Chapter 78: Shopping with Katherine [1]
Chapter 78: Shopping with Katherine [1]
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Amon clutched his head, ruffling his hair to stop himself from going to sleep.
Though over this last month, he had made Lily slowly and steadily reduce her trauma, he was still inflicted by it.
That day when he first put Lily to sleep and also went to slumber later was when it all started.
The corpses and souls of the children who died that day haunted him in his sleep.
Their bloodshot eyes, rotten hands and heads, cold touch, and harrowing screams made him wake up with a jolt in a couple of minutes.
He carefully got out of bed and ran to the bathroom, throwing some cold water on his face quickly.
But, it didn't end there.
The same nightmare would repeat whenever he went to sleep, intensifying each time. He couldn't sleep for more than 5 minutes anymore before the nightmares grew to such a point that he instantly woke and threw up.
It affected his mental strength as well and the toll kept increasing day by day.
Initially, it wasn't visible to others as he kept his attitude maintained, not letting the toll show outside.
He didn't want his friends or sister to unnecessarily worry about him.
But, even though he didn't show it with his expressions or behavior, it started to become more and more visible physically.
Dark circles started to form under his eyes and he started to become more and more tired. His sister was the first to notice that fact and quickly called him out for it.
And out of all the people whom Amon didn't want to know was Katherine.
As the strongest third-year and President of the Student Council, the former didn't want to put anymore burden on her.
So after giving an excuse that he didn't have enough sleep for the first time, he started to increase his blood regulation underneath his eyes whenever he was with her.
The blood regulation removed his dark circles. At least to the point that they were barely visible.
However, compared to Katherine where he had to only do it for 1 or 2 hours, his friends were another case.
He spent at least half his day with them where there were multiple classes in which he wasn't allowed to use mana.
They noticed it one day when he was practicing his mana manipulation and tried to ask what was going on.
Though he got away during the initial days with excuses and some blood manipulation, they found out about it after some time.
And so he had to tell them all about it.
He omitted the children massacre part, faking it with just the death of someone random and him haunting his dreams.
They suggested various fixes such as taking sleeping pills (Failed), getting tired before sleep (Failed), and taking a shower before sleep (Failed).
Moving back to the present, Amon arrived back at his apartment after a long day of classes. Somehow, he relieved his friends by saying he would take a visit to the infirmary today. But, unfortunately, he had other plans.
And so he entered the apartment while immediately turning on his blood manipulation. Entering the apartment, he found his sister settled on a sofa, dressed in a casual sleeveless white blouse and a black skirt.
She had Lily in her lap, who was playing with a toy, her concentration totally immersed in it. Noticing his presence, Katherine turned and smiled.
"Welcome back!" She waved.
He smiled back and did a wave as well.
Hearing her words, Lily looked up from her toy and found Amon at the door.
Without wasting a second, she set her toy aside and came running into his arms, making him lift her.
"Brother Amon!"
Yes. This was what she had started to call him after spending a month with her.
She was dressed in black baby clothes and her short hair were neatly combed and set using hairpins by Katherine.
He stretched her cheeks a little.
"Has Lily been a good kid?" He asked and she nodded happily.
After some talk with her, he handed her back to Katherine.
"I'll go take a shower and then we can leave."
She nodded with a smile and he went into his room, locking the door.
He immediately turned off the blood regulation, making the dark circles appear back.
Without a word to Zephyra, he slumped into his bed without any intention.
However, as soon as he closed his eyes, those cold bloodied hands reached out to his face
again.
Those rotten teeth dug into his flesh making him awake with a jolt again.
[Amon! Are you okay!?] Zephyra kept asking him,
He didn't say anything. Only panted loudly and clutched his head to stop the headache from creeping up into his head.
Retrieving some pills from his [Inventory], he poured a glass of water.
[Amon! Stop this!] Zephyra tried to lecture him.
'I can't, I'm sorry Zephyra.' He answered her and gulped the pills.
[How long are you going to play this out?] She asked worriedly.
'As long as I don't have to forcibly reveal it to her.' He answered and entered the shower.
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After 20 minutes, he came out of his room, dressed in a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans.
His long black hair were tied into a man bun.
Coming out, he saw Katherine standing there along with Lily.
"Shall we leave?"
He smiled and nodded, his blood regulation already at work.
Because of so much work on both their shoulders, he was never able to ask his sister to go
somewhere with him.
To spend quality sibling time.
So, a few days back he had asked her if she wanted to go to the mall for shopping and such.
This was also a good chance to take away any of her worries or suspicions that she might have
for/on him.
She was clearly taken aback. This was something that the previous Amon never used to do. Nevertheless, she thought it might be due to Lily and agreed, happy to spend some time with
him.
And so she had taken a short leave from her duties today.
Both of them, along with Lily, were going to go to the City Centre today.
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