Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 156: I Thought You Were Standing by the Mirror

They walked out of the hospital together and into the fading light of the afternoon. Early evening clouds filled the sky, purple and gold bleeding into each other.

Lily was already in the back seat of the car. Min-seo was buckling into her seat in the front.

Zoe moved toward her own BMW, then stopped. Her silver hair caught the dying glow of the sun as she looked at Leon over the roof of her car.

"I meant what I said," she smiled. "Time is ticking, and I need answers fast."

Leon stared at her, his mind replaying her statement. ’My father wants me to marry into Jade’s family. But I don’t love any of them. So, I want you to play the role of my husband.’

His fingers curled into a fist at his sides the moment the words replayed with Zoe’s smiling face. "I know."

"Then think about it." She opened the door and slid into the seat.

Her car pulled away, leaving Leon standing alone on the hospital steps. He watched it disappear down the street, the red taillights fading into the growing dark.

’Tell her.’

Leon turned back toward the hospital’s entrance, where long shadows were being cast on the pavement.

—

As they drove off, Bastion City hummed with life. Cars moved along the streets, people walked home from work, and children played in the last light of the day.

—

Back at the Storm mansion, Min-ji had prepared the evening meal when they arrived. Lily ate hers, Min-seo by her side.

Leon sat before his bowl full of jollof with vegetables and beans. Not even a single grain of rice or bean had been taken.

His elbows rested beside the silver bowl, his jaw cupped in his palms. Deep within his head, Jade’s face looped over and over.

’Didn’t he also die?’ The thought echoed loudly in his head.

Min-ji turned her head swiftly toward him, almost as if she had heard him speaking. "Did you call me, sir?"

Leon shook his head, then exhaled sharply. He loosened his palms from his jaw, then focused on the meal in front of him.

The chilled surface of the silver spoon seeped into his skin as he grabbed it and took his first bite.

’Why do I feel satisfied with just one spoon?’ he whispered in his head. He paused, the second spoonful hovering over the bowl.

Lily caught Leon not eating, then paused her own. "Brother." Her thin voice echoed in the dining room like a frozen breeze.

Leon shifted his gaze to her, then smiled. "Yes, little Athena."

Lily squinted at him and the meal, which had only a tiny portion eaten. "You are not eating your food." She frowned.

Leon looked at the meal, then back to her.

"If you don’t eat your food," her frown began to turn into a grin, "...I will tell Aunty Zoe that you have been starving yourself for the past week."

Leon’s eyes widened, then calmed. "Okay. I will eat." He devoured three spoonfuls at once. "See, I’m eating."

Lily’s grin vanished. She sat down and continued with hers, yet her gaze never left Leon.

After ten minutes, when Min-seo, Min-ji, and Lily had fully emptied their bowls, Leon’s own was just halfway empty. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Metal clicking sounds echoed as Min-seo began picking up the bowls Lily, Min-ji, and she had eaten from.

"Take mine," Leon gestured at her the moment she turned, ready to walk into the kitchen.

"But—" Min-seo said in shock. She looked at the bowl, remembering the quantity that had been served to him.

Without any option, she grabbed Leon’s bowl, then gave a long sigh. "Sir, are you okay?"

For the first time, she saw a dreadful stare in Leon’s eyes, even as he nodded, faking a smile.

—

When everyone headed back into their separate rooms, Lily rushed into Leon’s room and then threw herself onto his bed.

"What is he doing that he has stayed so long in the bathroom?" Lily murmured, lying on her elbows, her gaze fixed on the bathroom door.

"Brother!" her voice echoed once, twice, yet no response came.

She grew more irritated as she continued calling Leon, but got no answer in return.

"Is he sleeping in the bathroom or what?" She swept her legs over the bed. The bedsheet crumpled beneath her as she dragged herself off it.

Soft footsteps echoed inside the bathroom just as Leon turned off the shower. "What is wrong with me? I don’t feel myself."

More faces began to reel into his head as he walked toward the towels. He dried himself, then stood before the bathroom mirror.

He looked at his reflection, then closed his eyes. He slowly placed his right hand on the mirror’s surface, then pressed his left palm against his chest.

"Dad," the name escaped him like a death wish. "...if you’re alive like I know you are, come to me this evening. I need you."

The thudding sound from the other side of the door intensified as he cracked his eyes open.

His reflection in the mirror stayed still as he moved away from it and turned toward the door.

