Feeling the cold eyes staring at him, Evan froze in his place from sheer fear. His soul shook under the dangerous glint in Talon's eyes. He felt as if he was being stared at by a demon rather than a human.
He was so terrified that he even forgot to breathe for a few seconds. By the time he snapped out of it, Talon had already turned around and stood up.
"If that's all you want to talk about, I'm going to excuse myself," Talon said as he started walking away.
Finally, the huge pressure on Evan's shoulders vanished and he felt his tense muscles relax a little bit. Lifting his hand, he squeezed his shirt as if he had a hard time breathing.
"What was that?" He murmured as he looked down. "I couldn't breathe."
'Those eyes, how can they be this terrifying? They didn't seem like the eyes of a human.' Due to his status as Sophie's father and a rich businessman, Evan had met countless people. But, never in his life did he feel so inferior under the gaze of another person in his life.
'Since when did he become like this? All I can remember is that he was quite timid before. Now, he's almost a completely different person.' Rubbing his face to calm down, his eyes shifted to stare at the sky.
Complicated thoughts filled his mind along with vivid memories of that day. He could easily recall what happened as if it was yesterday.
"What kind of mistake did you do this time, Evan?" He murmured in a tired tone.
***
Talon walked toward Sophie's tent to check on her before he would sleep. After knocking her out with his own hands, he was worried that he might've used too much strength and harmed her in anyway. He also wanted to ask her a few things about what happened earlier that day.
"Excuse me." Reaching the tent, he spoke to no one as he walked inside and closed the tent. There, he found Sophie still sleeping quietly.
She hadn't woken up since morning and it seemed her slumber wasn't going to end any time soon with how calm her breathing was. Sitting down, Talon looked at Sophie's face. Even in her sleep, her beauty still shone brighter than anything else.
Her soft yet mature features made her so captivating to look at. A small smile formed on his face as he recalled how much he used to praise her looks at every opportunity back when they were still together. He loved to shower her with compliments at all times.
'She used to get flustered whenever I did that. It was always fun to see her embarrassed like that.' He thought to himself.
Those were a few of the pleasant memories he had with Sophie. Back when things were far simpler than now.
"Time changes really fast..."
Fate had somehow returned them to a point in time when they were still close. Granted, things were far different now than they were before. But, for some reason, Talon was glad to see this happen.
Sophie was one of the few regrets he had in life that he thought he would never be able to fix. It had left a deep scar in his heart that took years to heal. But, now that he had such an opportunity, he was going to take the chance to fix things.
"Mmm..." As he was deep in his own thoughts like that, he heard Sophie's low moans as her eyes parted open.
"Mm... *Sniff* You're right."
"Good... Now, where was I?" Talon thought for a moment before he continued the entire story.
By the time he was done, the girl was completely speechless again. "To think that all of this happened during the time I was unconscious."
"Yeah, luckily, we are in a very good position right now. Optimally, infiltrating the base now should be way easier. However, I still don't trust that it's over." Talon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "How many soldiers does Bang Hyun-Ki have?"
"... 500 give or take. Now 400 with over a hundred of them dead." Sophie replied.
"That's four times the number of soldiers we defeated. But, that shouldn't be a problem since my target isn't the soldiers. If we can reach Hyun-Ki then we won't have to pointlessly shed more blood than necessary."
'I don't want to end up killing too many soldiers. If I can capture them and make them sign a soul contract with me, they would be really useful.'
"But, how are we going to do that? He will definitely hide himself just so that you can't find him. Or he could even pack his things and leave."
"No, he won't leave."
"How are you so sure of that?"
Seeing how certain Talon was, Sophie got curious as to why he didn't think of that possibility.
"Because he isn't that type of person... He isn't the type to run away from a fight. His ego won't let him." Talon's tone turned cold and sinister for a moment.
Even though he barely met Hyun-Ki today for the first time, he could easily see through the polite facade he puts up.
"Under all those layers of confidence. He is just a fragile man with no real belief in his own abilities. He cannot trust anyone unless he controls them and that's exactly why I know he won't let me be the exception." Talon explained.
"... I feel like you have a plan."
"Oh, I have a plan. That's why, I need your help, Sophie. You're going to be very crucial for what we are going to do tomorrow."
Talon stared directly at Sophie with a calm expression. Just a mere glance at him made Sophie realize that Talon completely relied on her. He didn't even seem like he had a shred of doubt that she could do what he was thinking of perfectly. That made her feel extremely happy.
'Talon trusts me... I cannot betray that trust! I can't!' She mused to herself.
"I will do it, Talon. Whatever it is."
A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading :D