Klaye was stunned and foolishly looked at Vincent. This was a question he didn’t expect. Did wrong?... Why does it sound like as if Vincent already knew what I wanted to do? How could that be?!

Klaye was sure, Vincent had an idea in his head, but that wasn’t right. It was a misunderstanding! But what could he say? You are wrong? Wrong in what?! If he didn’t know what he thought how could he answer?!

„...” Klaye opened and closed his mouth more than once, but couldn’t say anything. He pitifully looked at Vincent and tried to ask him with his eyes to tell him more!

Vincent felt a little irritated. „Look at it!” he took out a remote control and operated the TV.

Klaye watched the video and his mind went blank. It was him walking around in the city on the first day when he came here! It ended when he sat on the ground.

„Still don’t want to say anything?” Vincent was impatient and started another video.

Klaye’s face paled. It was the record about him lying on Vincent’s chest. He heard himself say: „That woman said that I kissed your forehead when I didn’t even have the courage to lay a blanket on you...” but it didn’t reach his brain. He didn’t hear or see anything. There was only one thought in his head. He lost Vincent’s trust!

Two strong hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him. „Can you pay attention to me? Don’t run away!”

„...” Run? It would be good if I ran away...

Klaye closed his eyes. He regretted it. Regretted to take care of Vincent. Regretted to stay. Regretted to come to Future city. Regretted not running away on the day, when he woke up and saw Vincent in his house...

He knew from the very beginning, the change in the story would only cause him more pain. He knew, yet he hoped. He hoped for a miracle...

He was suddenly embraced in a strong hug. Klaye opened his eyes in disbelief.

Vincent sighed and murmured in his ear. „Really. Why are you making it so hard? Just tell me everything and stop crying.”

Crying? Klaye touched his face and his fingers became wet. He really cried. At that moment it was as if something broke inside him. He hugged Vincent and cried loudly. He couldn’t stop himself. He wanted to give out all his pains and grieves.

Vincent hugged him and patted on his back. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Half an hour passed until Klaye calmed down. He lay weakly in Vincent’s embrace. He didn’t want to move anymore.

Vincent wiped his face and felt distressed. „If you found out so early that I was reborn too, then why didn’t you say me anything? If I didn’t remember vaguely about that sentence and look back the records, then do you intend to keep it until you die?”

Klaye’s thoughts were in a mess. He heard everything, but couldn’t understand. „What?”

„... When you kissed my forehead...” Vincent looked into his eyes. „That happened when we were running away from the city.”

Klaye looked into those beautiful dark green eyes. He didn’t see hatred, blame, or disgust in them. He only saw tenderness. „I wasn’t reborn.”

Vincent’s eyes widened. „Impossible! Then how do you...”

Klaye realized he did a mistake. It was a good idea to let Vincent believe that he was reborn too. But... he really didn’t have those memories. „It was a book.”

„Book?!” Vincent didn’t believe in him.

Klaye sighed and placed his head on Vincent’s shoulder. He was afraid if he looked into his eyes, he could see he said some lies. „It was a long time ago. Even before we first met. I read a book about the apocalypse and zombies. I only read it because one of the side characters had the same name as me... Then I met with you and the others, and I always felt that your names were familiar, but I couldn’t remember... Then some things happened and slowly I recalled, once I read a book what mentioned those cases...”

A knock on the door interrupted them. „Young master, here’s the lunch!”

„Come in!” Vincent helped Klaye to stand up. „We’ll continue later, let’s eat.”

Klaye nodded and went to the table.

The servant placed the food on the table and left.

They sat down and ate in silence. They even used the silverwares carefully, trying to make lesser noises.

Klaye was puzzled. He didn’t understand how the incident in the hall related to Vincent’s reborn. In some seconds he created a lot of ideas about it. He knew none was right, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Vincent finished his lunch and drank a cup of wine. He watched Klaye’s face changing and guessed he even wrote a conspiracy theory in this short time.

