Chapter 7

"W..who are you?" Her voice quivered as she looked at Luan. "Why can't he see you or hear you…?" She referred to Leo, who couldn’t even sense Luan’s presence the whole time. Luan could tell that she was indeed shocked by Leo’s reaction earlier. However, she wasn’t afraid.

Luan smiled softly as he approached her, to hold her hand so he could get some strength to tell her the truth. She didn't back away as someone else in that situation would. She wanted to know his reality so wasn't scared of facing it no matter what it was. 

"Now's the time I'll tell you my reality." He looked deeply into her eyes and extended his hand towards her, and she took it without hesitation. She could see a sense of sincerity in his eyes. Her heart couldn’t agree with the thought that he was a bad guy so she didn’t believe that thought at all.

"Promise me first…" He got serious and his grip around her hand tightened. She could see that he was a little scared as she could feel his hand trembling a little

"I'll believe you and won't run away no matter what the truth is…" She said before he could complete his sentence and smiled softly. He had believed her truth, which no one had ever done, so she was also ready to believe him as well.

"Okay.” He smiled brightly. “Now I’ll tell you the truth.” He said and stepped towards the door.

She scoffed and shook her head as he was a goof even in this situation. He was asking her to open the door. She laughed at seeing him pointing at the door cutely like a child.

“What?! I’m tired from standing for so long!” He whined and she laughed at him. She opened the door and they sat down in the lobby. It was a small apartment, not much furniture but also not much space. Luan found it cozy and cute. 

“So…?” She asked as she had been sitting on the sofa for 10 minutes already, just staring at Luan, who was curiously looking around the apartment.

“Ah...okay!” He sat in front of her, obediently like a small child, she smiled a little but hid it immediately with her sleeve.

“Ahhhh….I’m a ghost.” He blurted out after a long pause. 

She blinked her eyes a few times as that was too sudden indeed but wasn’t too surprised either. She could tell that he was nervous about it. His eyes, looking everywhere but at her. He was fidgeting his fingers. He had tried to avoid the topic for a long time but couldn’t in the end. She found him cute and chuckled. He finally looked at her, confusion all over his face. Deep down he was scared that she took it as a joke and wasn’t going to accept his truth.

“Ah~ don’t stress.” She said and sat beside him on the floor. “I’m laughing cause you’re worried for nothing. I believe you.” He was a little taken back. Still, beamed with happiness the next second. When she could have powers like reading someone’s mind then ghosts like Luan could also exist in this world.

“Honestly, it does make sense.” She said and was lost in deep thoughts. 

“How?” He asked curiously. 

“I did think that you weren’t normal since the start. You appear a little faded. On top of that, I can’t hear your thoughts. So it was a little expected.” She explained and looked at him. He was looking at her, surprised and curious.

“What?” She asked him, looked into his eyes just as he was.

“I’m so glad I chose you!” He said and beamed with happiness.

“Huh?” She got confused by his words. He found her cute and suddenly moved a little and pulled her with him. They both were now leaning against the sofa.

“See, I wasn’t able to leave earth after I died. The Devil told me that I needed someone’s help to get out of this loop. I chose you, and I’m pleased about that.” He smiled brightly at her. Her eyes were fixed at him. 

“Why did you chose me…?” She asked him after a long pause. He smiled and stared at the wall in front of them.

“There was this energy around you that brought me to you. But there was so much dark energy over that; that’s why it took so long for me to find you again. I wanted to help you...that became my last wish…” He explained and then looked back at her.

He flinched on seeing her and panicked. She had tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong? Ah~ I didn’t want to make you cry.” He smiled softly as he caressed her cheek. She fell into his arms, sobbing again. He hugged her and didn’t say anything else. 

“Thank you…” She said through her sobs. “Thank you so much for stopping me… saving my life. I promise I’ll help you, I’ll try my best to live happily.”  

He smiled and hugged her tighter. “Thank you…” He whispered into her ear. “...for saving me…” He said in his mind, but this time she was able to hear it, maybe cause her head was close to his heart. She smiled and snuggled closer to him without even realizing it.

Eliana didn’t realize and dozed off in his arms. She felt at peace when with him. Hearing his faint heartbeat calmed her and seemed to be a lullaby to her ears. It was after a long time that she didn’t have any nightmares while sleeping. Usually, she needed to get wasted or cry herself to sleep. However, now she fell asleep without even realizing it.

Luan got up as he placed a pillow under her head. He smiled on seeing her sleep so peacefully. He rose his arm in the air, his hand over her body but not touching it. He closed his eyes and concentrated. His expressions got intense the next second. 

He was trying to get rid of the dark energy around her. It appeared like grey clouds around her body to him. He could see that it was getting into her body slowly, making her depressed every second. All the negative thoughts that she kept having and hearing, became the reason that she started attracting dark energy. 

The happier she was the weaker the dark energy would get. But she wasn’t happy for the past few months, so it had just got stronger. Resulting in her trying to attempt suicide in the end, and letting the dark energy take over her body completely. Fortunately, Luan saved her just in time. Even at that time he was shocked to see the dark energy that surrounded her. 

She was a little happy that day so now he was trying to get rid of some of the dark energy that had weakened. But nothing happened. She wasn’t ready to let go of the past yet.

He sighed and stepped towards the window, it was night time and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. 

“It’s gonna take a long time…” He said to himself. “I just hope I can protect her well… and not let her do the same mistake as I did...”