BANG!
CLICK!
"Ah, it's done."
The last bullet I fired marked the end of today's shooting session.
Another week had passed since my heat ended and I had returned to training because the wound on my shoulder had healed. Not moving around after days made me restless, so the moment my doctor said I was good to go, I immediately came here to train.
'No, honestly, it's not just about training…'
I reloaded Cecily in my hand, staring at her absentmindedly. There's one more reason I was so eager to come to the shooting range.
'He didn't come today.'
It's a shame that someone I wanted to convey my gratitude to was absent. I pondered as I pulled out my phone and brushed my thumb across the screen.
'I should have asked for his number back then.'
A sense of regret welled up inside my heart. This was the first time I relied this much on some stranger I had just met. It didn't sit right with me to just let things end like this between us.
'Is he alright? Has his rut over yet? What did he do to Keith back then?'
New questions kept popping left and right inside my mind, but with no way to answer, I could only keep these questions to myself.
"I hope he's okay." I muttered as I went out of the shooting center.
The sun was still high in the sky, so I decided to have a walk to a nearby park. The sound of leaves rustling, the wind blowing on my face and the smell of flowers and grass hitting my nose – all of it brought a sense of peace to me.
"Three months and a half."
That's the limit of these moments of peace I could enjoy before hell broke loose all over the world.
Before that, I had to get myself together.
DING!
My phone's notification rang, making me stop in my tracks to open my messenger app.
It was Azazel.
[Yolannnn wanna hang out?]
[I found this cute hamster café on the internet]
[And I was planning to visit it with my friend today.]
[But she suddenly has plans and couldn't come. :((]
[So I was wondering if you want?]
The barrage of text was accompanied by cute emojis in between. It reflected her personality so well which made me smile as I texted her back.
[Sure, send me the location.]
After a week of texting each other, we had become close friends who shared each other's secrets. With how bubbly and extroverted Azazel was and me, who already knew most of her likes and dislikes, we connected fast.
As soon as Azazel sent me the location, I turned my heels toward the street and called a taxi. Once I gave the address to the driver, he immediately stepped on the gas.
DING!
The phone in my pocket vibrated again. Thinking it was Azazel texting me, I nonchalantly pulled out my phone to answer. But to my surprise, it was an unknown number sending me five simple texts.
[It's Haide, where are you?]
My eyes widened. I immediately jumped on my seat and grabbed the driver.
"Please stop the car!"
"Wha-Huh?!"
Though confused, the driver stopped on the side of the road. Leaving him some cash, I slammed open the door and ran back to where I came from.
'The shooting center.'
I dialed the unknown number while running as fast as I could.
CLICK!
[Hello?]
The familiar low baritone voice came out from the line.
"Where are you?"
Hearing my voice, I could hear the man chuckle.
[Are you running? You sound like a squeaky toy gasping for air.]
"Squeaky- What in the hell…? Just tell me where you are."
I grumbled as I slowed down on my steps. Just when I thought I was happy to see him again, he teased me like that.
[Look to your left.]
I followed his voice and turned my head to my left. And there he was, grinning ear to ear when our eyes met each other.
"Haide."
I slowly spoke again through the phone.
[Yes.]
"Between a squeaky toy and an errand boy that got tricked into playing shooting games, which one do you think is better?"
I could see Haide's mouth twitch when I said that, which made me smile myself.
"Let's go out, I'll treat you to dinner tonight, errand boy."
.
.
"Yes, sorry Azazel, I don't think I could go, something came up on my end- Alright, I promise, see you tomorrow."
I apologized to Azazel for suddenly turning down her invitation and promised her I would go out with her tomorrow instead.
Then I turned my focus to the man in front of me.
We were currently sitting in one of the fancy seafood restaurants in the city and I had especially reserved a VIP room so we could talk undisturbed.
"Your friend?"
"Yeah." Opening the menu, I glanced at Haide. "Order what you want, I'll pay."
