Under The Veil of Night

She walked to the receptionist. "Excuse me."

"Is there anything that I can help, Miss?"

"My name is Kanae. I want to ask if Kevin Kalin is here."

The receptionist lady was surprised when she heard Kevin’s name. Because Kalin Family was the one who owned the hospital, she was exceptionally familiar with this surname. What made her surprised was the fact that a young lady came searching for him.

"May I know who are you to him?" the receptionist lady asked back.

"This..." Kanae wondered which one she should use. Should she use ’employee’ or ’friends?’ After all, she was both of them in different places. In the next second, she chose to just use the most formal one. "I’m his secretary in Kale Company. I need to ask him regarding some important matter."

Internally, Kanae sighed to herself. She had just lied about her purpose of coming here. As the work has been handled by Neo, there was nothing she had to do anymore. However, she needed a reason to visit Kevin.

The receptionist lady nodded her head. "I understand. He’s here, but I’ll need to ask if he’s willing to meet with you."

"Please," Kanae answered politely. Well, she did come unannounced, so she wouldn’t feel strange if he didn’t want to meet with her. After all, right now she was merely his junior in high school while he was the clan head of the biggest clan in this city.

The receptionist made a call to the room. Inside the room, Neo was the one who answered. His expression changed when he heard that Kanae came here.

"Neo, what is it?" Kevin immediately noticed the change in expression that Neo had.

Neo wore a complicated expression. In one side, he was happy that Kanae spared the time to make a visit for Kevin. On the other side, he felt rather complicated because he knew that there were a lot of people from the clan here. If they knew about Kevin’s relationship with an ordinary woman, wouldn’t they cause trouble to her life more than they already did?

Not to mention, there were some matters about her past that they didn’t know how to bring up.

"Boss, Kanae is here."

"Kanae?" Kevin’s expression changed slightly when he heard that name. The other one inside the room, Lou, noticed the change as he felt his heart sunk.

"How did she know about this place?" Lou asked.

"I tell her," Neo answered calmly. "She’s asking if she can come to visit you, Boss."

Kevin didn’t immediately answer. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t want to meet with that girl. Although his mind was preoccupied with the thought of his matter, there was always time for that girl. He wanted to have her staying by his side very much even if it was only for a short amount of time.

As for his subordinates, he would just tell them that she was his secretary in the company. That way, they wouldn’t create any trouble for her.

"Let her in."

"Yes."

Lou watched from the side as Kevin’s expression changed again. Knowing Kevin and his position, he had seen for himself how rare it was for this man to change his expression. Yet, for a young girl, he changed his expression more than once.

He wouldn’t mind if that girl also came from a clan as it would be easy to set the two up. Even though there might be some problem because of Kevin’s unstable position, it was not impossible. However, the person in question came from outside the clan and didn’t have any connection whatsoever with them. This would only make things difficult.

Not to mention, there was that incident in the past when an important woman to Kevin died because she came from outside the clan.

As Kanae knocked and came in, she noticed that Lou has been glaring towards her. She knew that Lou hated her so much, so she tried her best to ignore him as she didn’t wish to clash with him.

"President, are you alright?"

"I’m fine," Kevin showed a gentle smile. "The news is exaggerating. My condition is not as bad as they say."

Kanae’s eyes landed on Kevin’s feet. Because she was in the mall during the time, she knew that his feet got shot. It should be very painful, yet he walked as if there was nothing there. Seeing the bandaged right foot, she pointed to it.

"Is it hurt?"

Kevin blanked for a moment when he heard his question. No one has ever asked something like that to him. Most of the time, they would just say, "You don’t feel anything, don’t you?" or "Clan Head, you’re amazing, but please don’t force yourself too much."

With his usually stern and expressionless face, they never asked about his own feeling. Added with his position, they didn’t dare to ask about that kind of question to him. After all, they already knew that he had high position, and they afraid to ask those questions as it would only make him looked rather weak.

However, being cared for was something that he had not received for a long time. Having her cared for him, he felt rather pleased and happy.

Kanae noticed that something was wrong from his silence. She quickly recalled her question as she retracted her hands. "Sorry, it must be hurt. I hope you can recover fast, President. I miss playing and working with you."

"I miss it too," Kevin smiled gently.

His face was extremely handsome today, and Kanae felt that her eyes would go blind if she continued staring at him. She rose up the plastic bag that she brought.

"I bring you some fruits. They’re full of nutrition, so you will be able to recover faster."

"Thank you."

Kanae placed the plastic bag on top of the nearby table. She was unsure about what she should say as she looked towards Kevin. The two of them ended up staring at each other for a couple of seconds.

"I think I should leave, you need rest, right?" Kanae finally broke the silence. She was about to leave when she felt her hand being pulled.

"I want you to stay here," Kevin said as he held her arm.

"I..." Kanae’s eyes landed on her arm. Why did she feel embarrassed even though they didn’t do anything? She always felt fine with sitting by his side, why a simple touch caused her to feel embarrassed?

Kevin let go of her arm as he realized that she was feeling conscious about it. "Sorry, you can leave if you’re busy."

"Ah, no, I’m not busy. There’s no work today, so I can stay here. You can go ahead and sleep, President. I’m sure you’re tired."

Kevin nodded his head as he closed his eyes. This time, he didn’t try to correct her from calling him ’president’ because he knew that there were a lot of people from the clan here. He didn’t want them to know that he already allowed her to stay that close with him.

On the side, Lou was watching with a complicated gaze. He silently walked out as he didn’t want to disturb the two of them. Even though he didn’t like Kanae, he could see how comfortable Kevin was around that girl.

Seeing the Old Man outside, he frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I’m helping out because Mike returns back to the clan," The Old Man answered. He pointed to the room. "She’s inside?"

"Yes and I’m afraid that the incident like what happens with Yuki might repeat itself," Lou answered.

The Old Man forced a smile out. The incident with Yuki was something that their clan always hoped to forget as it hurt Kevin and the other core members very much. If something like that happened again, they doubted that Kevin would be able to recover again.

He peered inside and saw Kanae stayed by Kevin’s side. A sad smile emerged on his aged face. "I’m happy because I have the chance to see Boss’s gentle expression once again, but it’s hurt to think that they won’t be able to stay together."

"Have they decided on that?" Lou asked.

The Old Man nodded his head. "You know how it works. They want to preserve the bloodline of the core member in the clans. Marrying people outside the underworld is out of the question because it’ll only thin out their blood and lessen their potential."

Lou nodded his head. "I know that."

"It’s really an annoying rule," the Ola Man sighed. "If only Kevin is not the only child of the previous clan head, there might be others who can replace him. He won’t be tied up by the rules so much."

"I agree," Lou replied quietly. Even though they cared for the clan, staying by Kevin’s side had made them cared for the young man too. They wanted Kevin to have his happiness too, but it was just hard.

The two of them watched as Kanae showed a smile when looking at Kevin’s face. Her expression was as gentle as Kevin’s expression towards her. Seeing the sweet scene, the two of them didn’t have the heart to break it. No matter how their mind screamed that it would be impossible, their heart strongly went against it.