Damien pulled out his card and swiped it on the lock on his door, pushing it open when it gave a little beep, then walked into his apartment and shut the door behind him. He took off his shoe and placed it in the shoe cabinet then trudged forward, his foot moving smoothly on the marble floor and threw himself on the nearest furniture, slamming himself into the comfy couch.

Phew, Damien let out a sigh while his face was planted deeply into the soft couch. He turned to his side and looked around the room, his eyes running over the furniture, each of them probably costing his entire closet plus more as his house. It had only been about a week since he moved from his old house to this shiny new apartment owned by Gradis, yet he already hated the room. Everything was so new, devoid of all the memories each object had in his house and the feeling of familiarity his old home had. He was so tired and drained, he couldn't help rolling again on the couch. This time, he laid on his back, facing the ceiling, and stared at his hands.

What had he done with his hands in these past months since his friend's deaths? Damien inspected his hand and tried to imagine all the things he was able to do now after tossing himself into this new lifestyle. All the work he thought he was doing back then was nothing compared to what he was doing now. For 4 days after the meeting with some mysterious man called, Mr. Cloud, he had slept for 6 hours total since he was helping Gradis in the office while she researched about some companies he couldn't care less about. She had changed completely after that meeting, and her calm face had turned stoic as she spent her days face-first into mountains of paperwork. He wasn't even sure she had slept at all since whenever he woke up from whatever snippet of sleep he could get, she was still working.

Though this new life had all the luxuries he had wished for, it lacked emotion and feeling of love his old life had. He closed his eyes and imagined walking down the streets, sitting in small cafés, and sipping on coffee while watching people pa.s.s by. He missed spending time in the libraries studying for tests and staying up late looking through texts of fiction or just finding a random book and reading through it. But most of all, he missed the little visits from Regan he received while studying with her by his side asleep, or the smile on her face when she woke up on his back while they walked home. And when he would drop her and she would walk close to him, b.u.mping into him cutely, before slipping her hands into his and letting out a small giggle.

He held back a chuckle when he remembered smearing cake on her nose on her 16th birthday that they celebrated together with her family and friends. Throb, Damien's heart thought and he opened his eyes and sat up on the couch. He looked down at his arms and looked at the watch on his wrist. 1:05 am, Damien thought. He looked at his phone laying on the gla.s.s table in front of him.

"Is it too early?" He muttered to himself, but yet reached down and picked up his phone and unlocked it. He clicked on the phone icon and scrolled down to the number that had called 4 days ago. Can I? He asked himself but before even thinking of the pros and cons, he clicked on the call b.u.t.ton, then put the phone up to his ear.