Atlanta, GA
United States of America
December 2014
“You sure you can take this from here, Aether?”
Oh God.
Mathieu’s eyes flickered towards the tall
American who was busy rounding up some of the men who had been bothering him
earlier. “This one seems pretty flighty. I’d take Tadashi if I were you.” The
other man with them nodded and approached the woman (supposedly named Aether),
but she shook her head. The gun was still aimed in his direction.
“I’m good. I think you’ll need the extra help,
Pete.” She cast a blank look towards the men who were silent, “Might need to
discipline them a bit more.”
“Alright. Come back soon, we’ll be sticking
around to make sure these guys get what they deserve.” Mathieu swallowed and
shifted nervously against the wall behind him. Eyes watched as the ones named
Pete and Tadashi left with the men, and the woman named Aether turned to him
with a tired-looking expression.
“Were they harassing you?”
“I…you can say that,” he managed. Shit. Shit. Okay, I can handle this. Just
use some of your acting skills. “They were saying shit about me being the
guy who attacked their leader a month ago,” Mathieu admitted, telling the
truth, “but I hardly even recognize them at all.”
She lowered the gun. Okay, that’s better. Better look at her than look into the barrel of a
fucking firearm. “…they said that you attacked their leader?”
“Apparently.” Mathieu put on a grimace, “I don’t
even know why they’d suspect me, ma’am. I’m just – me. You know?” she nodded
slowly and Mathieu exhaled. She watched him.
“You seem really on edge.”
“They were terrifying,” he lied, saying this
with a defensive tone. This made a small smile come to her face. But it
disappeared quickly as if she remembered something, and the tired expression
was back. “I don’t know, ma’am. You see men like those who are armed and it
gets pretty nerve-wracking. It’s not often that you’re mugged or something like
that.”
She cocked a brow at him. “Mugging is a pretty
common occurrence around these parts…but I seem to understand where you come
from,” Aether replied. Mathieu gave a mildly nervous smile.
“Do I have to come with you?” he blurted. Come on, look a bit more afraid. Try to gain
her sympathy or something.
“You?” she gave him a short look and frowned a
little, “I’m not quite sure anymore. See, those men who bothered you were men
who have been on our radar for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that HQ’s going
to focus on their case more than them bothering you…” Mathieu in turn lifted a
brow at her and she cussed, cheeks flushing red. “I-I didn’t mean it that way.
I’m sorry.”
“No offense taken.” She glanced away and saw her
car parked out, “You’ll be going?”
“Just need to follow up with my teammates and
I’m officially done for the night…” she trailed off, “…unless you want a ride
somewhere?”
Mathieu felt his mouth dry up and swallowed. He
wasn’t able to reply before she headed for her car and calling for him to
follow. The male followed quickly, unable to say anything more as he followed
the lady named Aether to her car. She got into the driver’s side and before
they knew it, they were already driving. Some pop song played on the radio and
neither of them brought it up.
It took minutes until she broke the silence.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, “It’s rude of me to not ask for your name. Have to
maintain professionalism, but in here…it feels a bit more personal, really.”
Real or
fake, real or fake, real or fake–
“Mathieu,” he heard himself reply. “Silvestre.”
Aether nodded and continued driving, leaving him to mentally punch himself in
the gut for being reckless for the nth time that night. Jin-ho’s going to rip my innards out and feed them to the dogs when he
hears of what happened…
“Aether Maxwell. But you probably heard that from
my teammates a while ago,” she answered. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but
smile. “Where do you need to be dropped off, Mathieu?” he replied an address
not too far from Jin-ho’s place and she nodded, quickly turning right and
continuing to drive.
“Thank you, really,” he spoke up. Aether
blinked, “Other police would have turned me in with them, to be honest. Or
that’s how I seem to understand it…”
“We’re not your typical police,” she admitted.
“HQ. I mentioned it a while ago.”
The image of a large, fancier building flashed
in his memory. Mathieu could have sworn that he and Jin-ho talked about the
organization a couple of times. Jin-ho told him of how people of different
nationalities and ages came to work for the mysterious company and how it was
much more different than the other police agencies there was.
“Dangerous
lot,” the Korean told him. The memory was still clear.
“They do what the regular police can’t
do. Wouldn’t want to get on their bad side.”
“Oh. You work for HQ?” Aether nodded and again
Mathieu felt an odd twist in his stomach; sort of like the same nervous twist
he felt when the agents came.
“Same with the two men you saw. We all work for
HQ. To be honest,” she cast him a sidelong glance, “The men who were bothering
you were men we’ve been searching for quite some time…so I think we owe you
because you sort of led us to them,” she chuckled. Mathieu gave a smile at
that.
“I owe you for helping me get home.”
“I guess we’re even, then.”
It became quiet after that. Eventually the car
stopped and Mathieu heard the car door beside him unlock. Aether looked at him
with that same faint smile and he almost cursed as he felt his heart stutter a
bit in his chest.
Fuck.
“Thank you again, ma’am.”
“Aether. Call me Aether.”
“Aether,” he repeated. “Miss Aether Maxwell.” He
flashed her a quick smile and pushed his luck, “Pretty name for a pretty
woman.” Her green eyes widened and she blushed the same way she did back where
she found him, and this time, the grin on his face was genuine, surprisingly
so. “I hope to see you again soon.”
The words tasted real.
She nodded, still watching him, and he got out
of her car before starting to walk. Mathieu felt his heart beating in his
chest, a little more wildly than it usually did. He heard the car start up and
eventually it drove away, probably back to HQ as she had shared. He stopped by
a corner and pulled out his phone to contact Jin-ho to pick him up lest
something could happen to him once again.
The man noticed his fingers trembling as he held
the phone in his hands, green eyes still on his mind.
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