Free Web NovelChapter 21: Chapter 21 - First kindness
He pushed at the door bell and a pleasant sound echoed, vibrating. Then, immediately he heard a feminine voice in a hurry.
"Wait a minute." She said, "No, just a second."
Vincent stepped back and waited as she ordered. It seemed like she hadn’t realized that the visitor was him.
He frowned, staring down at his arms, becoming aware that he forgot to buy a flower.
"Shit." He cursed, looking around. He noticed a flowerbed in front of Hera’s house but stopped his hand from reaching over. It would be rude to give her something she planted.
He searched around the area and saw nothing. He then patted all the pockets he got. .
He got an energy infused revolver and three energy supplies for that. Two notebooks. One for job and the other for personal stuff. He got a lighter in case of an emergency.
And a whole bunch of sweets when he felt like he hit a wall. A wallet.
Suddenly the door opened and Hera came into his view. Vincent stopped patting his cloak and smiled at her.
His eyes widened in surprise.
Hera looked like she just came out from the shower. In a big T-shirt and some loose fitting shorts, she was black (appeared a reddish color in a certain light.) hair down and still a bit wet.
"Oh." Hera muttered, looking at him. "Vincent."
"Sorry, is this a bad time?" He asked, moving his eyes from her breast. His face flushed in embarrassment.
She must have noticed him staring at her chest.
Vincent felt like he had skilled through a hole in reality.
"Not at all. In fact, I was thinking about calling you. We said we will call but it looked like both of us were busy." Hera laughed, ignoring his gazes. She invited him inside the house.
Vincent followed and noticed that she had changed the layer in the house. While the structure was the same, she changed the pictures on the wall.
He went to the table and grabbed the picture frame and stared at it. It showed Hera and what seemed to be her daughter as they were very similar in facial structure. It appeared to be out on the beach.
"I haven’t seen this one yet." He said, pointing at the picture in his hand.
The daughter wore a bikini but Hera was modest, wearing a baggy T-shirt and long pants. She also wore a very big hat.
Hera smiled, coming toward him. "Yeah, I just put it here yesterday. We took it last month but I don’t have a frame."
"I see, so that is why you brought it to the shopping mall."
"My daughter is beautiful right?" Hera said, smiling. "She always smiled like this."
"I can see that she inherited it from you." Vincent said, taking his shot.
Hera didn’t know how to answer and she left to the kitchen.
Vincent put down the photo and went to sit in the chair, waiting.
Hera came back with two cups of tea and placed them in front of him. As she bent down, her big shirt loosened, revealing the cleavage of her breast.
It was fast, a fleeing moment but Vincent’s memory was good.
She sat beside him for some reason. The fragrance of her soap and shampoo assaulted his nose. It was delightful.
"How is the job?" She asked.
"It was good. The start is not the best. I mean it is natural. But I did everything I had to do and it was great." Vincent answered, taking in a slip of sweet tea.
"Tell me about it. I want to know." Hera asked.
Vincent nodded and began to explain everything he went through.
’Is this another report?’ He thought and shrugged off. ’Whos care? This is a thousand times better than writing.’
After he finished, he took another sip of tea.
"Woah, I can’t believe your first case is a Homicide."
"I am surprised as well. It is too rare for a rookie."
Hera nodded. "But I am more impressed that you managed to stay calm and caught the killer. A man like him deserved justice."
The last sentence of her carried a healthy amount of killing intent. That surprised Vincent very much but Hera didn’t appear to notice at all.
"Well, that is the report. Tell me about your days." Vincent asked, looking at Hera’s face.
Hera smiled in a bitter expression which told him that she didn’t have a good time like he did.
She opened her mouth and struggled to form words.
Vincent moved his body, slowly closer to her body, soon their shoulders touching each other. Hera was warm. In fact, it was more than just warm.
But he didn’t care about that right now. He grabbed her hand and clenched it tight.
She also followed the same.
A brief silence washed over them for a moment, both forgetting everything around them and drifting into the warmth.
Hera came back first and smiled, slowly letting go of his hand. Vincent didn’t react and allowed her.
"I don’t have a good time." She finally said.
"I see. Can you tell me why?" He asked, softly.
She nodded.
"I can properly use my power." She revealed the truth. She didn’t know why she felt very safe around Vincent. Safe enough to share her burden for the first time in a long time.
Vincent thought and nodded. He indeed got a plan but he needed more points in the relationship stats.
"Can you demonstrate?"
"It is better to do it downstairs." She said, "Wanna go? What about the time?"
"Sure, I still have some time and for you, Hera, I wish to help you."
They both went to the basement but it was not the true end.
She walked to the dark wall and placed her hand on it. A metallic light passed through her hand, scanning with precision.
The wall crumbled with technology and a basement about the size of the apartment was revealed. Walls were cladded with high quality stone and technology intertwined with it.
It was obvious that the room was used for training and possibly hiding at the start, because he saw a few canned foods on the corner.
"I will start." Hera said, going to the center of the room.
Vincent nodded at her.
Hera closed her eyes and inhaled a sharp breath, channeling out the emotions she was feeling. The hair on her back caught fire and started raging like a snake.
It flared up, releasing a wave of heat energy from her body.
Vincent lifted up his hand, trying to brace himself from the heat.
Hera began to float in the air, the temperature around her steadily rising up. But suddenly, it stopped. In a flash, she fell to the ground, crushing.
Vincent dashed toward her and tried to catch her but he failed. He couldn’t move fast enough.
So instead, he gave her his hand. She grabbed and he lifted her up.
"See."
"Yeah. Can you describe more about your power?" Vincent asked.
"It is fine, you don’t have to help me." Hera said, walking away from him. A dark glint appeared on her eyes.
Vincent shook his head and followed her, grabbing her arm tightly.
"Hera." He said, raising his voice. "You help me for what reason? Tell me."
He demanded. His eyes were sharp, showing the determination in it.
Hera turned away her eyes. "It is because you looked like you needed some help."
"Just because of that?" He asked. "No. It is not just that. It is because you aren’t someone who will turn away from the helpless, Hera."
He grabbed her face and forced her to face him. Her eyes felt hopeless for reasons he couldn’t tell. He didn’t know much about her past.
The first thing he did when he got showered with knowledge and information from Nathan was searched for her name.
But nothing came up. He even asked Katherine about it and the only answer he got was Don’t Ask.
So he knew that her past was beyond him. Beyond the thing he could do. And it frustrated him deeply. It frustrated him so much that he didn’t call or text her. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Why? Because he was a coward. He felt like if couldn’t learn about her past, how would he, a worthless human, was going to help her. He didn’t know.
He didn’t know why he felt so attached to her. Is it because she was the first person to show him warmth and safety? A small piece of kindness?
Yeah, maybe because of that, he felt attached to her. Like a moth to a flame.
"I want to help you, Hera." He said, his eyes softened. "Can you open up your heart for me to come in?"
She didn’t reply and continued to stare at him, at a loss for words. Indeed, it must have been strange to hear the words coming from him.
"Please." He added.
Finally, she nodded, letting out a sigh. No, it was a relief of sharing the burden on her shoulder.
And he gladly took on with him.
"I need to talk about something." She said.
"I am here."
