Chapter 6 - First Mission
She was standing beside me, looking at me with a concerned look on her pretty face.
"She will be alright, Big Brother, don't worry." She said.
I smiled at her and gently moved a lock of her hair hanging in front of her face to behind her ear. "Yes. Not only will she be alright, everything else will be too. I promise you that."
A light, shy blush appeared on her face when I moved the lock of her hair, which made me think.
I did this usually because of the way she wore her hair; there was always some stray hair falling in front of her face, and she always reacted this way.
Before today, I never found her reaction strange before, but because I was more aware and accepting of my feelings toward them now, I couldn't help but think...
'Don't tell me... She also likes me romantically?'
As soon as this thought appeared, I shook it out of my mind and smiled wryly inwardly, 'It seems those books have influenced me a bit too much. How can things be so... good?'
"Mm." Cat nodded and revealed a small smile. "I believe you, Big Brother."
Though she said this, I could tell she wasn't so sure.
In her opinion, with our house burnt down, we were going to be homeless now because we couldn't afford to rebuild it after everything calmed down, let alone buy another house somewhere else.
If we had had home insurance, she might have had some hope, but we didn't have one. Besides, even if we had, the chances of us getting our claim were low because the insurance companies were most likely going to refuse payment by citing some hidden terms and conditions.
I was about to tell her about the money I had so she wouldn't be too worried, but just then, Felicity called us.
"Ryan, Cat, what are you doing? Come, sit and eat something."
I glanced in her direction and saw she and Vicky had spread out a sheet on the ground and were sitting on it.
"Come, let's rest for a while." I said, naturally taking Cat's hand in mine and walking over to them.
But then I became aware of how soft her hand felt in my grasp, and my heart rate increased a little.
'This won't do. I can't react to such small things and look weird to her.' I thought as we reached them.
I calmly but reluctantly released her hand and sat down beside Vicky while she sat beside Felicity.
Vicky had a lost expression on her face. She was in our situation, so I could tell she was worrying about the same things that I would have been worrying about if I didn't have enough money for a while and the system.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before saying, "Everything's going to be fine, Vicky. Don't worry too much."
A slightly surprised and relieved look appeared on her face when she saw I looked completely calm. She then took a deep breath and nodded, "I hope so."
I couldn't bear to see her be so worried.
In my past life, I think I could call it that since now it really seemed like another life; not only did Vicky save me and take me out of the burning city, but she had also looked after me for several days until I somewhat recovered from my misery.
Though the memories of that time were foggy because I wasn't in the right state of mind, I vaguely recall that she had struggled to find some work to earn some money to buy enough food to fill our bellies because she didn't have any money with her.
She had a little in her bank account, but she didn't use it for some reason.
So, with barely enough money to buy food one time a day, she couldn't afford to rent any accommodation to stay in either. Hence, during those days, we slept in her old sedan.
After I recovered a little, I had silently left their side, seeing how she was struggling to keep me fed. Afterwards, for years, I wondered where she and Felicity had gone and if they were alright. I even went back to California to see if they had returned and rebuilt their house but found it abandoned, just like mine.
So, in the end, I gave up and prayed that wherever they were, they were alright.
'Since you were so kind to me in my past life and didn't abandon me despite struggling so much, I shall take care of you in this life.' I swore in my heart.
Right as I thought this, a message flashed in the corner of my retina.
[Ding! A mission has been issued.]
[Mission:...]
I became excited to see the mission, but when I saw what it was, I became dumbfounded even as my heart started racing in excitement.