After eating, Kris and Lena went out of the balcony. It was a large front balcony that was built on the side of the mountain.
"You sit down first." Kris spoke.
"Okay."
Lena walked herself to a large, cus.h.i.+oned balcony sofa and sat down. She looked back to stare at the doors to see when Kris will come back instead of enjoying the natural forest view. After a few minutes, Kris came back carrying a large laptop.
He sat down next to Lena and placed the laptop on the table.
"What"s that for?" Lena asked.
"I can"t show everything in one day because things come and go. But I will try to expose myself to you as much as I can but without overwhelming you too."
Kris opened the laptop and a picture of him showed it. Lena stared at the page that showed up. It looked like a profile page.
"This is my profile page within the Li organization. Things I did since I first join, my training, a.s.signments, kills, fails, and successes."
Lena grabbed the laptop and placed it on her lap. She clicked on kill first and looked at the statistics. "Do you have the most kills?"
"No..."
"Have you ever killed a child?"
"Plenty."
Lena turned and looked at him. He stared at her too. "A baby?"
Kris paused before replying, "Yes."
Lena did not say anything and just went back to look at his profile. If she has nothing good to say, she won"t say it at all. Kris knew that those truths might be a bit hard for Lena to accept, and he himself still remember every single kill he did that involved children.
"It stopped...." Kris spoke. "Well, more like everything stopped after my mother woke up."
Lena glanced back at Kris and smiled gently at him. "You don"t need to explain. The past is part of you but not entirely you."
Kris sighed and closed his eyes. He put his head and rested on Lena"s shoulder. "Why do you always forgive so easily? I can"t.... I can"t do that."
Lena put the laptop back on the table and put one hand on Kris" head. "Hm... because it"s you. I really don"t know... but that"s the only answer I can think of. And it is only because it"s you. I understand that others might not forgive so easily when it comes to you, but there has to be a start. And I will be that start for you if that"s just how things are."
Kris lifted his head from her shoulder and looked at her. "I still can"t forgive my grandfather completely."
"Unimportant people don"t need forgiveness. You"re not weak just because you can"t forgive someone. And you are not weak either because you can forgive easily. Everyone has their own reasons to forgive or not." Lena replied. "You can"t pretend to forgive someone. It will just torture you more because the other person thinks that your relations.h.i.+p is good again."
"I am meeting my grandparents next weekend."
Lena knew... because she was also going to be there.
"That"s why..." Kris continued. "Why I wanted to show you myself now than later. Because I know that when more people know about us... there will be some that will keep us apart. So I wanted to show you the most I can and so that you don"t have to hear it second-handed from someone else."
"Thank you. But no matter what people say, I will still trust myself and my own decision making. And I will also trust to see it from your side too before jumping to conclusions."
"If someone... threatened your family over me... who would you choose?"
Lena pondered... She had never thought of such a scary situation. Between her family and Kris.. who would she choose?
"Hmm... Like if someone was going to kill my family or kill you?"
"Yeah." Kris replied.
"Well... I would choose my family."
Kris was not disappointed. Whatever answer Lena said, he was fine with it. He, himself may not really know who to choose between his mother or Lena.
"My dad obviously does not know how to shoot a gun or run very fast. My mom is dead weight so I would choose them and leave you. I trust that you can beat your way out of 100 men with guns, right?" Lena explained.
Kris put a hand over his mouth and laughed. "Lena... you always make the weirdest replies."
"What? It"s correct though. We gotta play smart. We can save everyone if we choose this way. So.. like if it was me or your mom, then you save your mom and I can get out myself."
Kris stopped his laughing and got serious again. "You want me to trust you that much?"
"Yes. And I will trust you that much too."
"You can"t even shoot straight..."
"I can too! I was just lying before." Lena pouted. "Need some intimidation."
Kris gave Lena a quick gently pinch on her cheeks as she pouted. "Then.. let"s do that. I will trust you completely."
"And... You only have one hour to save me if I get kidnapped."
"One hour? I don"t need that long if it"s you." Kris confirmed.
"Well, let"s just say if... and after that one hour, I will kill those bast*ards myself without leaving you any fun because you came too late."
Kris laughed again. He had been smiling and laughing more since Lena had entered his life. It has become a habit and he would not have his old life again over this.
"Ok. But what if you are too far and one hour is not enough even with the fastest transportation in the world?"
"Well.... let"s just keep it 1 hour for a reasonable distance."
"Sure." Kris agreed. "And if I get kidnapped?"
"Pffftt..." Lena burst into a sarcastic laugh. "If there was ever a day that you get kidnapped, then it would be me kidnapping you. And I will definitely not return you after 1 hour... I will keep you forever in my locked cage."
"Tsk.."
Lena pinched Kris"s nose and then grabbed for the laptop again. "So... tell me more about this Art of Seduction training you had?"
Lena clicked on the files on the Art of Seduction and many pictures and videos suddenly popped up. Her eye caught the gist of it and she instantly closed the laptop. "Oh...."
"Oh what?" Kris asked, knowing already what Lena saw.
"Oh... as in Ooh?"
Kris opened the laptop again for Lena and he clicked on the video. As it played, Lena forced herself to watch it expecting it to be some inappropriate video on adults. But after a while... she understood what Kris was trying to show her.
She slammed the laptop shut and put her hand on her face to wipe her tears. "I don"t want to watch it anymore..." She sniffed.
Kris put his left arm around Lena and pulled her toward him to console her. As he did, Lena crashed herself to his chest and cried softly.
"Sorry..." Kris whispered. He did not want Lena to cry but she needed to really see what "the art of seduction" was... or at least what it meant for him. This was not the first time the topic was brought up. He kind of avoided the entire truth about it last time, but not this time... no hiding from her.
After Lena tears stopped flowing, she wiped the rest on Kris" s.h.i.+rt. She sniffed. "It was you wasn"t it... the boy in the video?"
Kris did not reply and continued to rub her back. With that, Lena knew that it was his way of saying yes.
Lena covered her face. "Oh my gosh... I feel so guilty."
Kris stopped and he frowned at her. "Why?"
Lena looked up at his confused face. "Because of... of how I attacked you so much like a hungry animal."
Kris sighed. "Lena... you are different than anyone else. You can attack me as much as you want and that is acceptable. Plus, I was the one who kept pus.h.i.+ng you to attack me."
"How.. how did you even get past this....?"
Lena just had no word or the thought process of how "good" Kris turned out from all the horrible things that he experienced. Of course, he was not a prince charming riding on a white horse, but he was not the worst either. Kris did not do drugs, he is not an addict, nor is he some kind of overly insane, uncontrolled human.
"Well... it"s simple. Love." Kris answered. "First, it was my mother"s love... and now it"s you, your love for me."
"I"ll never stop loving you." Lena hugged Kris tightly with her arms.
"I know."