Chapter 101 - 101: Anastasia And Evelina
"What?!" Nathan was more shocked than he could ever had.
"You heard me. Loud and clear. And I guess this was also in your mind. You just didn\'t want to accept it."
"But...but how?! How could that be possible?!" Then his eyes widened in realization and blurted out "Don\'t tell me--"
"Yes....Ana and Eve. Two people. You have fallen in love with two people." Mike Roland casually said as if the matter was nothing serious.
"Then...she\'s Ana? I mean does that mean my Eve indeed died back then?" Nathan asked him though he was still in shock.
"No. Your wife now is the true Eve. The one you had fallen in love with in the past, her name is Anastasia Watson or Kim Ji Eun."
Nathan\'s mind suddenly went blank. It seems like any more information may caused his mind to short circuit.
"Seeing your reaction...I guess it was best for you to rest first. You haven\'t sleep from the flight yet." Michael Roland advised the poor Nathan.
"No...I want to know....I- I want to know what really happen. Why...why did this happen? Please, tell me!" Nathan felt like he\'s going to be insane if they\'re going to delay this any further.
"The story that I was about to tell you was quite long so I hope you have the energy to bear with me." He paused as he deeply sigh.
"Let me tell you a story of Eve and Ana." Mike started.
It all started when Kim Min Joon, their biological father was pressured by his step father to marry the daughter of his best friend.
Kim Min Joon\'s mother, Kim Eunji and Kim Ji Eun\'s grandmother, though was against the idea, still decided to agree with her husband. Her husband had married into the Kim Family yet he had the audacity to boss around Matriarch Kim and her son.
But Kim Min Joon had a rare condition in which he would get a severe allergic reaction of he got closer to women. But he was stubborn.
A clever idea came into his mind. He thought that if he had an heir, they would stop pestering him. So, he looked for a suitable woman to be the mother of his child.
Layla Jin Fiore then came into the picture. She was desperate. Her mother needs money and Kim Min Joon took advantaged of that. Having no choice, she agreed.
They decided to skip the natural way of fertilization and conception and decided to have a shot in IVF.
The procedure became successful and the two finally conceived. Falling in love to Layla was never Kim Min Joon\'s plan. It just so happen.
But what surprised him was that he never got an allergic reaction when he accidentally touched Layla. Since then, he decided to not let the woman go and asked her to marry him which Layla agreed with no ounce of hesitation in her mind.
They got married when Layla was four months pregnant with their child.
Everything was doing well between them since their marriage and love affair was hidden from the Kim Family.
However, peace didn\'t last long for Min Joon and Layla as Mr. Kim eventually found out about it and haunted down Layla.
When she was seven months pregnant, Layla encountered a fatal accident which almost made her to miscarry the babies. Because of the accident, she had to deliver both babies prematurely. They had to stay in the Kim Hospital for two more months.
Kim Min Joon had no other choice but to reveal his relationship with Layla. He thought that since his relationship with her was publicized, his step-dad would stop his schemes and not harm his family in broad daylight but he was wrong.
His step-dad went to the extreme and managed to harm the youngest. They put drugs on her IV which made her heart to be damaged. The nurse whom step-father Kim paid was about to do the same thing on the eldest but they managed to stop her on time.
Kim Min Joon, their father, was so angry and blamed himself for what happened to his daughter.
At the peak of the problem, help came from his twin brother, Kim Nam Joon who grew up with their father, Mr. Watson.
Nam Joon offered to bring the child in his protection and save her.
Though reluctant, Kim Min Joon finally agreed. However, he had to declare that the child was dead to everyone. Including to his wife Layla.
He somehow managed to stop his step-dad from pestering his little family. Sadly he felt sick and eventually die...leaving his little family vulnerable.
Kim Nam Joon bought the child into one of his private lab in Switzerland. He could not afford to bring he to the hospital since no doctors would treat her. Why? She went into a state of coma. With a weak heart, she was already good as dead. However, Kim Nam Joon did not give up on her. She was placed inside a placenta like environment and received the medicine that Kim Nam Joon formulated just for her. It was safe to say that she was still alive thanks to science and medicine.
When his brother, Kim Min Joon died, Kim Nam Joon decided to take his wife and child with him since they were the only relative that his brother had left for him. He found out that the healthy twin was named Anastasia Lien Ji Eun Kim. The unamed twin was then named Evelina Lien Eunji Kim.
Since Ana arrived at the camp, she was introduced as Kim Nam Joon\'s daughter to protect her.
Seeing that Eve had not regained any consciousness, Kim Nam Joon thought of an idea to transfer or share Ana\'s memories to her. That way, her brain could be stimulated.
The procedure seemed to work as there showed some progress.
