Under the Veil of Night

Nolen School C

"Eh? You're not coming to school today?" Misae held her phone as she asked in disappointment. She has been waiting to see him again after school, but it turned out that he didn't even come.

"I'm sorry. I have something that I have to do."

"It's fine. Take care of yourself," Misae ended the call and sighed. She noticed three pairs of eyes looking towards her curiously. Her eyebrows creased as she thought hard about an excuse she could give.

"Is that Mike?" Tommy asked.

Misae pouted. "Yes."

"It must be hard to have such a hardworking boyfriend," Laura commented as she laughed.

"Don't laugh!" Misae pushed Laura playfully as if she were angry. It was sometimes disappointing going out with Mike. After all, that big man was very busy.

"I'm sorry, Princess Misae," Laura acted like a servant, despite the obvious playful grin on her face.

"That's better."

Alice rolled her eyes. She has become much bolder now. Although she would be shy when meeting new people, she was no longer like that around her close friends.

"Don't listen to her. She just wants to take advantage of you," Alice warned.

Laura laughed. "I feel that you're not going to have things any easier. He's a very busy man and I believe that it's going to be even more so in the future."

Misae sighed. "I know. I just can't help it."

It was not her intention either to fall romantically for a man that she used to adore for his looks. However, staying with him gave her so much joy and comfort that she couldn't help it. Even though they barely did anything together, just staying near him already made her giddy and jubilant.

"What about going on a date with him?" Tommy asked. He didn't understand girls' problems. If she was dissatisfied, she should just confront Mike and talk to him about it. What was so difficult?

(A/N: Try to understand girls better, Tommy!)

The three girls looked at Tommy like seeing an idiot.

"Tommy, he's too busy. Asking him on a date at this time is the same as courting rejection," Alice explained.

Tommy shrugged. In any case, he couldn't bear to listen anymore. "I'll go practice."

"I'll come with you."

Misae sighed to herself. A date, huh? She wanted it very badly too as she had never gone out alone with just him. However, she was also busy as she had to prepare for the end-of-year party. The Student Council decided to skip over the Halloween party as they didn't have enough time nor the capability to realize it like what Kevin did.

'I can talk about this with him, maybe.'

…

Kale Company, Kevin's Office

Kanae came to work as usual. However, there was something different today. The usual cold president was not there. In his place was only the cold chair while the ice block was nowhere to be seen.

Ever since they were no longer part of the Student Council, she usually walked to the company. This was the reason she didn't know that Kevin didn't even go to school today.

"Neo, is President absent today?" Kanae asked while pointing to his table.

Neo nodded his head. Kevin forced him to come here after the members forced their clan head to rest. The wounds on Kevin's body were not that deep, but the location was highly visible. If people saw that his neck was hurt, only the Heavens knew what they would say.

It was already enough that the members of the Ryukalin Clan pestered their clan head to no end. There was no need to include more annoying people on the list.

"You can just work as usual. I'll be helping from the side to make sure that you can finish the work as usual."

"I got it," Kanae sat down on her usual chair as her hands moved to view the documents and screen them carefully. Since Kevin was not here, there was only a limited number of documents she could check.

Neo typed on his laptop while yawning. He wanted to stay at home and do this while accompanying Kevin rather than Kanae. Besides, they no longer had too much work lately as Kevin has been expanding the business and hiring more employees to process the paperwork.

His eyes caught the sight of Kanae working. Usually, he would only see her doing this kind of work beside Kevin with unbelievable harmony. Not any ordinary person could work at Kevin's pace.

Now that he saw her doing her work alone, he felt that there was something different. It was as if he were seeing a powerful leader and not the ordinary hardworking employee doing her work calmly and efficiently. This sight reminded him of when he first saw Kevin starting up the company to make it thrive.

SMACK!

"Neo?" Kanae was startled by the sudden sounds.

"It's nothing. I just saw a mosquito."

"Two mosquitoes bother you?" There were two faint red marks on Neo's face. Clearly, it was the result of him slapping both sides of his own face.

"You can say so," Neo answered awkwardly.

Kanae was still suspicious, yet she didn't push the matter further. Her attention was back on the paper before her as she continued her work.

Neo sighed in relief. He was just trying to bring himself back to reality. At this point, he couldn't accept seeing Kevin's shadow in Kanae. Why were they so similar? He couldn't comprehend it at all.

As they worked, time passed quickly.

RING! RING! RING!

"Ah, my phone," Kanae always forgot that she had a phone now. She quickly accepted the call and heard her sister's complaining tone.

"Sis, did you enter the kitchen again?"

"What? No, I didn't go to the kitchen."

"Then why is there a misplaced spoon?"

"Come on, you know that I won't dare to not listen to you," Kanae sighed.

"Anyway, will you come home early today?"

"Not sure. If I don't call you, it means that I won't."

"Okay."

Neo looked towards Kanae curiously. "Are you truly that bad of a cook?"

Kanae's face darkened. "Don't gossip. If you don't work, I'll report to Kevin that I did most of the work while you lazed around."

"…" She's as ruthless as Boss.

As he sighed, Neo turned his attention back to the screen. Why did he end up being friends with people like them?

Kanae suddenly felt her special phone vibrate. She frowned slightly, but she still answered it. From the phone, a hushed and trembling voice could be heard.

"Rei, where are you? Tom is wounded badly."