Mask

Twelve agents lined up in front of two helicopters under a pale bluish orange sky. The mist that touched the roof moved slowly like helicopter blades.

"Your mission is to survive."

Drey looked at the agents in blue cloaks standing in front of him one by one.

"No matter how heavy your shoulders, always put your safety first. Do you understand?" he continued.

"Yes, Sir!"

His gaze then fell on Brissia and Harris who were in the front row. If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be standing there in this cold.

Brissia noticed Drey's gaze on her and Harris was longer than usual as if he had something to say. However, the other agents making their way to the helicopter made Drey turn toward the building's door.

"Harris, does Drey usually like to stare at us?" Brissia asked as she walked with Harris, following others.

Harris snorted with a sardonic smile. "Ignore him. He's merely doing his job," he replied.

Brissia's brows furrowed. "His job?"

She gasped as Debora suddenly came from behind and hugged them.

"Watching over agents as the aide for SURVIVE. You must have assumed he was merely in charge of the labor department," Debora chirped, rolling her eyes.

Chuckling lightly, Brissia replied, "Not really."

The flight took a while until the pale sky turned into a light blue sky. However, when the three of them were pursuing child kidnappers, the morning tranquility in their destination was gone.

"Stop right there!" Harris exclaimed before blowing the whistle.

Brissia pushed away the fellow kidnappers who were trying to pull them away so they couldn't give chase. As the other three of their companions came, clearing the way for Brissia and Debora to follow Harris, suddenly a fruit cart came rushing at them from the side.

"Ack!"

Harris looked back at Brissia and Debora groaning. He was about to run toward the two who had fallen to the ground when Brissia waved her hand. After a brief moment, Harris spun his head to the right and started chasing the three men in black leather jackets.

"Brissia, come with me! I know where they are going!"

As Brissia took Debora's hand and stood up, Debora led her to run into an alley where the fruit cart had come from. Right at the end of the alley, three men in leather jackets were seen running toward the lifeboat parked on the river bank.

However, Brissia noticed how their gazes were drawn to a young girl sitting on a wooden bench by the river. "Debora, could you throw something at them?" she asked.

Debora looked at her in surprise. But as she saw a small wooden box at the side of the aisle, she then nodded. "I got you."

Tack!

"Argh! Damn it! Who's..."

Harris, who was behind them, immediately kicked the torso of one of the three men who had stopped at the mouth of the alley, causing him to fall to the floor.

As the two of them fought with Harris and Debora, Brissia ran toward the little girl who was giving a confused look at the man in the leather jacket approaching her.

"Your rival is me!"

The man in the leather jacket turned his attention from the little girl to his right. His eyes widened as he saw Brissia dart toward him with a fist.

"Brissie, look out!"

Brissia winced at Harris's exclamation, but came to her senses as she saw the small sharp blade the leather jacket man took out as soon as they were less than a meter apart.

Splash!

Harris, Debora, and the little girl stared at Brissia and the man falling into the river. After dealing one final punch to the other leather jacket man, Harris ran to the river bank with Debora.

Their whereabouts were not even hinted at by the locals' bewilderment as they drew nearer to the river bank. But when red spots appeared on the surface, everyone gasped, leaving Harris and Debora speechless.

"Brissie!" Harris shouted her name with bulging eyes.

Everyone stopped him from jumping into the river until they saw a girl stick her head out and swim landward.

"Oh my, Brissia!" Debora approached her, who was dragging a man in a leather jacket with a stab wound in his thigh to the riverbank.

Brissia caught her breath, glanced the other way when Debora asked her something with a worried look on her face. Harris stood there with a look of disbelief, his breathing ragged, and the veins running through his neck.

"Ashley!"

They looked at a woman with copper hair who was walking close by toward the young girl.

"That was far enough," she said softly while lowering herself, turning her head as soon as she realized someone was looking at her.

The dark-blue-eyed, black-haired man who caught up with her turned his head as soon as he saw Brissia standing in the middle of the dispersed crowd, looking at him evenly.