Haide whistled as he grinned at me.
"Just so you know, I have a large appetite. If you're that confident, I won't be responsible for your empty wallet."
"It's fine, I'm loaded."
"Pfft, what a shameless guy, you are loaded yet you get petty over one lighter?"
Closing the menu, I frowned as I met Haide's gaze.
"I save what I can save, and that lighter was one of it. And why are you still holding a grudge against it?"
"Haha! What a wonderful person I have met."
'No, really, that's true, isn't it?'
That was me lending you my lighter, so I had the right to ask it back, no?
I, in fact, wasn't a stingy person. I was willing to spend money like flowing water if I could indulge in my desire. But at that time, I gave my lighter to Haide with the intention of lending it to him, so I expected him to give it back. I wasn't wrong, no?
I sighed.
'Why am I even justifying myself inside my mind? If that's what Haide thought about me, then that's fine.'
This and that was a completely different thing after all.
After a quick glance at the menu, we finally ordered our food. True to his words, Haide chose at least five dishes that he promised to finish by himself. It took only a few minutes before our food came out.
A variety of fried shrimp, fried fish, and fried squid was served on our table – it was all Haide's of course. On the other hand, I only chose a simple seafood fried rice and a tofu soup on the side.
'Hm? Wait, why is his food all fried though?'
That question popped into the back of my mind when I saw the stark difference between our side of the table. But seeing Haide gobbled up the food with no worries, I just smiled and shrugged it off.
"So, what's the occasion?"
Haide asked when our plate was almost finished. I put down my utensil and wiped my mouth as I spoke.
"I think you've realized why…" I slow down on my words, gauging his reaction. "It's about my heat incident."
Haide nodded, gesturing me to continue.
"That's… Thank you for protecting me… I'm really sorry to trouble you."
Seeing him not wanting to talk and waiting for me to say my mind, I scratched my cheek. "Ah right, those planks installed on my front door, was it you?"
"Yeah, I asked my beta friend to install it. But more importantly, who's that guy to you?"
Haide asked with a low growl at the end of his voice. Anger seemed to seep out from his blood red eyes.
I lowered my gaze as I contemplated.
The relationship between Keith and I was actually not something I was proud of saying in front of others, but with things having escalated this far, Haide also had the right to know what happened between us.
Glaring at my half-eaten fried rice, I slowly opened my mouth.
"He is my ex-husband."
"Ex-husband? You're married?"
"Yeah, but it's a marriage out of convenience and he never treated me like his wife so I asked for a divorce. We've already finalized the papers, so legally, we are not tied to each other again."
Both Haide and I fell silent, so I didn't dare raise my head. Then I heard his voice again.
"But you haven't untied your vow in front of God Uola?"
I weakly nodded, "We are going to do it within two weeks."
Another silence fell inside the room. I didn't know what kind of thought was swirling inside Haide's mind, but I didn't dare to guess.
I picked up my spoon and played around with my food. I knew I might disrespect the chef by doing this, but I just felt like if I didn't do something, the restlessness in my heart would grow bigger than I could hold.
After a few seconds of silence, Haide finally spoke, "I see."
With those words uttered came the sound of footsteps.
Haide stopped beside me. His long fingers picked up the spoon I held and settled it down on the table.
"Yolan, look at me." His tone was soft, as if coaxing.
A soft grip on my chin forced me to look up. Haide's red eyes narrowed as I met his. A gentle smile tugged on his lips.
"That means I only need two weeks to completely have you, isn't that right?"
His face came closer, his warm breath made my cheeks flush.
"Then I'll wait. I'll wait until I can fully make you mine."
Soft lips touched mine. A slick tongue was prying open my mouth.
Muffled chuckle came out from me which prompted Haide to look up. But I closed my eyes, enjoying every second of this breathless kiss.
'It's strange, I couldn't resist his temptation.'
Somehow, his kiss had become as addicting as nicotine.