Chapter 156 - Their Childhood

A little girl laughed cheerfully as she bounced in the wet puddle in the backyard. Usually, her mother was there to look after the child but not that day. Her mother was working inside the house so that the ones looking after her were two boys. One was busy playing with the remote-controlled flying helicopter while the other looked at the child anxiously.

"Vincent, you don't want to try it?" said Benjie, keeping his eyes focused on the toy.

"What if she falls? You're not worried about her at all?" Vincent was more worried about little Rinrin, who was still busy jumping around while chasing a flying butterfly.

"She's fine. Even if she falls, she won't cry. She's not a whiny kid like you."

"I'm not whiny!" protested Vincent without looking at his nosy cousin and took care of the little girl attentively.

Not long after, Rinrin stumbled some tiny rocks and fell. At first, she didn't cry; instead, she was about to get up and jump back up. But when she saw Vincent running towards her with a concerned look, then checked her body to make sure there were no injuries, little Rinrin cried loudly while hugging Vincent's neck.

Benjamin, who was still busy playing with his remote control, was startled to hear Rinrin's cry. The toddler cried and put her head on Vincent's shoulder indulgently while Vincent patted Rinrin's back mildly. Benjamin was stunned in disbelief at the scene before his eyes.

Vincent was famous for never being patient with small children. Because of that, Vincent never wants to have a younger sibling and always answers no when asked if he wants to have a baby brother or sister. Meanwhile, Rinrin was known as a child who doesn't cry easily. But why does that kid always turn into a crybaby in front of Vincent?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It looked like the hyper baby girl only became a crybaby when Vincent beside her." clicked Benjamin still couldn't believe the change in the attitude of the maid's daughter who worked at his house.

Benjamin was utterly unaware that his helicopter was still flying and crashed into a tree. A moment later, the helicopter crashed downwards, making a very loud sound.

"Aaaa... NO!! My helicopter!!"

Vincent rolled his eyes lazily at the exaggeration of his cousin. Then he took Rinrin, who had stopped crying, into the house.

Just as they were standing in the center of the main hall, a woman with reddish-brown hair shouted.

"WATCH OUT!!"

Rinrin accidentally looked up and saw a huge decorative lamp falling towards her.

Instantly the atmosphere turned dark, and Catherine woke up from a nightmare... for the umpteenth time.

Catherine wiped the sweat off her forehead as she calmed herself down. Why did she dream of that same decorative lamp falling on her? It seemed she had dreamed it too but under different circumstances. What's with the decorative lights? Why does it often appear in her dreams?

She wondered who that boy was? She felt she heard the boy's name in her dream, but she couldn't remember it when she woke up.

What confused her even more, why did she dream of that boy so often? Who is that boy, really? She was sure the child's name was mentioned in her dream, but she couldn't remember it when she woke up. Not only the boys' names, but she also couldn't recall what their faces look like.

If this happened in the past, Cathy would give up and took it as an ordinary dream. But this time, something was different. Somehow she felt like she had seen that child before. Not only the boy who soothed her but also the boy who played his remote control.

Cathy felt sure she'd seen the two kids before, so this time she was trying hard to remember where she'd seen them both.

She remembered that Felicia had shown her some photos earlier. Do the two children in her dream have the same face as the photo she saw? When Cathy almost found the answer, her phone buzzed, indicating an incoming message.

Cathy reflexively took her cellphone to check the name of the sender. Once she saw the sender's name, her heart seemed to stop.

She pressed once on the screen of her smartphone and read the contents of the message. Not long after, Cathy got up and immediately called the driver. Because Owen didn't show up right away and Cathy didn't want to waste any more time, she just walked out of the house without a jacket, purse, wallet, or anything. Only a cell phone which she kept in her jacket pocket.

Cathy immediately ran towards the main street and intercepted a taxi. After giving an address, the taxi driver immediately headed to the destination. Unfortunately, Cathy was utterly unaware of gas coming out from below. A few minutes later, Cathy fell asleep, and the taxi driver took her away from her destination.

***

Previously, Cathy had a dream when a decorative lamp fell on her young self. Now she dreamt of other things. An adult man wearing a black mask has carried her and the boy who had hugged her away from the decorative lamp.

"Zeezee..." Cathy could see the little girl looked excited to see the masked black man.

The black-masked person rubbed the little girl's small head before leaving and disappeared from their sight.

"Are you all right?" asked the woman with reddish-brown hair.

"I am fine." the boy replied, then glanced at Rinrin, who was still laughing, "Looks like she's not hurt either." he continued with a sigh of relief. "Chloe, that was such a danger."

"You're right. I have to call someone to fix it. We better use a regular-sized lamp." Chloe muttered more to herself. "You are amazing. You are not afraid and protect her," said Chloe while stroking the top of Vincent's head, making the little boy smile broadly. "I'm proud of you... Vincent."

Just when Vincent's name was mentioned, Cathy woke up from her sleep. Vincent? The boy's name is Vincent? 

That's it. The boy's face was exactly the same as what she had seen in the ancient gallery where she and Felicia went. She couldn't be wrong. Her memory of remembering someone's face was sharp, so she was sure she wasn't wrong.

But... why did she dream of Vincent's childhood? Why did she also see her biological mother in her dream? This was the first time she had seen her mother in such a colorful fashion. Her mother's hair was wavy with a reddish-brown color, and her skin was pure white and smooth. The color of her light brown eyes made her unable to take her eyes off her mother's beautiful eyes. Even as a woman, Cathy was fascinated by her mother's beauty.

She knew her mother was very beautiful from the picture, but she did not expect her beauty to be so much more than what she saw when she saw it in full color.

Only in her dream could she see all kinds of colors. Because of that, she felt very grateful to see her mother, even if it's just a dream.

It's just that she still doesn't understand why she dreamed of Vincent's childhood? Or... was it possible that she had met Vincent when she was a baby?

A faint noise could be heard outside, interrupting her reverie. Now she was aware of the environment around her. Cathy was in a dark room with her hands tied with ropes. Cathy tried to stay calm against the fear that started creeping up her heart. She was trying to find a way out to escape from this place.

She should have been afraid that she'd been kidnapped. But somehow, Cathy could control her fear. Maybe because she had been warned and received some training from Kinsey and Paul, Cathy didn't let fear overtake her.

She tried to remember the series of things she did before ending up in this place. She recalled she received a message, and the sender asked her to come somewhere. Then she got into a taxi to go to the place then... she couldn't remember.

All right, that means she was kidnapped while she was in the taxi. It was possible that the taxi driver was in cahoots with the kidnappers or that the driver was even one of the kidnappers. Now Cathy had to think about how she could escape from this place and get help.

Bang! Even though Cathy was almost thinking about getting her cellphone, the sound earlier obliterated any plans she was making. The loud noise had made her both a little scared and confused about what was going on outside. Now Cathy's eyes have adapted to the darkness. She could see several objects in the room. Nothing was useful enough to untie the ties in her hands.

Then, Cathy ventured to open the door slowly. She swallowed hard as a bit of light started to enter from the open door, and noise began to be heard louder.

Cathy opened it even wider to make her recognize the meaning of the noise. The sound was like the sound of a fight.. She didn't know who was fighting, but she knew she could run away because no one was guarding the door.