I've never been like Day, who can put together a disguise so fast. But like Day, I can also elude my bodyguards. Even a wound by my side cannot stop me. After all, it seems to heal fast. It only needs few patches now, though it will leave a scar once it fully heal. And since I don't want to endanger Pasco's dignity or the trust that my bodyguards have for him or whatsoever; I decide to work on my own.

My apartment is seven stories up. My bodyguards were so ordered not to keep me like a prisoner (even though that's how I feel). And they know that I hate the thought of people watching me when I sleep and so I lock my bedroom door. That gives me the advantage to escape through my window and scale down. I've carefully decided what I'll wear in order to blend with the shadows and evade the guards outside my building when they do their rounds and look up. Thankfully, I don't need to keep my room's window open while I escape; a sturdy ledge wide enough for one person to stand lets me stay for a moment to lock the window. Three stories into my escape, I notice two guards making their rounds under; I shrink back to the shadows. With the complete black of my attire, I perfectly fit in the picture. Four stories later, I am back to the ground. The next patrol will arrive in two minutes, and before they arrive, I shall start moving with my disguise.

I pull the hood of my jacket over my head, hiding most of my face. I keep my hands in my pockets, and my head lowered as I walk faster. I hear footsteps behind me but keep going, never wanting to be suspicious. I hear the people behind me stop and talk in hush voices. Immediately I bite my lower lip, waiting to be called out. But a few seconds later, I hear their footsteps start and completely vanish, and I sigh heavily. I turn onto the next block and finally close my eyes, breathe in and out, trying to calm my racing heart. Though I don't have any trouble with my bodyguards, they somewhat piss me off. But they are there to keep me safe from the outside, and right now, I am all alone to fight whoever will try to hurt or kill me again.

* * *

Day's words are clear.

"If you could come to Babel tonight at around twenty-two hundreds... Then, I'll tell you everything."

The Babel Hotel is about three blocks from my apartment. I didn't catch a ride there, knowing that it will indeed be suspicious — or that I'd been clearly suspicious of everyone since the incident. I reached the hotel fifteen minutes after I eluded those bodyguards doing rounds at my apartment building, and that was thirty minutes ago. The time currently reads 2242 hours.

I've been standing outside the hotel ever since I arrived, waiting for Day to arrive as well. But I haven't seen him. Vehicles have rushed past the street across from me, and at this time, the lights from the JumboTrons and buildings illuminate in the night sky in a certain glow. As the night goes on, the streets of the Republic slowly become more and more isolated.

I bite my lip and mentally ask myself, 'Where are you now, Day?'

A tall man instantly moves beside me, leaning against the same wall I am leaning on. His face is very well hidden, with the baseball cap he is wearing. He is fit and lean underneath his shirt and dark jacket. I am about to move further from him when he asks, "Waiting for someone, beautiful?"

If the voice was not familiar for me, I know that even with this injury of mine, I would certainly kick the hell out of him. But knowing such voice, the endearing so sweet... it's impossible not to think twice.

Day turns to face me with a smile and adds, "Are you?"

I return the smile as well and reply, "You're late."

"I'm not. I've been waiting for you to call. I bet you don't have your earpiece with you. When it turned late, I decided to check here if you ever came."

"And what would you do if I hadn't got here?"

"Then I'd certainly just visit you in the morning."

"Why would you?"

"I find it the right thing to do."

"Really?" I smirk, challenging.

His smile widens as he agrees, "Really." He pushes himself away from the wall and offers a hand for me to take. "Come. Let's continue our talk inside."

"Inside?" I ask.

Day chuckles. "Of course. It will be a total waste if I don't use the executive suite I've reserved wisely."

My eyes widen and I know that I've staggered a little as he pull me along with him inside the Babel Hotel. "You've been in the hotel the whole time?!"

"I know that I've already told you that."

"Well, you didn't," I mutter, as I keep my head lowered and follow him to the elevators.

None of us say another word throughout the way to the executive suit. The room is located at the eighteenth floor of the hotel, and as expected, it is indeed a luxurious one.

When Day inserts the key card on the power slot, the only light that turns on is a low-lit lamp by the far corner of the parlor room. In the dim, I need to squint just to make up the parlor room. It is huge enough to use as one single hotel room. It is filled with countless antique furniture, and Day ushers me to one of the couches across the coffee table.

"So..." I start. "What are you going to tell me now? That's the reason you asked me to meet you here, right?"

Day is about to answer when a bell suddenly rings. He smiles at me sheepishly and mutters, "Wait a minute. Just help yourself, be at ease." He rushes towards to the doors again as I decide to finally take a seat on one of the couches. Few seconds later, Day returns with a bottle of wine in one hand and no glasses at all. He sits down next to me and sees me looking at what he is holding. He instantly shies his eyes away and tells me, "You know, it's much thrilling to drink this without glasses. You know, sip it through the rim."

