Her Father

"Annie, he's not my boyfriend." Hilde rolls her eyes.

"Of course... But you have been spending time together..." she grins mischievously.

Hilde sighs. "I told you before; I don't want to get involved with that guy!"

"But you are attracted to him."

Hilde grabs Annie's shoulder. "What are you on about?" she asks her.

"I've seen how you two look at each other."

"Look at each other? I barely know him. How would I possibly look at him?"

"Well..."

Hilde stares at the food in front of her. "There's no point arguing over something like this."

"Hildie..."

"Don't 'Hildie' me." Hilde glares at her. "If anything, the thing you should worry about is yourself. You're acting as though you have feelings for me. I don't need that kind of nonsense."

Annie opens her mouth to say something but closes it.

Elmo watches the whole scene unfold, amusement on his face. Horus looks away.

Once everyone has finished eating, Elmo tells them, "Well, now that I think about it, I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm gonna take a quick nap."

"Sleep well, Captor!"

With that, he goes upstairs.

"Hey, Hilde."

"Yeah?"

"Can I sleep with you?" Annie asks.

"We're not kids anymore." Hilde snorts, staring at her.

"Come on."

Hilde shakes her head. "No, I'm tired too."

"I won't hurt you. I promise."

"Annie..."

"Hildie. Please."

Hilde sighs. "Fine. Get inside." she takes Annie inside her room. As soon as she closes the door, Annie jumps onto the bed, pulling a blanket over her body.

"Let's go to sleep, shall we?" Hilde says, smiling as she lays down on the other side of the bed, pulling the blanket over them.

"Good night, Hilde." Annie yawns.

The morning comes, and the sunrise shines through the blinds. Hilde yawns as she wakes up, opening her eyes. She blinks a few times, trying to adjust her eyesight. When they finally focus enough to tell where she is, she finds herself lying on top of Annie.

"Morning, Hildie."

She freezes. "Morning, Annie."

"You're still sleepy?" Annie asks.

"You're still sleepy?" Annie asks.

"Yeah." she nods, looking down at her.

"That's good. Now we can cuddle until breakfast." Annie smiles at her.

"You're such an idiot." Hilde laughs, looking away.

"I love you too." Annie giggles.

After waking up, Hilde takes her clothes from the closet and gets dressed while Annie takes a shower. She doesn't even notice when she hears the water turn off.

"Ready to go downstairs?" Annie asks, drying her hair.

"Yeah." Hilde walks up to the bathroom and enters it.

When Annie joins her in the bathroom, they wash quickly and dress.

"What are you going to do with the Elmo guy?"

"I'll ask him what he plans to do with me, and we go." Hilde is nonchalant as she dries her hair.

Downstairs the three of them confront Elmo.

"What do you want, Elmo?" Hilde asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't really remember what happened that time. Maybe you could enlighten me?"

"I already told you everything."

"Why are you keeping me here then?" she asks.

"Because." Elmo chuckles. "This is the safest place for you. There's nothing here you can steal or do anything else that could endanger anyone or cause us trouble. No one could get to you."

"I don't want to be trapped here forever. I have a mission! To find out about that woman whom Felix is dating..." she says, sounding desperate.

"And why should I believe you?" Elmo raises an eyebrow.

Hilde sighs in exasperation and looks around as if searching for someone's advice. Her eyes land on an old photo album on the bookshelf, and she runs toward it without thinking twice. She picks it up and holds it close to her chest.

"Is this..."

"That was your father's, yes," Elmo answers, staring at her.

"Huh..." she pauses. "Anyway, Felix was very poor back then."

She looks at Annie. "Don't you remember that party? How could Felix be that rich? It doesn't make sense!" She says, pointing at her. She turns back to Elmo.

"You're being presumptuous. What if he got a brand deal? Isn't he a basketball player? He~."

"If that's the case, then I would have known." Hilde stomps her feet. "He was playing all throughout high school. If anything, he had to have been making much money, right? That's what he said..."

Elmo looks puzzled by this. "Wait... Are you saying he was working with criminals?" he yells, his face looking comical and exaggerated.

"What? Of course not!" Hilde shakes her head. "What I'm saying is that the woman is from the mafia and is supplying him with much money. In exchange, he's being used as a front!" she shouts. "So... what do you suggest, hm?"

Elmo throws his hands up. "Ok then, you do you. So, what's your first lead then, Agent?" he intonates the last word, mocking her.

"First lead...? I don't know anything!" Hilde exclaims. "I don't understand any of this! All I know is I can't let her get away with it!"

"All right. All right... I'll help you investigate then." he says. "You can tell me everything you found out in advance."

'What?' Annie taps Hilde's shoulder. "Are you sure about this? Don't you think that Elmo might be using this as an excuse to get closer to you?"

"Shut up, Annie!" Hilde hits her on the arm lightly. "Just because I'm doing this mission doesn't mean we're friends. This is purely business between agents."

Elmo chuckles and shakes his head. "So then, let's gather information like normal people."

******

"Uhh, it's all photos of himself..." Annie yawns. "You just haven't been scrolling enough. Check his tagged posts." Hilde remarks.

Horus is also helping but is keeping silent, seemingly deep in thought.

"You really take stalking seriously, huh?" Elmo smirks as he writes his report.

"It's not stalking if there's no evidence." Hilde retorts.

"Whatever you say," he replies, giving Hilde a knowing smile.

Hilde rolls her eyes as she continues reading the files.

After finishing, she puts the files aside.

"Well, that's all I know." she sighs.

"It's fine." he smiles.

"Really?" She gazes at him.

"Yes."

"Uhm... I don't know why you're helping me, but thank you." Hilde says.

"Hmm.." he hums. "Forget about that. It's the least I could do."

*******

"Hey. Is this seat taken?"

Everyone turns their heads to the left. Hristijan Angelov is in the Metro, a bored expression on his face.

The man moves, and Angelov sits in the new seat. He's riding to Frankfurt to come in contact with Elmo Schoeler. He plans to find a way to capture the girl and interrogate her. If he succeeds in doing so, his son will be free.

"Now, go ahead." the blonde woman sitting across Angelov says with a small smile.

Angelov gives her a nod before turning his attention to his booklet.

A few minutes later, Angelov feels a vibration coming from his pocket. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he sees a notification from the group chat.

[Elmo]: Hi Angie

[Hristijan]: Elmo

[Elmo]: Under the bridge, over the hill. I'll see you there

[Hristijan]: Ok.

Angelov puts his phone away. They'll meet up later today in some place called Voigt Square. The area that Angelov is going to look for is somewhere near there.

"What did he say?" the blonde asks. She's wearing furs, a fitting dress, and thick sunglasses, hiding half of her face.

Angelov clears his throat, "Nothing important. Just some things."