Lives Beyond Those Eyes

Rider

The person to protect you… If that person is me, I don't care if I die… ~ Even If I Die, F.I.X.

xxxxxx

"Sarina!"

It wasn't a shout, but it was enough to snap her out of her thoughts and make her face her friends. It startled her to see them with a worried look in their eyes.

"Sorry..." was all she could say before grabbing the coffee she ordered and having a sip.

Isona groaned and even scratched the back of her head. "Of all days for that murder to happen, why does it have to be now? It's making Sarina even more distracted than she ever was a while back."

Despite the complaining tone, it only made Sarina smile. It didn't last long, though.

"I didn't mean to get distracted. I just didn't expect to see something like that today, of all days. But... I also couldn't help thinking that..."

However, she couldn't continue what she wanted to say. She didn't want to think of the possibility that her father...

"We still don't know that," Rein started and snapped her out again. "Your father could still be out there, somewhere. Even though five years had passed since then, let's at least have the hope that he's okay."

"But there's still the question of why he didn't even bother communicating with Sarina all this time if he's truly still alive," Sejin said before taking a cookie from its package and having a bite. "Even if he has his reason, he should've at least given his daughter some signs so that she didn't have to agonize and suffer as she waited for him to return."

None of them said anything after that and only continued eating their snacks. But even with such comments, she knew her friends didn't mean anything bad. They were aware of how she dealt with her father's disappearance even at the moment.

"But you're right. I should still have some hope that he's okay. Or at least... have some hope that there's something out there that could give me the answer I need."

Even when the rest of the day turned uneventful, Sarina still couldn't stop her mind from thinking about the body that she saw. By the time she and her friends were finished hanging out at the cafe, the dead body was no longer there. Police cars, detectives and of course, a small crowd were there instead.

There was one particular detective, however, that caught their attention. Especially Sejin.

"It's Officer Ferrante again. I guess they made him in charge of the case."

Sarina turned to Sejin who she noticed was looking at the certain police officer dressed in dark brown coat, jeans and rubber shoes. He did have pronounced features that she immediately noticed along with his slightly disheveled black hair.

"It looked like he just ran to get here," Isona commented and soon turned to face Sejin. "You want to talk to him?"

But Sejin shook her head. That question made Sarina frown, though.

"You know him, Sejin?"

The pretty girl nodded but didn't say anything further. It seemed she didn't want to talk about it.

"I'll explain it later. For now, let's get out of here. I can't disturb him when he's working like this."

Of course, she understood it. Sejin was being considerate towards that police officer and the woman couldn't afford to distract him.

"It looks like a lot has happened since I left Huijin, huh?" Sarina couldn't help commenting as they walked away from the crime scene.

"Actually, it's something that already happened even before you left Huijin. It's just that I wasn't given permission to mention it to anyone at the time," Sejin explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Family affairs. It was a temporary order from her grandfather," Rein answered this time as he started keeping up with Sarina's pace. "To be honest, Isona and I only learned about it last year."

Without a doubt, that statement surprised her. But she knew Sejin's grandfather and had met him a few times before. And she could understand why he would give out such an order, even if it was temporary.

Once again, Sarina looked around as she and her friends walked. There were some changes around, but still felt familiar. It was coupled with good weather throughout the day, and she felt she had just returned to the past.

The sound of an approaching motorcycle snapped her out and lowered her sight from looking at the sky. But she frowned at the sight of something glinting from the rider's side. He was wearing a black tinted helmet, making it hard for her to see who the person was.

'That's weird.'

But before Sarina could fully comprehend what was going on, the motorcycle drove past her. She turned just as soon as she realized what that the glint was. Her eyes widened and started running towards a man whose focus was on his smartphone, head lowered.

"Watch out!"

Her shout didn't go unheard for the intended person, thankfully. She dashed towards him, doing her best to outrun the rider before he could do something to the targeted man. She kept it up until there was only a few spaces apart...

As Sarina lunged towards the man, an unbearable sharp pain struck her back almost immediately as soon as she came in contact with him.

