the end?" She let out a malicious smile. "After all, if you ended up betraying me, it would make me so miserable that I might not end up just killing you… Maybe I'd pass on my amplified misery onto you that you'd wish that I just killed you."

"What a way to threaten me," Tyrone said with a half-smile.

"I don't threaten, darling. It's always a warning for me."

"I've been warned well enough, so be at ease. Let's hope that we won't end up killing each other then.. Who even likes a tragic ending? I don't like tragic endings too," Tyrone answered with a hint of uncertainty in his tone.