Love Brings You Hone

Brakkk...

The sound of slamming doors and clattering shoe steps deafened Louise.

"What have you been complaining to my parents about, Miss Louise?!" a man shouted suddenly.

Suddenly, Louise put down the exam papers she was holding and lifted her chin up to find the source of the voice. It was the student known as the 'eternal student' who had snuck into her office.

"Calm down, sit down Prince, we can talk this through." Louise said as she got up from her chair.

Prince, instead of obeying his lecturer's orders, kicked the chair in front of him.

"Hey, behave yourself, Prince, remember where you are and who you're dealing with?" she snapped, her heart beating faster every time she saw her "special" student.

"You're a very annoying lecturer. Do you enjoy seeing your students always fighting with their guardians?"

"I do it for your own good too, Prince."

"What good do you mean, lecturer?!"

"Of course, so that your grades will improve, you'll graduate soon and there won't be any more bad rumours about you from people out there."

"Ah... You mean their taunts against me being a perpetual student at this college, right?! I don't care what they say anymore!"

"How can you not care? Do you want to be an eternal resident of this campus?!"

"Arghhh... You're all the same!!!"

He kicked the chair for the second time, as if he no longer remembered the figure standing in front of him. Without permission and as if losing her sense of honour, she simply walked away, leaving her lecturer still in a state of shock.

Suddenly, Louise's eyes watered, which immediately invaded the airspace.

Once out of Louise's room, Prince chose to sit casually in the campus canteen with anger still brewing in his chest.

His appearance, which looked like an old man with dishevelled hair, seemed to indicate his current living conditions, which were 'messy'. He lit a cigarette sandwiched between his fingers with an electric lighter while occasionally sipping a cup of coffee served in front of him.

Prince's pupils flashed in all directions. However, until the cup was left with only its dregs, there was no 'something' that could catch his attention.

For a moment, he remained pensive until regret dawned on him. He realised that what he did to Louise earlier was too harsh, "Should I apologise to her?"

Kringgg...

The deafening sound of the mobile phone inevitably made Louise immediately need to pick it up.

"Huh... What the heck?! Alright, I'll be right there."

Louise hurriedly cleared up the things scattered on the desk. She grabbed her bag and walked towards the campus car park. Louise felt her stomach muscles tighten in an instant as she was forced to drive her car at high speed by herself.

Upon hearing the news of Lucas' brother's death, Louise immediately decided to make the long journey to the funeral parlour.

She had to take the winding road that was quite a distance from the capital city. Along the way, there wasn't much scenery to enjoy, with only bushes on either side of the road.

"Damn it!" cursed Louise as her car struggled with rocky, gravelly and even muddy roads on the way.

The loud ringing of bells and the rustling of leaves in the wind filled her auditory passageway when she was almost there.

Taking almost four hours, Louise finally reached the place of mourning, the Onnuri church.

From some distance away, she saw Lucas standing in the doorway. Slowly, she stepped closer to Lucas.

The tall man reflexively turned around when Louise tapped his shoulder.

Behind the charisma hidden in Lucas, there was an implied look of sadness captured by Louise's green eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Lucas."

The tight, warm embrace Louise gave him instantly invaded Lucas's body. For a moment, Lucas felt a sense of calm and peace in that embrace.

"How did your brother pass away?" asked Louise probingly after releasing her embrace.

Lucas's hand was pulled away with lightning speed. Now their eyes met as Louise's body was pressed against the damp brick wall of the church.

A very distinctive cedarwood-scented perfume wafted into Louise's sense of smell.

"She died in the mythical Heaven Lake, Heaven Lake, Louise."

"But how did she die there, Lucas?"

"According to the police investigation, he died by suicide."

"Bu-suicide you say? Oh my... Do you believe them?"

"Of course I don't believe it, Louise. There's no way my brother would go that low."

"But you do know that Lake Paradise is known as a suicide lake too and home to water monsters, as ridiculous as that sounds. So what's your next move, Lucas?"

"I have to investigate it myself, Louise, to find out the real cause of my sister's death."

Louise's body moved restlessly.

"Okay. I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Lucas. Please calm down, I'm going in to see your brother's body first."

Lucas nodded his head, "Go ahead, Louise."

Louise continued her footsteps to enter the church.

The room inside the church was not very spacious, only enough to accommodate dozens of people. Religious ornaments almost filled every corner of the walls and roof of the old church. Objects that contain spiritual elements do not escape being displayed.

