"This isn't the place for you. I'll make arrangements and talk to Vengo. As long as..."

"What if I don't want to go anywhere else?" Fanny blurted out, staring at him intently.


She doesn't know what's going on with her.

Doesn't she want this? Hasn't she been waiting for this for a long time? To go home and finally see her father again?

However, now that she had this opportunity, all she could feel was the hole in her chest, getting bigger and bigger.


Fanny wants to lie to herself. Give some reasons. Come up with a crap excuse to tell yourself she can't come home.

But in reality, she knows it's not because she can't.


That's because she doesn't want to.

With their eyes still connected, anger suddenly obscured Michel's blank expression.

"I'd say you're suicidal. This life chose us, but that's not the case for you. You've fallen into this pile of rubbish and you can choose to leave it."

"I didn't choose either, remember? I'm part of this now. What if someone finds me? At least while I'm here with you, I'm..."

"You are what?"

Fanny pursed her lips as if to restrain herself from saying those last words.

But in the end, she knows that there's not much reason to keep it with him.

"Nurse..." She whispered the word as if it were a sin she was confessing to, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

Michel's eyes flashed as he stood up, banging his glass on the top of the piano, the couch making a loud squeak from being pushed back so hard.

He paced the room, panting as he glared at her.

"You think you're safe with me?" He patted his thigh, his voice mixed with anger.

"You make me feel safe..."

Michel growled in response as he continued circling the room, enraged as Fanny stood there, biting her bottom lip.

"Is it because you're engaged? Do you have feelings for someone else?"

He let out a dry laugh, the sound completely devoid of any real humor.

"Do I look like someone who has warm and fuzzy feelings for anyone?"

When Fanny didn't answer him, but instead looked pained at the comment, he took a few steps and stopped in front of her, still leaving an arm's length gap between them.

"No, not because I'm engaged. I have no feelings."

"I..."

"What?"

"I am confused."

"About what?"

"You touched me before, and we kissed. Then when I found out you were engaged, you told me it was business. But you still avoided me. I don't understand…"

"I told you I don't have feelings for anyone," Michel told her.

"And you really want me to believe it? I see the way you look at me, Michel. Do you know how many times you look like you want to kiss me? But then you just..."

Fanny's words died in her throat when Michel suddenly closed the distance between them and grabbed both of her arms.

"Don't you understand? This needs to stop. It needs to stop, Fanny. You and I? It's a joke, ok? You save human lives while I end them. You're not in That's three weeks ago? Did you forget? I killed them, Fanny. In fact, I killed three men that day and they weren't breathing anymore because I shot their brains out." He shook her shoulder like he was trying to knock her down.

Fanny's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him, her bottom lip quivering.

"Why would you do that..."

"Do what? Honestly?"

Fanny released her arm by pushing Michel away, quickly wiping the wetness from under her eyes.

"You think I don't know? You don't have to let me play about what happened." She yelled at him, the tears now leaving two wet streaks on her cheeks.

"It's disgusting. I have a stomach bug. I still have it whenever I think about it. Is that what you wanted to hear? Is that what you wanted to hear, the second command?"

"What do you want? Why are you here?" He shouted back.

Michel could not understand himself.

He can stay calm in life-or-death situations, but when it comes to this girl, something as small as a fly can bring him down.

"I give you the option to get out. Take it."

Fanny started sobbing, clutching her chest as if she were in physical pain.

"I can't go... I can't... I tried..." She sobbed, her voice cracking as Michel's hand clenched into a fist to restrain herself from reaching out.

"You scare me, but I can't..."

Suddenly, Michel once again took a few steps towards her, closing the distance between them in two seconds.

His presence is one of the leaders.

A dangerous leader. The air around him felt cold.

But when he stopped in front of her, their breasts almost touching, her body shaking with fear and anticipation.

She should have been screaming and running, but something about him kept her motionless.

Lifting his hand, he cupped her cheek as his eyes burned hot on hers, twinkling down on her as his breath hitched, and her tears immediately stopped.

His reaction felt like an electric current passed through him.

Fanny's body hummed in response when she no longer felt the cold.

His warm hand caressed her cheek and she wanted to rub against his palm like a kitten yearning for attention.

At that moment, she realized how big he was for her tiny size.

Her head just came between his broad and muscular ribcage, making her feel fragile and small next to him.

Though for some unknown reason, her body was heating up in his presence.

Though fear spread throughout her body, she didn't mind him being near her.

Completely opposite.

For the first time in three weeks, she finally feels complete.

She was still shaking with fear, her anguish evident on her face with the way she was shaking.

Fanny felt a pulse in her ear, blocking out all other sounds except her gasping breath.

His hard eyes were piercing hers and Fanny had to lock her knees together to stop herself from taking a step back.