His
Reflection(7)
written by Sycia
Memories Make A Person:
Kula
Diamond looked out of her hospital window, admiring the cityscape she could see.
It was the morning after and she was feeling a whole lot better, physically and
emotionally. She had limped around the room for quite a while.
She supposed
K’ or Maxima was just outside her room, keeping guard. After all, she was
practically a sitting duck since NESTS knew of her location, but since they
weren’t aware of her betrayal to them, she was safe for the time being.
I will avenge
you, Foxy… Diana…” Kula looked down at the ground sadly.
At that moment,
Maxima came into the room with a tray. K’ stood at the door, looking quite
uninterested. Kula’s stomach gave an embarrassing growl upon smelling some
food on the tray.
“Looks like
you’re better already.” Maxima smiled and put the tray down on the table.
Kula was taken
aback by Maxima’s kind words, so she returned them with a sweet smile, “Yes.
But it still hurts.” She stole a quick glance at K’, who displayed no
reaction what-so-ever at her sentence.
“I hope you
like porridge.” Maxima gestured for Kula to get the food. The latter slowly
made her way back to the bed where the table was. She eased herself up on the
bed with some difficulty and lifted her arm excited to get a taste of the
steaming porridge. A jolt of pain shot up her arm and tingled her spine, making
her grunt in pain.
Damn…
Maxima, being
the warm-hearted fellow he was, stopped Kula gently, “Need someone to help you
with that?”
She nodded
sheepishly. Maxima looked at K’, who had already gone put to get a nurse. He
came back a while later, shrugging.
“The staff
are all busy with some emergency.”
“Bah,”
Maxima sighed, “I’ll get someone.” He rolled his eyes and went off,
leaving K’ with Kula.
Kula smiled.
Maxima, however hellishly she beat him up or treated him before, acted like she
had not offended him in any way at all now.
A rumble from
Kula’s stomach came about. K’ looked in Kula’s direction and couldn’t
help feeling a little sorry for the girl, who looked nothing like the Anti-K’
killer she was the first time K’ met her. She looked just like any other
regular girl.
So K’ went
over to the wondering Kula, took the bowl of porridge, stood in front of Kula
and scooped a healthy spoonful of the bowl’s contents to offer to the starving
girl.
“?” Was
Kula’s immediate reaction. She had all along thought K’ was the silent cold
type, but now he seemed to contravene that.
K’ didn’t
say anything all the while. He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing himself. He
wasn’t exactly feeling in control of himself at the time, doing what his heart
thought was appropriate. Kula had given him a very strange look when he offered
her the food.
“You’re
hungry right?” K’ muttered when Kula didn’t look as if she wanted the
porridge, staring at K’ as though he were offering her poison.
Upon hearing
what the handsome white-haired man said, Kula felt her face turn hot. Speechless
and utterly lost at what to do, she allowed K’ to feed her the porridge
slowly. She watched him cool the hot porridge with gentle wafts and changed her
impression of him.
This went on
for a while. Kula spent that time looking at K’ in a peculiar manner. She had
often wondered many things about this man. What went through his head and what
he was like inside…
K’ could feel
the girl scrutinizing him all over. It was uncomfortable; as if he was being
judged. He concentrated on the porridge, avoiding eye contact with Kula as if
there were gold nuggets in the bowl.
Once, he looked
up at Kula when the silent between them grew unbearable. And Kula had quickly
leaded her eyes somewhere else upon feeling his blue eyes on her.
A little while
later, Kula took the initiative and spoke.
“Are you
always this quiet?” She said after gathering her courage.
K’ was mildly
startled when Kula spoke. He was even more surprised at her question. Why was
she bothered about him? Was she trying to befriend him? K’ didn’t consider
anyone a friend; Maxima was only a good acquaintance.
He answered
after a while, “Mostly.”
Kula sighed to
herself and thought of another question, “When can I get out of here?”
“When you
recover.” K’ shrugged.
“Hey. I’m
just trying to make our situation less awkward here. Relax a little will ya?
Kula said, challenging K’.
K’ glowered
at Kula but did not reply.
“Okay okay…
I’m sorry that I tried to kill you and all.”
K’ didn’t
understand what Kula was getting at, “I don’t really care about what
happened back there. I did far worse things than you when I was with the
cartel.”
“So you mean
you’ll bury the hatchet?” Kula suddenly sat up straight, slightly happy.
“I couldn’t
care less about it. It wasn’t your fault anyway.” K’ mumbled.
He’s
as cold as ever… Kula thought, “I’m full.” She rubbed her stomach.
K’ put the
bowl of remaining porridge down and sat back down on a chair, wondering where
the heck Maxima disappeared off to. Kula was thinking the same thing too.
“Do you
remember your past?” K’ suddenly asked Kula.
Kula instantly
replied, “Of course!”
K’ turned
smug, “Tell me what you can remember.”
Kula was rather
ecstatic that K’ wanted to know about her past. She finally broke through his
ice, or so she thought.
“My parents
and brothers died in an accident when I was seven or eight. NESTS had found me
wandering the streets and took me in. It’s all pretty vague to me now.”
“Are you sure
you remember that? Or had all those memories implanted in you?” K’ asked,
scowling.
He thought about NESTS. Those
idiots at the cartel never bothered to feed him with false memories; thinking
that since he was just a mere prototype, they did away with that aspect
altogether after brainwashing him. That proved to be their biggest mistake.
When K’ woke, not remembering
anything, he could still think for himself. He was not a baby that had to gain
experience in life to learn how to walk, talk or think. The void where memories
should have been bothered K’ to the point of turning against his
‘creators’. Memories make a person. And all K’ could depend on was the few
years’ worth of it since he awoke in some white room without any inkling of
his past. He knew NESTS had been the ones to rob him of this privilege. And he
would make them pay.
Kula had
thought K’s question was a rather odd one. Never before had she questioned the
credibility of those foggy blurred memories in her head. She had accepted them
as part of herself ever since she could remember.
“What do you
mean?” Kula asked.
K’ shook his
head lightly, “How clear are those memories of yours?”
“Not
absolutely clear… why?”
“Do you
remember any specific incident during your childhood? Or how your family members
looked like?”
Thinking about
it now, she couldn’t recollect any important incident from her childhood, or
any details for that matter… Kula remembered her family being a kind one. She
even remembered each member’s character traits, but why couldn’t she recall
their faces?
Try as she
might, the girl could not find anything in her mind to answer K’s questions.
“You mean…
all I remember… my past… everything… is just a lie?” Kula asked in a
hoarse whisper after some time.
K’ nodded
sympathetically. Kula did not react strongly to that revelation. Her
subconscious’s must have known, for something told her that it was to be
expected, coming from NESTS… She kept quiet, thinking.
“Are you
alright?” K’ asked, concerned (and at the same time, astonished that he
asked her that).
Kula was amazed
that this man should ask her such a question, “I think so… I knew,
unconsciously… I knew it all along.”
“Good. Then it will make the task of destroying NESTS a lot easier.”
Part 8 coming up...