He placed the wine glass down and it made a little noise. „Can you tell me the book’s title?”

Klaye looked up and shook his head. „I don’t remember... In primary school, I had a membership in the library. I borrowed a lot of books...”

„Then how much do you remember about the story?”

„I remember about the main storyline, but there are things I’m not really sure.”

„So the book wrote about this city?”

Klaye recalled the video where he looked around the city and understood. „You were the protagonist in the story and you never came here. But in a base, you heard some survivors speaking about it. They mentioned the hidden dangers it had and wished they notice it earlier and fixed them.”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t want to believe in this book, but Klaye wasn’t with them. He couldn’t know where they went and what he heard.

„I can imagine how tragic that book was...” Vincent suddenly smiled. „You were so young and read this kind of bloody and brutal story...”

„... It wasn’t that brutal.”

„Wasn’t? Isn’t it about me?! I was betrayed by my most trusted friends and servants! When I learned the truth I lost my mind and hunt down all of them! I didn’t stop until the last one died! Or the book didn’t mention this?!”

Klaye watched the plate in front of him. He didn’t dare to look up. He was frightened by Vincent’s reaction. He never felt such a strong hatred and killing intent. „... But it has a happy ending.” he whispered.

Vincent realized he went too far and tried to calm down. „Happy ending? How?”

„... After you took revenge, you traveled around the world. Later, you saved a man and slowly became friends, then lovers. In the end, the two of you married.”

Vincent was astonished. „Are you kidding with me?!”

„No!” Klaye suddenly looked up. „I’m telling the truth! That was really how the story ended!”

Vincent sighed and shook his head. „What a shitty book! The authors nowadays can write anything to make the story continue... Just think about it! All your loved ones died! The others betrayed you, but you took revenge and killed all of them! Then why would you live?! Maybe some people enjoy torture themselves by remembering such a bad life, or they are crazy in the end and don’t realize their life become meaningless... But to you, I seem to be that kind of person?!”

Klaye shook his head without thinking. He didn’t want to make Vincent angrier.

„Right? Not to mention, the world turned upside down. Even if you want to start a new life it’s almost impossible. So instead of waiting for the day, when some zombies or stronger ability users kill you for food, isn’t it better to die in the beginning? At least you won’t have regret thinking about how hard you worked to stay alive, yet they killed you so easily...”

Klaye was speechless. He couldn’t understand why Vincent had these kinds of thoughts. He never met with any protagonist or side characters who tried to change their life. Okay, he made some mistakes and changed parts of the story, but the characters never gave up their settings! Never! Yet the Vincent in front of him was different than the one in the book! The other one had a strong fighting spirit. He survived and continued his life. Even if he didn’t have a goal, he still hoped to find the meaning of his life! Yet the one in front of him chose death without thinking! Klaye couldn’t understand what went wrong. What could change someone so much? Or Vincent was right and the author did its best to continue the story? But how could that be?!

Vincent poked Klaye’s forehead. „Where do you run again? Can you stop overthinking and speak with me?”

Klaye’s body shook and he touched his forehead. „You... You mean that you won’t continue after taking revenge?” Then can it be? If the protagonist doesn’t follow the author’s idea and the storyline break, then he will be forced to reborn?! Does such a thing exist?!

„It’s not ’won’t’, it’s ’didn’t’. At least I never traveled around aimlessly and married a man.”

Klaye widened his eyes and looked at him. This information was too much for him. He couldn’t believe it. If Vincent never fell in love with that man, then how could he accept gays?!

Seeing his face Vincent sighed and took out his phone. He sent a message and waited. He understood he couldn’t change Klaye’s bad habit overnight, but he hoped that after breaking the ice with the truth about his rebirth, he would be able to say more things to him.

Jay came in after some seconds. He cleaned the table and left with the plates. He slowly closed the door, and the room fell into silence again.

„So...” Klaye licked his lips. He was nervous. „You... Do you never fall in love with that man?”

Vincent was speechless. „How can I fall in love with someone I never met?”