Ong Yit Sin's Misc Writings.

Back to Portfolio

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zach had pizza when I woke up. That's another great thing about living with your best friend, there's always comfort food when you need it most. Although I guess the timing helped too since it was dinner time.

We were almost finishing dinner in front of the television when Patrick, "Paddy", came in and dropped a file in front of us. Paddy's another one of my roommates and a close friend because we're going to the same college. He's a year behind me though, while Zach's a year ahead. Us college students tend to get short cases because of our easy schedule. Most of the other members have permanent positions such as security, intelligence or office jobs in one of the other smaller businesses owned by fellow members.

Zach picked up the file, "Missing kid. Nineteen-year-old boy ran away from home two months ago." He whistled, "Twenty grand."

I raised an eyebrow, "Just to find a kid?"

"No, to find him and make him stay," Paddy said, "That's the ninth time he ran away."

We laughed.

"The guy's nearly our age," I pointed out, "And we get two thousand to bring him back to mommy."

For each successful case, we get ten percent of the amount paid to our company. As students, we didn't really need the cash. It was more of a hobby for us so we're fine with sharing cases and money. It also helps us train our teamwork and other skills so the money didn't really matter. But still, it's a little ridiculous that our target's older than when we first started doing this. Maybe we've just been in this world for too long.

Zach finished the last slice of pizza and went to wash his hands in the kitchen. I followed him, "You wanna bring anyone else into this case?"

Paddy shrugged, "The three of us can do it. If we need more people for the take down we can bring more in."

With my hands clean, I picked up the file and almost immediately dropped it. Recognition came all too easily. It was Scrawny.

"I know that guy."

Paddy froze while reaching for the television remote. Zach gave me an amused smirk, "Why am I not surprised?"

I smacked him on the shoulder, "He was at my friend's birthday party last night." I told them about the bar fight.

"Did the girl actually know him?" Paddy asked.

I thought about it for a while, "I don't think so. I don't know for sure. It just looked like he was hitting on her and Steph said that she didn't know him at all."

Zach leaned towards me, took the file and began taking notes, "We should talk to girl and maybe the boyfriend."

"And the cops too," Paddy added.

I nodded, "I'll ask Steph for her number."

"I'll do the usual parents/school/friends stuff on-" Paddy checked the file, "Terence Chay."

***

I called Steph and she gave me the girl's, Melissa's, number. We agreed that Zach and Paddy would contact Melissa and the cops tonight. They would make up some story to get her to talk so it was best that I wasn't there in case she recognized me. Also, I had to talk to Jeff sooner rather than later.

I took a quick shower and changed in my favourite jeans and a tank top. An hour later, Zach dropped me off at Jeff's apartment.

Legion also had buildings of their own where their members could stay, but Jeff didn't stay with Legion. As far as I know, he didn't really have much to do with them except on official business and hanging with his Legion friends. But to be honest, I didn't really know much about him.

I still had his apartment key so I let myself in. As expected, he wasn't there. Probably out working or with friends. I could wait. I needed to figure out what to say anyway. That was why I decided to just show up and not call first.

I waited for an hour. Then two. In between I called Dean and told him I still had his phone. Then I called Zach to find out how they progressed. Then I called Paddy to find out how they progressed. By the third hour, even Zach had gotten tired of me and told me to "just call Jeff." He's right, for all I know Jeff could be out of town. Damn, I should have just called him to begin with.

I dialed and it rang until I was told to leave a message. So I hung up and dialed again. How am I supposed to leave a message? "Hey, one of your buddies tried to kill me and I need you to come take him back. Oh by the way, I happen to be in your apartment." Yeah right.

"Hey," Jeff picked up the third time I called. I didn't know whether to be relieved or nervous. I guess I was both.

"Hey."

Silence. I took a deep breath, "I kind of need your help."

There was a tiny pause. "Guild business?"

"Yeah."

I heard him sigh, "And here I thought you missed me."

"I do miss you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be in your apartment." There I said it.

A longer pause. "I can be there in half an hour."

"Okay."

Then the line went dead. I don't know if it's a trend or habit not to say goodbye but it seemed like everyone's doing it nowadays.

***

It was ten minutes past eleven when I heard Jeff's door unlock. I sat up from where I was lying on the couch and turned to face the door. It opened and Jeff walked in. He looked haggard and was dressed in jeans. Guess he wasn't working after all. He saw me and smiled. It was a nice smile. Like he was happy to see me. It made me smile too.

He locked the door and came to the couch, sitting on the other end away from me, "So what happened?"

I wanted to hug him. But I didn't know where we stood. Did this also count as part of the time-out? Besides, this was guild business and guild business always came first. It was another one of those rules. So I told him about the attack.

I watched a slight frown grow but he didn't say anything. When I was done, he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring at some imaginary point on his wall.

I was waiting for him to say something. To tell me that rookie wasn't aiming for me. To tell me that Legion would never do something so stupid. Barry might believe that, but I sure as hell didn't. To me, Legion broke the rules as much as they wanted, they just made sure they didn't get caught. I've met their alpha and he struck me as someone who didn't believe that conscience existed. Plenty of his followers had the same attitude.

He still didn't say anything so I told him Barry's theory, "We don't do prisoners. I'm not entirely sure where they are keeping him but you need to take him back. You're the only Legion allowed in."

"I don't care about him," He finally turned to look at me, "You could have been killed."

My heart went all flutter-ish at that. But then again, it was flutter-ish since I entered the apartment over three hours ago. He's so cute when he's worried. Jeff still had a boyish look although he's four years older than me.

"No one can kill me that easily."

He didn't smile like I expected him too, "They can now. You're vulnerable and you're still walking around. What if he wasn't the only one?"

I hadn't really thought of that. I was healed but my power would take time to restore itself to full capacity. It could take a day to a week depending on how well I took care of my body. I can still fight but my skills were pretty limited at the moment.

"You should have called me last night." It was a statement not a question.

I nodded, "I'm sorry."

He sighed and whispered something I couldn't catch.

"So you'll come get him?"

More muttering. Then, "Shit."

"What?!"

He sighed again and whispered, a little louder than before. This time I could hear it, "I love you."

That hurt more than it should have. The stupid conversation wasn't supposed to go this way. I wasn't supposed to be attacked like that. I never should have mixed guild shit with my personal life. Which reminded me that this was still about guild shit. I had to get him to come pick up the rookie.

"You still need to pick him up. There's no one-"

He cut me off, "Jess."

"What!!!"

"Shut up."

And he kissed me. It wasn't gentle. His mouth on mine as I felt my heart break. I wanted him. I needed to be with him for so long. But we couldn't be both lovers and enemies. He may be able to handle that but I couldn't.

He stopped and wiped a tear that I didn't know I shed. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

We both sighed. Then smiled at what we just did. The sighing part I mean. I let him hold me and closed my eyes to enjoy the moment. It wouldn't last long. It never did. But it would last tonight. Before we went back to settle guild business.

"You still need to settle the rookie," I whispered.

He kissed the top of my head, "We'll give him one more night before sending him to hell."

I shuddered. I didn't want to think about what Legion would do to him. Like wolf packs, their punishment was both physically and psychologically terrifying.

***

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to Portfolio

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6