I Am Tired Of Being A Hero

Chapter 319: Extra 3 - Genetic Project Ash

Sage narrowed his eyes sharply, "Ash, are you sure you want to go alone?"

Asher looked at Sage and wondered if he could hear how fast his heart was pounding. He rubbed his clammy hands on his trousers and took a deep breath.

"I am fine. He is not as terrible as you guys think. He never beat me." He frowned; he didn’t mean to defend his father, but he didn’t lie.

The beating, the huntings, all those were the Infernal Covenant. Before his father had handed him over to the smiling nun at the steel factory, he had never laid his hands on Asher.

Well, he did nothing to him. He just ignored him mostly.

Asher took another deep breath, clenching his fist. He walked up to the prison guard who was standing in front of the visiting room and asked where the restroom was.

The prison guard looked at his pale face. He had worked here for over ten years and was familiar with all kinds of expressions of visitors. This young teenager’s nervousness was very common, "Left, down the hall. Don’t take too much time."

"I’m sorry, I’ll go to the toilet for a moment," Asher said, his tone unusually polite as he smiled at Sage. But with that look appearing on his ashen face, it was obvious to Sage that he was forcing himself.

"Ash." Sage regretted listening to Malik about not involving Ravi and letting Ash handle this by himself. He grabbed Ash’s hand with his brows deeply furrowed.

"You don’t plan to hold it!" Asher joked.

Sage hesitated and finally released his hand slowly, moving aside for Asher to pass.

Asher did not hear his phone beep. The faucet before him was turned to the fullest and the splashing of the water was flooding his hearing rapidly.

His ears were echoing with buzzing, not allowing any other sounds in.

He closed his eyes and once again scooped water in his hands and splashed it on his face a few times.

The water seeping into his eyes resulted in a stinging pain. He couldn’t open his eyes, only able to feel the water traces dripping down on his face continuously, falling down from his nose briskly whenever he lowered his head.

His heart was still pounding as he wanted to wash away the negative thoughts in his mind and the fear in his heart.

He did not like the expression on the face of his image in the mirror. He looked too pale like someone weak.

Only this way could he let that man regret. Let him...

However, the voices in his head refused to stop even when he turned the water on to the loudest.

That was probably the first time he heard his father’s voice and his first clear memory.

Cold eyes stared down at him and a slurred voice said, "Why did you bring him here? You can bury him with his mother for all I care. I don’t have the time to take care of a little runt."

At that time, he had just clenched the trousers of the social service worker and stared at the man who looked so much like him.

He had not lied to Sage. The man never laid a hand on him, never spoke to him except to give him his daily chores, he pretended that the young child in his care did not exist.

During the day, Asher would sit quietly by the window watching the neighbour’s cat.

It was a beautiful cat with black and white fur. It would occasionally walk on the wall or even jump over to his side of the street and lazily sunbathe on the ground.

When anyone passed by, that cat would not run away but rather would take the initiative to come over and rub against the passers-by.

"Meow meow meow..."

Many people rub the cat’s belly and feed it all kinds of snacks.

Everyone liked the cat. They petted it and fed it, speaking to it in soft voices.

Asher wished several times that he could be a cat even for a day.

One day, his wish came through and when that man saw his transformation, he smiled so happily.

Asher had been so happy that such a smile had come because of him.

What a fool. He shook his head. Nobody would be happy if they knew he had used such self-deprecating words for himself.

Asher breathed deeply in a low voice. He knitted his eyebrows and used both his hands to wipe away the water droplets on his face, finally gaining a moment of relief. He turned off the faucet and the sound of the running water stopped abruptly.

Ash lifted his head. His face in the mirror looked pale, but his eyes had already regained their calm. He wiped his face dry and looked at his phone.

Sage had sent him a message. The corners of his mouth involuntarily curved into a smile.

He straightened up his attire and left the toilet.

Sage was leaning on the wall, and he noticed the reddened eyes but pretended he could not notice them.

"What do you think?"

"Sage, I will be fourteen next week. I am too young to die."

"Coward!"

Sage has sent him an elaborate prank idea.

"Yes, I am. I am a coward and a potato." Like hell, he was going to allow Sage to pressure him to prank Malik. Not even Arlen or Lana or Ravi, Malik.

Sage threw his arm around his shoulder, "Young people should be brave. This idea is legit. He would not even see it coming.."

The two of them looked at each other and could not help but burst into laughter.

"That was a good one. I need to tell Arlen." He took out his phone to type the joke to Arlen. Sage knew he would immediately find it funny.

The hand on Ash’s shoulder remained there, unwilling to move away until Ash patted him to let go.

The visiting room smelled like the kind of industrial cleaner used to take care of crime scenes. Asher had noticed that familiar smell the moment he walked through the first security door.

He sat at the table with the faded plastic divider and waited.

The door on the other side opened.

The man who walked in was shorter than Asher expected.