Chapter 199: Warmth (2/2)

Aldrich did the sa at what looked like a regular aparts "Coe of a circle of darkness surrounding Aldrich It seeht was inverted in color up here She knelt down and held out her hand

Aldrich took her hand, and she helped raise hith

When Aldrich stepped out of the dark circle, it closed up with light sliding over it When the light stopped glowing, it meshed with the rest of the hardwood oor "II know this place," said Aldrich He stood still for a s

He stood in the living room of an apartment A modest one, based upon its rather cramped size

A far cry from the enorh space to house things like replaces that they almost never used and pianos that they probably did not even kno to play

No, instead, the co rooer than it was None of the decorations were thoughtless, placed solely for their worth in credits

On small stands, there were vases lled with carefully tended owers On the walls, there were paintings of lakes and oceans and beaches that, though good, were obviously not crafted by some artisanal master Just someone who had tried their best and was proud of what they had done

There was a hand built, slightly crooked bookshelf of dark wood in the corner lled with colorful coa, and hardcover ction books

All of those were rarities in today's digitized age, ht to really read

Yet, each and every one of those books had little bookes

Aldrich sat down on a creaky blue couch It felt so faood reason

This was his parent's apartment Where he had spent all of his early years This here they had raised him from a helpless infant to a child lled with dreams

And, after they had died, this here he had raised hiing the deadlier

Colder He had eear and a VR co room

But this was how the apartment looked like before Aldrich's parents had passed

When they had passed, he had over tis his mother had made He had tried to keep the owers she loved alive, but he had no talent for it When they withered and died, he had to throw them away

The shelf full of books his father loved - Aldrich had given those away or thrown them out It was not that he had not cherished these memories of his parents

But in the rst year after their death, the memories were just too painful to bear Every book, every painting - all of it was just a sharp re it all away and letting the oblivion o

It was a decision he caret later on, but by then, what had been done had been done

Aldrich turned around to look at the biggest painting in the roo wide even when the photo was supposed to be serious There was hiseyes, telling him to be serious, but even then, she still smiled at her husband's antics

Then there was Aldrich, just ve years old, between them, each of his hands held in one of theirs

This portrait, too, Aldrich had cast away

To see all of this again -

Aldrich took in a deep breath, feeling overwhel he had thought was lost had been i all this again - the s hit hi here reminded him of his parents' love for hiotten So ain "Are you okay?" The Chrysalis sat right next to Aldrich's silent gure "Yes," said Aldrich "Do you like what I built? I used everything I felt in you that I felt are of the couch, and she kicked them playfully "I like this place a lot better than the cold spot Do you?"

Aldrich took in another deep breath, and then sighed He smiled "I do"