To Forever Love Him (Original Edition)

3.14

*unedited*

A few days later, Caroline was wandering the London streets in order to see if she can get any more leads on any possible next attempts from their killer. She assumed it wouldn't be in a predictable pattern given by the plot, but something way off the charts just like the last murder. 

After all, even the murder victim was not the original from the plot.

Again, why was she given the task of finding out leads in one of the biggest and most populated cities on Earth at the time? Oh, that's right, Sun Hui and Clyde were too busy making up for lost time. Still, she felt it was unfair for her to do all the hard work. It was like finding the needle in a haystack.

Caroline sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, pushing up her glasses.

Glasses. She really hated wearing the round devils. They made her face all sweaty and easily fell off no matter how many times she adjusted the tightness.

She imagined a boy with fluffy black hair and dark eyes wearing nerdy round glasses, making him look slightly more mature and older than his baby fat portrayed. Caroline smiled, glasses really suited Sun Hui more.

Then she imagined an older boy, a young man, with black hair, but it was shorter and spiky to show his obvious maturity. He was wearing rectangular glasses behind sharp gold eyes, and his lips were pulled in a mischievous smirk. He felt familiar, and he was undoubtedly hot.

Alright, glasses officially suit dark haired beauties better than me, Caroline decided. If only she could figure out the identity of the handsome other man—

Caroline halted her steps when she heard screams coming down the street along with people scrambling in a panic. Thinking that she was too late, Caroline sprinted in the opposite direction of the fleeing people. The more distance she covered while running, the more she could see dark smoke coming out of a burning building.

Someone came running out of the building beside her, scrambling Ashe hurried away and shouted, "Run! It's about to—"

His words were drowned out by a silent ringing in her ears as something pushed her back forcefully with great pressure. Before she could land somewhere and break any bones in her body, someone grabbed her and rushed out of the chaos.

Caroline was in a daze, but she knew for a fact she'd never seen this person before in the plot. He was wearing a cloth over his mouth, and his eyes were covered by these big goggles that looked like it was taken apart from a gas mask. He looked suspicious, and she couldn't even see his face to find out his identity.

Caroline planted her feet on the ground, causing him to let go of her. But instead of just leaving her there, he grabbed her hand and continued running. She dragged her feet to stall him, "Wait, wait. There's people hurt—"

"And you'll be one of them. We need to keep running, there's gonna be more," he surprisingly sounded clear despite the cloth covering his mouth.

"How do you know that? Did you do this?" Caroline accused.

"What I know," he said, taking them in an alleyway, "is that you're more valuable. Queen's spy, right?"

"That doesn't mean—"

"You can't save everyone, and when that happens, you only need to focus on saving yourself. You hear me?" he sounded really agitated by the topic. Caroline could only shut her mouth and keep silent, keeping her head down gloomily as she allowed him to drag her away.

When they finally stopped in an abandoned building, Caroline turned to him, "Who are you? How do you know who I am?"

"I've been watching you," he casually shrugged, but didn't answer who he was. Caroline's suspicions increased at this. She had a feeling he caused those random bombings, which weren't even in the plot. She didn't even recognize him in the plot. Was he some random transmigrator like Sun Hui? A bug?

"You know, I'm kind of pissed off that you remember that kid and our little Wang Wang, but you have no idea who I am," she could hear the slight growl in his voice.

He ripped off his cloth and took off his goggles and set them on the ground, looking Caroline right in the eye.

Caroline saw anger and hurt in those strong, dark eyes. But when her sight adjusted and focused on the entirety of the man in front of her, she gasped lightly. She suddenly knew who he was in the plot. Of course she knew. She felt herself go pale.

"So...you did do this! Why would you hurt innocent people, just to kidnap me?" she asked, keeping down her fear. She couldn't be afraid, she was fearless.

But he was very unpredictable now, more so than what they had imagined. He wasn't anywhere near close to the plot's design except for his appearance.

"W-Who are you, exactly?" she whispered as he drew nearer.

"You really don't remember me, do you?" he sounded pained, their proximity so close his breath was fanning her lips. He banged his fist on the wall behind her, causing her to flinch from the sudden movement. "Do you? You remember them but not me? Why? Why did you forget me, little Min Min?"

Caroline sucked in her breath. How did he know so much about her and Sun Hui's lives?

She suddenly went speechless, her words caught in her throat as she opened her mouth. She licked her dry lips unsteadily.

The man's lips pulled into a psychotic, crazed smile as he looked at Caroline, "I'll just need to make you remember, hm?"

"Wha—" Caroline's first word she got back was stolen once again as his lips covered hers in a hungry, passionate kiss.

As his tongue slipped into her mouth, she saw an image of a teenager with black hair and in rectangle glasses behind sharp gold eyes. It looked like a younger version of the man she saw in her mind earlier.

The teenager gave the same mischievous smile, holding out a hand for her to grab onto, "Little Min Min, I'll protect you. Don't leave me, okay?"

She closed her eyes.

Jack...who are you, really?

Sorry it's short again, but I don't want to keep you guys waiting. So, I'm going to have Jin Min and Li Tai have several encounters with each other until they actually officially get together, so that way it's not rushing it but also not entirely as slow as with Sun Hui and our ML.
~Outcast