1 1. A promise has been made

At the twentieth floor of the Relax apartments, room 206, in BB City stood a man at the bedroom window looking down on the well-lit city. The tall silhouette figure stood in the dim bedroom light occasionally sipping the drink in his left hand. It was around eight o'clock in the evening but the lights coming from the city could have made a stranger think otherwise. Suddenly, his personal phone rang. He let it ring for a while till it stopped. He took another sip and his phone rang again. He sighed and reached into his inner coat pocket and fished out his cell phone.

"Mmh!" He answered without even looking at the caller ID. He just listened keen fully with his eyes still fixed at the city below. He occasionally rubbed the space between his eye brows with his little finger.

"Keep me updated." He concluded as he hung up the phone and slid it back in to his coat. He took another sip and slowly put the glass on the glass table next to him. He put his hands in his trouser pockets. After a few minutes, he turned around and walked towards the bed as he took off his coat and placed it on the bed. He then took off his Rolex watch and placed it on the bed side table. He paused for a bit and took the watch back in to his hands. Looking at it, he almost smiled. He then put it back in the bedside drawer and proceeded to undress and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

A few minutes later, a man emerged from the shower wrapped in a towel from the waist down. He dried his short well kempt hair and put on a pair of shorts and a bathrobe. He finished the last sip of his drink and got in to bed switching off the lamp beside the table.

In the opposite room, a man had just got in drunk and the woman with him had just began to complain.

"Why do you always do this? Hm?" She asked shouting with her voice breaking betraying the amount of struggle it took to control her tears. The man staggered in to the bed room and threw himself on the bed. "I can't do this anymore. Get out!" She shouted at the drunk man. She walked towards him and tried to get him off the bed but he was too heavy for her. "Okay! If you don't leave, then I shall!" She shouted one last time as she took her purse from the bedside table and her coat and began to head out. Just before she managed to open the door, she was pulled back by strong arms and thrown on the sofa. "Ouch!" She shouted as she rubbed her elbow. "What do you think you are doing?" She asked the drunk man in front of her, who did not seem as drunk as he was before.

"What do you think YOU are doing?!" The man shouted back.

"Is it not obvious? Even to a drunk man such as yourself? I am leaving." The woman responded sarcastically.

"No one is leaving anyone!" Came the response from the man.

"You cannot keep me here Will. Today was the last straw. I think it is time we end whatever this is. It is done. I am done with you. We are through!" Said the woman as she struggled to get back on her feet.

Before she could gain her composure on her feet, she was pushed back on to the sofa and she fell hard hitting her head on the sofa's arm rest. The impact made her bite her upper lip and soon her mouth was filled with the taste of blood. She rubbed her soar head and she struggled to lick the blood off her lip. Then she looked at the man standing before her and a flash of terrifying anger went through her eyes, which terrified the man looking at her. He had never seen that look before.

"I… I am sorry. I am very sorry. I did not mean to. I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me. You know I love you and… and I would never hurt you. I don't know what… "

The woman stood up and evaded the man that was walking towards her to seat. She walked round the table and stood opposite him. She bent down over the table and looked down on the man seated. Maintaining very strong and dangerous eye contact, she licked her swollen upper lip and spit on him the saliva filled with blood. It went straight to his left cheek.

"Mark my words William," she began slowly and softly but with her intonation slowly rising in anger, "If you ever, EVER, lay a hand on me again, even if it is just a tap on the shoulder, then you will have to learn to start doing everything with your feet." She was calm. Her words clear and the threat even clearer than the blue sky. He had always known she was scary, but he never knew he could come to fear her like the way he felt at the moment. He felt the chill coursing throughout his whole body. She had threatened him. He watched as she slowly stood up straight, turned her back and began walking away to the direction of the bedroom. He wiped out the spit on his face with his shirt and was just about to say something when he noticed her stop and slowly turn around to face him again. "I almost forgot to tell you, my love," She began, even more sarcastically, "It is not a threat. Nor is it a warning." She put on a sarcastic smile as he looked at his confused face which seemed to slightly show a sigh of relief. "It is a promise." She concluded as she completely wiped the pleasantness on his face. She went in to the bedroom and heard her lock it from the inside. He sat there, utterly dumbfounded.

In the opposite room, the man in bed who had been all ears, let out a smile. The floor was normally extremely quiet which made it easy for the neighbors to overhear people's conversations. Only that most neighbors were rarely around. It seemed that on this unfortunate night, he was around as he had just flown in from CG City from a business trip. He did not hear part of the argument going in the next room, but he had surely heard the promise made that night. 'Maybe there is some good in this city after all.' He thought to himself as he slowly reached out to grab his coat at the edge of the table and took out his cell phone, leaving the coat falling on the floor. He dialed a number.

"Wats, get me the information about the neighbors staying opposite me. Especially of the woman. Have it ready for me by noon tomorrow." He ordered.

"Yes boss." Came the reply from the other end of the line as he hanged up. The man placed his phone on the bedside table and got off the bed and back to the window. Looking down on the city, he felt some kind of peace and loneliness. He could not understand how the two got along, but he could feel them. He reached for the glass to have a sip but found it empty. He felt a tremble in his left hand. 'Control yourself, Bran. You are not that man anymore. That is why she left you. And you had to start all over again. Just one glass of wine is enough, past that, and you will be digging yourself a deeper hole which you will be unable to get out of.' He murmured to himself. He closed his eyes and inhaled for five seconds then exhaled for two seconds. 'Julie, no matter how many days, weeks, months or years it takes, I shall find you. Mark my words.' He promised the person who was nowhere to be found. He turned around and went back in to bed.