Luke "Love in Mist City"/Rewards

Story Summary

This story takes place in an Alternate Universe (AU) or possible past life. Its events do not affect the main timeline.

In a cabin inside a ship, the MC is discussing with her friend, Amelia, on how to proceed with their plan to get Amelia out of Mist City. They have just carried out a fake "kidnapping" of Amelia to get her out of an arranged marriage with Lord Ian and let her elope with her childhood sweetheart, Randy. However, they learned that Amelia's father hired Luke, the most famous detective in Mist City, to investigate the kidnapping. The MC knows Luke, having lived together in a suburban orphanage, and they were childhood sweethearts until they were separated when the MC got adopted. They promised each other that they will be writing each other letters, but she never received a letter back from him. When the MC chanced upon Luke one day half a year ago, he pretended not to know her. She's now worried he'll find out soon that the "kidnapping" was all a hoax. The ship sets sail in a few hours, and they just need to make sure to buy enough time till then. Back home, the MC finds Luke who has been waiting to interview her. He suspects that Amelia left of her own will. The MC then tries to lead him to suspect Twifoil, an illegal organization. Twifoil might have been inactive for a few years, but it's still possible that they are still actively operating. As he was leaving, she asks if she can join the investigation. After a bit, he agrees to meet her in the detective agency.

The MC meets up with Luke in the detective agency. Walking in on Luke's room, the MC catches a glimpse of a Twifoil threat letter. He reveals to her the good news that the "kidnapping" was orchestrated by Amelia. His investigations led him to find out about the arranged marriage with Lord Ian and about Randy, Amelia's childhood sweetheart. He thinks that Randy is the perpetrator behind the "kidnapping", which the MC quickly refutes. Luke finds the MC's quick denial suspicious, and questions her. Refusing to be intimidated, the MC asks him why he's avoiding implicating Twifoil instead. To which Luke responds with a complicated expression. He proceeds to tell her of the history of Twifoil. Twifoil was originally founded to protect the Bakerlon commoners against local aristocrats. It was founded by a man who used to litigate for these commoners for free. However, because of some radical Twifoil members, it eventually became known to be a violent organization. The founder was then too ill to save the organization, and upon his death, he handed everything to his adopted son, hoping to wash away the shame of Twifoil. Luke knows that the "kidnapping" is not the work of Twifoil because there was no threat letter, which the organization usually leaves. The MC then plans to forge the letter and plant it in the scene of the crime.

Before leaving, Luke asks his landlord to deliver a black envelope to the editor-in-chief at Mist City Daily. He leaves the MC in the room for a bit, giving her some time to forge the letter. In Amelia's villa, they proceed to look for the supposed Twifoil threat letter. Luke catches the MC trying to plant the forged letter, which leads to a confrontation between the two. Because of the MC's act, Luke confirms that she is in on the entire "kidnapping" hoax. He tells that with her forging a Twifoil letter, she might be implicated as a Twifoil member, and thus, will be arrested and tried as one. He asks why she would put herself in danger. After this, Luke goes into a sudden coughing fit. The MC tries to help him, soothing his back and offers to call a doctor. He stops her. Finally, he settles. He tells her it's an old injury and she has nothing to worry about, and she should be more worried about herself. Around this time, the MC knows that the ship has already left Mist City, and Amelia is finally free to pursue her happiness.

Luke knows that Lord Ian might take it out on the MC after learning of Amelia and Randy's elopement. He offers to help the MC to avoid the predicament and starts to hatch a plan. They will continue with the original plan of implicating Twifoil in the kidnapping, with the purpose of nudging the police to investigate the conflict between Lord Ian and Twifoil. But their plan now is to plant the threat letter on Lord Ian. Luke knows of some scandals Lord Ian is involved in, and he's supposed to use Amelia's dowry to suppress the scandals. But now that Amelia's out of the picture, he no longer has the money and it's almost time he gets exposed on the front page of Mist City Daily newspaper. Later, Luke and the MC attends a ball held by Lord Ian. The MC suggests that they slip the letter on Lord Ian's pocket while dancing. However, she knows that Luke dislikes dancing; she remembers that he only danced once when they were in the orphanage when she lied about not having a dance partner. At that time, she taught him how to improvise. With that memory, the MC asks the band to play a familiar country song and coaxes Luke to dance with her.