When Eve was ten, though she was still unconscious, Kim Nam Joon decided to have her major heart operation since her body was ready for that.
After the operation, Eve finally had woken up. The news delighted Kim Nam Joon so much.
But a problem arise. Since she was known to be dead, how can he introduce her to them?
The process of sharing Ana\'s memories to her also continued due to Eve\'s request. She wanted to be close to her sister even if it was through this method. Eve knew that Ana existed while the latter didn\'t.
To put the memories she acquired into use, Eve was also taught by Ana\'s martial arts Master to strengthen her body. She was also then discovered to be a child prodigy. A super genius to be exact. She could memorize a book\'s entire content by just seeing the pages once.
Because of this she had advanced knowledge in academics. She also picked Kim Nam Joon\'s talent in Medicine, Chemistry and Physics. With her Master\'s knowledge in ancient medicine, she was able to formulate pills at such a young age.
Between the twins, Eve had a much calm and warm personality while Ana had a temper and cold. Maybe due to the harsh training that she had to endure.
Eve could feel it too since she could watch it in Ana\'s memories.
Layla, soon found out that Nam Joon was hiding something from her and eventually discovered the truth.
Later on, he had no choice but to let Layla know that Eve, her other daughter was alive. So, he brought Layla to Switzerland and let her meet Eve who was already twelve at that time.
During her break on the academy, Ana got the chance to travel to Switzerland and meet Eve.
Knowing that Eve, her sister whom she had only seen in dreams was indeed alive and true, she was beyond shocked. Her reaction worried Layla and Nam Joon in the process. All her life, Ana was the only child. There was no Eve in the picture.
Thankfully, their worries did not come true because Ana eventually warmed up to Eve. The sister bond between the twins was beyond human explanation.
Ana also agreed that Eve should be hidden or else she would be in danger. Ana already has a lot of enemies both inside the camp and outside. And seeing that Eve had a warm and delicate personality, Ana believed that she\'s not fit to be in the mercenary world. She could not afford to lose her twin sister.
However, something happened to Ana. She suddenly went missing after taking a mission.
Rumors that she died immediately spread across their camp which made the opposition brave enough to challenge Kim Nam Joon\'s authority.
Yes, Ana\'s excellent performance as a Level -S Assassin and Mercenary helped in stabilizing Kim Nam Joon\'s position as their leader. Why? They feared Ana so much. She was known of her reputation of being ruthless and merciless.
Seeing that her family was in trouble, she had no choice but to take over and be Ana. She had to be Ana until her sister came back.
Of course Layla and Nam Joon opposed to this. Why? She had to look exactly like Ana. She had to lose her left eye. She had to have that ugly scar on her face.
Also, Eve hated violence. She had a soft heart compared to Ana. So how could she adjust to it.
Despite all of their opposition, Eve\'s resolution did not waver. Kim Nam Joon and Layla had no other choice but to support her decision.
True enough, Eve\'s suddenly showing up shocked everyone. But they did not accept her immediately unless she proved to be Ana. She was challenged into a duel. The challenger was the son of the elder who was opposed to Kim Nam Joon\'s way of leadership.
Eve who memorized Ana\'s movements and skills immediately defeated her opponent without batting an eye. She mercilessly killed him during the battle.
The outcome of the battle worried both Layla and Kim Nam Joon that it might cause some psychological effects on her. She had not killed anyone yet.
However, to their surprise, there was no regrets in Eve\'s eyes. They didn\'t know Eve had managed to mask her emotions really well just like Ana.
But deep down, she was beyond terrified. She didn\'t like the feeling of claiming someone\'s life. Eve could only comfort herself by reminding her of her purpose. Her main goal was to find Ana. If she\'s dead, she had to find Ana\'s body. If she\'s alive, she had to bring her back safe and sound.
After a year of taking mission\'s Eve somehow adapted to the mercenary\'s lifestyle.
Also, after a year of being missing, Eve could not find any traces of Ana everywhere. It was like she disappeared on Earth.
This made Eve to lose hope. She started to believe that Ana was dead. Because of this, she absentmindedly took missions disregarding the target.
Her change of behavior worried her parents. They thought that she would end up the same just like her sister. Just like Ana.
Their fear eventually came true. She got caught in an accident and had suffered an amnesia. And you know what happened. She came back and ask for her freedom. As for what really happened to Ana, Mike didn\'t want to tell him yet. Knowing that she\'s dead was enough for now.
"Wait, so you mean Ana introduced herself as Eve to me? Why did she do that?"
"I can\'t answer your question Nathan. Only her can." Mike Roland frankly answered him.
"Where is she? Ana, where\'s Ana?" Nathan anxiously asked him.
"Dead."