“Wow. So many things were going on with you. I didn't know what it is like to see things this way. *sniffle*What you could see must have been hard on you. I- I'm-I'm sorry I never truly gave much weight to what you said. I thought all those rumors about you were a hoax, something for the gossipers to keep themselves from boredom.” 

Despite seeing her cry, my face had lit up. I was elated. I was not alone. I had an ally now. Just as she had said all those years ago. She was going to be by my side and help me through my conquest. I wondered if I tried showing this to the rest of the world, would they be able to remember? I didn't doubt my capabilities but if I got aid from the government or maybe from some research facilities, Lethia would no longer be far away from me. So many thoughts raced through my head at once that I wasn't even able to form full sentences. I placed my hands on Maya’s shoulders as she wiped away her tears. 

“This is so- With you maybe- We can- with everyone-”. I dropped myself down to the convertible chair behind me and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Whoooossshhhh” 

After collecting my thoughts, I leaned forward to match Maya's sight and spoke, “Now that you know everything, help me out. I know maybe not everyone will be able to remember but it's fine as long as you can be there with me. Help me find a way back to Lethia. We will bring back Ryan and Chha-” 

“Wait! Stop!”. The expression she made was not what I was expecting at all. “I'm sorry for confusing you. I shouldn't have worded things like that. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong idea.” 

“Wh- What? Bu- But you just saw it didn't you.” I knew that it was my fault for thinking that it was so easy to make someone believe. I had spent my entire life hiding this from everyone because I knew no one would understand. But I had let my guard down for just this once and it hurt my emotions more than I thought it would. I knew it was my fault, but I was angry. Some of it at myself and some of it undeniably at herself. 

“You have a beautiful imagination that I can never match but you have to understand that it is not real. It's all in your head.” 

She went in for a hug, but I leaned out of it. 

With the distrust and anger that I felt, I demanded her, “Give me the files or whatever you found, and I'll be on my way.” I wasn't even looking at her. Just the files that lay there beside her. 

She held my face between her hands and spoke. “No. I can't do that. Listen you promised me that you won't dig any further but with how you are behaving, I don't think that I can trust you with it.” 

I shook her hands off. “Oh yeah. Maybe I did make a fickle promise. Maybe I don't know what I will do next. But isn't that the same as you!? All those years ago, you and those club members ‘together’ promised that you will always be there for me. And what about your promise that we will meet again later. You didn't know if you could keep it either, did you!?” 

“What is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly so aggressive. I may not have known then, but I am here now. I kept my promise. Even if I wasn't sure if I could I tried my best… so calm down and-” 

“I'll just read through these.”, I said as I snatched the files. “Without having the contents with me, I can't continue my search anyways, can I? Consider my part of the agreement completed too.” 

At that time, I didn't know that I may have gone too far with my words. But she was furious.  

“Fine! Do what you will. I'm leaving. It's not my fault if you get caught or not.” she stormed out of the room.  

After flipping a few sheets, I decided that it was no use reading all of it. I was here on limited time and had to leave for the meeting soon. Besides, I was in no state of mind to absorb what was written. With the documents in my hand, I headed to the room where we had entered from. I didn't know exactly where I should have placed the documents. I was scanning the shelf with my eyes to find a suitable place where I could stuff them into. One of these lockers was from where they came from, but it would be too much of a hassle if someone found out that these files were misplaced and decided to use the security cameras to track me, the culprit, down. 

“Hey.”, a voice called out to me. The tone wasn't intimidating, but I was scared. 

An unknown man, older than me, was standing in the door, leaning on the doorframe. 

“…”, I didn't know how I could explain myself. If I was arrested or fired, any possibility of reaching Lethia again would be wiped away. 

“Don't worry, ‘John’, I'm Maya's friend.”, he said smugly. “I'll take care of that; you go to the meeting.” 

