The Present 4

*BOOOOOOOM*

The apartment exploded, its glasses shattered, grayish dark smoke emerged from inside headed for the sky, and car alarms rang in the surroundings. Residents of the building ran out of their apartments, headed for the exits. Within seconds, the staircase got filled with panic-struck people who pushed and climbed on top of others who stood in front of them. The fire alarm blared loudly in the narrow hallway, making everyone deaf. With no one to guide them, the crowd grew even more anxious.

Among the crowd, on the staircase, with a hoodie covering his head, a guy blended perfectly like a tree in a forest. He moved perfectly in sync with the average crowd. People surrounded him in all four of his directions, making him unseeable to the outside world. One step at a time, the stabilized crowd climbed down the stairs till they reached the first floor and the building's exit. The guy took his first step outside the exit, and it became airy on his left side.

"Gino!." A feminine hand grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the crowd.

The unexpected pull flung him into the open arms of a taller woman who wore a neat black suit.

"You are safe, You are safe," she hugged him as tightly as she could and was on the verge of shedding tears.

"Gck!"

"I am so relieved now," she didn't let go of him, but a sign of relief could be seen on her face.

"Stop acting, people are looking at us, it's embarrassing," Gino tried to push her.

"Oh! Sorry," as she continued, her tone and the look on her face changed into a very serious one, "Stay like this, and I will unsee the fact that you tried to..."

"I am relieved to see you too,"Gino hugged back that woman. Her serious face slowly turned calm as she hugged him.

"I hope they are blasted into pieces"

"..."

A couple were busy hugging each other beside the exit of the building from where people sped out. Fire engines surrounded the building, and dark smoke still came out from the room which made a huge hole in the building. Things started to simmer down, but the couple still happily hugged each other.

A black car sped on a busy road under the morning sunlight. The front passenger's window was open slightly and a hand repeatedly popped out of the window and threw something out.

"And that is the last of them."

Gino raised back the window and sat comfortably beside the tall woman who drove the car. She has short, red dyed hair which are in a cool pixie cut. She wore a black suit and looked neat and elegant.

"How many?"

"7"

"That's a lot, don't you think?"

"Yup, It is a lot"

"I thought you warned them not to."

"I did, but every time I show them these, they just make confused faces."

"Those bitches, how dare they bug you as if you are their pet. I think it's time you start avoiding them for real."

"Trust me you have no idea."

"I also heard these things radiate harmful rays."

"Yup, I think I may die due to their radiation."

"ahaHaha, you are funny... and dark.," She slapped hard on his thigh when she said that. "But don't ever say that" Her serious face returned, she clutched his thigh.

"Ok,Ok,"he loosened her grip from his thigh.

"Good,"she pinched his cheek and returned back to her normal self. 'Scary' That's what Gino thought of that moment rubbing his red cheek.

"Here it's yours,"Gino handed her a small flat electronic device with a smirk.

"Oops!," she took it back and threw it outside the window. "Forget you ever saw it." and she smiled.

No one spoke anything for a while. It was too silent in the car. Gino wanted to turn on the radio but the woman was against it because she liked the silence.

"Open the glove box," The woman told Gino as she now drove the car on a wide highway which headed towards a huge building with a big golden star on top. 'HIRIS City POLICE Station' was written with black at the center of the star. The building is well over 100 meters tall and as wide as a football ground.

He opened the compartment and found a passport and a driving license with the name 'Reffie'. After thorough examination with eyes and a magnifying lens, Gino was certain that they were legit. He hid them inside his clothes and got back to his seating position beside the woman.

"Are you sure you want to do this?," Something inside him constantly warned him that it wasn't a good idea, but Gino had already made up his mind.

"Yes" Her face lit up as he answered her.

"I knew it," she stated.

"What?"

"You want to be closer to me, don't you?"

"No"

"You want to see my face all the time, don't you?"

"No"

"You want me to teach you all these new things, don't you? And slowly a spark will be lit between us slipping into a forbidden teacher-student romance, or wait... It's a forbidden office romance..."

"We won't even be in the same building, and we aren't even the same department. You are in the Hiris Secret Security, where as I am a special cop."

"So you accept the getting closer to me part, and the teacher-student romance part?"

"Have you even been listening to me?"

"No."

"Drop me here." They arrived in the parking lot of the police station, and being a busy day, many cars were already parked. The woman stopped the car beside the elevator, and unbuckled the seat belt.

