章節 35: Side Story : Nadia (3)
Nadia didn't utter a word after returning from Cafe Eve, still haunted by Michelle's words urging her to forget what had transpired.
It's so easy for her to say that!!!
To forget everything after she had searched for that man for a days, thinking about him day and night, especially after he had stolen her heart. It all seemed so unfair.
Gris and Angelina, seeing Nadia lost in her thoughts, silently accompanied her on the way back to BtP. Gris wanted to make a joke about it, but a stern look from Angelina deterred him. Gris knew Angelina well – she might be shy and reserved, but when angered, she was as fierce as a lioness protecting its cub or a mother-in-law displeased by her daughter-in-law's dominance.
Nadia really wanted to discuss all this with her friends, but she felt that there was nothing left to tell them except that everything was over.
Maybe she should just forget everything and stop dreaming once and for all.
The three of them returned to attend a few afternoon classes, as they were still junior BtP members, meaning they were still in training for their abilities. They were required to learn many things before they could get into the field and start their duties. Nadia spent her time in a tumultuous mood until the lessons were over and returned to her room.
Every junior member in BtP usually shares a room with another junior in the special BtP dormitory. However, for superhumans with finder, mindreader, and copier abilities above 80%, each has a private room. As far as Nadia remembered, only the main international BtP had them.
Finders are superhumans who can locate other superhumans by reading their energy. Mindreaders can read and even influence thoughts. Both abilities are deemed dangerous by superhumans outside of BtP because they can be captured and turned into "rabbits".
Initially, many BtP members had finder and Mindreader abilities, but they became targets of superhuman assassinations from outside BtP. For copier types, BtP has many, but those above 80% accuracy are rare as they can learn finder or Mindreader abilities.
Nadia placed her hand on an electronic device the size of her palm attached to the wall next to her door. The scanner light moved, and the door opened. Her room was modest, similar to a 5-star hotel room, complete with electronic gadgets. She flopped onto her bed without changing, feeling exhausted from overthinking. She closed her eyes trying to forget the events, but she found herself thinking about the masked man. She had drawn several conclusions about him in the last few days.
Firstly, he must be a powerful superhuman as he defeated her two seniors in an instant. Secondly, he must be a BtP member, likely from the Intelligence Division since he's associated with Michelle. Like Gris said, he might be on a different level. The Intelligence Division is always shrouded in mystery, and he might be one of the top-secret agents. She sighed, that must be why Michelle evaded her and wasn't willing to disclose information about him; he was BtP's secret.
I won't find him again, I have to forget him.
The masked man clearly protected her and helped her. She had already thanked him and he had even helped her, and surely her senior Michelle must have conveyed it. Isn't it better to just end everything here? A few days has passed and perhaps he has completely forgotten about her. Even if they were to meet, they probably wouldn't recognize each other since both wore masks and did not know their true faces.
"That man," Nadia sighed in frustration.
Why did he have to kiss her, making it so difficult for her to forget? She felt entrapped by a spell she couldn't understand. Another thought emerged, and Nadia shook her head on her bed. She touched her hand. When the masked man held her hand, she felt a pleasing jolt, one that made her feel so peaceful, warm, and complete as if everything was astonishing. She felt something that words couldn't describe.
Nadia buried her face in the soft pillow and held her breath. She began to think of forgetting it all, maybe she was just hallucinating or exaggerating. From the start, Gris and Angelina often accused her of being a dreamer who dramatizes every situation. She knew that one can easily fall for someone who saves them in a perilous situation, like when she was cornered by her two seniors.
I'm not in love with that man.
When someone feels threatened, they become tense, and when saved by someone in that critical moment, feelings of relief, comfort, and gratitude arise. Many mistake this for feelings of love.
If only I knew what love is.
Nadia sighed weakly. She had never fallen in love and only knew of its depiction from books and other stories. It's not much different from someone born blind and learning the colors of the rainbow from a book. Tired of thinking, she stood up, took a towel, and went into the bathroom. Soaking in hot water always calmed her and made her think of her past.
...
Her mother had a large family and always felt intimidated by her sisters. When seeing her accomplished nieces and nephews in music, studies, or anything, her mother would force her to be like them or surpass them. To be the best in everything. Before joining BtP, she attended a prestigious all-girls school, excelling in everything, making everyone envious at her mother's insistence. But she herself felt envious of others. She was accustomed to emulating things she didn't like, imitating anyone her mother set as a model. All this was her duty.
Heaven lies under a mother's feet, and she had to obey every word. She had to smile, please everyone, especially her mother's family, show how polite she was and how well her mother managed them, learn boring music, memorize nonsensical books, this, that, and everything else. In the end, she found herself imitating the cousins her mother desired, imitating top students as all her teachers wanted, imitating whatever way others liked, imitating perfectly so her smile and feelings looked sincere, imitating anything and anyone.
Except for imitating herself, she was just a dreamer. A dreamer who wanted to be herself.
Maybe that's why she became a copier, the imitator, even dubbed Nadia The Perfect Copier. Nadia sighed deeply and closed her eyes while soaking.
Feeling love for someone, she didn't know whom to mimic.
Certainly not her friends, Angelina or Gris. She had known them since childhood, and neither had ever had a boyfriend. Her first friend was Angelina. The whiny Angelina loved helping her parents' work. Her father was a successful doctor, as was her mother, initially practicing at home and living happily with young Angelina, who often assisted them. One day her father was ordered to leave their small practice and take over his grandfather's large, widespread hospitals, moving Angelina to live with her overprotective grandparents who adored her.
Since then, Angelina rarely saw her parents, crying repeatedly, missing them and their warm, smile-filled clinic. Angelina often begged to visit her parents' hospital, but her grandparents, concerned about her health, wouldn't allow it. They consistently told her she could see her parents at the hospital once she could heal the sick. Naturally, Angelina felt helpless. Since her grandparents' deaths and her parents' rare appearances, Angelina became very quiet. Angelina's only wish was to become a doctor as soon as possible, heal people, and join her parents.
Gris was different. She was an only child, and her family was always busy traveling abroad due to their longstanding involvement in the import-export business. Additionally, they owned several factories overseas. Her parents were almost never at home. Since childhood, Gris was looked after by her spinster aunt who was gloomy and never married. Gris mockingly called her the 'grumpy old maid'. Most of her childhood was spent in the company of a servant and her colored pencils. She would always try to depict the activities she wished to share with her parents, as this was what her parents told her to do every time they returned home and met with her. "Draw out what you'd like us to do together, and when dad or mom has time, we will do it," they'd say. To Gris, it was merely a platitude to avoid her nagging.
Gris always yearned for those moments with her parents, doing all the things she illustrated. Yet, none of those dreamt up scenarios ever truly happened. As she grew older, her hope dwindled. She stopped sketching shared experiences and began only drawing her parents. Amazingly, her illustrations started reflecting their actual, real-time actions. Her parents were shocked when they saw her drawings because everything was depicted accurately, including drawings of her father with another woman and her mother with another man.
To Gris, it made no difference. She didn't care who her parents were with, as long as she wasn't part of the picture. Her parents didn't divorce but chose to understand and negotiate their indiscretions, mainly to maintain their public image. They both hailed from esteemed families, and their reputations took precedence over everything else, driving them further away from home. Gris faced all of this coldly. She only had her paintings and her friends. She realized her superhuman power but never mentioned it to anyone, not even to her close friends, Nadia and Angelina, until the very end.
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