Admiring Sophie’s beauty for a second, Dan’s gaze flickered toward the hallway behind her.
He already had a pretty good idea why she had come. But hearing her say it would be another matter entirely.
The silence between them stretched for several seconds.
Sophie finally lowered her gaze slightly. "Dan..."
Her voice was quiet.
"Hmm?"
She hesitated. There was something different in her expression tonight. She wasn’t merely embarrassed about coming over so late. There was confusion there, along with a trace of nervousness that Dan hadn’t seen from her earlier.
Sophie finally gathered enough courage to speak. "That... thing."
Dan remained silent watching as she continued.
"The floating panel I saw." Her fingers tightened slightly against the hem of her shirt.
"The one about the marriage." She looked up at him again. "Was that really you?"
Dan stared at her for a moment before giving a small nod. "Yes, Sophie it was me."
There was no reason to lie.
Her eyes widened slightly upon hearing him. "So it really was you..."
Dan nodded again. "Yes."
Sophie remained standing outside, seemingly unsure of what to do with that answer.
Dan noticed her expression and understood what she was thinking.
She still hadn’t fully processed everything and He couldn’t blame her, after all his own mind was still struggling to keep up with everything that had happened tonight.
He stepped aside. "The door is open. You can come in."
Sophie hesitated for another moment before quietly stepping inside.
Dan closed the door behind her and the moment Sophie stepped inside, she glanced around the apartment before turning back toward him.
"That... stuff." She swallowed. "Is it real?"
Dan knew exactly what she meant.
"The floating system panel?"
Sophie nodded. "Yes."
"So you know about stuff like that?"
"Well, I read..." She trailed off, unable to maintain eye contact. Her gaze dropped to the floor.
"I see..."
Dan turned away and walked toward the living room, with Sophie following closely behind.
"As you can already see, some very strange things have been happening tonight." Dan gestured toward the window. "The blood rain is real. The system is real. And whatever happened to the world tonight wasn’t some strange weather phenomenon."
Sophie listened silently as Dan continued.
"The system told me that the blood rain was only the first sign of the apocalypse."
Her expression tightened. "Apocalypse..."
The word sounded strange coming from her lips.
Dan nodded. "According to what I’ve been told, something is coming. The blood rain is proof of that."
He didn’t exaggerate. He didn’t try to make the situation sound more dramatic than it already was.
He simply told her what he knew. "I don’t know exactly what will happen or when everything will begin, but I know enough to understand that this isn’t something we can ignore."
Sophie looked toward the window. Outside, the night had returned to normal.
The rain had stopped. But the memory of crimson water falling from the sky was still fresh in her mind.
"And that system..." she murmured.
"Yes?"
"Where did it come from?"
"I don’t know."
"Why did it choose you?"
"I don’t know that either."
Sophie looked at him. "And why me?"
Dan paused. He knew she was asking why he wanted to marry her...
That was a question he couldn’t answer. Instead, he gave a small shake of his head.
"Don’t think too much about all this..."
Sophie lowered her eyes, completely defeated. There were simply too many things to understand.
A strange system had appeared before her. It had asked her to marry the man she had known for years. She had accepted.
Then, only a short while later, her home had suddenly lost power while every other building around them remained unaffected.
It was too much. Sophie slowly sat down on the sofa.
Dan sat across from her, and for a while, neither spoke.
The silence between them felt different now. They were no longer simply two neighbors trying to understand a strange event.
They were husband and wife. And, apparently, they were supposed to prepare for the end of the world together while building the Ultimate Family...
Sophie eventually raised her head. "Dan."
"Hmm?"
"This might not be a good time, but there is something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time."
Something in her voice made Dan’s expression change. He sat a little straighter.
"What is it?"
Sophie looked down at her hands. For several seconds, she said nothing.
Her fingers intertwined tightly in her lap. "I..."
Her voice caught, and Dan waited.
Sophie took a slow breath. "While I have my reasons, I still feel really stupid."
Dan frowned slightly. "Why?"
"Because I should have told you a long time ago." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "There were so many opportunities. So many times when I thought I should tell you."
She swallowed. "But every time, I lost my courage."
Dan’s expression became more serious. "What are you talking about?"
Sophie looked at him. "It’s about Lily."
The moment he heard the little girl’s name, Dan’s expression softened slightly.
"Lily?"
Sophie nodded. Her eyes had already begun to redden.
"Lily is..." She stopped. For a few seconds, the words simply wouldn’t come.
Dan didn’t rush her. He could see how difficult this was for her.
Finally, Sophie forced herself to speak. "Lily is your daughter."
Everything went silent.
Dan didn’t move. For several seconds, he simply stared at Sophie.
It was as though his mind had stopped functioning.
"What?" His voice came out quieter than he intended.
Sophie lowered her head. "Lily is your daughter, Dan. Your biological daughter."
Dan continued staring at her.
The words reached his ears. He understood the individual words, but his mind refused to connect them.