But then, the two's attention was diverted to Debora who was walking toward copper-haired woman, asking politely, "Sister… Alessia?"

Brissia and Veron looked confused at Debora. Harris's gaze, which had been on Brissia, had shifted to Debora.

"I am the kid in the little alley that Sister Isabelle gave bread to back then. Do you remember?"

Alessia's eyes widened slightly at that. Ashley gave a confused look to her mother, who stood up and stared at the polite smiling face.

"Back then… Isabelle told you about the things I did."

Alessia's surprised and quiet speech carved a smile on Debora's lips. She put her right hand on her left chest, looking down while saying, "It is an honor that you remember me, Sister Alessia."

The soft rays of the sun melted the anxiety that enveloped them. The solemnity of the moment bewitched anyone who saw it to remain still and watch in reverence. Not only Harris, Brissia, Veron, the people around also witnessed.

***

Harris assisted Brissia in drying herself off while Debora and her three other colleagues dealt with kidnappers. When people asked him, he couldn't help but answer because that girl was his 'girlfriend'.

"It's insane how they really look alike, Bris."

Harris glanced at Gierra who said that while sitting on the sofa, making Brissia rush to turn Gierra's head in another direction and tell her to be quiet.

"No wonder you two are dating," Gierra said softly with a big smile.

Brissia nudged her arm lightly. "It's just an alibi."

"What matters is how much you care about him, regardless of whether it was an alibi or not, or what we heard from the police officers."

Not only did it silence her, Nicholas's words recalled various feelings into Brissia's mind.

Seeing the girl questioning her own feelings through her gaze, Nicholas cleared his throat to break the silence.

"Anyway, you were impressive, Bris. Throwing people in the river and stabbing them in the feet? I wonder if you actually have the talent to be a mercenary fighter."

"You saw it?" Brissia asked with unblinking eyes.

"Yeah. We were stopping by around when the action took place."

"He was the one who stabbed himself because I dodged," Brissia argued while glancing at Harris near the main door. "Regarding mercenary fighters, maybe that's what SURVIVE sees in us."

"What?"

Realizing that she had leaked something through her muttering, Brissia pursed her lips and looked alternately at her two best friends. But as soon as she saw the suspicion in Gierra and Nicholas's eyes, she heard approaching footsteps.

"Sorry, Brissia has to come back because we're on duty," Harris said, smiling politely at them while pulling Brissia to stand. "You're not cold anymore, are you?" he asked softly, looking at Brissia right in the eyes.

Nicholas stepped in front of Brissia and Harris, causing Harris to shifted his gaze forward.

"Are you really her boyfriend?"

Harris said nothing, although Brissia motioned for him to just nod.

"I'm glad you made it here safely, but I'll take care of her," Harris said before he dragged Brissia toward the main door of the editorial office.

"Because we are… colleagues."

As soon as the door closed and they were out, a sigh came from behind. Gierra and Nicholas turned to a bespectacled man striding toward them.

"Such two young people who are old with their feelings," Gabriel said, shaking his head. Gierra and Nicholas just stared at the door in silence, as if confirming Gabriel's words.

The cold air blowing on the street made Brissia reluctant to let go of Harris's grip on her hand. The cloak she was wearing was no longer on her shoulder, but on her left hand because it was still wet.

"How long are we going to pretend?"

Brissia looked up as Harris asked it without turning his head.

"Right… why were we even pretending in the first place?"

Brissia's muttering made Harris's jaw harden. He let go of Brissia's hand, turned and faced her.

When Brissia closed her eyes, thinking that Harris was approaching her to scold her, what she eventually felt was something warm and heavy covering her shoulders to her back.

She opened her eyes to see Harris pinning his cloak over her shoulders then pulling away and walking her again, without holding hands.

"Tell me later—when we get to base—how much you want me by your side, Brissie."

Brissia lowered her gaze for a moment and stopped walking.

"Zero, Harris."