Chapter 239: Might Cross The Line
"Don’t you want to?"
Atlas always made invitations like joining his family sound as casual as offering her candy. But Lola was starting to get used to it.
"Atlas, this is our first date," she deadpanned. "I don’t think it’s proper to ask for my hand so soon."
"It’s not our first date," he corrected.
Lola paused, brows furrowing as she stopped and watched him walk ahead. "Not the first? When did we..." Her words trailed as she remembered that dinner arranged by the twins. "Hey! That doesn’t count! I didn’t even know it was a date!"
As she shouted after him, the corners of his mouth hooked up briefly, vanishing when she caught up.
"That doesn’t count, okay?" she scoffed. "We need to start with a clean slate."
"Okay."
She blinked at how easily he agreed. "Tonight’s our official first date."
"Mhm."
"Tch." She clicked her tongue but let it go. Once their voices faded into the background, Lola perked up. "So in conclusion, we’re surrounded by good people... and the bad. You have one friend; I have a bunch. But you have a loving family, and I don’t."
"I don’t think your group of friends is enough to call a bunch."
"Shut up, but anyway, wow!" She grinned in mock awe. "That sounds so balanced."
"Mhm."
Lola turned to him with a smile. "Your siblings must’ve been very grateful to have a brother like you."
"No."
"Huh?"
"They are... they shouldn’t," he clarified, leaving her confused.
"Why not?"
Atlas didn’t answer right away, and she wondered what was going through his mind. "I was foolish. And my foolishness cost us our family," he said quietly, his tone serious. "That is something I’ll repent my whole life... because I don’t deserve forgiveness."
"..."
The words she hadn’t expected from him stopped her cold. For a moment, all she could do was stare at his profile, confusion etched across her face.
"What does that even mean...?" she mumbled, watching him glance at her.
"Literally," he drawled. "I’m far from the perfect brother others make me out to be, Lola Young."
Lola’s steps slowed until she stopped again, while he continued. She stared at his back, brows drawn tight.
"He doesn’t deserve forgiveness?" She whispered under her breath. "Why? What did he do?"
Before she could sort her thoughts, small droplets landed on her forehead.
"Huh?" Lola touched it, then opened her palm to catch them.
The drizzle grew. She looked up. "It’s raining," she said, then turned to Atlas.
"Should we run back?"
"We’re near the town," he replied, taking her hand. "Let’s go."
Before she could react, he was already running, and instinctively, she matched his pace. As they sprinted through the rain, her eyes flicked to their joined hands. She couldn’t focus on the warmth or grip because the storm demanded her full attention.
By the time the rain came down in sheets, they had reached the town and ducked under the overhang of a house by the road.
"Goodness." She ruffled her damp hair, then caught him brushing his arms with the back of his hand. "Pfft—"
He paused and arched a brow. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because I’m not sure if we’re lucky or cursed," she teased. "The sky was clear earlier—I even saw the moon."
She peeked out to check the sky. "Now I can’t. Good thing there’s a lamp over there."
Atlas shifted his gaze toward the dim streetlamp a few meters away, its glow catching the streams of rain.
"Is this the main town? It’s kinda quiet," she commented, glancing at the humble home behind them. She winced and added softly, "People are probably sleeping."
"No one lives there."
"Huh?" She shot him a look. "How do you know that?"
"This area is under redevelopment. Most people moved to the next town or were offered housing elsewhere," he explained, jerking his chin at the other houses. "The ones with lights on are the few who haven’t sold."
"Oh..." Her mouth formed a little ’o’ as she scanned the street.
Unlike the area they’d come from, this was clearly a neighborhood. Small houses lined either side of the road, most dark, just as he said.
"They should move, though," she muttered. "Redevelopment areas aren’t safe. Wait—if this is redevelopment, why are we here? Doesn’t that make the main town a ghost town?"
"The redevelopment won’t reach the main town. Just this district, and everything from here to there."
Lola followed his gesture and rocked her head in understanding. As someone running a construction company, she could already picture it.
"Wait—how do you even know this?" she asked. "Don’t tell me you bid for the redevelopment?"
Atlas raised a brow. "I know a lot of things in Novera."
"Ahh... right. It’s your territory, huh?"
"Don’t you still believe in the secret society?"
"Well, it’s not that I don’t..." She hesitated, picking her words. "It’s not like I can doubt it when you’re the one making the claim. But it still feels surreal, thinking there are forces in this world with laws of their own."
It sounds like fiction. Even people from the underground consider the laws of each country and would play by their dirty rules.
Atlas didn’t answer. He simply lifted his hand, palm up, letting rain gather in it. Lola, meanwhile, found her eyes fixed on his side profile.
When he squeezed her hand, she flinched slightly, only then realizing they were still holding hands.
"Uh... Atlas," she said softly, watching him glance back at her. "I think... you can let me go now."
His eyes dropped to their hands. He tightened his grip briefly before slowly releasing it. He followed the movement as she drew her hand close to her chest and gave him a faint smile.
She turned back to the rain, while Atlas tipped his gaze upward.
"We should go back," he said, eyes still on the sky, while Lola innocently looked back at him.
One more minute under this roof with her, and I might cross a line I shouldn’t... yet.
"How?" The oblivious Lola suddenly blinked at him. "It’s pouring. Should we run in the rain?"
Atlas shifted his gaze back to her, the corners of his eyes narrowing slightly.
"You’re right," he said. "It’s pouring... and we might catch a cold. Let’s stay here."
Her brows knitted together.
Why does being called right by him sound... suspicious? Or am I just overthinking?
Lola stared at him, catching the faint curl of his mouth. Yet behind that smile, something felt... dangerous.