'AIRPODS AND PAMPHLETS’

There she was, sitting on the bed in her hospital gown. What first caught my eyes was her hair, it was shorter. There were a few other things different about her, like her scars and the blackness of the small diamond on her forehead, but the hair was the most prominent. Her upper and lower lips expanded, exposing her beautiful teeth the moment her eyes fell on me.

"What's with the suit?" She asked, chuckling. "And all these black stuff? Are they for me?"

I was too awestruck to speak. Mind you I haven't had a chance, or better yet, I hadn't been given a chance to see Lemon for days. And now that I finally get to see her, she looked like one of the survivors of a plane crash.

"I'm sorry," these were the first words to come out of my mouth.

She smiled, squinting her eyes. "Sorry for what? You didn't do anything wrong, did you?"

I took a deep breath, walking over to her. Then I dropped the gifts on the bed and sat on the chair nearby.

"I wasn't strong enough," my low remorseful voice replied. "I should have done my best to protect you."

My eyes weren't looking at hers, rather they stared at the floor as if I was talking to the hospital's floor. She sighed, grabbing the box of chocolates and opening it.

"None of this was your fault Ezra," she replied, taking a bite out of the piece she picked. "Hmm, these are delicious."

"Still," I said, my eyes still glued to the wall.

"Ezra," she smiled holding my hands, her stare capturing my eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I believe you saved my life."

I exhaled, sitting back. "You remember what happened?"

She crossed her legs, taking another bite of the chocolate. "Not entirely, but I heard you got blamed for what happened to me, they even went as far as putting you under house arrest. The nerve of those people!"

She frowned, then she took another heart shaped chocolate and took a bite off it. I couldn't help but smile at her adorable angry face.

"Yeah, that's why I wasn't here when you woke up," I replied. "I'm sorry the first thing you had to see after waking up was a light green ceiling."

She scoffed. "I don't care about that. I made sure I gave Chief and General Luther a mouth full of my mind, and trust me, they had no choice but to listen to the ranting of a hospitalized ex-assassin."

"A hospitalised ex-assassin huh?" I smiled.

"That's right," she replied, trying on the jacket. "They're all bullies. If anyone's to blame, it would be me. I always seem to fail at protecting you."

"Protecting me?" I asked with an eye brow up. "You still believe that?"

She nodded in reply. "I'm always saying it, I was assigned to protect you—"

"You were assigned to protect the world from me," I interrupted.

"Ah, no, no," she disagreed. "That's not it, I need to protect you from yourself and other possible threats. I need to get stronger."

I exhaled, taking the box of chocolates from her and picking out one of the heart shaped ones. My teeth left a mark on it as I pulled the other half away from my mouth. I watched her smile as the necklace fit perfectly on her neck, and she touched them, slowly caressing her clavicles. She was a sight for sore eyes, a spectacle of beauty. Why didn't I notice that before? I could not help but stare at her beautiful smile and perfectly symmetrical face, the white short hair and her happy eyes. At a glance one would believe she did not have a single problem in her life.

I immediately took my eyes away the moment she caught me staring. She chuckled, folding her jacket.

"What is it Ezra Caster?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all," I replied, my eyes roving about. Then I noticed the Mp3 airpods lying on top of a pamphlet on the bed. "You listen to music now?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, Doctor's orders," she replied. "He said music would help me deal with the trauma I faced."

The moment she said trauma, everything about that day came rushing in, the way her body was twisted, the blood that came out of her and the tears from her eyes. I didn't know when a drop of tear fell out of my own eye.

"Hey, hey!" She said when she noticed. She placed her hand on my lap. "It's alright Ezra, I'm alright. We're good, and the best part is we'll never see that Drainiac again."

I sniffed and cleaned my eyes. She was right, everything was fine now that Levion was dead, although there was still the problem of Halo the Reaper and the mystery behind that door in the middle of that temple-like building, but that was a problem for another day. But something bugged me the moment she said that bit about the Drainiac. She was unconscious when I killed Levion, so how did she know?

"How do you know the Drainiac is dead though?"

She stopped eating the chocolate and looked at me, her eyes dilated. She slowly gulped what she had been chewing.

"Isn't he?" She asked.

Hers were the eyes of someone both nervous and curious at the same time. I leaned forward closer to her, she pushed backwards with a brow raised, then I said with a jolly demeanor;

"Of course he is."

She gave a sigh of relief. "I mean I was told you had reported him dead, squashed under a rock by the debris of the damage caused by your energy blast, but hearing it from your mouth is such a relief."

I smiled calmly, looking at her. Then I rested my back on the chair.

"How many songs you got on there?"

She smiled. "A hundred and five so far, the hospital internet was acting up a while ago, so I stopped downloading."

"Got any favourites so far?"

"A few oldies from the 2010s," she replied. "A bit of Avinci, some Stromae and a lot of Micheal Jackson."

I chuckled. "Micheal Jackson isn't from the 2010s, his is a little bit older."

"Ah, I see," she replied. "There's also this song 'why can't we' by a singer called Asa. Now that's a head bop."

"What about Zoarite music?" I smiled.

"Definitely!" She immediately replied. "You haven't heard anything until you hear Harim Dalum sing, he's the epitome of good music."

"Hmm, meh. He's alright."

She laughed. "I knew you were gonna say something stupid."

I chuckled, taking another chocolate. "What about the pamflet, are you planning a vacation?"

She turned to look at the pamphlet.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," she said, picking it up. "As compensation for all they've put us through and a reward for you know, killing the murderers of that mother and her daughter, the Mayor sent General Luther himself to come hand this to me. An all paid vacation trip to the Bahamas."

"You mean, Yolo-Point, the hub of the rich?"

"Exactly," she replied. "But before then, we'll be attending a party on Friday. The Mayor's celebrating his thirtieth anniversary and he wants us to be there."