How Lilies turn Black – Chapter 14 – Coincidence or Fate (1)

Author: Nikss

The cab sped down a busy street, then turned into a somewhat quieter neighborhood. Their destination was the thrift store Paul had suggested.

The crowds that once lined the streets had thinned out.

As the noise of traffic subsided, the peaceful song on the radio became clearer.

Percy Faith’s Theme from A Summer Place reminded Lilia of Wayne.

‘This is what it was like where we lived, Wayne.’

The pastel-colored signs outside the car window gave her a warm feeling, and the memory of the neighborhood where she and Wayne had made their home was just like this, relaxing and cozy.

A simple cottage with a green lawn in the yard. The house was painted light yellow, and it was adorable.

On Saturday mornings, I’d pull my light blue colored Subaru Impreza out of the driveway and wash the car.

“Oh, it’s cold!”

Wayne playfully splashed the car with water, covered in foam, and she ran away, furious.

The clear droplets poured over her head like a fountain. She ran across the lawn, yelping about how funny it was, slipping and falling on her butt and laughing.

The sound of their laughter echoed in her ears, and Lilia felt a twinge of nostalgia.

‘I’d fall like that, and you’d freak out and run over and pick me up…’

With such reminiscences, it’s no wonder Lilia initially dismissed the fleeting sight outside the cab as an illusion.

But after a few seconds, her eyes widened, and she pressed herself against the window.

“Huh?!”

A man burst out of the alleyway, sprinting down the sidewalk.

Unable to believe her first glance at his face, Lilia wondered if what she was seeing was a figment of her imagination or reality.

The man, still running at a brisk pace, whizzed past the cab.

His jet-black hair caught the sunlight for a moment and sparkled dazzlingly. As Lilia squinted at the brightness, a new realization dawned in her narrowed eyes.

“…!”

It didn’t take long for her to realize it was real, her eyes tearing up.

Her eyes followed the man in a panic, but his wide strides had already taken him away.

“Stop here!”

Without hesitation, I shouted. My mind, dominated by my involuntary thoughts, was giving me orders first. I must follow him now.

Bam!

The car screeched to a halt. Lilia jumped out of the cab, slipping a few bills into the driver’s hand.

He was already off into the distance, turning into an alleyway to the right.

A golden glow scattered across the street, and Lilia ran blindly after it, following only the light.

‘Wayne…!’

He ran into a narrow alleyway.

By the time she reached it, dozens of seconds had already passed. Breathing heavily, she looked around.

“Hmph…whew…!”

But there was only her, crumpled in a heap on the path behind her, and no one else.

As if Wayne had been an illusion of hers, or some shadow had swallowed him up.

‘No, it can’t be.’

It wasn’t a dream, she could reach him.

It was Wayne Boyd, the twenty-eight-year-old she remembered, and if she’d been any faster, she could have seen his longing face with her own two eyes.

With a mixture of impatience and frustration, Lilia balled her small fists.

‘He wouldn’t have gotten far.’

He must be somewhere along this path.

Belief became conviction, and conviction fed an irrational impulse that shuts out all other rational judgments.

If he was out there, she had to find him, it was an instinctive urge.

Without pausing to think, Lilia sprinted into the alleyway.

The problem was, she wasn’t the only one heading into the darkness.

“Didn’t they go this way?”

An unfamiliar voice called from the entrance of the alleyway she had just traveled through. Lilia stopped in her tracks and whirled around.

‘Wait…!’

Several footsteps began pounding on the cobblestone floor, as if to say, ‘Wait!’

“Oh, crap, some stupid bastard crawled in here.”

“That’s why you should’ve taken care of that suspicious-looking guy hanging around the front of the store a long time ago.”

Wayne was running like hell, probably because they were chasing him.

‘What should I do?’

Though she didn’t know who these people were, she wondered if they’d shun her if she stood out too much.

Should I hide for now, or should I try to walk out onto the main street as if nothing had happened?

What about Wayne? Would he be safe if I left him alone?

Lilia’s mind was racing when someone pulled her to her feet.

“…Oops!”

Her waist was grabbed unexpectedly. A force that could be called brutal.

Lilia’s shadow disappeared into a tight corner in the blink of an eye, and in that dim blind spot, she stared up, her mouth agape.

Not expecting someone to grab me from behind, I jumped, my heart pounding.

Hopefull,y I was fine, but maybe I had some kind of traumatic shock.

A huge wave of terror washed over her as she relived the moment she was kidnapped by Antonio’s men.

“Hmph…!”

Unable to control her trembling body, Lilia looked back at the one who had frightened her, but as soon as her eyes locked on the object of her fears, she froze.

The terror that had coursed through her body was instantly dispelled, and a shiver ran through her in its place.

Ah!

It was the youthful face of the man she loved so much.

A yearning smile that reminded her of the first time she’d fallen in love.

‘…Wayne?’

Wayne Boyd. The man who had been her first and last love, and the man who would be her last in this life.

A figure that was neither a dream nor an illusion filled her vision.

His hair was no longer the black he’d dyed when he’d gone undercover, but his natural, dazzling blond, and it made her feel strangely nostalgic.

And I remembered.

When I first got to know him, I thought he was as radiant as that beautiful hair. One couldn’t help but admire the holy light that radiated from him.

His eyes, curved into a graceful shape, wheat-colored with no shade. Lilia gazed into them and remembered one of the tens of thousands of reasons she’d fallen in love with Wayne.

The conviction in those eyes. And the ideals those eyes held.

Whenever she saw those things reflected in those eyes, Lilia felt her heart swell.

The world Wayne painted was glorious. I often wanted to give my body, my whole life, to be a part of it.

The emotions I felt at the time had dissolved and diluted with time, but my heart was beating like a child’s at first love.

Lilia turned to face him and watched in fascination as he pressed his index finger to his lips.

Meanwhile, the arm around her waist tightened, and their bodies were touching without a gap.

Tap, tap—

The sound of approaching footsteps grew closer.

A rapid heartbeat, Wayne’s or Lilia’s, thudded against their bodies.

If it was hers, it wasn’t because of the raggedy figures getting closer and closer.

She couldn’t control the frantic pounding of her heart as she welcomed the familiar embrace and warm scent of a body she hadn’t felt in so long.

Why he was in this area, who he was being pursued by, and for what reason?

As she lay on top of him, feeling his breath on her forehead, all she could think about was that he was going to kiss her at any moment.

As if mesmerized, her right arm began to hover in the air.

It was a sudden, unconscious reaction. A sudden reaction she hadn’t even realized she was having.

Her smooth palm brushed the downy hairs on Wayne’s cheek.

“I don’t think he’s here.”

Lilia dropped her arm, startled by the voice so close to her.

It was then that time, which had seemed to have stopped, began to flow again, and the enormity of the distance between her and Wayne became all too real.

‘Oh, what am I going to do…’

Lilia jerked her head down, the heat burning her earlobes. Her heart was beating like a madman, even for the moment.

As she barely regained her composure, Wayne’s pursuer muttered something profane and ran down the alleyway.

Soon they were alone in the empty side street, and Wayne pulled himself away.

“I’m sorry, my apologies. The situation is urgent.”

The words were so familiar, so dismissive, so patronizing.

The heat and excitement that had been building up in my head began to subside.

“I’m being chased, and I thought if you stood there, they’d find me hiding.”

“…”

“Are you all right?”

The words were calm, but they didn’t quite reach her ears. Lilia pursed her lips and lifted a shaky head.

Her eyes widened as Wayne’s form came into focus in her glazed pupils.