REBIRTH : Chasing The Limelight

Chapter 97: Move aside.

The next day, Elara arrived at a quiet restaurant located in a less busy district of Starfall. The area was far from the crowded city center, so it was usually peaceful and rarely had people around. It was also the kind of place where public figures could sit without drawing too much attention.

Lioren had already arrived when she got there. This surprised her because they had agreed to meet at four, and she had left Voice earlier than planned, even thirty minutes ahead of time. Still, he was already seated like he had been waiting for a while.

They ordered food and spoke casually for a bit. Lioren even asked her about the historical musical film project that was trending in the industry.

"I know about it," Elara told him. "I actually attended an audition for it, and I am now waiting for a response."

For a short while, everything went on smoothly, not until Elara spoke up again.

"Wait.. how did you know about my grandpa? And how did you find out what had happened to him?" She asked.

Lioren paused immediately. He looked at her for a long moment with a faintly confused expression. "Grandpa," he repeated the word slowly.

Elara nodded and continued. "I’m curious because I don’t remember ever telling you anything about my grandfather before."

"You never mentioned him before," Lioren agreed.

Elara nodded again. "Yeah. That was exactly why I was asking."

At that point, Lioren fell silent. The change in his expression made Elara lift her eyes to him, waiting for an answer. But when he finally spoke, what he said made her brows slowly draw together in confusion.

"I don’t know your grandfather at all," he said.

Elara froze slightly, her expression tightening.

It made no sense. If he didn’t know Grandpa. Then how had he paid his hospital bills and visited him at the hospital.

Before she could fully process it, Lioren spoke again, repeating more clearly. "I have no knowledge of your grandfather at all. Is there any problem?"

Elara looked down at the plate in front of her for a moment, then raised her head again. "You don’t know him?" she asked again while Lioren simply shook his head. "Then how did you–"

Before she could finish her words, a voice suddenly cut through the moment from behind.

"Frostiebun."

Elara turned around and saw Tonio walking toward them at a quick pace. Lioren only glanced at him briefly before returning his attention to his food as if nothing had happened.

"I came to this area with my teammates for a match at the stadium opposite here," Tonio explained immediately as he stopped beside their table. "I saw you getting out of a car and entering this place. The moment I finished what I needed to do, I came straight here."

Elara listened quietly and gave a small nod, though her thoughts were not fully focused on him.

If Lioren was not the one, then everything she believed about her grandfather’s hospital care was wrong. Someone else had been involved all along without her knowing.

Her eyes lowered slightly as she thought through it again. If it was not Lioren, then who could it be. Her gaze drifted toward Tonio for a moment.

Then she shook her head and dismissed the thought from her mind.

Though he can also do something as such, but from what she’d heard from Zia. Tonio did not fit the image.

Before she could think further, Tonio suddenly raised his voice. Elara looked up to see him staring directly at Lioren. Lioren returned the look calmly without reacting at all.

Tonio clicked his tongue in irritation. "You again."

Elara blinked and looked between them. "Do you know each other?" she asked quietly.

"Of course I know him," Tonio answered immediately, still looking at Lioren as if remembering something unpleasant. "Because when you were in a coma, I had always visited you in the hospital but anytime he was there, he would stop me at the entrance."

Elara paused slightly as he talked on.

"I tried to enter several times," Tonio continued, clearly offended as he recalled the situation. "But he had always stopped me, saying visiting hours were over or refusing entry altogether."

"The visiting hours were over at that time," Lioren finally spoke in a calm voice.

"It was not true!" Tonio immediately corrected him, insisting. "It had been only a few minutes past the time limit!"

Lioren sighed and looked away. Tonio also turned his attention away from him and to the table.

"Wow!" He exclaimed and then quickly sat down at the table without hesitation. "What are we eating?" he asked casually.

"You were not invited," Lioren stated flatly.

"I invited myself," Tonio responded, glaring sideways at him. "Mind your business man."

Elara stayed quiet through all of it, her mind no longer fully on the conversation in front of her. Instead, her thoughts kept circling back to one thing.

If it was not Lioren, then someone else had been quietly watching her life without her ever knowing.

–

Elara left the restaurant with Lioren and Tonio at around five thirty and went straight to work without wasting any time.

The evening passed quickly, and by the time she finished her shift, it was already very late again, just like most of her nights these days.

The street was very quiet as she walked with only a few streetlights casting long shadows on the ground.

As she got close to Voice’s gate, her eyes caught sight of the car parked a short distance from the entrance.

Her steps did not slow. She simply moved her gaze elsewhere and continued walking forward. But just as she was about to pass by, the car door suddenly opened and someone stepped out, moving directly into her path.

Elara stopped.

Her eyes lifted slowly, and Relanie’s face came into view under the dim light.

Her again.

Elara thought and sighed inwardly, but her expression did not change at all. She didn’t care why Relanie was there or what she wanted. It did not matter.

She stepped to the side, intending to walk past her without a word but Relanie moved at the same time and blocked her way again.

Elara stopped once more and took a small step back, then she raised her eyes to look at her properly this time.

"Move aside," she said in a low, calm voice.