Chapter 20: Late Night Stroll

"Wow! that was something crazy!" Amusement evident in his tone. "I've never done it before even when I was a teenager. Although I wanted to try it." I shake my head at him.

"Tell me why are we here again?" I say, looking around.

Currently, we are sitting on a bench in a park. We actually had to sneak inside the park to be here because some places in the city forbid you to visit at certain hours which is quite opposite of the town. In our town, they don't close the park gates however no one wants to visit them at such hours.

Although I resisted from coming here but guess I had to pay for my sins someday and this is one of those days.

"It's because we need to talk," he says, sitting straight with eyes ahead.

"Talk about what?" I ask quizzically. He eyes my outfit and I look down at myself for a second. "Why should I tell you about this?" I ask, pointing out my clothes.

"Because I'm sure, you had been planning something stupid."

"This is not stupid!" I cross my arms over my chest, adamantly.

"Then enlighten me. Please."

"Well... um..." I hesitate and fidget in my place.

"You can trust me." his voice serious and when I looked at him, he had a concerned expression.

"You remember when we saw the truck passing through the gate of the building?" I say, looking straight but nowhere in particular. "There came men wearing black suits and pants while the other wore black shirt and pants. I presume the people clad in suits were of higher authority than the others. Each member in a black shirt had a card with them which they showed to pass through the gate. So my plan was if I could somehow merge into them and find out a way into the company..."

"That's why you're dressed like that?" His eyes rose with disbelief.

"Well, yeah. I would've cornered one of the guys and made him unconscious and taken his card and then I would've gone in his place-"

"Do you even know what that card was about? There could've been a picture and they would have stopped you right there and then you would've been long gone."

"I wouldn't have known until I've seen it for myself. See that was the plan to actually know-"

"And how would you have even cornered the guy plus made him unconscious?" he asks me, crossing his arms with an eyebrow raised, accusingly.

"W-well that was the part, I was still working on... I would have taken something with me to hit that person with or maybe something better might have come up and I would've jumped at that opportunity..." He sighs and his shoulders slump down.

"I knew you were going to do something stupid... Thank God, I got you today." He rubs his face with his hands and then he straightens his body and suddenly I was the focus of his attention as he looked at me without any emotion. "Sarah this is no joke okay. Listen to me carefully and don't interrupt in the middle got it?" I nod at him, hesitantly and he continues. "This..." he says, pointing at my outfit "Did you really think you were going to fool those men who work eight hours a day, trained to terminate any suspicious person they catch at sight?" I gulp at his words. "You might think that you resemble a guy but you only 'resemble' them and you are still not even 'like' them," He says, emphasizing the words. "Look at your physique and those clothes... it's like a person pulled into a shopping bag. And your features? Did you really think they were going to fool those MEN!" He shouts the word 'men' as if indicating they weren't just men but some animals. "You may have dressed like a man but your eyes, your lips..." He looks down at my lips. "They are so delicate just like a girl." His eyes immediately move to my eyes now. "These things may seem possible in books and movies only but in reality, it's nothing like that, don't even think of trying it. You get it?" His voice pleading.

"But... I've to do something Samuel. I'm at least trying to do something- Hey! Why are you smiling at me?" I eye him.

"It's the first time in two... No sorry three days that you called me by my name." his grin widens as he said it and I frown at him.

"Does it matter?"

"Sure it does. It means we are back to friends again." I scoff at him.

"Were we even friends before?" He nods his head, enthusiastically.

"It's just you who doesn't want to accept it... My charm actually." he winks at me and I roll my eyes besides the fact that I was trying to hide my smile that was making its way on my face. "So, you were saying?" He says, putting his hands underneath his chin.

"Uh.. yeah... Where was I again?"

"Denying my charm," he answers comically, my scowl deepens on him and he puts his hand in the air, defensively. "Okay, okay... You were telling me how much of a brave person you are to risk your life for the mystery man." I stiffen at his words.

"Samuel... Why did you come to my place tonight?" I ask in a low voice.

"I-I told you I needed to talk to you..." He stammers.

"No!" I jerk my head towards him and stand up from the bench, my hands fall on my side and I clench them into a tight fist. "You can't talk to me. I mean we can't... You must go home and just forget anything I told you" I say, shaking my head.

"What happened Sarah?" He stands up and moves closer to me and I stop him holding a hand in his direction. "I think we were okay just a moment ago?"

"Samuel. I can't risk your life, you were right all this time... I wasn't just risking my life but the people around me. You can't be around me..." I shift my body and start walking away from him but he comes close to me and holds me by my sleeve.

This gesture again. I look down at his big and rough hand holding the small part of my sleeve.

"Sarah..."

"Don't Sarah me!" I jerk my hand away and his hand falls limply to his side. "You made it clear to me and I'm thankful for that... Look, Samuel..." I try to explain him as politely as I can. "It's not that I'm angry at you or something... It's just that... A lot has happened with me in the past. I saw a lot of people getting hurt and... when you came to me I just forgot that for a while and I don't know how... How you made me forget the most resentful memory I carry with me all the time." I look at him with pleading eyes. "You understand that right? I'm glad that you are concerned about me but... I'm not just going to stop even if your reason was perfect. It's how it is and it is how it's going to be." I look down. "And I don't want you getting hurt in the way or anyone related to you. This was my journey from the start and mine alone." I huff out a breath and pass him a small smile when he doesn't respond, I take my cue to leave as I turn he stops me again by grabbing my sleeve, I turn back and look at him.

"What if I say it will not endanger me?" He says, moving closer to me now. "What if I say it will not endanger anyone even related to me." He moves even closer and I back away from the proximity that took place between us. "What if I say I have a better plan than you?" I release a breath that I don't know for how long had I been holding at the mention of the plan.

Does he even know what is he saying?

"You have to trust me, Sarah."

Trust? I have heard that word before.