479 Scar Face

Styles was seeing Chris differently. He used to see the other as a formidable mentor. Chris was like a big brother whom everyone looked up to and wanted to become in the future—Gus was one of them. However, who would have thought that after listening to him, you'd feel uneasy and feel sad for him?

"I'm… sorry that happened to you..." was all that Styles could say.

Chris shot him a glance and scoffed, rolling his eyes when he responded, "Yeah, me too. Look, I did not tell you this so you can pity me. I don't need anyone's sympathy. What happened already happened. You asked for the truth and I told you mine. That's it."

Seeing as Chris didn't want to dwell on the matter, Styles proceeded to ask, "So… no one knows where your sister is? What about Hughes? You said she's helping you look for her. How did that go?"

"It's not that easy." He shook his head. "For so many years, we've been separated and all this time, I thought she died. My sister isn't American, so she doesn't have any papers here. No pictures… no nothing. She could be anywhere and anyone. That is… if she's even alive. It's already hard for them to look for a criminal on the run or those who have changed identities. Finding a dead person from two decades ago…" He sighed.

"So how much do you trust this person? Are you sure she's not part of those backing up Shadow? I mean… After all, how did she know about you?"

Chris gave Styles a look and he contemplated his answer. After a moment, he averted his gaze and said, "I just do. I won't talk about it anymore until Katherine gets here. I need some air." He got up and headed out of the apartment, one of the men following behind him.

Styles watched as Chris disappeared, then he glanced at Gus who gave him a shrug—the two of them couldn't tell what Chris was thinking most of the time. Sighing, he took out his phone and thought about calling Katherine and Damien.

…

Park Mansion

Just as dinner had finished, Katherine's phone buzzed. She took a peek at the screen of her phone on her lap and when she saw that it was Styles, she worried that it was something important. However, she was still at the dining table with Damien's family—Nana and Uncle Fred's family, so she couldn't just stand up and leave.

Noticing her expression, Damien glanced at her lap and saw the caller ID. "Take it," he told her.

Noticing the couple, Nana wondered what was going on. "What is it, dear?"

Katherine straightened in her seat and hesitantly replied, "Oh, sorry, Nana. My friend is calling…"

"Is everything okay? Go ahead and take it… It must be something important that you don't want to miss. Don't mind us."

Damien nodded when Katherine looked at him, so she slightly bowed at Nana and got up from her chair to take the call in the living room.

"Where are you? I've been trying to reach you since earlier. I thought you'd be back by now. Weren't you supposed to be out only for lunch?"

"We're… at the Park Mansion." She scanned the huge living room.

"I thought you were going to your grandfather's?"

"Yeah… We went there for lunch. Long story. Anyway, what's up?"

"Oh, um… I just heard some crazy shit about Chris's past today. You will not believe what I just learned about him. How soon can you guys get here? I already have the program ready."

She glanced at the time on her watch and bit her lip, wondering if they could leave soon. "We just finished dinner. I'll tell Damien you called. We should be there in an hour if we leave now. Have you guys eaten already?"

"Not yet. In fact, my stomach pets are already complaining. Queeeen… I need food," he whined, and his stomach grumbled so loud that she heard it.

Chuckling, Katherine nodded her head even though he couldn't see it. "Alright, fine. I'll bring you guys food. Text me what you want to eat and we'll get it on the way."

"You're the best! Ciao!"

When the call ended, she headed back to the dining room only to bump into Damien who was worried that something had happened.

"What did he say?" he asked, his hand already finding hers.

"He wanted us to go there now. The program is done."

"Okay." Damien nodded and brought her back to the dining room. "Then let's go say goodbye to them."

The couple told Nana that they had to leave already. She was worried at first, thinking that Katherine received bad news after that phone call, but they reassured her that it was nothing to worry about. Soon, they were in front of the mansion and were ready to leave. The two bid farewell and hugged Nana goodbye.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell Nana yet?" Katherine asked in almost a whisper as they got in the vehicle.

"I'll tell her tomorrow. We had enough dictator for today," said Damien, in which she responded with a laugh.

…

Harbor City

As they arrived back in the city, they stopped by a restaurant and had Eric—from the Delta Team who drove them around that day—order some food. They were waiting inside the car when Katherine received a text message from Styles.

[Styles: Queen, can you buy more bandages while you're out? Hawk's running low. Or we can just leave him to die and rot from an infection.]

She chuckled upon reading and told Damien about the text. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly nodded. "I'm going with you. There's a pharmacy over there."

The two got out of the car and headed towards the pharmacy—it was the kind that had a mini-mart inside the establishment.

"Can you grab a few bottles of water?" she asked.

"Sure." Damien went to the far end of the room where the refrigerators were. Katherine, on the other hand, searched for some bandages. 

When she found them on the bottom shelf of the rack, she grabbed a whole box so they didn't have to keep going out to buy. Just as she straightened up and turned around, she bumped into someone and lost her balance. She was still squatting when it happened, so when she stumbled, her hand immediately held her weight as she pressed it on the ground.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there. Are you okay?" asked the man. He bent down to her level, picked up the box of bandage, and handed it to her. "Here," he said, a small smirk forming on his face.

Katherine looked up to the man's face, and her heart rammed in her ribcage. He had a long, diagonal scar that started above his left brow and ended on his left cheek. She knew exactly who he was—someone she did not expect to see ever again—one of the people that she never wanted to see again. A surge of memory from years ago flashed in her mind… And for a second, she wondered if she was fast enough to run away from him.