After paying her last respects in front of Lucas' brother's picture, Louise looked around for an empty pew.

She found Lucas's mum and dad and his best friend Charity had arrived earlier.

"I'm so sorry, uncle and aunty." Louise said as she hugged Lucas' papa.

After meeting Papa Lucas, Louise continued her walk. She glanced at the chair next to Charity and quickly moved to occupy it.

"What took you so long to come, Louise?"

"Sorry, I had something to take care of at the college."

"You've met Lucas, right?"

Louise nodded her head, "He was devastated."

"Yeah, any sibling would feel the same way."

The conversation flowed effortlessly but was interrupted for a moment when a woman with hair covered by a black veil had just stepped on the floor of the church.

The strange woman's body then leaned against one corner of the room wall.

"Do you know the woman standing there?" Charity asked curiously.

Louise suddenly turned her head to follow Charity's eyeballs and shook her head.

"Hmm... I've never seen that woman before. Why is that? Is there something wrong with her?" Louise asked back.

"Not really, it's just that her movements caught my attention."

"She seems to be younger than us."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Without realising it, their irises moved with the stranger's footsteps.

Standing right beside the uncovered coffin, her tears began to well up. A white handkerchief was dabbed onto her already wet cheeks.

After removing her sunglasses, she looked at the figure that had been lying stiffly inside the coffin. Unable to contain her sadness, her tears broke out again, drawing the attention of the other servants to her.

Lucas, who was wearing a black tuxedo, suddenly appeared and walked over. His arm reached out to her shoulder. He rubbed his palm on her shoulder several times to calm her down.

Inevitably, there was jealousy raging in Charity's chest when she saw Lucas' attitude towards the woman.

The woman could still be heard sobbing as the new group of mourners began to arrive. Lucas immediately pulled her hand away from the wooden coffin and allowed the other mourners to pay their last respects.

Louise and Charity's gaze still couldn't leave Lucas and the strange woman.

"I think Lucas knew that woman very well before." said Louise as she looked at Lucas's hand that was clasped tightly in the stranger's hand.

"And with Lucas' sister of course, but who is she? Why is she related to Lucas' family?"

"I don't know. It's hard to explain, should we find out?"

***

Louise glanced around the church room after the prayer, she found that the church room was rather quiet, there were only a few people who were still there, while Charity had gone home early. It was decided to leave the church and head home as soon as she realised it was late at night.

Louise repeatedly tried to start the car engine but the car still wouldn't start. Losing patience, Louise finally got out of the car and checked.

Louise could only grumble after discovering that not only the car engine was having problems but also the tyres were flat, so she kicked the tyres hard. Louise got back into the car to get her bag and some important things,

Brukkk....

Louise was startled by the sound of something falling on the roof of the car. Fresh red blood mixed with black feathers appeared through the windscreen. She closed her eyes so hard that she had to swallow her saliva. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Louise opened the car door to look.

"Crow?"

A dead crow fell slowly, leaving a trail of blood on the windscreen. A rancid odour stabbed her nose.

With her face turning white, Louise moved away from the car. A heavy sigh accompanied her steps to find a place to stay around the church area.

As she travelled along the slippery road, she felt the air rustling, the leaves rustling, the crows cawing and the dogs barking like wolves howling. The atmosphere of this night seemed so tense to him.

A dark shadow moved so fast. Louise glanced right and left. Nothing. Feeling that someone was stalking and watching her, Louise suddenly looked back.

Within a considerable radius, her nets picked up signals of the danger that was stalking her. A man dressed in dark clothes and wearing a silver-coloured mask that completely covered his face was standing and staring at her with sharp, blazing eyes.

She traced every inch of the man's body, and before she knew it, there was a fiery red axe clutched tightly in his left hand, like an angel of death to him. Realising she was in danger, Louise immediately ran. The man with the axe didn't stay still, he also ran to get his delicious hunt tonight.

The cold air pierced her bones, her breathing instantly became irregular, and it was as if Louise could hear her own heart beating fast.

Seeing the rows of used jeeps that filled the large field area, Louise inevitably chose it as a stopover place to save herself. Under the undercarriage of a yellow jeep, she hid.

There was a faint sound of shoe prints and an axe being deliberately swiped against the jeep's bonnet to attract its prey.

Pranggg....

There was the sound of a tin can being kicked against one of the car's metal frames.

