Freedom 1

Came bedtime, Stellar roamed the high-ceilinged penthouse suite, checking all the doors and security system.

When all systems blinked green, she pressed a remote control to her chest, and she sprinted upstairs, catching her breath once she got to the top.

Her heart was beating loudly in her chest. This was her first time to sleep alone in a place of her own. She was scared and excited all at the same time.

Drinking in the palatial space before her, the little girl inside of her cried for the lights to be left on. However, her wallet reminded Stellar to be prudent in her expenses.

Pressing the power button, all the lights in the first level of the penthouse suite turned off, and the lingering squeal of Stellar bounced on the wall as she ran for her life towards the only source of light in the penthouse: the master's bedroom.

Meanwhile, eighteen hours away from the Gotham Tower, Holden was packing his clothes inside his dorm room. His white shirts and trousers were neatly folded side by side inside the wide-opened trunk.

Three soft raps on the door snapped him out from his task just as he was pressing another pile of shirts in the suitcase. He had an idea who it might be, for he hasn't gotten the chance to speak with that person all day.

Walking towards the door, Holden paused and took a deep breath before twisting the knob. Peeping through the slightly ajar door, Holden fully opened the door and let Aki in.

"Wow. It feels surreal, Brother Holden," Aki uttered his disbelief, a hand cupped his agape mouth. "I guess this is really a see you soon for us, huh?"

"I think it is," Holden agreed, the corner of his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

"I'm not going to lie, I was ready for this day to happen, but it still surprises me. I mean, you applied for a leave of absence but you never left, and now that your leave of absence is over and you should be coming back to the seminary…"

"That's when I decided to leave for good," Holden finished Aki's statement and swallowed audibly. "It's what I really had in mind."

Aki nodded his head. "Was that some test that you gave yourself?"

"Maybe."

Aki scoffed. "You're always an enigma, Brother." He eyed Holden, who mechanically transferred his pieces of clothing from the closet to its designated bags.

A sneaking suspicion was clawing its way out of Aki's mouth, but he would be lucky if Holden opened up as much as Aki did up to him in the past years.

Another thing to take note of was how Aki couldn't bring it to himself to ambush Holden with a question.

He, however, knew that if he wouldn't ask Holden, he would forever wonder what the answer to his suspicions was.

So Aki used that one technique he mastered to get an answer from other people. He baited Holden Knight into a confession.

There was only one reason why men in the clergy leave, it's because they couldn't fulfill their oath of celibacy. So in Aki's case, he was itching to know which of his sisters caught the deacon's attention. It should be one of them, right?

He never saw Holden place so much interest in the opposite gender, the way Holden dotted on his sisters whenever they were around.

Going back to his wall of evidence, Aki thought it could be Stellar because of their photo, but it could be Cassy as well since Holden's the only person calling Cassiopeia by her real name.

"So, Brother Holden…" Aki trailed off. He turned his back on Holden and faced the bookshelf, dusting the lined books with his finger, but saw none.

Pivoting in his heel, he sighed. "If you chanced upon my sisters out on a date, don't hesitate to report to me. I'll book a flight ASAP and lecture the guy."

Aki's eyes widened upon noticing Holden halt in his steps. He was triumphant at the thought of Holden falling into his trap. However, the smile on Aki's face disappeared when Holden turned and faced him.

Holden had a neutral expression on his face as his hand dipped inside his pocket. Meeting Aki's gaze, Holden spoke, "You have one chance to ask me anything, Aki."

That's it. Aki's mind exploded. He could ask anything that he wanted to know about the closed-off Holden. By the looks of it, Holden knew exactly what Aki was dying to know.

Stringing his words into a sentence, Aki asked the question that first surfaced in his head, "What made you leave, Brother?"

Looking up at the ceiling as if the answers were floating in the air, Holden then closed his eyes and tugged his ears.

Facing Aki, Holden mused, "I thought you'd ask me who between your sisters am I dating."

Aki's stomach twisted in a knot. "Yeah… about that. You can also answer that one."

"But you only have one question and my answer to that is… it was a long time coming." A rueful smile crossed Holden's face, the painful truth squeezed his heart dry. "I always felt as if I could do more outside than staying here, which I have proven was true for the last year," he continued.

"Okay." Aki waved off Holden's explanation and focused on the pressing matter at hand. "But let's go back to my other question. Are you dating any of my sisters?" Aki pressed, earning him a helpless smile from Holden. The nerve of this traitor to show his dimple, ah!

Aki should be seething with rage, but he didn't want to blow his chance of squeezing words from Holden's tightly shut mouth. Also, it's not as if his sisters were underage and couldn't make a sound decision for themselves.

Stellar and Cassy both earned their degrees, so they could date a man as long as he was not a family man.

Replying with a question of his own, Holden teased the fuming Aki. "Who do you think it is? Hypothetically."

"Please say it's Stellar," Aki exasperated, surprising Holden.

"Why do you want it to be Stellar? Why not Cassiopeia?"

"Because… Stellar deserves someone who understands her, not someone who would control her and tuck her away. It would make me at ease knowing that she has someone like you behind her back. And Cassy's engaged… so."

Clearing his throat, Holden dug up his hand from his pocket and zipped the biggest luggage laying on the bed.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Brother Aki, but I'm not dating any of your sisters… yet. I do, however, would love to receive your blessing before I pursue Stellar."

Slowly, Aki's face split in half when the corners of his lips tugged up in a beaming smile.

Hours later, in the stillness of the night, Holden dragged a piece of luggage in each hand as he entered Cooper's penthouse suite… or so he thought.

As he was toeing one shoe after the other at the entryway, he wondered why all the lights were off, when Cooper always kept a lamp on at night.

Slipping on a clean set of indoor slippers, he shrugged the thought away and dragged his stuff to the bedroom on the first floor where would be staying until he found a place he could call his home.