How Lilies turn Black Chapter 114 - The Color of Love

“…It was reckless. And what if someone recognized you—”

 

“Even the dog next door didn’t recognize me. Only you did.”

 

“…”

 

“Only you.”

 

Wayne’s eyes, dyed in the twilight. Within them, a silent passion was burning.

 

Liliana couldn’t bear to meet those eyes any longer and lowered her gaze. She had wavered dozens, hundreds of times in front of Theodoro before this day had come. 

 

Did she even deserve to receive this pure, almost devotional love directed solely at her?

 

The knuckles of her hand gripping the on-the-rocks glass turned white.

 

Suddenly, a warm touch enveloped her fingers. Liliana’s head snapped up. Wayne was holding the glass over hers, looking at her.

 

“…!”

 

Before she could voice her worried protest, the cold glass slipped from her hand. Wayne took it from her grasp as naturally as if the drink had been his goal all along.

 

“I’ll gratefully drink this.”

 

“Ah…”

 

Of course, that hadn’t been his real intention. 

 

In his slightly crinkled smiling eyes, lingering regret was still visible.

 

But both he and she knew that nothing more was allowed. Wayne made an effort to compose his expression and took a sip of the Old Fashioned she had brought.

 

Only after a few more sips did he part his reluctant lips and bring up the somber reason he had come all the way here.

 

“I slipped a piece of paper under the chair. I left my contact information… Call me anytime. I’ll be waiting.”

 

“…So the dance lessons are really over now.”

 

“Yes. Until I find another way… it will be difficult to see each other like this for a while. I’m still thinking of ways.”

 

The air surrounding the two of them grew heavy and sank. 

 

Wayne deliberately tried to lighten the mood and suggested in a deliberately bright voice,

 

“Shall we dance to one last song?”

 

“What? Right now… here?”

 

As Liliana looked around in confusion, Wayne extended his hand toward her.

 

“Hearing the old songs brought back memories of dancing here with my wife… Miss, this is shameless, but may I ask you for a favor?”

 

He leaned in slightly and added in a low voice,

 

“Not tango, though.”

 

“Haha…”

 

A hollow laugh escaped Liliana’s lips.

 

Yes, it was the last time. Now she couldn’t even promise the next dance, let alone the next meeting.

 

“Let’s say today is the final lesson.”

 

Liliana took the hand he offered and smiled faintly.

 

As Dick Haymes’s You’ll Never Know flowed out, the two of them slowly surrendered their bodies to the melody.

 

There was no stage prepared for them. They simply moved between the empty tables, bodies close, stepping in time with the rhythm—but did that even matter?

 

Wayne’s embrace, which she hadn’t felt in so long, felt incredibly familiar and warm. It seemed to envelop and gently hold all her confusion and wandering.

 

“Has everything been okay lately?”

 

“How could it be? A lot has happened.”

 

“I’d like to hear the news I’ve missed. We can’t talk for long, but at least until the song ends.”

 

“Hmm… A few days ago, I met Alan Goldberg. He expressed that he wanted to meet me.”

 

Wayne, who had been quietly continuing the conversation, suddenly stopped moving in shock. He quickly resumed walking as if conscious of his surroundings, but his pupils remained the same.

 

“Wait, is it the Alan Goldberg I know? The syndicate’s…”

 

“Yes, that’s the one.”

 

“What in the world… Alan Goldberg? How…”

 

His voice and breath trembled unsteadily as he stammered. 

 

The grip on their joined hands grew stronger, and he revealed an unmistakable longing in his eyes.

 

“Did the conversation go well? What did he say? Did he say he wants to lend us his strength moving forward?”

 

His reaction was more intense than expected, leaving Liliana momentarily dazed as she answered hesitantly.

 

“Um… It wasn’t exactly like that. He was friendly, but it seems we’ll have to wait and see for now…”

 

“I see. Still… still, that’s really good news. If he showed a favorable attitude, there’s plenty of possibility…”

 

Wayne’s excited voice continued, but not a single word properly entered her ears. Only the word “good” that had lodged in her mind echoed in her head like tinnitus.

 

Liliana moved her lips and barely squeezed out her voice.

 

“…You think it’s good?”

 

“Of course. It’s all thanks to how well you’ve done so far. If things continue to flow like this, catching two rabbits at once won’t be impossible.”