With beads of sweat already soaking every curve of her body, Louise smothered her own mouth.

Suddenly there was silence, and no sound could be heard.

For a moment, Louise peered under the jeep's undercarriage to confirm the presence of the terrorist. The result was nil.

Feeling that her hiding place was no longer safe, Louise decided to get out from under the car. Her body was squeezed between the bodies of the large jeeps that were lined up neatly as she stepped out.

One step... two steps... three steps...

Four steps...

The terrorist appeared before Louise with a piercing look in his eyes. It threw out its red axe, hoping to quickly immobilise its prey. Suddenly Louise felt her body freeze in the silence of the night.

Eits... But no...

The terrorist's axe throw was a FAIL, it only managed to hit the metal roof of the jeep even though it was only a few inches away from Louise's head.

Without warning, Louise ran away again. Unwilling to see his would-be victim escape, the male terrorist did not remain silent, he moved quickly to pull out the axe that was stuck.

On the run, Louise could still hear the masked terrorist whistling as if calling out to her.

"Ahhhh!!! Take it off!!!" screamed Louise as the terrorist was able to catch up with her and even pulled her hair so hard that several strands were pulled out from the roots.

One of the man's hands switched to reach Louise's neck. He gripped Louise's neck tightly, causing Louise's body to be lifted up as if reaching the ceiling, Louise's feet no longer on the ground.

While her fingers were busy fighting back, the terrorist tightened her grip even more.

Eventually, a kick from Louise right in front of her vital organs made the terrorist release her hand from her neck.

While the treaded terrorist was still moaning in pain, Louise ran away from the junkyard jeep area.

Without a second glance, she continued to accelerate her footsteps, moving away in an uncertain direction.

Unfortunately, in the midst of her escape, she tripped over a large rock and a piece of glass stuck right into her right thigh. With a gasp, Louise tried to get up but her leg was already in pain and covered in blood, making it difficult for her to move.

It seemed that the man with the axe was already taking another step towards her.

There wasn't much Louise could do, in her desperation, she picked up a rock as a lifeline and could only hope for help to come.

"What do you want exactly? Arrrrghhhh..." screamed Louise while blinking her eyes as the flash of the axe was already blazing in front of her eyeballs.

The beam of light coming from the car's headlights suddenly illuminated the darkness. Repeatedly, there was also the deafening sound of a deliberately honking horn.

Slowly opening his eyes, he could no longer see the man with the axe who had been standing right in front of him. It was as if the man with the axe had completely disappeared.

A head poked out from inside the car whose face was familiar to Louise.

"Lucas... Lucas... please help me... Save me... Please..." Louise sobbed.

"It's safe... You're safe Louise, I'm with you. What just happened to you?!"

A girl took out a worn-out piece of paper from her bag. She read once again the notification letter she had received from the campus. She looked carefully at the schedule to go to the campus administration officer to make sure she was not mistaken.

She knocked hurriedly on the door. Inside the administration room, her neutrals stared straight at the administrative officer who was busy struggling with documents.

The officer closed his folder of documents as she sat facing him, for a moment there was a sense of awkwardness hanging over her.

"You can't just drop students out!" the girl shouted irritably in the middle of the conversation.

"Then finish paying your tuition fees immediately. The college has relaxed its policies in favour of students like you, students who don't follow the rules. However, you are still stubborn, delaying the payment of tuition fees with various nonsensical excuses. It's possible that you've been spending your parents' tuition allowance on extravagance."

The girl squinted her eyes.

"Sir, your accusation is wrong. Don't lump me in with other students. I'm experiencing financial difficulties at the moment, not deliberately delaying the payment of tuition fees let alone using them for extravagance."

"Then find a way for you to pay it off, Miss. The college has been kind enough to give you some time off but you're still not following through."

This time he pursed his lips.

"Now the college has a new policy for students like you. There is an extra time to pay tuition fees for the next three weeks. After that there will be no more tolerance!"

The girl's blood began to boil.

"Alright sir, I'll pay even before the three weeks!" she grumbled.

Glancing at her watch, she decided to stop arguing with the college administration officer and rushed out of the room.

Remembering her promise to come to The Yonhap News office, outside the campus the girl immediately stopped a taxi that was driving. Sitting in the taxi her thoughts were mixed.

"What do I do now to pay off my tuition fees?!" she screamed.

