Under the Veil of Night

Rather than going back to the hospital, Kevin brought Kanae and Patrick back to Ryukalin Clan Residence. Even though the place used to be in tatters because of the battle before the one in Lima School, the condition had improved tremendously. There was no trace that this place used to be in horrible sight at all.

"Boss, you have returned," Neo waved his hand excitedly. "How's the trip, do you have something for me?"

Kevin took out the USB that Jon gave him. "Make a copy of them all and store them in a place that will never be found out. After that, send the USB to Matt."

"Ok, Boss. I'll do it right away."

After Neo ran away with the USB on his hand, Kanae glanced at Kevin curiously. "Why do you want to keep the information of the research in your hand?"

"It might come in handy if I need it in the future," Kevin replied.

Kanae looked at Kevin with confusion. The raw materials were gone, and there was no other way for them to retrieve it because the last person who knew had died decades ago. Did this man want to try searching for the raw material once again?

Patrick yawned. "It's quite a boring meeting with that young man. I thought that he's a complete useless and annoying man, but it turns out he's just a great villain actor."

"Actor?" Mike approached them with confusion. He took the key from Kevin's hand as he planned on taking the car back to the garage. "Jon Aida is an actor?"

"He's an actor of life," Patrick shrugged. He lowered his gaze to Mike's hand. "How's your hand? Can you fight again?"

"Well, my fist is broken. It's not completely healed, yet, so I can't throw a good punch yet."

"What about your other hand and feet?"

Mike noticed the glimmer in Patrick's eyes and knew that something bad awaited him. He silently cursed himself for his bad luck today. "They… are fine."

"Good, I'll be waiting for you on the field."

Mike groaned. He turned around to Kevin, but the latter ignored him. There was no way Kevin wanted to become Patrick's sparring partner today. It would be better to hand over the position to someone who loved training more than anyone.

"Boss, is there any instruction for me?"

"Accompany my Uncle in training."

"Fine…" Mike sighed internally. He loved training, but not when his sparring partner was that demon. If he trained with Patrick, he had to be prepared to return back with his body filled with bruises all over his body. That man would never show any mercy to him.

Kanae and Kevin made their way back to Kevin's workroom. The room was clean as Neo had ordered people to keep it clean despite not being used for weeks when these two were staying in hospital.

Kevin strode to the book rack and picked several of them before handing them to Kanae. She carefully placed them on the table, her eyes were watching Kevin curiously.

"Kevin, is there something in your mind?" Kanae asked when she felt that the man's gaze seemed rather different.

"I just think that you and Vena are the polar opposite," Kevin replied as he sat down and took out several documents.

"What? How come we're polar opposite?"

"In the way you view things. She treasures the things that she dreams to get in the future, so she works hard to achieve them and treat them as her life line. You treasure things that you already have and be satisfied with it without trying to cross the line," Kevin replied.

Kanae's eyes widened. She had never thought about this before because she rarely paid any attention to them. But on the second thought, she knew that it was true. When she had to face between something that she already has and something that she might get, she picked the one that she has. In the end, there were several changes here and there, but she didn't really mind.

"I guess, I just don't feel reassured if I don't have the certainty that it's already in my hand for some things," Kanae scratched her head.

Because she had almost lost everything in her life with nothing, she came to treasure things that she had already had much more than those that she didn't know whether she would get or not. Life was very unpredictable for her, so she wanted to enjoy what she has to the fullest.

"I don't think it's a bad thing to think like that," Kevin replied.

Kanae was about to nod her head when she thought about Jon. "Did it mean I have the same mindset with Jon?"

When she met with Jon before, he was also someone who chose to treasure the present the most rather than the future. He just accepted what he has and didn't try to take much more.

"It's similar, but there are many differences. I'm sure that you wouldn't think about drinking to enjoy the short time pleasure."

Kanae: "…" I have just reached the age for an adult not long ago plus, I'm not fond of drinking.

Kevin patted her head. "It's just an example of what he usually does. I don't mean that you should drink because I'm pretty sure that you don't like drinking."

"I never try it."

"I'll buy you wine sometime in the future to let you have a taste."

"Ah, ok."

Kevin reached out his hand to Kanae's shoulder and pulled her closer to him. He whispered to her ear. "The greatest trait that you have because you're someone who treasures the present is you'll be able to enjoy the present to the fullest."

Kanae shifted her head back from Kevin. It felt weird to have him breathe near her ear because she felt that someone was tickling her ear as they spoke. Her eyes flashed with playfulness as she asked the young man.

"What about you? What kind of person are you?"

"Me?" Kevin arched his eyebrows. "I'm both someone who enjoys the present and ambitious to earn much better in the future."

"What?"

"Do you think that it's not correct?"

Kanae spun her mind as she thought about his words. If she said that he was not ambitious, it was completely wrong because he tried to reach much more in this city. If she said that he didn't enjoy the present, it looked to her as if he always did what he wanted to do from a long time ago. Even though so, he always stayed careful with his action.

"That means you're pretty balanced."

"You can say that," Kevin nodded his head. He pointed to the papers before him. "Now, let's start the work again."

"Ok."

The two of them started their work again after the talk between the two of them. Most of the works were finished during their time in hospital, but there were still a lot of them left.

"Boss, are you inside?" Neo knocked on the door and opened the door. His eyes widened when he saw the two people sitting on the couch, sleeping.

Kanae slept with her head resting on Kevin's shoulder. On the other hand, Kevin leaned back to the sofa, allowing him to sleep comfortably. The sight of these two sleeping was very peaceful.

Neo looked at the documents on his hand. 'Well, this can wait.'

He silently closed the door to avoid waking up the two people inside.