400 Us Against The World 1

"Hello, our little angel…" a man said. 

"Oh, mon bébé…" a sobbing woman cooed 'my baby' in French.

The setting of the video that was playing in the camcorder was in a hospital. The mother cradled the newborn baby in her arms while the father gently caressed the infant's forehead with the tips of his fingers. The smiles on their faces were full of love and warmth that only a child would understand if they ever get to see it.

"What would you name your baby?" someone asked in the background.

The mother glanced at her husband and then gazed at her baby with joy in her eyes. "Katherine… It means pure." Her French accent was almost lost in her quiet sobs.

"Mm. It's also powerful and royal," the father agreed.

"Beautiful name. Baby Katherine Young it is," the other person said.

The video clip was cut after that and another one played. This time, it was a clip of Katherine's first birthday. Then the second. And then the third. They were only very short clips—like snippets of her life until she was eight.

"Daddy, why do you keep recording my birthdays?" little Katherine wondered as she took a bite of her birthday cake.

"Because they're important. I want to capture these precious moments and look back at them whenever I want to in the future. You only get to be little for a short time," Mason Young answered.

"Am I growing up so fast?"

"Yes, but I don't want you to. So don't hurry, okay?"

"I'll always be your little girl, daddy! Even when I'm twenty or thirty or fifty!" Katherine giggled. Her face was so bright in front of the camera.

The ninth birthday came… the tenth… and eleventh.

"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a, chérie?" Natalie Young asked her daughter what was wrong when she saw Katherine's misty eyes.

"Maman... I hate Matty. He was so mean to me today." Katherine pouted, irritation was written all over her face. "There was this homework I didn't do so well and he scolded me. I don't want to go to school anymore and I won't forgive him."

"Are you sure? He's always been there for you though… Maybe you should talk to him. Look, he just arrived. It's your birthday. Do you really want to stay angry with him today?" Mason Young chimed in and the video clip was shaky in his hands while he moved around.

"I won't forgive him unless he says he's sorry," Katherine stubbornly declared, refusing to even turn to see Matthew and his mother entering their living room.

The video camera's screen was slammed shut and Katherine could no longer control the tears that were pouring out of her eyes. Her heart was in so much pain that she could hardly breathe. It felt as though it was squeezed yet blood kept flowing out of it—the ache didn't end.

And for the first time, in a really long time… Katherine grieved.

Grandfather Theo also cried with her, his tears wetting his cheeks as his heart ached for his pitiful granddaughter. He could only console her by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, stroking her and gently rocking her back and forth while she wept and broke down. 

Since he met her again, it was the first time that she actually cried like this in front of him and he felt relieved. All this time, he thought that she was only keeping it in and he didn't think that it was healthy for her. There was only so much pain, hatred, and guilt that one person could take. He was afraid that one day she would lose herself for trying to keep it in.

"My dear Katherine… everything is going to be alright…" he softly told her. Katherine remained in her grandfather's arms while the sky cried heavily with her.

The image of Damien flashed in her mind and she slowly pulled away. The urge to see him became greater each second. "Grandpa, I need to go." She quickly shoved the device in her bag and sprinted out of Grandfather Theo's office. She heard him call after her but she didn't stop and hurriedly rode the elevator.

She dialed Damien's phone but it didn't ring. She tried three more times but still nothing, so she tried to call Markus but his phone was busy too. Feeling frustrated, she called Styles who answered on the first ring. "Where's Damien?" she asked right away.

"Umm… He isn't here—"

"Can you find him for me? I tried to call him but it didn't go through."

"Well he was here earlier but—hold on, let me try to check the security cameras and see what time he left the building, and maybe I can see where he was headed." The tapping of keys sounded in the background and Katherine anxiously waited. "That's strange…"

"What's strange?" Her heart raced.

"Well he entered the elevator but he didn't come out of the lobby… Eh? Wait… Hold on a second… Does he know someone else in the building? This is weird… He clearly entered the elevator and stepped out… but he didn't come out of the lobby—Wait a minute! It was not going down… it was going up!"

"What do you mean? The next floor up? Who's living on the 62nd floor?"

"I… No record. Not in the database."

"What are you saying, Styles?"

"There's no record of the tenant on the 62nd floor. So I don't know who is living there."

Katherine reached the ground floor of Young Corporation and she stopped in her tracks. The gears in her head started working quickly. The incident about the security cameras on the stairwell and how Damien was able to control it flashed in her mind. "Styles, is Maverick Security responsible for the building's security system?"

"Yeah, King Charming gave me access to—"

Katherine ended the call without saying goodbye. Her heart was beating so fast, she was afraid it would leap out of her chest. She looked for the video that Damien sent her on the day she moved—the one where he took with Bear in a place that she wasn't familiar with. When she found the video, she pressed play and carefully watched the entire thing, taking in the background view of the clip. 

And when she saw it, she paused the video and stared at the corner left of her phone screen where she saw the exact same view from her bedroom. She couldn't believe it. Damien lived on the next floor above her and she didn't even know it!

Katherine rushed outside the building and hailed a taxi under the heavy rain. She heard Felix calling her name from the lobby but she ignored him and got inside the taxi that stopped for her.

"Golden Phoenix Residences," she told the driver who sped off right after.

It was still rush hour and it made her more anxious. When she was a block away from her building, the car was stuck in traffic. Feeling impatient, she paid for her ride, got out, and started running. She was soaked but she didn't care. She wanted to see him so badly and neither the rain nor the traffic could delay her.

When she finally reached the front of her building, Katherine was drenched, rainwater dripping from her hair and clothes. As she entered the lobby, she called Styles. "I'm going to ride the elevator. Access 62nd for me."

"You think he's there?"

"Just do it." She got in the elevator and looked at the camera, aware that Styles could see her. She pressed the option for the 62nd-floor penthouse and it asked for a code. She could try to guess what the code was but she waited for a few beats and the car started moving, bringing her to the topmost floor swiftly.

She was slightly lightheaded from the ride but as soon as the door opened and she stepped inside the foyer, her racing heart competed with her head.

"Katherine?" Damien appeared from the side looking confused and worried at her appearance.

Without any care about her surroundings, she let go of everything and took long strides towards him. Grabbing fistfuls of his collar, she pulled him down and crashed her lips to his. 'Hell be damned. There's no going back now, Damien. Because from here on out, it's us against the world.'