Even as he stretched his arm toward the door, the reflection followed him like a different person staring at him through transparent glass.

As soon as the door opened, the reflection vanished.

"Brother, you scared me!" Lily buckled back, gasping heavily.

"Did I?" Leon stepped out from the bathroom.

Lily stepped to the left side of the door, then pointed at the mirror inside. "I thought you were standing by the mirror."

Leon shifted his gaze from her to the mirror, then back to her. "I was, but I’m here now." He frowned slightly. "Why? Did you see something in it that I didn’t?"

Lily hesitated, then looked at the mirror again. "I thought—" she paused, then pushed the door shut.

—

Inside the bathroom, Leon’s reflection reappeared in the mirror the moment the door closed. But this time, it wasn’t just Leon. Countless skeletal humans screaming for help stood behind it.

—

In Leon’s bedroom, Lily walked toward the bed. She folded her arms across her chest, her lips swollen.

"What were you doing in the bathroom for nearly an hour?" She sat lazily on the bed, then turned sharply toward Leon.

Leon bent down, grabbed his nightwear, then put it on, covering his boxer and black singlet.

"I was bathing. What else, little Athena?"

"Bathing... hm." Lily squinted at him. "I’ve told you, I’m older now. Don’t call me little Athena. Call me Madam Athena instead."

Leon moved from his wardrobe, then began teasing her. "Little—sorry, Madam Athena. I hear."

He tickled her, and Lily laughed wholeheartedly.

"When is Mom coming back home?" she asked mid-giggle.

Leon gave a long sigh, then opened his arms.

Lily crawled toward him and sat in front of him. She placed her head on Leon’s lap, her amber eyes watching the night sky through the open window.

"Mom will come home soon..." Leon stated, brushing his fingers through Lily’s hair.

After just three strokes, Lily began yawning, yet Leon didn’t stop.

"Brother," she turned her gaze from the window and locked it onto Leon’s brown eyes.

"What is it, Madam Athena?" Leon teased lightly. He pressed her cheeks, stretched them, then brushed his thumbs along her chin.

"Brother, when are you telling Aunty Zoe?" Lily blinked, then yawned.

"I will tell her," Leon stated softly, then turned his gaze from her to the sky.

Zoe’s face reeled into his mind for a second, then got replaced with the green, chittering creatures he fought at Granum Tower.

He looked back into Lily’s sleepy eyes. "I think it’s time for you to go and sleep."

"No, I want to sleep by your side, brother." Lily curled her arms around Leon’s waist.

He tried to free himself, but the girl’s grip was so strong it made him smile, then stop.

’This girl is now growing,’ he whispered in his head, then continued brushing his fingers through her hair.

After Lily drifted into sleep, Leon gently unwrapped her arms from his waist, then placed her softly on the right side of the bed.

He placed a pillow under her head, then pulled the thick, blue-black bedsheet and covered her small body with it.

He laughed quietly as he watched her become like David wearing Goliath’s garment. "Lily."

The name escaped his lips before he could stop himself.

He crossed his hands behind his head, his legs crossed, then closed his eyes.

Memories of the day flashed through his head as sleep slowly took over him, igniting his conscious self to life.

Outside his window, a soft wind blew two leaves of the fig tree upward. The leaves puddled in the air, then landed softly on the stool by Leon’s window.

—

Meanwhile, inside Leon’s head, he saw himself standing at the front of Basalt Mountain.

With every step his dream-self took, smoke exploded from the cracked sections of the mountain.

Just as he stopped moving, a rumbling sound lanced through the mountain. Rocks began falling, crushing the ground with high-pitched sounds.

Screams—high-pitched ones—echoed around him. He spun but saw no one, only the smoke slowly fogging the air.

Before he could take another step, metal clicking sounds and bell-ringing sounds echoed from his front.

Through the smoke, a black triangular box swung in the air, blue light like trapped souls reeling out of it.

Leon’s dream-self tried moving back, but his body failed him.

The more the sound echoed, the more the smoke parted like a respectful sea.

When the path in front of him became clear, free of smoke, Leon’s eyes rattled in their sockets.

—

Inside Leon’s room, the bathroom door slowly swung open. Smoke spilled across the ground and moved toward Leon’s sleeping form.

Through the space of the bathroom, a figure with sharp, long fingernails began to pull itself out of the mirror.