7 Chapter 7: The Man in Black

A body curled into a ball while clutching their nose, lay flat on the ground.

I've hurt them very bad, I guess.

"Owwwhh... It hurts!" the man says with gritted teeth. "Would you stop gaping at me and help please!" the man snaps at me and I flinch away a little defensively.

"Who are you? What were you doing behind me?" I ask leaning down and help him sit up and then I notice a purple patch forming below his eye.

Wow, my fist must be strong to cause such bruise. Maybe I should work on some more moves to protect myself from city strangers.

"Hey! You are the same troublesome guy from back at the train station!" I finally recognize him.

"Thank you for recognizing after punching me." he scowls at me while he sits on his back against the floor.

"What were you doing behind me? You scared me, you could have just called out." I said, a little embarrassed for the punch now.

"And what could I have called out? I don't even know your name" he pinches his nose and test's if it's safe or broken.

"Well, something like 'hey there' or 'hello' this would've worked fine. By the way are you stalking me just because I didn't forgive you?" I say, frowning at him. He rolls his eyes and stands up on his toes. I stand at a distance and eye him warily with my hands on my hips.

"Of course not! I've got a life. I just saw you walking to this shop on my way back home so I came here following you-"

"So you were actually following me!" I said, disappointingly.

"Can I finish please?" he says in a bored tone. I nod but still furious at him.

"So I thought I should say hi to you but turns out I get punched before saying hi." He says, caressing his nose, probably remember the shooting pain he felt a while ago.

"Oh I'm sorry-" someone clears their throat in front of us.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys but young lady, here is your map that you asked for." my hand reaches in a flash of speed towards the map, I snatch it from her hands and I look at it with widened eyes as if it was a bucket of gold in my hands.

I immediately pay the lady without moving my eyes from the map and started moving towards the exit.

"Hey! You can't walk on me like this!" say's the troublesome man who now stands in front of me.

"Oh right, Last time you collapsed with me and apologized, it's my turn now. I'm really sorry. Okay bye!" I move away from him and start examining the map again. He puts his hand in my way, making me stop in my track.

"Why are you always in a rush? Still chasing that lost person?" he eyes the map in my hands. "Whoa! Sanzua, city map?" he exclaims. I instantly hide the map behind my back and out of his gaze.

"Well, yes because I lost him again and all thanks to YOU! And you're again being a hurdle in my way, a big FAT HURDLE! You hear me? Now move!"

"I take that you're new here in Sanzua and don't know much about the places here?" he smirks at me.

Oh Almighty! He's enjoying my frustration, he's a sadist! Almighty help me please!

"I think I can help you with the places, if you would like to that is?" I stiffen at his words.

He can help me with the places here?

Yes! He sure can. I should make this man come in handy after all.

~~~

"Tell me again why did I agree to this?"

"Because you wanted to help me"

"I never said I'm going to go with you on a spooky mission in a dark alley at this hour of the day!" he heaves a frustrated sigh.

"Shhh! someone's coming"

We are in a long dark alley, in front of us stands the very famous huge building 'The Shippers'. Although we can't see it clear from this part of the alley, we are making sure to stay incognito, the far off we are the better it is for the both of us.

It's the same company where Mr. Adam worked and now currently his son works.

After the troublesome man agreed to help me, I immediately asked him to take me to this firm, I just wanted to see it. We hailed a cab and the ride was about 15 minutes. I asked him to stop the car at a distance from our destination, just precautionary measure.

We were walking on the pavement when he was telling me about some famous places of Sanzua. I saw a truck coming on the road and it was The Shippers truck. The building was still far away from us but the street was all empty.

The truck halted in front of the gate 'A' of the the huge building. Some people came around the truck who were already there on guard, all people were dressed in black but only a single person was wearing a black suit while others were wearing black shirt and jeans. It seemed like black color was their motto. They inspected the truck but there seemed to be a problem, the men in casual wouldn't let the driver into the building while the driver argued to let him in.

Meanwhile I've already grabbed the troublesome man's collar and dragged him to the nearby alley to watch and listen what was happening but he continues to blabber from that moment, cursing his decision to help me and I feel like I need to punch him again to at least shut his mouth.

I've my hand clamped over his mouth to prevent him from talking because I see the small gate within the gate 'A' opening and I see another man dressed in black coming out. He is also wearing a black suit, his muscle bulging out of his blazer, he has a strong physique, his face can't be seen, it was too dark to recognize.

The other man suited in black comes to him and says something, the muscle man then opens the truck drivers gate and tugs at his collar and shoves him out of the truck, the driver falls on the ground with a thud. The muscle man punches the truck driver more than enough times to make him unconscious. I feel a cold shiver run down my spine, another casual dressed man in black goes to the passenger door and shoves out the other man with his collar and walks him against his will to the muscle man. The muscle man punches him with the same force and they both lay limp on the ground. The other casual men pick them up and a black car out of nowhere halts before the truck, they throw their bodies inside the car and the car whooshes away.

"I think we should head home, perhaps it's not the best time for a visit." a low trembling voice makes its way to my ears and I look at the troublesome guy to my side who is also looking at me with fear and also concern.

I don't say anything, the view is scary enough to cause goose bumps rise up my skin. I too want to go home running and hide inside my blanket but at the same time, I want to see what happens here, if only I could find him here again.

"Maybe we should stay here for a bit longer until the coast is clear." He suggests it himself and I just nod to his words and stare back at the view in front of us.

A casual man carrying flash light, inspects the inside of the truck, moving away from the truck as the flash of light hits the facial feature of the muscle man. I see the same glowing cheeks with a little stubble down the cheeks, the same shiny blue eyes, fluttering brown hair.

I gasp.

"Brat" I made the words out, barely a whisper.