Adopted Soldier

. . .

When Alex got to the house he rented he set up his equipment in the room on the third floor . Alex’s set up was the same set up as Kyle’s . After setting up he stood in front of the window and checked on what’s happening in Rachel’s house using his binoculars .

Obviously, Alex had no way to look through the walls, but all he needed to do now was to look at the people passing by . Alex also noticed that the light on Rachel’s room was on, and saw her shadow going back and forth . She seems to be in distress .

Alex decided to send her a message just to make sure .

"Are you doing alright?"

When Alex sent this message he saw that Rachel’s shadow was jumping around the room, and she wasn’t replying as quickly as he thought . Was she really alright or was there actually something wrong?

While Alex was thinking about what was happening to Rachel, he received a message .

"I’m alright, are you really that worried?"

"Of course I am, you’re a very important person to me . " When Alex sent this message to Rachel, he saw Rachel’s shadow from her window falling down . Does she always do that when she’s in her room?

After she fell she stood up and started punching the air . It was a weird thing to do after receiving that kind of message .

"I’m alright so no need to worry . I’m a pretty sturdy girl if you haven’t noticed . " When Alex read this message for some reason he couldn’t help but smile . It was a surprising thing, Alex who usually had a stoic expression, every now and then would smile .

He found it very cute when he sees Rachel act all tough .

"Have you eaten already?"

"No, I’m just about to do that . How about you, have you eaten?"

"I had the necessary nutrition . "

"Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen you message me this much . "

"Am I disturbing you?"

When Alex sent this message, Rachel’s continuous messaging stopped . This made Alex ask himself, was he really disturbing her? Alex then saw Rachel turn off the lights in her room .

"No, you’re not disturbing me . I was just going down to eat . You really must be worried about me . "

"Like I said I’m always worried about you . "

Alex and Rachel went back and forth with their messaging . Rachel was having so much fun since she hasn’t seen Alex be this chatty, even though it’s just by messaging . She sent him a picture of what she was eating, and he messaged back that she was eating too little for a growing girl .

Rachel was having too much fun, to get angry at that comment . Instead, she changed the topic .

"What do you think about Oliver’s confession?"

Alex wasn’t expecting the conversation to head into that direction . He then remembered what Oliver said to him, and every time he tried to understand what happened, something in him wanted to burst forth . He needed to control his thoughts and just answer with the first thought he has .

"I’m happy for him . "

"I am too, but it was really shocking . I was actually more shocked by that than learning about Saya being an assassin . "

Alex didn’t really like where this conversation was going . Alex had no choice but to go back to the confession topic, or else if this topic continuous he might be forced to tell what he was doing before he became a student .

"I have a question, do you want to have a confession like that?"

. . .

Rachel who received Alex’s message telling her if she’d like to have a confession similar to Sayaka’s surprised her . Was Alex finally planning to confess to her, so that they could become an official couple? Sayaka who just finished taking a bath started tossing and turning on her bed .

’What’s happening? Why is it happening now?! Is Alex actually being influenced by the flow of events? What should I do? What should I message? Should I ask Saya what to do? Wait why should I do that, this is my relationship so I should know what to do . . . Shouldn’t I be, umm?’

Rachel was having very confusing thoughts in her head . She didn’t know what to tell Alex, but if she doesn’t respond quickly enough he might think that she doesn’t want to be confessed to .

"Yeah, I want to have a confession like that . Still, I want it to be a bit more romantic . Maybe during sunset under a tree, after a great date . "

. . .

When Alex read Rachel’s message, he noticed that she had a very specific preference . Does that mean she already has someone she likes? When Alex thought of that, he felt somehow hurt . He felt irritated, actually, he felt angry . Then he messaged, "I see . "

While Alex sent this message he suddenly remembered what Oliver said awhile back, and thought of what he was feeling right now . Was he actually jealous? Does that mean he liked Rachel, the same way Oliver likes Sayaka?

When Alex came to this conclusion, he felt something trying to burst out of him, and he tried to push it back down . His head suddenly felt like it was being hammered .

"Why do you ask?" When Alex received Rachel’s message, he couldn’t continue messaging her back, since his headache was killing him .

"I’m sorry I got to sleep now, good night Rachel . "

Rachel who received Alex’s message felt like he was just running away from the topic, which she found to be cute . Rachel who was satisfied by this conversation between them messaged back .

"Good night Alex . " Once she sent this message she started to squeal on her pillow .

. . .

While Rachel was squealing Alex clutched his head with both his hands . He finally understood what he was feeling, he actually likes Rachel . He was interested in her not as a target for protection, but as a target for affection .

This new feeling he was having, was opening up a door that he had closed for a very long time . He needed to push this feeling back down . He didn’t know why but he was afraid of opening that door . He didn’t know what was on the other side of the door, but he knew if he had opened that door something he didn’t want to know will come out .

Alex was feeling very parched as he had difficulty breathing . It was at this moment a memory resurfaced in his head, it was the memory of what the killer of his parents looks like . Alex concentrated very hard to stop the image of the killer from showing up in his mind .

He didn’t want to remember who that killer was, he didn’t want to feel those emotions he once had . He distracted himself by thinking about who placed a bounty on Rachel’s head, and why would someone place a bounty on Rachel’s head in the first place .

Alex who had successfully distracted himself had his headache slowly disappear . Yet deep down in his subconscious mind, Alex knew that he was only delaying the inevitable . As long as he interacts with Rachel and the others, the emotions he hidden deep within himself would come out .