The Tweedle twins stared at each other with great intensity. Even in the Hatter family, it was rare for the twins to have such serious face. Breathing uneasily, the children threw out their fist and shouted, "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Lillia's face grew pale and her brother jumped around in triumph, "NO!" "Yes!"

Grinning enthusiastically, Leo readily prepared himself for the awaited game, "Ok, let's do the Shoot The Birds Game!" Lillia grumbled, trying to get away from her twin's game at any means possible, "But I wanted to play the Rabbit Slicing Game….Why don't we do it one more time?"

"Too bad. Alright ready or not here we go!" He picked up his axe and dashed to kill the poor birds on the tree while Lillia sighed and chased after her brother.

Looking at the twins annoyingly, Junas shouted, "Hey brats, don't play near our area got it?"

Without even giving a glance at their boss, the children answered while laughing, "Got it~!" Junas doubted if the gatekeepers truly understood what he said and turned to his number2. Kaylus lie down under a big oak tree, slowly closing his eyes. Ever since Junas threw buckets of lizards at him, he was unable to sleep. Every night, he saw dreams of thousands of lizards jumping around and attacking him. In order to stop the nightmare, he concentrated on his mafia duty and never slept in a while. The soft wind gently caressed his tired sleepy eyes and whispered to him to go sleep. Without denial, Kaylus succumbed to his instinct and went into a deep slumber.

Confirming that they were alone, Junas now turned to Alice, who was as quiet as a corpse, "Now, as for you…." He stepped in front of Alice and pointed his index finger towards her, "Where's your usual dim-witted smile? How about your ugly reaction? Or your overly positive energy? ….Weren't you going get the clock?"

Still looking blankly at the empty space, Alice mumbled, "…I have to find Julius."

Junas sighed, from the looks of it, this picnic was not going to cheer up the foreigner in any way, "Alright fine then. Who is this guy called Julius?" Alice just continued to space out and mumbled Julius' name. Junas waited for a few minutes as if to let Alice calm down, but over time it was making him irritated and impatient.

Finally after Alice saying Julius' name for the 12th time, Junas took out his gun and shot a bullet in the air. The loud sound caused Alice to flinch and Kaylus to jump in shock. Junas yelled, "Wake up, dumba**! How long do you think you are dozing off?"

Kaylus looked at his boss in surprise, but remained silent. Alice, for the first time since she woke up, looked at the man in front of her with clear sad eyes, "…Junas."

Putting the gun back, Junas demanded in a serious tone, "Now answer me. What happened? Who is Julius?"

Alice slowly opened her mouth while staring at the ground. She felt total abjection as she tried to suppress her own tears, "Julius…is my most important person…..but…"

"But?"

"He suddenly is not here anymore! Why? Just a while ago I saw him and…."

Watching Alice growing quiet again, Junas widened his eyes for a second and soon roared in laughter, "Haha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He continued to laugh hysterically and smiled, almost too wide to be called a pleasant one. He raised Alice's chin and made her face towards him. "Oh so that was the reason why you were so down? Because this one guy just suddenly disappeared?" Alice was confused at Junas' sudden change of behavior, but said nothing.

Still chuckling, he spoke, "Listen, disappearance means abandonment; he will never come back. No matter how much you fret over it. You may think that your love of life is gone now, but you will live. You can still breath, see things, eat anything you want as long as you wish for it. I'll give you a good piece of advice: Forget. About. Him." His eyes were piercing sharply with a hint of coldness and cruelty. Alice always had to be careful around Junas, but that was because he constantly pulled pranks on her, she never felt scared around him. Now she was scared, like she saw the true face of the mafia boss.

She would have shuddered and tried to run away from him, but she also knew that she couldn't do that. What Junas said was true. You will live even if somebody left you, but some things were wrong. You cannot truly forget a person, no matter how hard you wish for it. A faint image of Alice's tutor, her previous lover, appeared in her mind and soon vanished. "True… even if he is gone, I'm still alive. I can move, eat, breath, I can do anything I want…" Inhaling, Alice blinked her eyes and stared straight at Junas, "But…I don't believe Julius abandoned me. I also don't want to forget about him. I just cannot. If I forget about him, what was all that time spent with him? That blissful time, my feelings, my happiness? Does that all go down the drain?" She, then, closed her eyes, remembering Julius in utmost details, nothing was fading away from her memories as if he was right there beside her, "I…I don't want to forget him. And I don't think you can ever forget about Mirea…"

Junas flinched at the sudden notion of his lover and reacted drastically, "What the- where did Mirea come from!" He was about to protest, but, when he noticed Alice just staring at him in silence, an image of Mirea crossed his mind. The golden locks flowed gracefully and framed her small face; a face that was smiling so energetically. As soon as Junas saw this image, he shut his mouth and gripped his fist, "…I admit that I can't seem to forget about that b****, but it's not like I can get back with her."

He, then, crouched down beside Alice and hugged her. Alice's eyes widened and immediately looked at the man, "Ju…nas?"

"We both have a common aspect. If that is so then why don't you just live with me forever? We can share our pain together." His voice was not his usual harsh, demanding one. It was as if he wanted to desperately lean on to something; calling for help. Alice had no words to answer the request; she knew too well what kind of pain Junas was going through, but it was not her place to become the second Mirea. It was just wrong to form a relationship based on mutual pain.

Alice gripped Junas' sleeve, "That…." Just when Alice was about speak, a rough force pulled Alice away from Junas.

"What are you doing to Alice?" A familiar firm hand was gripped around her waist and long navy blue hair flowed down to Alice's shoulder. It's not possible…. Alice slowly shift her gaze from the big hand secured around her to the man's face.

A tear formed in her eyes and Alice softly spoke, "J-Julius?"

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Junas struggled to get up. An intruder has pushed the Hatter's family boss and there was no way he could forgive this rudeness, "What the- who the hell are you?" Junas immediately brought his gun and aimed at the man.

Julius already had his gun, but Alice covered Julius and shook her head, "Stop, Junas! This is someone I know!"

Junas scoffed, "I don't care if he is someone you know; he trespassed the Hatter family's territory and pushed ME, the BOSS, that's enough reason to kill that freckin' bastard."

Alice glared at Junas, she was absolutely not going to let this develop into a bloody fight, "NO. If you shoot Julius. I-I will never forgive you and never think about living with you."

"What?" "What?" Junas and Julius both looked at the girl in disbelief.

Alice cringed at the two men's reaction. She didn't mean to say those words, but it seemed like the only possible way out. Sighing, she ignored the men's reaction and stated, "Now, just lower you gun and give me and Julius a moment."

Both of the men put their gun away and Julius walked towards Alice. For a few seconds, Junas did not move from the spot, but eventually backed away and mumbled, "…..Fine then."

Relaxing from the successful avoiding of danger, Alice turned to Julius, finally letting out her filled up emotion.

I was planning to update this chapter last weekend, but yeah…couldn't. (Not like this is the first time or anything but….) Well after reading this chapter most people would be thinking "What? How did Julius pop up from nowhere?" I tell you, there is a legit reason (well in my own way it is). It will be explained in the next chapter so cya!