Chapter Thirteen
"Get in the car."
Ren shook his head as he flicked Monica's forehead before stuffing his hand into his pocket and pulling out the car key to unlock his side of the door.
Beep.
As the car unlocked, a sudden realization hit Ren while looking at Monica, who was still resting against the passenger door, trying to catch her breath while holding her throbbing forehead.
'How did she open the door? I never unlocked the car.' Ren's eyes narrowed in confusion as he stared at the door handle, which looked perfectly normal.
'Thinking of that, she did earlier say that she has an ice pack in the car. Could it be that the car is hers and she lied to me that it's mine? But, why?! Women are so confusing.'
Monica, meanwhile, slipped inside the car in a flash, staring at Ren's bewildered expression through the window. "Are you coming in or not?"
'Whatever.' Ren sighed, shrugging off his thoughts as he settled into the driver's seat and switched on the GPS.
"Who called you?" Monica huffed, clicking her seatbelt into place and crossing her arms beneath her breasts, pushing them up slightly. "I heard a girl's voice."
"Is my girlfriend jealous?" Ren smirked as he turned the key, making the engine roar to life before sparing Monica a glance.
Monica pouted, narrowing her eyes at Ren. "I'm not jealous. Gentlemen with money tend to have a lot of side chicks. I'm just safeguarding my position."
"Relax. It was Alex." Ren shook his head with a broad smile spreading across his face while internally celebrating Monica's jealousy.
"Alex?" Monica's brow arched, her gaze tracking Ren as he shifted the car into gear. "Did you give her your number? And what did you two talk about back at the hospital?"
"Calm down, babe." Ren raised an eyebrow at Monica, entering Alex's Gym details into the GPS as soon as the car merged onto the bustling main street. "I didn't give her my number. Hell, I don't even know how she got it. But she just invited me to her gym to work out back at the hospital, and I requested a male trainer."
"That's it?" Monica pressed, narrowing her eyes at Ren.
The question was a little unexpected coming from a happy-go-lucky girl like Monica, making Ren's heart stutter. However, he couldn't just let his first relationship end in a breakup after only a few minutes.
So Ren decided to gamble, schooling his features into an innocent expression.
"You can ask Alex. Nothing else happened between us." He shrugged nonchalantly, keeping his eyes focused on the road.
Monica studied his profile for a long moment, those ruby eyes searching for any sign of deception. Finally, she sighed, her shoulders relaxing.
"I believe you." She reached over, her small hand resting on his thigh, making Ren suck in a sharp breath.
"I'm sorry for being insecure. It's just... everything happened so fast. One moment I'm collecting rent from a broke professor, the next I'm kissing that same professor in a parking lot after he paid four million dollars for my brother's treatment somehow."
Ren's hand covered hers as he exhaled slowly so she wouldn't notice, and intertwined his fingers with Monica's slender ones. "Life's weird like that."
"Ren?"
"Hm?"
"Where are we going right now?" Monica asked, finally noticing they weren't heading back toward his apartment. "This isn't the way home."
Ren pointed with the hand holding Monica's toward the GPS screen. "Alex's gym. She invited me to check it out, remember? I need to start working on my body if I want to keep up with my beautiful girlfriend."
Monica's cheeks flushed at the compliment. "You don't need to change. I like you as you are."
"Flattery will get you everywhere," Ren grinned, squeezing her hand. "But I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for me. I want to change and give you the best of everything. And I don't want you to ever think someone else might be better than me."
Tears rolled down Monica's cheeks as she nodded vigorously. "Then I'll support you. Just don't overdo it."
"Deal," Ren smiled. But as his gaze flicked to the rearview mirror on Monica's side, his smile vanished instantly.
A sleek black car had been following them since the hospital. At first, Ren dismissed it, hoping his instincts were wrong.
However, after a solid three minutes of the car refusing to disappear from behind them despite several chances to overtake. Ren was now certain someone was either targeting him or Monica.
"Monica."
Monica's head tilted, her thumb still tracing the back of his hand. "Yeah?"
Ren didn't shift his gaze from the mirror. The black sedan maintained a precise distance of three car lengths, unwavering for the past three minutes. Its windshield was tinted so dark it looked like a void in the afternoon light.
"Sink into your seat. Don't look back or at the rearview mirror," Ren warned. His voice had lost its playful lilt, replaced by a cold edge that made Monica's breath hitch. "Hold tight."
"Ren? What's—"
Ren didn't answer. His hand left Monica's thigh, gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity. His foot slammed heavy on the accelerator, the engine's roar deepening into a snarl as the car lunged forward.
The gap between his car and the one ahead vanished instantly. Ren flicked the wheel, weaving through a narrow opening between a delivery truck and a city bus with precision that defied the laws of physics.
Monica gasped, her hand flying to the dashboard to steady herself. "Ren! You're going to get us a ticket!"
"I'll gladly pay it if we make it alive to Alex's gym!"
Meanwhile, inside the black car, the man in the passenger seat grumbled, reaching for the gun between his legs.
"Fuck! How can an ordinary professor drive like that?! Was the intel wrong? Even A-Class Hunters don't drive like that!" The driver opened his jaw in awe as he pressed on the accelerator again.
"Stop yapping, Martin! Close the goddamn distance first!" The guy in the passenger seat yelled at Martin as he smacked his companion's head, making him groan. "We need to finish this mission anyhow."
"On it, Leader!"