Love Brings You Hone

Brakkk...

The sound of slamming doors and clattering shoe steps deafened Louise.

"What have you been complaining to my parents about, Miss Louise?!" a man shouted suddenly.

Suddenly, Louise put down the exam papers she was holding and lifted her chin up to find the source of the voice. It was the student known as the 'eternal student' who had snuck into her office.

"Calm down, sit down Prince, we can talk this through." Louise said as she got up from her chair.

Prince, instead of obeying his lecturer's orders, kicked the chair in front of him.

"Hey, behave yourself, Prince, remember where you are and who you're dealing with?" she snapped, her heart beating faster every time she saw her "special" student.

"You're a very annoying lecturer. Do you enjoy seeing your students always fighting with their guardians?"

"I do it for your own good too, Prince."

"What good do you mean, lecturer?!"

"Of course, so that your grades will improve, you'll graduate soon and there won't be any more bad rumours about you from people out there."

"Ah... You mean their taunts against me being a perpetual student at this college, right?! I don't care what they say anymore!"

"How can you not care? Do you want to be an eternal resident of this campus?!"

"Arghhh... You're all the same!!!"

He kicked the chair for the second time, as if he no longer remembered the figure standing in front of him. Without permission and as if losing her sense of honour, she simply walked away, leaving her lecturer still in a state of shock.

Suddenly, Louise's eyes watered, which immediately invaded the airspace.

Once out of Louise's room, Prince chose to sit casually in the campus canteen with anger still brewing in his chest.

His appearance, which looked like an old man with dishevelled hair, seemed to indicate his current living conditions, which were 'messy'. He lit a cigarette sandwiched between his fingers with an electric lighter while occasionally sipping a cup of coffee served in front of him.

Prince's pupils flashed in all directions. However, until the cup was left with only its dregs, there was no 'something' that could catch his attention.

For a moment, he remained pensive until regret dawned on him. He realised that what he did to Louise earlier was too harsh, "Should I apologise to her?"

Kringgg...

The deafening sound of the mobile phone inevitably made Louise immediately need to pick it up.

"Huh... What the heck?! Alright, I'll be right there."

Louise hurriedly cleared up the things scattered on the desk. She grabbed her bag and walked towards the campus car park. Louise felt her stomach muscles tighten in an instant as she was forced to drive her car at high speed by herself.

Upon hearing the news of Lucas' brother's death, Louise immediately decided to make the long journey to the funeral parlour.

She had to take the winding road that was quite a distance from the capital city. Along the way, there wasn't much scenery to enjoy, with only bushes on either side of the road.

"Damn it!" cursed Louise as her car struggled with rocky, gravelly and even muddy roads on the way.

The loud ringing of bells and the rustling of leaves in the wind filled her auditory passageway when she was almost there.

Taking almost four hours, Louise finally reached the place of mourning, the Onnuri church.

From some distance away, she saw Lucas standing in the doorway. Slowly, she stepped closer to Lucas.

The tall man reflexively turned around when Louise tapped his shoulder.

Behind the charisma hidden in Lucas, there was an implied look of sadness captured by Louise's green eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Lucas."

The tight, warm embrace Louise gave him instantly invaded Lucas's body. For a moment, Lucas felt a sense of calm and peace in that embrace.

"How did your brother pass away?" asked Louise probingly after releasing her embrace.

Lucas's hand was pulled away with lightning speed. Now their eyes met as Louise's body was pressed against the damp brick wall of the church.

A very distinctive cedarwood-scented perfume wafted into Louise's sense of smell.

"She died in the mythical Heaven Lake, Heaven Lake, Louise."

"But how did she die there, Lucas?"

"According to the police investigation, he died by suicide."

"Bu-suicide you say? Oh my... Do you believe them?"

"Of course I don't believe it, Louise. There's no way my brother would go that low."

"But you do know that Lake Paradise is known as a suicide lake too and home to water monsters, as ridiculous as that sounds. So what's your next move, Lucas?"

"I have to investigate it myself, Louise, to find out the real cause of my sister's death."

Louise's body moved restlessly.

"Okay. I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Lucas. Please calm down, I'm going in to see your brother's body first."

Lucas nodded his head, "Go ahead, Louise."

Louise continued her footsteps to enter the church.

The room inside the church was not very spacious, only enough to accommodate dozens of people. Religious ornaments almost filled every corner of the walls and roof of the old church. Objects that contain spiritual elements do not escape being displayed.

After paying her last respects in front of Lucas' brother's picture, Louise looked around for an empty pew.

She found Lucas's mum and dad and his best friend Charity had arrived earlier.

"I'm so sorry, uncle and aunty." Louise said as she hugged Lucas' papa.

After meeting Papa Lucas, Louise continued her walk. She glanced at the chair next to Charity and quickly moved to occupy it.

"What took you so long to come, Louise?"

"Sorry, I had something to take care of at the college."

"You've met Lucas, right?"

Louise nodded her head, "He was devastated."

"Yeah, any sibling would feel the same way."

The conversation flowed effortlessly but was interrupted for a moment when a woman with hair covered by a black veil had just stepped on the floor of the church.

The strange woman's body then leaned against one corner of the room wall.

"Do you know the woman standing there?" Charity asked curiously.

Louise suddenly turned her head to follow Charity's eyeballs and shook her head.

"Hmm... I've never seen that woman before. Why is that? Is there something wrong with her?" Louise asked back.