Free Web NovelChapter 113: What Are You Hiding?
The evening breeze swept gently across the streets as Nobody and Toma walked side by side. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Their footsteps echoed softly along the quiet sidewalk.
The memories Toma had recovered at East Harbor Station still lingered in her mind. She occasionally rubbed her temples, as if hoping the missing pieces would suddenly return.
Nobody glanced at her. "You okay?"
Toma forced a smile. "I’ll be fine....I think."
Nobody nodded. After another moment of silence, he suddenly asked, "Toma."
"Hm?"
"How long have you known Aiden?"
A faint smile appeared on Toma’s face. "Almost my whole life."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Our families were very close. My dad and Uncle Nathan were business partners before they became close friends. So I practically grew up with Aiden." She chuckled softly. "We used to fight over toys. We competed in video games. And every time I lost...I blamed him for cheating."
Nobody laughed. "So you were a sore loser."
"Hey! I was a child! That’s my excuse."
Both of them laughed for a brief moment. Then the laughter faded.
Nobody’s expression gradually became serious. "Toma..."
She looked at him.
Nobody continued, "I don’t know why...But I have a feeling something terrible happened when you were little."
Toma quietly lowered her gaze. "I think so too."
"And...I don’t think you simply forgot." Nobody said, raising his eyebrows.
She looked back at him. "What do you mean?"
"I think someone wanted you to forget."
Those words made Toma stop walking. Her heartbeat quickened. "My parents...never talked about my childhood very much. They always changed the subject whenever I asked."
Nobody slowly nodded. "That’s why I think...they were protecting you."
Toma remained silent. That possibility sounded real to her. She had always assumed her childhood had been ordinary. But the memories...The men chasing her...The fear...None of it felt ordinary.
Nobody suddenly spoke again. "Call Aiden."
Toma blinked. "Now?"
"Yeah. If anyone knows something...It’s probably him."
She hesitated for several seconds. Then took out her phone. Her thumb hovered over Aiden’s contact. Finally...She pressed call.
Ring...
Ring...
Ring...
The call connected.
"Toma?" Aiden’s familiar voice came through the speaker.
"Hey, Aidi."
"Everything okay?" Aiden asked.
She took a slow breath. "Aidi...I want you to answer me honestly."
Aiden immediately sensed the seriousness in her voice. "What happened?"
Toma stopped walking completely.
Nobody quietly stepped a few feet away, giving her space.
"Aidi...did something happen to me when I was little?"
Several long seconds passed. No answer came.
"...Aidi?" Toma called him.
Aiden’s breathing could be heard through the phone. Finally, he spoke. "...Why are you asking that?" His voice sounded unusually tense.
Toma’s heart skipped a beat. "I...I’ve started remembering things."
Silence. This one lasted even longer.
Nobody noticed Toma’s hand beginning to shake.
Then Aiden spoke again. "Toma." His tone had completely changed. Don’t force yourself to remember."
Her eyes widened. "You...You know something."
"No."
"You do."
"Toma...Please...Just let it go."
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. "Aidi...Answer me. What happened? I...I remembered people chasing me..I remembered running. I remembered crying." Her voice began to tremble. "And when I asked...you didn’t deny it."
On the other end of the line, Aiden closed his eyes. He knew this day might come. He had simply hoped it never would. "Toma...You don’t understand."
"Then help me understand."
"I can’t."
"Why?"
"Because I promised."
Toma froze. "Promised? To whom?"
Aiden lowered his head. "...Your parents."
Toma felt the world around her grow strangely quiet.
"They asked me...that if you ever remembered...I should stop you from digging any deeper."
A tear slowly rolled down her cheek. "So...It really happened."
Aiden remained silent. That silence answered everything.
Toma whispered, "Aidi....please. I don’t want lies. I don’t want people protecting me anymore. I just...want to know the truth."
The line remained silent. For several seconds... Neither of them spoke.
Finally, Aiden let out a long sigh. "...Meet me tomorrow."
Toma tightened her grip on the phone. "Where? Our old neighborhood. The place where we used to play. There are things...I think it’s finally time you know."
The call ended. Toma slowly lowered the phone.
Nobody walked back beside her. "...Well?"
She looked at him. Her eyes were red. "He knows."
Nobody nodded quietly. "I figured."
"He told me...there’s something my parents never wanted me to remember," Toma said.
Nobody looked toward the darkening sky. Whatever had happened eight years ago... The answers were finally beginning to surface.
.....
The walk home felt much longer than before. Neither Nobody nor Toma spoke for several minutes. The city lights slowly flickered on as evening settled across the streets.
Cars passed by and people chatted happily. Restaurants bustled with customers. Everything looked perfectly normal. Yet to Toma, it all felt distant.
Her thoughts remained trapped in Aiden’s final words. "There are things... I think it’s finally time you knew."
She quietly repeated the sentence in her mind. "If he’s willing to tell me now...then it really happened."
Nobody glanced at her. "You okay?"
Toma gave a weak smile. "I don’t know...I wanted answers."
"But now that I’m getting close to them ....I’m scared."
Nobody nodded in understanding. "That’s normal."
She looked at him. "You think so?"
"Yeah. Sometimes the truth is heavier than the questions."
Toma lowered her eyes. "I keep wondering...What if remembering changes everything?"
Nobody placed both hands inside his pockets. "Maybe. But pretending it never happened won’t change the past either."
His words made Toma fall silent again. A gentle breeze brushed past them.
She suddenly stopped walking. "...Nobody."
"Hm?"
"If...If something really terrible happened...do you think my parents were wrong for hiding it from me?"
Nobody thought carefully before answering. "I don’t think they were trying to lie. They were probably trying to protect you. Parents do that. They don’t always make the perfect decision. But most of the time...They’re just trying to keep their children from hurting."
Toma looked up at the evening sky. "I wish I could ask them."
Nobody smiled softly. "Then maybe..finding the truth is also a way of understanding why they made that choice."
Those words eased something inside her. Only a little. But enough for her breathing to become steadier.
At that moment, the system window pops out before Nobody.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Story Progress Updated]
[Primary Objective]
Meet Aiden Tomorrow
Objective Status: Active
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Another notification followed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Current Mystery Completion]
28%
Remaining Information: Classified
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody quietly read the notifications. "So we’re getting closer." He smiled faintly. "Looks like tomorrow is going to be a big day."
Toma nodded. "I’ve waited my whole life without knowing it."
She looked ahead toward the road leading home. "...One more night. Tomorrow...I finally want to know who that frightened little me really was."
Above them, the evening sky gradually darkened.
And somewhere beyond the city lights, the answers to Toma’s forgotten past patiently waited for the day they would finally be revealed.
