A Freesia on My Doorstep - TO BE PUBLISHED UNDER PAPERINK IMPRINTS

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

Cornflower: Remembrance, Devotion, and Love

DALFON RECOVERED AFTER long hours of unconsciousness. When he opened his eyes, he was met with the dim lights of the Afterlife Realm.

"How do you feel?" Egan asked as he assisted him to sit up.

"Like my brain is floating," he answered, massaging his temples.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I had no idea that the Lord Death Demon would drop all those bombs at you in one go. I tried to stop them but, obviously, I wasn't able to do so."

"Y-Your name . . ."

The ghost nodded repeatedly as if giving up on keeping his identity a mystery for Dalfon to solve. "Yes, yes, not a mystery anymore. My name is Egan Conley; spirit age of 33; body age of 23."

A scene flashed before Dalfon's eyes as he recalled where he had once heard the ghost's name.

Claire Clover smiled fondly as she ran her fingers through her blonde-colored hair. "I fell in love with a classmate in college."

Haco asked, "What's the guy's name?"

"Egan," she answered. "Egan Conley."

Dalfon shook his head to get his mind off of it. Then, he asked him, "Have we met before? I . . . I think we have."

"Yes, we have," he answered truthfully. "You were 16; I was 18. That's when we first met."

"Those ages . . ."

"Come on now, don't push yourself." Egan stopped him and Dalfon finally turned his head toward him. "You said it! Your brain feels like it's floating."

"But . . . I want the truth. And I have no time left."

Egan brushed his hair and smiled, saying, "You still have time."

"But you won't be here to answer my questions."

"I will be here to answer any question you ask."

"You said that person was the Death Demon? She said that you exchanged your existence for my life's extension!"

"That's not— Hold on. She!?"

A confused look filled Dalfon's hazel orbs. "Yes. She. Why?"

"I never knew her gender," Egan answered as a matter-of-fact.

Dalfon raised an eyebrow and pointed out, "His Majesty knows her gender. Aside from him, no one else. Until I came here and found her without that hood over her head."

"Is she beautiful?"

"Are you diverting the topic?"

"Shamelessly, yes."

Dalfon was taken aback by the sudden shamelessness, but it was enough to make him erupt into laughter.

Then, Egan opened up, "Now, how do we bring you back to the Living Realm? We can discuss other things some other time, but this is the most important at this point."

"I don't even know how I got here. How are we going to reverse the process?"

"Well, what did you do to get here?"

Dalfon fell into deep thought as he recalled the events from his office.

The Ghost King smirked as with assurance he said, "Don't fret too much. I will return your ghost here once we're done discussing things."