Kill the Lights by Jangryang
Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang
‘Mr. Raycarlton did stop by your house for a short time. It seemed like he brought something out…’
Mason remembered what Phil had said to him and thought about it for a long time as he stood in front of the door to Noah’s room.
Should I go in or should I not? Should I knock, or should I turn back?
It seemed like he’d guessed right; it was Noah who took his stuff. Mason wasn’t sure if Noah took anything else, but it was apparent that he got the two things that didn’t belong to Haley, the picture and the bag.
“How far does he know…..”
Originally Mason thought that it wouldn’t be strange for Noah to know everything. But in reality he felt quite in panic when faced with the prospect that Noah knew everything.
“No, it’s too early to judge.”
Those things, he’d poured them in front of Noah once in New York. So there was nothing wrong in picking them. If there were no problem with your attention, it would not be difficult to pick out his stuff in that fancy house.
Well, then the question is, why did he take it-
“…..”
Mason bit his lips. From there on his thoughts were blocked as if even a needle couldn’t go through. As if someone was pulling from behind and he couldn’t go any further.
Every time Mason met Noah with Haley’s body, a question of ‘why?’ kept adding on. Mason never did know. ‘Why is Noah standing in front of my New York house?’ ‘Why is he attacking me?’ ‘Why is he asking if I’m alive?’.... He’d thought maybe Noah had something for him to do. Still, the questions he couldn’t explain kept increasing, and he couldn’t think of anything else.
Mason was used to working without knowing the reason. Either in a war, or in a mission, it was rare for higher ups to tell him the reason. Mason also knew himself that knowing in detail would give him a headache, so he never asked for a reason.
“…..”
So Mason wondered, standing in front of Noah’s room. If he knocked on the door to look for his stuff right now, could he face the countless questions that he had been avoiding?
‘Do I really need to take those stuff back?’ Mason thought sullenly. ‘I can just make a new passport even though it’ll be difficult; actually it will be nearly impossible to use a fake passport with my new face. My fortune is too bad, but at least I can earn again, and my wife and daughter’s picture is….’
Mason bitterly thought about what happened. It had been 10 years since they both died. It was only a month before going to Afghanistan that he had a hard time and felt sad because of their deaths. His body was tired like crazy and many people had died. After seeing families murdered every day, more cruelly than his wife and daughter, he couldn’t think of anything else to do but to simply survive.
Keeping the picture was Mason’s apology. Sorry for forgetting, pretending to be oblivious because he was busy surviving. He was afraid of forgetting them, so he stared at the picture every day to remember.
And it had been 10 years. Also he had been dead once. No one was calling him Mason anymore. Wasn’t it better to cut the ties like this?
“….No, that’s not right.”
Mason sighed one more time. He didn’t feel right about abandoning it like this. If he himself had thrown the picture away it’d be okay, but this felt like being taken away by force.
On the other hand, there was no reason for the picture to not be taken away by force…
Mason was tired of muttering to himself in front of Noah’s door like a crazy person.
“…..”
“Ah, I don’t know. No way that I’m gonna get killed. If Noah really does try to kill me, then it’ll be easier to grasp the situation and move accordingly. But then, can I? Don’t know. I really don’t know.” Mason reined in his complicated thoughts and knocked on the door.
-Knock Knock.
“-….”
Mason waited for a sound from the inside after knocking on the door. Is he sleeping? Already? The time was indeed late. It was past 11 when they ate dinner, so it wouldn’t be weird if he were sleeping already….
-Knock Knock
Mason knocked on the door again. Is he not in his room? Mason waited a little bit more and knocked on the door again. -Knock Knock. This time he put his ear on the door. …..There was a small rustling sound.
“…..”
Mason wondered a little bit and carefully turned the doorknob. The room was dark, and somebody was lying down on the bed. There were strands of brightly lit hair on the blanket. It looked like Noah’s.
“…..”
Was he sleeping? Mason looked around. No one noticed him. CCTV was running, but it was not like he was going to kill him, so it didn’t matter.
Mason carefully entered Noah’s room. Mason depended on the moonlight coming through the big window and looked around the room. If he didn’t really explain to Phil, he probably tossed it somewhere in his room. The picture and some money, those were probably not that important to Noah….
Mason glanced at Noah, who was sleeping curled up with blanket all the way up to his head. Mason carefully passed by his side.
“….”
He saw a black bag on the right side of the bed, next to the table and underneath the chair. Mason recognized his bag at once. He moved a little faster and got hold of the bag. He glanced at the pile of blankets that he suspected was Noah.
It seemed like Noah was deep asleep, and Mason carefully checked inside his bag. When he opened the zipper slightly, he noticed that the picture, passport, and the bundle of money inside were quite untouched.
Just like Phil said, it seemed like Noah would just have returned it to him…. Mason clicked his tongue, shouldered his bag and turned around. Anyhow Noah took something that was not his, so even if he noticed the bag’s disappearance it’s not like he could complain or anything.
Compared to wondering in front of the door for a long time whether to bump his head or to run away, the situation got resolved quite easily. Mason thought he could now carefully get out of the room and close it and then pretend to not know anything about this.
“….-hugh,”
If only he hadn’t heard that small sound.
Mason was passing by Noah’s bed when he heard a sound from the pile of blankets and turned his head. Mason hadn’t noticed it before, but once he did, he kept hearing the small sound.
Mason thought that may be Noah was awake and turned around with a frozen face.
“-…., ….,”
But he wasn’t awake. When he turned around, there weren’t any cold eyes staring at him. Instead, something strange was…
“….Perhaps…..”
Mason mumbled and carefully approached Noah. When he lifted up the canopy, he could see Noah’s hair spilling out from under the blankets. Mason touched his hair.
Just as he thought, the blond hair underneath the blanket was drenched wet with sweat.
“……”
He could hear the small sound clearer. It was a painful breathing sound mixed with sobbing. The body underneath the blanket was trembling.
Mason sighed quietly. ‘Should I just leave, pretending not to have seen it?’ When Noah acted like this, it wasn’t something Mason could do anything about anyway. It wasn’t something he should care about, and also he was in the owner’s room in secret without permission.
“……”
But even as he thought that he should just ignore it, his hands were already carefully pulling down the blanket.
Noah’s beautiful face appeared, huddled between his arms. The face was drenched wet with sweat and extremely pale. Tears were streaking from his eyes, and his pretty lips were closed but panting heavily.
‘Save me, rescue me, help me please’, Noah was begging while crying. He was murmuring endlessly to save and rescue him and begged in fear.
It was no different from ten years ago. No, because he has grown so confident, generous and beautiful, Noah seemed smaller than from 10 years ago.
‘Do I have an illness. Why can’t I just leave?’ Mason clicked his tongue lowly and stretched out his hand.
Noah’s wet and soft hair wrapped around his fingers. When he removed his hair from his warm forehead, a side of Noah’s face appeared, both pitiful and beautiful.
… He is indeed pretty….
Mason sat on the bed and touched Noah’s hair. Rather than comforting, what if he was simply fulfilling his desires? Mason thought it was somewhere in between and kept fiddling with Noah’s soft hair.
“Has a lot of money, is smart and pretty…. I wish he could live well too.”
‘How can he live without knowing that the world is a scary and a vicious place? I hope he eats and lives well enough to make everyone jealous,' Mason mumbled while touching his hair.
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