'Damn it! It hurts...' She knew what it was, but the pain was so much that she couldn't even say anything.

Even with that pain, she looked up towards the man who caught her, who was wide eyed as he stared at her. But that wasn't what stiffened her.

It was his eyes. Or rather, it was what she had seen in his wide opened eyes. Only then did she realize that the glasses she wore were now gone. The impact must have thrown it off somewhere.

And now, vision after vision plagued her as she looked further in those handsome eyes longer than she should have.

"A-are you... okay?" Sarina managed to ask even with the pain hitting her further.

Perhaps the question was what snapped the man out of his reverie and looked around, almost in panic before facing her.

"I'm alright. But why did you do that?"

Though as much as she wanted to answer him, her mind was starting to become hazy as the pain overwhelmed her. Her breathing became heavy and ragged before darkness overtook her consciousness.

But not without hearing her friends call her name.

And yet her mind only saw one thing. The face of the man who she saved... dressed in ancient clothings.

'Weird... Why did I see that?'

~~~

"Hey!"

But the woman in Cedric's arms limped and was now completely unconscious in his arms. It was a good thing he caught her before she hit the floor. He didn't want anything to further aggravate the bleeding on her back.

The injury she took for him.

'And yet... why does this feel so familiar?'

Then again, he chose to worry about that later. At the moment, his priority was saving the woman's life.

"Sari!"

"Sarina!"

Cedric looked up and saw some familiar people approaching him. One of them was his neighbor named Rein, living in the condominium building he lived in. The other two were Rein's friends Isona and Sejin. All three had worried and panicked looks on their faces.

"Professor!" Rein started and knelt beside the woman in his arms.

"I take it that you knew her."

The two women Isona and Sejin nodded. "We're her friends. You're not hurt, are you, Professor?"

He shook his head and it seemed that it was enough to calm them down. At least for the meantime. But their worry came back as soon as they laid eyes on the now unconscious woman in his arms.

"We have to take her to the hospital," Sejin suggested and stood up before taking her phone from her pocket.

"You're going to call for an ambulance?"

The woman looked at Rein and shook her head. "I'm calling Officer Ferrante. He needs to know this, as well."

"He's near here?" Cedric couldn't help asking as he looked up.

"He's investigating another murder case near the coffee shop around the corner."

Another murder case... Could it be the serial killer again?

He was aware of it, but never truly paid too much attention to it because of other matters he decided to focus on. One of them was about the dreams that kept plaguing him all this time.

And speaking of those dreams...

Absent-mindedly, he looked down to gaze at the unconscious and bleeding woman in his arms. There was something strange about the way his heart beat a while back.

At first, he thought he would attribute it to the sudden attack that happened since it all happened so fast. If it wasn't for this woman named Sarina, he would've been the one bleeding instead of her.

But now...

'The way she was looking at me earlier... Have I seen something similar before?'

It was a strange thought. But even so, Cedric wasn't mistaken. This woman's eyes once looked at him before. But was that even possible when he had just crossed paths with her?

It didn't take long before the ambulance and even Officer Ferrante arrived. He didn't bother asking them questions at the moment and only helped them carry Sarina to the stretcher. She was still bleeding and who knew how deep that wound she sustained could be.

'Please be safe...'

No matter how much she was a stranger to him, Sarina saved his life. He owed her that.

At that thought, Cedric recalled the incident that led to this.

Why would that man try to stab him, anyway? And in broad daylight, at that?

"Cedric? You're not hurt, are you?"

He turned to see Officer Ferrante approaching him with a stern look. And yet he couldn't deny the worry he saw in his eyes.

"Thanks to her, I wasn't. But you know I'm not going to let this slide. Not when someone got hurt because of me."

Officer Ferrante nodded. "I know you won't. But even so, you need to be careful. This is the second time already. The detectives your father hired hadn't found anything?"

Cedric shook his head and sighed. "Whoever was the mastermind of that first incident remained elusive. But if that same person caused this to happen, as well, then he's definitely going to pay."