The Villain Of Arise

xxxiv: interesting

"What?" Mari looked simply enraged. "Did you say?"

Melinda cursed under her breath. The rain continued on, and at this point it was hard not to freeze under the chilling rain.

"Which direction did he go?" she asked.

"Right side of the border," Toshiro said, then bowed his head. "My apologies for not defending it as I should."

Melinda sighed, shaking her head. "Nevermind that. Let's talk about this later but for now, it's time to find Damon."

They raced through the trees as fast as they could, leaving Toshiro behind to guard the camp. Jaehyung could still see Mari fuming, her anger easily seen. She did not try to hide it either. Jaehyung suspected it was something to do with the shame of having the flag taken so easily.

They hadn't gone far when they heard a loud thump in the distance. The three of them slowed down immediately as they saw the familiar figures of two people they knew.

"You should know better than to continue to fight me," Damon spoke. The tone of his voice was icy, dripping with disdain. It certainly was a tone Jaehyung had never heard from him.

"I'm not letting you get away," Evangeline simply said.

Damon gave a bitter laugh and there was something in his expression - Jaehyung couldn't decipher. Although it looked very much akin to regret and for some reason, Damon looked like he was holding back. But why?

"Look, Damo," Evangeline said softly. Jaehyung's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't know Evangeline could talk like this - that she had this kind of personality. She was always so distant with people. And when she did talk, her words were curt and precise, getting straight to the point. Because of her nature, it was hard to get close to her and therefore Evangeline was mostly left alone for the most part.

They were speaking in Russian but because of the translation device, Jaehyung knew that Mari and Melinda would understand what they were saying. "You know I didn't choose this." Evangeline continued to speak. Her hands were shaking under the rainy weather.

"Eva-" Damon said sharply. "Don't talk about it. Not only had we both agreed to not talk about that but we were going to pretend that we knew nothing about each other. Don't break it now."

Something about Damon seemed off - almost unsteady. Mari got ready to step in but Jaehyung extended out a hand that stopped her. For whatever reason that happened, Mari backed down, settling into silence.

Perhaps it was the atmosphere at the moment that gave Mari and Melinda time to stop and simply not try to intervene. Nonetheless, eavesdropping on a private conversation was just as bad - and actually even worse.

Jaehyung observed the two, taking note of their behaviour. Under the rain, their rings they were both wearing glimmered. The rings looked somewhat similar.. almost like a pair. Jaehyung reared back at the discovery, but ended up stepping on a twig in the process. He cursed under his breath. Melinda glanced at him.

Then Melinda suddenly tumbled through the trees, wrestling Damon as he was distracted. She began to laugh, "That serves you right you asshole!" she said. "This is payback for taking the flag."

Evangeline flinched and Mari and Jaehyung soon came in afterwards. Jaehyung internally sighed in relief. It seemed Melinda's appearance made it less obvious about the fact that they were eavesdropping on their conversation.

"You- what? I couldn't even hear you," Evangeline looked flustered, totally unlike her. Mari punched Damon on the shoulder.

"Jailed," she muttered. "That was for taking the flag without our permission." Then Mari immediately began to fold a blindfold around Damon's face.

"You couldn't hear us?" Melinda asked, her eyes looking at Jaehyung before quickly gazing at Evangeline again. She smiled brightly - a strange look as it clashed with the pouring rain and her soaked body. "That's strange. We were trying to capture Damon and when we heard a loud noise we immediately came over here. Good thing you caught him, Evangeline."

"Ah... n-no problem. Did you hear anything strange?"

Melinda looked confused, "Oh yeah I did. It was when Damon took the flag. I swear I heard alarms ringing in my head. It was that bad."

Evangeline closed her eyes, then immediately gained composure. She bowed her head. "Let's take Damon to jail then. And as for the flag, well I'll tell the team what to do later on. It was a close call."

Melinda laughed, "You bet! If it wasn't for you stopping Damon, who knows how far he'd have gotten. All I want now is shelter from the rain. I swear I'm going to get a cold after this assessment."

"Melinda and I will scout the rest of the territory," Jaehyung suddenly spoke. "How about you and Mari take Damon to shelter or find our other teammates?"

Evangeline glanced at him then nodded. "Very well," she spoke.

Jaehyung watched the two head off then stared at Melinda. Grinning from ear-to-ear, the pink-haired girl smiled. "No need to thank me," she said, still smiling. "It's all in a day's work for a Spanish actress like me."

"You're an actress?"

"You haven't heard of me?" Melinda asked, in mock horror then began to laugh. "I'm just joking around. But yeah, I'm an actress when I'm not studying. I'm not that known worldwide, only in Spain and Portugal I guess."

"Interesting," Jaehyung murmured.

"That's all you're going to say?" Melinda asked, unimpressed. Then she shook her head, still laughing. "Anyway that was a nice revelation with Damon and Evangeline but a bit too personal nonetheless. To think that the two were-"

Jaehyung zoned out, gazing off in the distance. A light shining in the forest distracted him, as bright as day, even with the cloudy and wet weather. "Jeongsuk," he muttered. "It seems he's here."