I am a love interest in a harem novel!?

Lawrence

"Why are you doing this..?"

He looked at the woman sitting beside him. She looked apprehensive, a hint of suspicion starting to cloud her limpid green eyes. Her blonde hair was haphazardly tied behind her nape. Some strands have escaped and were being blown in all directions by the wind coming from the slightly opened car window on her right side.

He shifted his tired eyes back to the road as they swiftly passed through rows of trees.

Later on, he decided to answer truthfully.
"It was Lawrence's ultimatum. And..."

He felt her eyes on him as soon as he spoke. "I want to be free."

He didn't elaborate and focused on driving instead. He thought she wouldn't speak for a long while once again but the sound of her voice filled the comforting silence after mere seconds, surprising him.

"Is Lawrence really gone?"

"...Yes."

The woman shifted in her seat and gazed out into the woods. For a while, they remained sitting quietly. The only sound that remained was of the car as he maneuvered it through the highway. However, from time to time there would be other vehicles passing by the driver's side, adding into the constant hum of the engine.

"It must have been hard..."

She seemed to be sympathizing with him, but he didn't know how to respond so he chose to remain quiet.

The people he grew up with were not the type to give compassion. His mother was the worst of them all, but he didn't blame her. Unloved and neglected, she was used by her parents through and through. They sold her under the guise of marriage to a rich man who didn't know the meaning of faithfulness. He was born a year later and from then on, he grew up seeing her suffer everyday so when she started using him to get pity from the man she truly loved, he didn't say anything.

Even when she intentionally hurt him, he didn't complain. After all, it did catch the man's pity.

His mother was able to divorce his abusive and cheating father with the help of Yeon Lewis as soon as he reached eight. The man had taken them under his wing, and even changed Ashton Taylor to Ashton Lewis. Despite this, he didn't marry Ashton's mother.

Ashton heard him say he could only help her to that extent towards his mother who looked as white as sheet at his admission that he didn't quite like her like she did with him.

The help that was given to them needed to be repaid, in the end. Ashton's loyalty and service became the compensation. And so he was trained at arms and combat without much of a choice. Regardless, it was better than having them kicked out into the streets. His mother wouldn't be able to survive. Also, this kind of life was surely better for his mother. No one was beating her and she was living lavishly to her desire.

Not long after, he was sent on missions but had to stop eventually because of a condition he didn't know he had. A split personality was how they called it.

The name of the other identity was Lawrence. A woman who was willful. She loved to chase beautiful men and was decisive and independent and wild. At first, she only appeared whenever he was unknowingly stressed but as time passed by, she grew stronger and managed to take over his body for half a day. In a span of one month, she began to take control during the day and Ashton, at night.

With the loss of his service, his mother's spending was cut to the bare minimum. She grew even more depressed until one day, he found her hanging in her bedroom with a note saying she was sorry.

Immediately after that, Lawrence impersonated him and took on a mission in order to leave the mansion. She had planned to escape from Yeon Lewis without telling Ashton. When he came to, he was already working in a marketing company as an intern. Everyone thought him gay and the mission Lawrence had unwittingly taken without thinking it through was right under his nose. 

Rui Hughes. 

At first he was torn between executing and abandoning the task but every time he tried to carry out the mission, Lawrence would intervene. In the end, he consented to her wishes, finally realizing all his hardship had lost all sense of purpose now that his mother's dead. He had thought that if this was the case, then it was fine for Lawrence to take over. But that had began to slowly change as he unintentionally stepped into Lawrence's world of normalcy. He hadn't realized that spending time peacefully with other people was something he began to look forward to. 

One day, he just woke up feeling so greedy, he started to fight for dominance over his body to which Lawrence didn't take too kindly as she spewed nonsense about his poor and comical social skills. Thereby, he wouldn't be able to live the best life that she could easily achieve if she were to take over completely. They fought for days, causing him to miss work due to the irregular and abrupt changes in personality. Lawrence would insist to go but he insisted that he should go instead. It was a non ending battle but this was finally put to an end when Yeon Lewis called him, reminding him not to delay the mission any longer. If he was going to be useless, he will have to hunt him down and eliminate him.  

Lawrence and Ashton are caught in a predicament, and for the first time, they talked seriously without insults and self-harm. 

The next day, Lawrence admitted defeat. 

"For our survival, I will go... But you mustn't forget about me. And you mustn't hurt my friends." 

"...I will do that." Ashton promised sincerely. 

"Well, I'd like to bid you good luck with Shirly but knowing how poor your social skills are, you'd probably end up friend-zoned. Eww." 

Ashton had frowned at her statement and wanted to rebut it instantly but the former was faster than him.

"Ashton... In the first place, I was born from your frustration but I can feel it fading away day by day. I know you don't need me anymore but, I don't want to disappear as if I never existed... It's unfair... Wasn't I the one who was brave enough to get away from that hellhole? Wasn't I the one who gave us this chance to live normally...? And yet... why do I have to leave..?" 

Ashton couldn't reply to her as tears pricked his eyes due to Lawrence's emotions. Her statements were all true... 

"But I don't want to be selfish... You're the only one who can save us... So please be happy for me..."

After those words, Lawrence had truly disappeared... Her existence felt like a dream but Ashton knew it wasn't.

He then proceeded to cut deep into his skin to remove the micro tracking chip they were using to locate him at all times. It was a tricky little thing with temperature sensors that would send an alarm back to the organization if it were to detect the slightest change in temperature. That was why he decided to do it in a sauna so it wouldn't trigger an alert if he succeeds in getting it out. As soon as he was done with this, there will be a lot more things to do. He had to be fast. 

His consciousness bounced back to the present as he glanced at the woman in the shotgun seat. "Do not worry. I will not let you die." 

Frankly, it wasn't only because of Lawrence's wish.

Rui Hughes gave him a watery smile. "Thank you... Ashton." 

He was afraid if Uziel were to find out that he let her die without dying himself, then he'd best start digging his own grave because the man will surely kill him. Naturally, he won't let that happen. Still... he can't help but wonder why this woman refused to be under Uziel's protection. 

After divulging the general situation to her, he thought the first person she'd call would surely be Axton but she surprised him when she asked him if he could take her away. It was an odd request but he agreed nonetheless. After all... If it was Lawrence, then she'd surely agree. Normal people like to help others. If he was going to leave his past then he'll have to change... 

***

A/N: Happiness can't be achieved without actions. 

          Anyway, the tracking device is a total bull! I just made it up. \("▔□▔)/\("▔□▔)/\("▔□▔)/ I don't know if temperature sensors are possible to install in such a tiny device. But hey! A lot of things are becoming possible as the years pass by so... Honestly, I'm too lazy to research about a small detail so don't mind it if you came across it and thought it funny.  ('ε｀；)（○゜ε＾○）