Under The Veil of Night

Kanae glanced at the clock as she wondered how long would it take for Sakura to mention her name. She believed it wouldn’t be long. As she thought about it, she drifted back to sleep.

Laura quickly reached the classroom. She spotted Misae sitting on the chair with the others around her.

"Laura, you’re almost late," Misae waved her hand excitedly.

"Not really," Laura forced a smile out.

"What is it? You seem to be troubled."

"My sister is sick, so I’m a bit worried about her," Laura changed the story about Kanae as she didn’t want to tell them what had happened the night before. There was no way she could tell them that she negotiated business in the middle of the night until dawn. In the meantime, she also diverted the conversation to ask Misae about staying in her place.

"Why do you want to stay at my place? Don’t you want to take care of your sister?" Misae was stunned.

"My sister worries about me getting infected, so I can only find another place to stay," Laura smiled wryly. Inside her heart, she was lamenting how she truly became a bad girl right now. She has just lied nonchalantly to her friends.

"I don’t mind at all," Misae smiled.

"Thank you!"

On the side, Tommy was listening to the conversation with mouth agape. The Laura that he saw right now was 180 degrees different from the one he saw before. If the impression he got about Laura was how fragile she was, this time, he saw her as someone extremely cunning.

He didn’t know why Laura wanted to stay in Misae’s house, but he guessed that it must be related to Kanae. Internally, he shook his head as he tried not to think too much and put his head on the table. This was the time for him to sleep.

However, unbeknownst to them, there are people who heard their conversation.

...

Laura’s Apartment

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Yes? Who is it?" Kanae woke up and slowly walked to the door. When she opened it, she was stunned to see Kevin and the others stood in front of her. Why did he come here?

Kevin looked towards Kanae up and down. "You seem fine."

"Well, I’m not that badly hurt," Kanae shrugged. "Why do you think I’m sick?"

Kevin’s eyebrows shot up. "I hear from Laura that you’re sick, and you ask her to stay in the other place because you don’t want her to get infected."

Kanae stopped in her tracks. She silently thought about her instruction to Laura. It was indeed true that their matter was not something they could utter out in the public, but was there any need to lie so blatantly? She sighed silently as she moved to the living room.

"I just don’t want to have her worry about me all day. It’s better if she spends time outside and didn’t see me."

The three of them watched as Kanae sat down on the couch carefully. From that simple motion, they could guess that Kanae must be wounded and not sick. It seemed that something must have happened at the party last night.

Party...

At this point, Kevin could guess what had happened. Kanae must have gotten wounded from the incident last night. He had seen the news and the destruction of the building, so he knew that it would be hard for everyone to evacuate safely.

His hand clenched into a fist. As it was a party intended for members of the four big families, he couldn’t attend. There was also some meeting last night, making him quite busy. If only he knew that Kanae would get wounded, he would ditch his work and attended the party.

But it was ’only if.’

"You should rest."

"I’m resting right before you come."

Neo’s mouth twitched a bit. Did she say that because she thought that they were disturbing her rest? It was not like he wanted to come here too. If not because of Kevin, he wouldn’t even be here.

Kevin didn’t seem to mind Kanae’s way of speaking. He stepped forward and put his hand on Kanae’s forehead. "You don’t seem to have a fever."

It took Kanae a few seconds to process what had happened. Her cheek slightly blushed in embarrassment and anger. Why did he have to get so close to her? For some reason, she felt more nervous around him when he showed care to her rather than at work.

This made her felt rather weird. She never felt this way when Shiro was checking on her wounds. Was it because she only saw him as doctor while Kevin as....

At this point, she quickly stopped her train of thoughts. "I’m already fine. There’s no need for you to be here."

"I’m checking my employee," Kevin answered nonchalantly.

"Like I say, I’m already good enough!"

"You still have to rest."

"I’ll rest when you three leave."

Seeing the stubborn Kanae, Kevin didn’t try to press the matter to the girl further. "I bring you some food. Do you want them?"

Kanae’s food growled in protest. As Laura was busy the entire night, the girl could only cook a bit. Kanae spent her time sleeping, so she hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Her face flushed in embarrassment. Internally, she complained to her stomach. Couldn’t it pick a better time to speak?

Kevin chuckled lightly. "Do you want me to accompany you eating?"

"There’s no need," Kanae shook her head. "Thank you."

Kevin nodded with a warm smile on his face. He glanced towards the others. "Let’s leave."

Mike and Neo nodded silently. Inside their heart, they wondered about what Kevin actually wanted to do. He came here and left after a few minutes talking with the girl. Did he just want to deliver the food?

When they already walked quite far, Kevin spoke out, "Search what happened in the party last night."

Neo was startled. "Yes, Boss."

As they walked away, Kevin’s eyes glinted with ruthlessness. It was faint, but he could sense the smell of blood from Kanae when he went to check her before. Although the girl tried to hide it, he knew, it was definitely very painful. For Kanae to skip school, there was no way it would be so simple.

Inside the room, Kanae inched to the package of food that Kevin brought to her. Her lips curled up slightly as she opened it. Seeing the rice, roasted chicken, some vegetables, and banana inside, her stomach growled harder.

Without waiting any longer, Kanae started eating. At the very least, she had to fill her belly before they came and asked numerous questions to her.