Hesitantly, Luke accepts the dance. Despite Luke's objection, the MC grabs the letter from Luke, and is later able to plant it on Lord Ian's pocket herself. Luke tries to chastise her, but then the MC suddenly playfully kisses him on the cheek. He asks her if she still thinks that he's the one she's looking for and if she won't wait for him. She coyly remarks that she's been waiting for 8 years and no one will wait forever. Luke appears dejected with her answer. The MC stops teasing him and tells him that she knows its him. When she kissed him, he got distracted and he missed a dance step. But the way he recovered the step was something she taught him back then. Finally, he admits that he is indeed the Luke that she knows.

Back at his place, Luke reveals that he was the adopted son of the Twifoil founder. It has been his mission in the last few years to clean up the organization and remove the radical forces from the organization. This is to honor the wishes of his father. Luke had to pretend he did not know the MC in order to protect her. He mentions that his coughing fit was due to an old injury; normally it doesn't act up but he got too anxious at the time that it relapsed. He also tells her that he accepted the kidnapping case because he was worried that the MC might be involved. The MC asks if she was ever part of Luke's future plans. He tells her yes. But he needs another two months to fully clean up everything - he will be disbanding Twifoil and it will instead integrate into his agency to continue helping civilians. He asks her to wait for two more months, and then he will go get her and bring her her favorite flowers.

Illustrations

ConfrontationEach having our own stance, we try everything we can to figure each other out.

After Story

After Story script

Luke: Perfect timing, I'm done. Want to take a walk?

Intimate Interaction

Point 1 (Background)

(Amelia messaged me for the first time, a month after she left Mist City.)

(I can finally relax now that she and Randy have settled down overseas.)

(Now, I spend my days at Luke's office, helping him organize his cases.)

Point 2 (Head)

You: Luke, your hat's getting old. Why don't we go buy a new one?

Luke: Sure, I remember I have this hat because my father said every Bakerlon gentleman should have a hat, so he insisted that I buy one.

You: I see. Well, we can buy another one similar to this.

(if repeated)

(Luke's adoptive father bought the hat for him. He must have thought highly of Luke.)

Point 3 (Scarf)

(Luke's brooch looks familiar.)

Luke: Hmm? Why do you keep staring at my brooch? Do you find it familiar?

You: Yeah, it feels like I've seen the key on it somewhere.

Luke: You have. It is modeled after the key to the attic in the orphanage we stayed at.

You: Eh? Why did you model it after that key?

Luke: Because that attic contained many of our beautiful memories. It was where you taught me to dance.

Luke: I wear it on days when we're apart to remind me of our past.

(if repeated)

(Luke cares more about our past than I thought.)

Black envelope...

(A black letter? I remember Stubbs said a black letter represents something important...)

You: Luke, did you accept a big case recently?

Luke: No, what would make you think that?

You: Why would you need a black letter if not for a big case? Let me see the recipient... Wait, why is it me!?

Luke: It's a letter I wrote to you, so of course, it's addressed to you.

You: But why a letter? We see each other every day, so you can just tell me in person.

Luke: I find some things hard to say to you in person. I can express myself better in a letter.

You: So what did you write in the letter?

Luke: A lot. Basically, every important thing that happened during the time we were apart, and... how I felt about you all these years.

Luke: I may have gone overboard. It took me days to finish writing the letter, so you might think it's too long.

You: No way, I've always wondered what happened in the years we were apart.

You: Now that I finally have the chance, I won't pass it up.

Luke: Good. How about you also write me a letter afterward? It doesn't matter what you write or how long the letter is.

You: Luke, are you... trying to make up for not keeping your promise of writing me letters back then?

Luke: Guilty as charged. I couldn't keep my promise because of everything that happened. So I...

You: In that case, why don't we write each other a letter every month for seven months? That will make up for the past eight years.

Luke: Sure, I thought you would try to talk me out of clinging to the past.

You: I do think that. But more than that, I hope that you can head into the future with me without any regrets.

Luke: Yeah, from now on, being with you every day is perfect.

Story Locations

Mist City
Third-Class Cabin

Mist City
Fog City Avenue

Orphanage

Mist City
Your Residence

Mist City
Living Room

Mist City
Detective Agency

Mist City
Detective Agency

Mist City
Amelia's Bedroom

Mist City
Dance Venue

Orphanage

Mist City
Fog City Avenue

Mist City
Detective Agency

Story Characters

Luke Pearce

Luke Pearce

Luke Pearce

Amelia

Pearson

Stubbs

Police Officer