With confident steps and a smiling face, the young girl who had arrived at the Yonhap news agency building entered the room of Margareth, her boss.

She thought that maybe today Margareth would praise her for her success in presenting interesting articles that could satisfy the readers of The Yonhap News in the past few months.

"So that's the only option you can give me, Ma'am?" he asked, trying to satisfy his curiosity.

"Yes, right now you only have those two choices, dear. You must be willing to let your position be replaced by another freelance journalist or you can be promoted to a permanent journalist, but of course with terms and conditions."

"Can you explain, Ma'am?

"The conditions are that you must write bombastic articles for the headlines of The Yonhap News for at least the next three months. Articles that have never been published, new and fresh themes, even those that readers have never imagined before will certainly be even better, dear." Margareth said at length.

The girl's eyebrows came together with a furrowed forehead, 'Is he out of his mind?'

"But I've been a freelance journalist here for a long time, I've given you a lot of news coverage that has been published in the newspaper. The readers have been responding positively to my writing, but you're going to give my position to those interns so easily?" she snapped and bit her lip in anger.

"I know, dear, but you must also understand our readers need high-quality news coverage and thoughts. Moreover, our newspaper and online news portal will soon transform by starting to target young people, well even though I know you're young too. I don't know, whatever it is, you have to make a choice soon, remember your time limit is not much and the bad news is there are no other options for you, dear. Sorry I'm going to a board meeting, call me if you still have any questions." Margareth said as she left the girl who still showed a look of indecision on her face.

Her hands were clenched tightly. 'I have misjudged you all this time. I thought that you had sided with me all this time. You made a fatal mistake by threatening me and managed to make my day even more chaotic.'

The girl decided to take a break by visiting one of her favourite places.

Inside the Starfield library, which is located inside a mall, Coex Mall and Convention in Gangnam District, Seoul, Louise spent her afternoon. In the library, which has an area of about 2800 square metres, there are 3 bookshelves as high as 13 metres with a collection of books and magazines of approximately 50 thousand, really spoiling Louise's eyes who are known to be bookworms.

Being upstairs instead of reading one of the book collections stored on the shelves, Louise's attention was distracted by another object. The figure of a tall girl standing between the bookshelves managed to steal her attention, even though there were many library visitors passing by at that time.

Her eyes kept glaring at the girl with the bright red scarf while occasionally making the exact same movements as the girl as a form of distraction.

However, it turned out that the girl could sense that she was being spied on. Putting down the book she was reading at random, she hurriedly took a thousand steps.

Seeing that her target had disappeared, she immediately threw the book she was holding among the pile of books scattered on the table and gave chase to the girl.

Feeling unsafe, the girl ran at maximum speed until she reached the underground floor.

Louise accidentally nudged a chair lined up along the edge of the bookshelf that made her body wobble, the girl vanished in circulation.

Luckily, Louise's senses were still able to recapture the girl's figure at the mall's exit.

In her pursuit, she had to be willing to struggle with the hot sun and pass through narrow alleys that made her steps no longer free.

The girl's fast and wide strides made it difficult for Louise to keep up.

Louise started to get out of breath and realised she had lost track of the girl.

With disappointment welling up in her chest, she kicked the pebbles scattered on the road and broke the branches of the trees that had fallen.

Not long after, his auditory tunnel picked up the jingling sound of coins scattering on the ground.

Suddenly, from a narrow alleyway, the woman he was looking for appeared, "What are you doing with me? Why are you chasing me? Are you a policeman catching a thief?"

Louise laughed with rounded eyes.

The girl was standing right in front of her with a defiant look on her face.

"No, it's because I've seen you before, at the Onnuri church during Lucas' sister's mourning procession."

"Really? How come I never realised it?"

"Yes, because we haven't met face to face, I could only look at you from afar back then. That's why I wanted to see you again but you ran away and prejudiced me, I'm Louise."

"Daniela."

"I think you have a special relationship with the Lucas family. I could feel it when I was there."

"Yes, you're right, that special relationship that would never have crossed your mind, Madame."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do I have to explain that much to you? What business is it that you need to know about it anyway, huh?!"

"I-It's because I'm also Lucas' best friend, is that wrong?"

"Yes, of course, you don't have to know the personal relationships between individuals because to me it's very private, Madam. Are you getting the hang of it?"

The girl with the red scarf walked away without even looking back at Louise.

'Hmm... what's wrong with that girl?' wondered Louise.