He took the files out of my hand and gestured me to leave. I walked out but I was terrified. Did Maya really tell him to help me out? She sure wasn't in a mood to do so moments ago. Something was wrong. I quickly pulled out my smartphone and texted Maya.  

"Did you send someone to take the files?????" There was no response. 

"??? This is urgent." I was freaking out. Sweat covered my entire face and my feet were shaking. Meanwhile, Maya did come online, but left me on read. 

"Please. I'm sorry. I know what I did was wrong. But this is important. I might" I was about to type a lot bigger message but then she responded. 

"Yes." After responding, she went offline again. I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh of relief. I started walking away but something was still bugging me. His smug face, the way he looked at the documents with disgust, the way he talked; all of it irked me. The feeling was extremely uncomfortable. I couldn't point out why. I stopped and turned around. My instincts told me that something was off. 

I went back online and asked her once again. "Did you tell him about me being here for the meeting?" 

This time she replied rather fast. "No. And don't text me again. I don't want to talk to you." 

She hadn't told him about the meeting. Then how did he know? Why was his face so devious when he saw me? Why did he look at those documents with such hate? 

Returning, I saw him close the door. He looked at me and smirked. 

“Heh. Still here? Oh, I know why you came back.” His gaze was piercing through me. “Don't worry, I won't rat on you two. I am a ‘good guy’ after all.”, he said as he walked past me.  

I had recognized his true nature. He didn't even try to hide his piercing gaze and devious smile from me. He certainly wasn't a ‘good guy’. But a really bad guy. Someone that we should never mess with. He wasn't the villain that would attack the hero head on. He was the type of character who switched sides as he saw fit. He was the type that neither the hero nor the villain would want to attack directly. He'd have some favor on both parties. But he would stir things up between them and when both are tired, he'd take away the spoils of war. His favor for sure wasn't out of kindness. He was collecting leverages if in case he ever needed something done. On a whim, he could choose to help me or discard me. To me, he had become the most dangerous man. But another thing I was certain of was that what he said was true. He wouldn't rat on us. At least till he had leverage on me. 

He turned his head around. “Oh, and wash your face. You shouldn't go to the meeting like this.” 

Later in the restroom, I washed my face which had been drenched in sweat. My clothes had gotten wet as well. But it couldn't be helped now. I decided to wait in the meeting room for other representatives of both companies. But when I went in, I was greeted by a few unfamiliar faces… and another devious face. He waved at me once and smiled. The way he controlled his real thoughts and expressions around other people almost made me believe he was another man. But that explained why he knew how ‘John’ was one of the representatives for today. For most of the part, I was really down. Both from his presence and the turn of events that had occurred before.  

Before I knew, the meeting concluded… and the aid for our project… was suspended. Apparently, they had lost interest in it long ago. They could clearly see that we were making progress. But they believed that it wasn't fast enough, and there was no profit in investing in this project. 

After everyone else went back to their hotel rooms, I waited by the area near the reception. My entire day had been bad. I didn't know when I would get to see Maya next. I at least wanted to make amends with her before I left. It was starting to get late, and the place had become quiet again. With sunset, it began freezing. The place had started to close and even the receptionist started packing things up. The guards asked me to step outside. But Maya still hadn't come.  

“Excuse me, are you Mr. John?”, the receptionist who just came out asked me and I nodded. “Mr. Protar wants to meet you. He asked to meet near the parking lot.”, she said, showing the message that she had just received. 

Theo Protar. He was the man who had helped to place the Lethia documents back. I knew he would ask me to do something, but I hadn't expected it so soon. 

He was standing right outside the parking area which was coated in sheets of snow. There was no one else there. He had selected a good place to discuss whatever he wanted from me. 

“I knew you would wait for her. But Maya already left. And before you ask how I know you would wait; I was right outside when you were fighting. I know eavesdropping isn't good but, in my defense, at that time all I knew was that two conspirers were arguing.”  

