I am not going to let go of you

NYPD Company***

Dexter was in the staff room which was noisy as usual. He looked strong and healthy thanks to the painkillers and the ointment he used. His handsome face was almost as if he never got into a fight except for the adhesive bandage that was still plastered on his temple close to his eyebrow. His swollen jaw and the tiny bruises he had was now healed.

Dexter was busy groaning in frustration because he forgot to bring his laptop charger to charge his laptop.

He looked around to ask his colleagues if he could borrow theirs but he held back. He felt that none of them liked him because they sometimes bully him and treat him like a junior. Most of them were jealous of Dexter because he got promoted to become a detective without having to be a police officer first. Well, he worked smart.

Audrey who just got to work was coming inside the staff room. She was putting on a red blouse and a black short skirt and she was hanging a big red handbag on her right shoulder. Her blond hair was packed in a tight bun making her look so elegant and pretty.

Dexter saw Audrey and he had a smile on his face but as soon as their eyes met, she rolled her eyes at him. The clueless Dexter chuckled, thinking that Audrey was just playing with him.

Audrey sat down in her usual sitting position which was right next to Dexter's seat. She brought out her laptop from her bag and kept it on her desk.

"Good morning Audrey" Dexter greeted Audrey smiling at her.

However, Audrey's eyes were glued to the screen of her laptop, pressing the keyboard aggressively, pretending not to hear Dexter's greeting.

"Audrey, can you please borrow me your laptop charger?" Dexter said sweetly.

Audrey sighed nearly rolling her eyes. She brought out her laptop charger from her bag and handed it to Dexter without looking at him even for a second. Meanwhile, Dexter slowly collected the charger from her hand. He observed that something was off with Audrey but he wasn't sure what it was.

"Audrey is everything okay? You look like you're about to wrestle a shark" Dexter said staring at her side profile.

"I'm okay," Audrey said with a straight face, still pressing her laptop.

"Are you sure?" Dexter asked her. He knew she was lying and he wasn't comfortable with the way she was acting coldly toward him like they were not on good terms.

"Audrey, can you please give me the documents I asked you to review?" A cop said to Audrey standing in front of her desk.

"Please don't get mad, I already sent them to you through PDF. I was too tired to print them out" Audrey said to the cop smiling at him.

"Geez! You know how much I hate PDF… you're lucky you're cute" The cop said, leaving and Audrey chuckled.

Dexter who just watched the scene now realized that Audrey was not happy with him. If not why would she treat the cop nicely and act coldly toward him?

"Audrey, why are you ignoring me? Did I do something wrong?" Dexter asked and Audrey's face became serious again, playing deaf ears at Dexter.

Dexter let his fingers run through his hair. He suddenly became sad at the silent treatment he was receiving from Audrey. He kept asking himself in his head what he did wrong to upset Audrey.

"Please talk to me, I'm sorry if I offended you without knowing... You're my friend and the only person I talk to here. You avoiding me is mentally hurting me a lot… Please" Dexter pleaded to her. He was truly sorry for what he wasn't sure he did to her.

"Oh! I'm now your friend huh?" Audrey finally turned to face Dexter who had a sad look on his face.

She noticed that he had an adhesive bandage plastered on his face and she kept her anger aside.

"What happened to you?" She asked sincerely, pointing at his temple.

"It's nothing... Tell me why you're upset with me" Dexter said.

Audrey scoffed "Wow Dexter, I didn't know you cared this much"

"Audrey you know I've always cared about you and you're also very important to me... When these people laughed at me for being too young to work here as a detective, you alone supported me. You didn't make fun of me at all" Dexter said.

"...Yeah and after that, in front of that short girl, you introduced me to her as your COWORKER," Audrey said, referring to Treasure as the short girl.

"I thought too highly of myself thinking I was more than a coworker to you but since that is what you think of me, how about we act like real coworkers." She said firmly. What Dexter did that day still hurt her feelings up till now.

'Oh my God! so that was why she refused to shake Treasure's hand and left,' Dexter thought.

He recalled the moment vividly when he introduced Audrey to Treasure as his coworker but he didn't really mean it like that.

Dexter sighed feeling regretful for what he did. "I swear I didn't mean it like that, you're my good friend and I don't want to lose you. Please find it in your heart to forgive me and let's go back to the way things were." He apologized but Audrey didn't respond.