"Are you nervous?"

"Yes and No," Gino replied her back with a nervous smile.

"So this is where we part ways."

"I guess so," Gino opened the door., "Bye".

"By...."

She expectantly waited for something from Gino, but he showed no sign of it. This made her tense, the cool attitude she had until now was slipping into uneasiness. She wanted to give him what he was forgetting and at the same point she wanted the initiative from his side. This made her fidget as Gino got one foot outside the car.

"Hey wait!," Finally, she held his shoulder and stopped him before he got his other foot out., "I want to tell you something."

"What?," Gino asked and looked at her.

"No matter what side you are on, I am always on your side.,"she said. It wasn't a script she prepared nor a dialog she heard somewhere, it came out directly from her heart. Gino was taken aback by her unexpected declaration, he kept looking at her face which had a peculiar warmth and affection to it.

"I know," he replied and returned her the same affectionate smile. His smile imprinted on her mind, and that very moment, she turned her head straight and gripped the steering wheel tight. Embarrassed by her cheesy and untimely declaration, she wasn't able to maintain eye contact anymore. Her attitude now was contradicting her cool red hair.

As she fidgeted on her seat, a smiling Gino leaned a bit and gave a peck on her cheek. "See you again." He got out of the car and sped towards the elevator leaving her behind.

The woman in the pixie cut felt her cheek where Gino pecked her a few seconds ago, her satisfied face reflected in the rear mirror. "See you again, too" she said flirtatiously, looking at the back of the man who she cared about more than her life. After the elevator doors closed behind him, she drove her car towards a secluded parking spot and got out of it.

"hmm.mm....mmhmm," she merrily hummed a tune and opened the car's trunk. A gagged woman whimpered at the sight of her, sweat poured down her cheeks and wrinkles spread on her forehead. All she could make were muffled sounds.

"Did you hear it?," Her serious face returned. The gagged woman jumped inside the trunk in fear.

The gagged woman shook her head vertically up and down as a reply to her question.

"Who do you think he is?"

And once again, she shook her head the same way.

"Yup, You guessed it right. He is my boyfriend.," Her serious face turned into a friendly one in a second. She made some space for herself in the trunk and sat beside the bound woman.

"His name is Gino. Don't you think it has a nice ring to it?"

The gagged woman shook her head in approval as she tried to get on the good side of her abductor.

"But you know what I think? I think it's not his real name."

The distressed woman paid attention to everything she said in search of a way to get out of her bind. At this moment, she knew that she was safe as long as her abductor was happy.

*kssh*

She opened a can of lime soda which she found lying in the trunk and took a sip from it, "Aaah.!" she exclaimed, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"Either way, I don't care what his real name is. If he doesn't want me to know then I shall not know."

*sssip~*

"Why does a name even matter when you know the person himself. I can call him whatever I want, can't I?"

*sssip~*

"You know, the first time we kissed was in a basement like this.," she blushed after recalling her past.

*sssip~*

"It is a memory I will remember even after my death, do you think remembers it?"

*sssip~*

"I still don't understand how it works, but I just don't want to let him out of my sight."

*sssip~*

"Do you think I am a psychotic woman who is over possessive about my boyfriend?"

*sssip~"

"No? You think I am like every other woman. I hope so too. By the way, I don't see how being possessive is bad though."

*sssssssipp~~*

She shook the empty can and not a drop of soda came out., "This is how empty I feel when he is away." Her voice turned heavy. "Anyway, that's it for now."

The woman threw the empty can back into her trunk and stood up by the trunk of the car.

"Now, as for you. You gave me a really good company... It was a nice chat between us girls. Though most of the time you juggled your head up and down like a pig in distress."

The gagged woman left in the trunk looked at her silently. She pulled out a file from inside the trunk and read it aloud.

"I was supposed to kill you yesterday in your house itself, for the crime of... aaa... baby kidnapping?... Ahahah, did you want to keep on changing their diapers till they got potty trained. Ahahaha... Funny woman."

*pichk*

The woman with red hair shot the gagged woman in her forehead before she could stop laughing. She checked the time on her watch and realized that it was time Gino would be out of the Captain's office.

"I gotta hurry up, he will be out any minute now."

She closed the car trunk, dusted her clothes and brisk walked towards the elevator.