I giggle despite the pain that hits me hard. I remember the past where the two of us drunk nectar wine by simply sipping through the rim. "As you wish."

"Good." He opens the bottle and starts drinking. For a few seconds, I watch him and wait for him to finish. "I've analyzed your plan. Letting the people decide. If you'd been the Princeps-Elect, you'd practically kicked everyone in the Council out."

I take the wine forcefully away from him, and drink it. I can see Day's surprised expression through my peripherals. I start to feel my chest burning with the wine, and tell myself I need to stop for a moment. I sigh heavily and answered, "That's true. And now, I'm just proposing the most efficient thing to do. You've seen the Republic almost crumble once, Day. And you know the reason why. People rebel. The only way that they won't rebel is if they are allowed to pick someone who is to rule over them."

"But don't you think that the most effective way will be to change the government fully?"

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Isn't that what I am proposing? A democracy in the Congress first, then to the whole government."

"Do you think the people in the Congress would simply allow that? Or maybe, they might accept it. But when asked for a politician for that role, won't they just simply present themselves again as a possible candidate for the Congress?"

"So, what do you propose?"

"Why not see what this rebels really want? They just are really after us, June."

"You know that they have Tess with them, Day."

"I know that, June. And I am worried that in the next few days, it'll be Eden. Or maybe it'll be you. You don't know what will I do if it is you, June."

I remain silent at that. I also think about it. What if it so happens that it is Day then? But I don't counter his statement because I also know that I worry about him as well.

"You also know that most of my memories are still patchy. Even though some have returned, most of them are still unclear. These rebels are using the time when I still don't know most of my memories. And you know what happens, people with lost memories are easily deceived about their loyalties," he tells me as his eyes start to be weary and glassy. He blinks them twice as if to dry the tears, but the tears instead fall shyly down his cheeks. He looks away as he drinks from the wine bottle again. He then offers the bottle to me, and I don't hesitate at all to take it.

I take another swing from the bottle, before answering him, "Well, Anden don't question where your loyalties lie. Also I."

Day then turns to me as if surprised with my answer, but he suddenly chuckles lightly.

I frown at him slightly. "Hey, I'm not expecting you to laugh. And I am not trying to joke around."

"I'm sorry," he replies through his laughter. "I know that you're not trying to make me laugh. But one thing's for sure." He places a hand by my cheek, the other grabbing the bottle of wine from me. "I believe in that girl in my shadowed memory, now a woman who've grown much more passionate and intelligent than the last time I've been with her. I trust you. I might even ask you a foolish question of when was the last time you fall in love."

"Day..."

"Maybe it had been a long time. I can sense it on the way you speak a nickname that I so long forgotten, my mind rushes memories that I don't know if they come first or last after the previous. Yet, you're always there. You never left me. It's all in the past, but we can start anew, right?"

I remain silent. I can't suppress the rising warmth on my chest, the blush on my cheeks, and the sudden need and want for him. Ten years ago, I'd certainly scold myself about all the wrong decisions and judgements I'd made. I might also kill that very person for everything she'd done. But this time, I treasure her. I treasure every single moment that she made with the Day I've lost. And if it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be here with the man I also love, both of us wishing to start a new life after everything that happened.

Day brushes off a lock of my hair, tucking it by my ear as he continues looking at me intently. "And if the rebels try to break the two of us apart, we'll still deal with it together. Because of my love for you, that I can't completely comprehend and understand at all... I'll never let you go."

And he leans much closer to press his lips against mine. He drops the bottle of wine against the expensive rug that hugs the flooring of the room as he circles his arms around me. I don't push him away and I hang on to him desperately, not wanting him to let go.

There's a part of me who wants to resist. But at the same time, there's also the other one who wants to continue holding onto him. I can't think of anything else with his body so close against mine where I can feel the beat of his heart above mine, the heat of his skin with mine, and the passion of his kiss on my lips.

Desperate, I pull him much closer to me and set my eyes only to him. Softly, almost a whisper, he repeats his question, "When was the last time that you fall in love? Really? That you do this?"

"That night," I mumble. "When I was still the June Iparis who seems too innocent with love. I can say that that was the last time that I really did fall in love and all of this."

Ten years ago, the person I was before had seek his love to escape reality and to repent my sins to him. And ten years after that, I am this person who has accepted all my faults in the past and let them forge me. I've always loved Day since that first night, even when he was accused of my brother's crime. I've desperately fallen in love with him since he took my hand after that Skiz fight. I've always denied it, but I know that is the time that I do love him.

I love him so much, yes. The worst part of it: he also loves me more than his own life. No... it's simply not just that. The worst part is that he loves me so much more than his own life.