 

“…Two rabbits?”

 

“First, we’ll gain a great force to deal with Luciano and Gasparo… And if we get close to Alan, we might even uncover clues to judge the syndicate in the name of the law.”

 

“Ah…”

 

He wasn’t wrong. She, too, had been hoping that opposing Luciano’s side would become easier, and while she hadn’t thought about indicting the syndicate, it was certainly a plausible idea.

 

It was natural for Wayne to be happy. 

 

As far as Liliana knew, no FBI undercover agent had ever built enough influence within the organization to meet Alan directly—not even by 1970.

 

Getting this close to the heart of the syndicate had been extremely difficult, so how could this situation not be welcome?

 

‘But… but why?’

 

Why did her heart feel so uncomfortable?

 

She hadn’t brought it up, hoping for Wayne’s concern. She hadn’t been trying to compare him with Theodoro either. 

 

Yet Wayne’s praise, which stood in such stark contrast to Theodoro’s, who had worried about her safety, felt unbearably awkward. 

 

Why?

 

‘I should be happy…’

 

This was exactly the Wayne she had loved. The man who pursued justice without yielding to a world full of violence and evil. 

 

The man who looked toward the light as if blinded by it and advanced only toward that light.

 

She had respected, loved, and admired that side of him. Because she thought neither she nor anyone else could ever do the same.

 

Yes. She had wanted to spend her entire life with that shining man. 

 

Someday, she wanted to hold his old, wrinkled hand, just like their hands were now, and watch the setting twilight together.

 

But now, this man’s unchanging conviction toward good and justice felt different. It was still bright and brilliant, but it was not warm at all.

 

The embrace Wayne had wrapped her in when the music first began, the one that had felt like a place of rest she could return to after all her wandering, no longer felt cozy or tender in the slightest.

 

Liliana couldn’t decide whether she had changed too much or whether she was only now seeing something she had never noticed before.

 

“…Miss.”

 

“…”

 

“Miss?”

 

“…Ah!”

 

The voice that sounded like a hallucination suddenly rang clearly in her ears, and focus returned to Liliana’s eyes. When she came to her senses, the song had already ended.

 

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment…”

 

“It’s alright. Thank you so much. For a little while, it really felt like I was with my wife again. I think… I’ll be able to spend many happy days with this memory.”

 

She knew he was making up an excuse because he was conscious of their surroundings. But perhaps because her heart was so unsettled, even those words made her eyes sting with heat.

 

He said he would spend happy days with this memory. 

 

Yet she felt she wouldn’t be able to. The image of him leaping with joy at the news she had delivered lingered like sediment, threatening to torment her future days.

 

Above all, the words “it felt like I was with my wife for a moment, but now I have to return to reality without her.”

 

…to Liliana, they sounded exactly like a hint that, starting from this moment, “Liliana Boyd” would completely disappear.

 

“I’m the one who’s… happier.”

 

She didn’t know how Wayne heard her choked, tearful voice. He might have thought she simply couldn’t hold back her sadness that their short dance had ended.

 

He smiled neatly and slowly stepped back. Then he took something out of his jacket’s inner pocket and handed it to her.

 

It was a brooch shaped like a white lily.

 

“Why this…”

 

“It was a gift my wife prepared right before she passed away, but I couldn’t give it to her. I’ve been carrying it with me all this time. I’d like to give it to the young lady who created unforgettable travel memories for us.”

 

“Ah, no. How could I accept this…”

 

Wayne placed the brooch in her slender hand and whispered into her ear.

 

“Happy birthday in advance. It’s a prepared gift, so please accept it.”

 

“Ah…”

 

“We probably won’t see each other for a while… but I hope you’ll think of me whenever you look at this brooch, Liliana.”

 

Liliana silently looked down at the gift resting in her palm. It was a small, pure white lily.

 

In the past, Wayne had often told her that she reminded him of a single lily.

 

Feeling his heart that still saw her as a pure white figure made her chest ache with both tenderness and bitterness.

 

 

The white lily she had seen in the final scene of her life, rolling on the floor, soaked in blood. Perhaps from that moment on, she could no longer regain her original color.

 

Now stained red and even bearing an indelible black stain, she was slowly rotting away.

 

The pure white brooch in her hand looked as though it wished for her to remain purely white and noble, and it made her throat tighten.