“So, what do you want?”, I asked sternly. It was coming. An unreasonable demand. An unethical deed. I knew that it was coming my way any time now 

“What I want? What do ‘you’ want? Why would someone go such lengths after ten years of the incident with that sh*t game?” 

I was exhausted and hungry and my day had been the worst one in a long time. But I tried to stay calm. “It has nothing to do with you.” 

“You infiltrate this place, ask for help and still have the guts to say that? Do you take me for an idiot? An idiot like you? I'm not the one who made my girl cry.” 

“Shut Up!!”, all the piled up negative emotions from this eventful day were screaming to be unleashed. 

“What do you plan on next; blowing her up by making a replica of that stupid game?” 

“I said SHUT UPPPP!!!”. Before I knew it, I had punched him in the face.  

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me with hatred. But he soon wiped it off and his usual smug was back. “So that's how you want to do it huh? Come at me. I'll let you hit me once. I won't attack. I'm a good guy after all.” 

I didn't want to fall for his provocations, so I started to walk away. But then he said, “Is that the only thing you can do? Walk away? Just like you did after you hurt her feelings.” 

He knew exactly what boiled me. And I didn't want to hold back against a bastard like him anymore. I turned around and swung my hand with full power. He was ready for that and endured it with his hands. “Tell me about that stupid game!” 

I once again swung my fist at him. This time, aiming it at his face. “Third time's the charm.”, he whispered and right before it landed, he dodged to my right and gave me a fast punch to the cheek. I managed to keep on my feet and went in for another strike. “Haaah!” 

This time he deflected my hand and gave me a hard blow right to the face. I flinched with the headache that suddenly filled my entire head. 

“So predictable. The same right-handed punch and uncoordinated strikes.”, he groaned.  

Without giving me time to recover, he once again hit me, in the stomach this time. I clenched it bent down in pain. That is when he slammed his fist on my backbone, making me fall to the ground.  

“How lucky. You get an ice pack instantly after being hit.”, Theo mocked. 

He extended his hand for me to grab. I thought he wanted to stop this since it was getting dark. I didn't take his hand but started to get up. But he kicked me in the face and I rolled on the ground. 

‘Wrong choice. You should've taken my hand. Now I'll make you grovel too.” 

His face wasn't smug anymore. It had ego written all over it. He was a madman. 

“It's getting late. I want to let you go. I'm a good guy after all. But you have to tell me why is the ****ing sh*t game so important to you. And also” 

“It's because”, I said as I was standing up. But midway, I charged into hit headfirst and rammed him into the wall behind. Even after that, he quickly retaliated by kicking his knee into my stomach. I managed to ram him back to the wall and this time, his head behind. While he was still facing the concussion, I slugged him on the face too. I went in for another one, but he dodged, and I hit the wall instead. My fist started bleeding, but I wasn't giving up. He had slipped on the snow, and I pounced on him. Left-right-left-right, I swung my hand as hard as I could.  

“The game is much better than you, you stupid scumbag.” 

“That piece of sh*t ruined my life! I had nothing left. I had become so miserable that people didn't even see eye to eye with me. That f*cking blowing game ruined me. If that game really is so important to you, I will destroy you.” 

I was shocked to hear that and lowered my fist that was about to pummel him again. When that rush of adrenaline stopped, I realized how cold it had gotten. We heard a noise coming from somewhere nearby. It was probably a security patrol.  

“I will drop you off from my car.”, he said. “I don't want people to know about this. If anyone asks, it was street thugs.” 

I understood that we needed to leave before security caught us lingering and we decided on a truce. The drive felt very long and awkward. Minutes ago, we were out for each other's lives and now we were in the same car. None of us uttered a single word for the entire ride. He stopped by the hotel I was staying at. I was about to leave just like that, but something came over me. Before leaving, I told him, “The games weren't rigged to blast by terrorists like they say. If you really saw everything in the morning, the thing on the display, it wasn't a random dream. That was the true form of Lethia.”