Planning

Tom fiddled with the tie on his neck as he stood in front of the mirror in his dingy bathroom. No matter how he twisted or turned it, it never seemed to look perfect. And that's what he wanted; perfection.

"You'll break the seams on that tie if you keep twisting it like that", a cold voice reached him from the corner of the bathroom causing Tom to jump a little. He regained himself quickly though. A week of Alpha's 'surprise' appearances had left him more numb to them. They were still scary though.

He turned to see the blond man leaning against a darkened corner of the bathroom. 'Wait', he thought, 'How come Alpha can always find some dark corner to look all bad-ass in?'. He rolled the question around in his head before finally asking about it.

"I adjusted all the light fixtures in your house to create such. They allow me to move and strike undetected.", was the reply. Tom gaped for a while. "Wh-When did you do this?", he stammered. "As soon as I found out that you were living here.". Another disturbing reply.

"Enough with the questions. You have a date to get to.", Alpha said as he stalked closer to Tom, who unconsciously backed into the sink behind him. The aura around the blond man had changed; it became like an emperor's wrath toward a traitorous noble. The intensity of it was accentuated by the very slight crease on his forehead. Alpha cocked his head slightly and pressed his hand on Tom's neck. Tom closed his eyes and silently prayed.

The death grip he expected never arrived; Alpha was simply re-knotting his tie for him and straightening the suit he wore. Once done, the aura vanished like a pebble in the sea. 'Looks like this killer has a bad case of OCD', Tom thought as he heard the roar of his heart in his ears slowly subside. 'Bad for me anyway. Shit, I just might die from it.'.

Alpha took a step back from the agent and gave him a once-over. Nodding, he gestured for Tom to turn around and proceeded to smoothen out the rear of the suit. He had taken some time to choose the suit to match the situation; divorced man trying to impress a below-average class girl. But he succeeded of course. Old black suit ironed somewhat well, with burn marks at the corners of it. Dark grey dress shirt with a dark grey tie to match. Polished black shoes with grey socks.

Once he finished his adjustments, Alpha walked out of the bathroom to the living room, signalling for Tom to come with him. Once they were both seated, he proceeded to rapid-fire questions at him. Alpha had formulated a plan over two months that first drew Tom closer to his neighbour, bought him the date chance and created the avenue for their relationship to become something meaningful. They were now in the last phase of it all and Alpha would be displeased to see his efforts go to waste simply because his associate had a stomach full of butterflies.

Alpha had employed simple, but effective tricks on human psychology to cause the two to become closer. Creating house issues like bad plumbing, mice infestation or equipment that Tom was so conveniently around to handle and the conversation to keep with as he went about this was the beginning. Her observing cases of him assisting, playing with and defending kids helped as well. Talking through the night in their hallway on days she was lonely and Tom was 'surprisingly' available and witty to talk with. And finally being there for her throughout the time her old nanna 'passed' away with only absolute care and no hidden intentions placed Tom in a relatively special place in her heart. So when the heat died down, Tom asked her for a date. She hesitated but agreed.

She panicked afterwards though; her 'boyfriend' was the leader of the town's top gang and was the one paying her little sister's medical and school bills in exchange for her being with him. But he was a real trash can of a person; daily abuse and beatings were the norms for her. But she could only grit her teeth and comply; her sister's life and education were at stake. She had only agreed to Tom's invitation because he was a nice guy and she kind of wanted the date. But after she thought it through, she realized her mistake. Calling up her best friend, Martha, she explained to her the situation.

'Isn't that gonna be during the week that Marquez and the boys will be out of town?', came the mischievous reply. Gabriela understood what she meant; she could still go for the date as there would be no one around to see it. Her old worries gone, new ones sprouted: what to wear for the date. She hadn't gone on many. She had been 'with' Marquez ever since her sister fell ill five years ago and had worked at jobs year-round for most of the years prior. Her parents had died when she was 16, leaving her and her sister with their barely senile grandma. She had toiled hard to make ends meet and send Alejandra, her sister, to school.

She finally pulled out a black cocktail dress from the very back of her closet and decided on it. It was one of her mother's old clothes that she never got around to using. Twirling in front of her mirror, she straightened out the dress for what should have been the 200th time; she was nervous but expectant. Tom was taking her to a nice restaurant she had heard of but never been to in the city. Finally pleased with her appearance, she exited the bathroom and faced the entrance to her apartment to answer the knock she had heard.

Tom stood outside Gabriela's door and nervously rolled around on the balls of his feet. Suddenly hearing movement from the door's lock, he quickly straightened his posture and held the flowers in his hand out. The door slowly opened and he got a full view of his date. The flowers fell from his hand.

A beautiful black cocktail dress hugged her body, not constricting but still displaying her curves well. Silver earrings and her usual silver locket accentuated the light make up she had on. Her silky black hair had been done into a bun at the back of her head and held with a silver clip. Pitch black stiletto heels brought her height up to a little above Tom's ear.

He had only seen her in her grungy work clothes and her hair and body always carried a dusty vibe to it. Even then, she was still beautiful. But seeing her all made up was like polishing a fine piece of jade; her real, stunning beauty shone forth brightly. Tom's mind couldn't process it all at once. His ex-wife was beautiful too, but it was as a result of expensive skincare, workout regimes and medications. Gabriela gave off a wonderful natural beauty that was like a breath of fresh air.

Gabriela giggled when she saw the stupified look on Tom's face. Posing elegantly as possible, she said, "How do I look?". "Fantastic!". Tom didn't even think before the words came out. Her pose crumbled as she broke out into deep laughter. Tom scratched his head embarrassedly. This was part of the plan but he found it easier to do because of his actual feelings.

"Shall we go?", he inquired, raising his right elbow. Gabriela paused her laughter to latch onto him and allowed herself to be led to his car waiting outside.