"Pleaseee," he said wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"Get your hands off me, I'm busy here," Audrey said but she was low-key enjoying Dexter's attention.

She was even having the feeling that Dexter was into her whereas him just being nice. Well, that's how Dexter is. A lady who is friends with Dexter might think he is in love with her and might as well fall in love with him because of how friendly and sweet he is.

"I am not going to let go of you until you tell me you've forgiven me," Dexter said to Audrey, still holding her shoulders.

"I have forgiven you, are you happy now?" Audrey said and Dexter took his hands off her shoulders.

"Are you just saying that so I'll leave you alone," He said, crossing his arms.

Audrey moved her swivel chair very close to Dexter's own, she leaned closer to Dexter and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Now do you believe me?" She said with a smile leaving Dexter dumbfounded with his lips slightly parted.

He wasn't expecting that kiss on his cheek at all.

Audrey chuckled at the way Dexter was stunned and she resumed pressing her laptop. She has totally forgiven Dexter. She just wanted to know if Dexter would've given up easily on their friendship but he didn't. He's such a sweetheart.

Dexter's phone vibrated, alerting him. He took his phone and he started smiling as he saw Treasure's name on his phone screen, calling him.

He wanted to answer the phone call but he couldn't, not because his sister, Anne had warned him to stay away from her or because he was threatened and beaten by that maniac, he couldn't answer the call because he was upset that Treasure had a boyfriend.

His smile dropped and he became sad as he watched his phone ring till it stopped.

'Treasure, why do I feel so upset that you have a boyfriend? I mean, I shouldn't care, right? ...I should forget about her' Dexter said in his head. He wanted to keep his distance since he thought she was in a relationship.

He kept his phone back on the desk and plugged in his laptop with Audrey's laptop charger. He looked at Audrey who was still pressing her laptop and he called her name softly.

"Audrey,"

"Yes, Dexter," She turned to face him.

"Uhm… do you mind if we have dinner together?" Dexter asked and Audrey's face brightened immediately.

"Sure, I'll see you at 8 pm" She responded with a sweet smile and Dexter returned the smile with a tight one.

The telephone suddenly rang on Dexter's desk and he picked it up.

"Hello? who's this?" Dexter said on the telephone

"It's detective Noah, see me in my office now!!" Noah said in a commanding tone on the telephone.

...

Noah was leaning on his desk, sipping coffee and paying attention to Dexter who was explaining everything that happened between him and the man that attacked him to Noah without leaving out a single detail.

Noah dropped his coffee on his desk and gave Dexter a little knock on his face where the adhesive bandage was plastered.

"Oww!!! why did you do that??" Dexter cried out touching his forehead.

"That'll teach you to stay away from people's girlfriends," Noah said flatly.

"I didn't know she had a boyfriend... and I still don't understand why she'll date such a psycho freak" Dexter rolled his eyes.

"just avoid her and you'll be safe understood?" Noah said and Dexter nodded

"but if he comes back to attack you and there's no one around to help you, make sure you get his blood, so we can start running a test on who the maniac is" Noah added.

"How… how do I get his blood? Wouldn't that be too dangerous for just me to handle? Can't I get a photo of him or get his fingerprint so we can use that to track him instead" Dexter suggested.

Noah scoffed.

"So in case the attacker comes again you'll say, umm hello, before you beat me up again can I get a selfie with you? there's no need to get scared I'm not a cop" Noah said sarcastically in a mocking tone

"And what if he was wearing hand gloves? Listen, kid, I'm just giving you an instance okay?" he said.

Dexter let out a deep sigh "yes boss, but what if he kills me?"

"Nobody forced you to become a detective, kid," Noah replied and Dexter rested his back on the swivel chair with a pathetic look on his face.

"I'm just kidding" Noah laughed. "don't worry kid, we all got your back," he said tapping Dexter on his shoulders.

Just then, Carl barged into Noah's office with a worried look on his face. He was wearing a fitted black silky corporate long-sleeve shirt, tucked in with black trousers and his feet were graced with black shiny Oxford shoes that smelled so expensive.

Although, the first three buttons of his shirt were left loose as usual. He looked so handsome and sexy even with the worried look on his face. His all-black outfit really suited him. He looked like a real-life undercover cop from the movies.

"prosecutor Carl, is everything okay?" Noah asked in a worried tone because of how Carl showed up like something bad has happened.

"You have to come with me to the hospital, Mr. Ross got into an accident," Carl said to Noah.