Eric had been thinking about it for awhile now as he was munching on his definitely less than savory oyster meal.
Even though there was no doubt in his mind that Aurora was the one who had suddenly broke into his house last night and disarmed all of his traps as well as subdued the surveillance team he had hired solely just to eliminate her and all, he still didn't quite understand how she had managed to do so all within just one night.
After all, with the amount of traps and surveillance he had set up, even if Aurora had known about it in advance, there should've been no way that she could've gotten rid of them all that quickly.
That also applies for the future Aurora as well even if she was more knowledgeable and was a few hundred cycles deep within her regression.
The only logical possible way that this current Aurora could've actually accomplish such an insane feat without alarming anyone at all was if Aurora had gathered lots of information and prepared well for it beforehand.
With that in mind, after thinking it over again and again, Eric finally came to the realization of something.
'Aurora completely knew about all of the traps and help I had hired before even making her move last night.'
Probably some time yesterday after he had left the cafe, right before he had actually begun making preperations for everything, Aurora had been observing him the entire time after she received a message from Aria about him.
Then when he had called people to create and lay out the traps in certain areas inside and around the building his penthouse was located in, Aurora had most likely observed them as well, and disarmed the traps right before anyone even noticed.
That way, when night came, all she had to do then was get rid of the men he had hired to be on the lookout.
'Damn it, this is why I should've not been in such a rush to try and do something the moment I recovered back my memories.'
Nonetheless, what's done is done though, and it's not like he could go back in time again just like Aurora to fix his mistakes.
Besides, not all is lost however, and Eric still believed that there was a way to recover from this.
In fact, if he played his cards right this time, then maybe the entire situation might even work out well to his favor.
After all, there was a clear reason why Aurora had left him alive still.
As such, Eric planned on taking things slowly this time around and not rush it.
After spending a few more minutes eating and finishing up his oysters, Eric paid for the meal, left a hefty tip for the waiter, and then left the restaurant, intending to go back to his place to further consider what to do next in order to fully get rid of Aurora once and for all.
However, right after Eric had exited the restaurant and stepped foot onto the sidewalks again, Eric suddenly felt someone grab onto his arms from behind.
So he slowly turned around to see who it was.
And from there, it was revealed that the person who had actually grabbed onto his arms just now was none other than...
"Miss Aria." Eric greeted Aria and then waited for a response.
But for some reason, Aria didn't respond back to him at all and simply just continued to just stare at him weirdly as though she was looking at a ghost.
So Eric couldn't help but glance over at the hospital across the street for a brief moment before looking back at Aria again.
"Well, good luck to you then, Miss Aria." Eric then calmly moved his arms away from Aria and began to walk away from her as though nothing had happened at all.
But just as he turned his back towards her and walked a few steps forward, it was then that Aria had finally started to talk.
"How did you know?" Aria's voice was soft, but it still reached Eric's ears.
"..." Eric didn't respond right away and instead just stood in place silently with her back still turned against her as he thought of what to do next.
After all, how was he really supposed to respond to that question?
He knew exactly what Aria was referring to, as he had definitely seen her enter the hospital earlier, however he simply couldn't just exactly tell her the truth and tell her that he knew everything about her because she was a character from a novel he had read before back on Earth.
That was a secret that he was completely willing to take to his grave for obvious reasons!
Besides, it was honestly just a crazy thing to say out loud.
After standing still for a couple more seconds thinking about what his next best move would be while not accidentally offending Aria in the process out of concern that Aurora might actually kill him in his sleep next time in retaliation, Eric finally slowly turned back to Aria and spoke calmly.
"Lucky guess, I suppose."
Aria's eyes couldn't help but twitch after hearing his clearly half-assed response and said, "Then what about the fact that you somehow knew that I always thought that it was just a burn mark, huh? Was that simply just a lucky guess as well?"
"It was." Eric nodded in response and didn't elaborate any further.
"..." Aria was absolutely speechless by how shameless this guy actually was, and her hands couldn't help but clench up tightly as a result.
Seriously, she didn't know what the hell it was about him that makes her feel so uncomfortable and frustrated at him every time she even remotely just looks at him, but the feeling was definitely there.
And it was strange, really.
She's talked to all sorts of rude and creepy men before and has even had a fair share of run-ins with actual criminals, and yet, he was the only one in the entire world that was able to make her feel this way.
She couldn't wrap her head around it at all, and honestly, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to do so right now.
However, she was certain about one thing though, and it was the fact that...
He knows too much about her.
After all, according to Dr. Yang, she does have skin cancer.
But this skin cancer she had was apparently so unfamiliar to him that Dr. Yang didn't even know what it was exactly called yet, and that he needed to do some further research and asking around to properly identify it.
The main thing about the entire situation though was that this type of cancer didn't present itself with any other external symptoms whatsoever, which was why Dr. Yang had initially just assumed that it was also simply just a burn mark, as even skin cancers that can't be seen with the naked eye still often present themselves with other symptoms.
In other words, her skin cancer should've been completely invisible for him and everyone else entirely.
And yet, the man right in front of her right now was able to accurately determine that she had skin cancer.
Just like that.
That was why she was so certain that this man knew things about her that she didn't even know herself.
And she was determined to find out about what else he knew about her and how he knew about them.
Thus, after managing calming herself down for a bit, and shifting her gaze slightly over to the background behind his head so that she didn't get enraged again, she began to open her mouth again in order to speak.
But just before she could say anything however...
"Take care of yourself, Miss Aria. You don't need to hide it every time. Pretending that everything's fine eventually has a way of catching up to most people." Eric suddenly spoke out while looking at her directly in the eyes.
Then without another moment's hesitation, Eric turned away from Aria, and walked off into busy streets, leaving Aria completely stunned by his words once again just like he had done so yesterday.