Old And New Partners

Jisoo opened her eyes. She leaned on the headboard, holding onto the blanket wrapped around her chest. She looked under the cover of her blanket, finding herself bare naked with aching legs and waist. Her arms have hickeys. She looked to her side and found her partner sleeping soundly. She knocked on his head. Waking him.

"W-what?"

"I need breakfast."

"Sure," he dragged himself out of the bed. If she had marks then he looked bruised compared to her. Her ears became red as she watched him cover himself up with clothing.

"A shame."

Nikolai eyed her before she left. He left to pick up breakfast. While she was out, she took her black lace brassiere thrown to the side and her spats. It was kind of mismatched, but she did not care about matching colors when she wasn't going to show it to anyone. Well, she might have to think about that now.

She went to the bathroom. She inspected herself from top to bottom and looked for any marks. She focused her regeneration and the marks left by her partner, healing. She looked at the red handprint on her butt and sighed.

After dressing herself up. She sat near the glass sliding door and stared at the ocean. Not far from this town was the view of Pacifica. She wondered if she'd have the stomach. Her rage was around. She turned her eyes to the door where Nikolai left. Truthfully, she sought warm and familiarity after her clan's demise. The closest thing she knew after the Gov murdered or put them into prison was Nik. Hell, Nik must at least know that she was using him to cover up the hole left. He understood this and she wanted to believe that he was making use of her for a similar reason as well.

Nikolai came back. He carried a breakfast of eggs and toast. He placed the meal on the table and motioned for her to eat. She dragged herself on the chair and started eating her meal while taking glances at Nikolai.

"So you're coming with me to Agua, right?"

"I said I would. I'd accompany you at least. Not that you'd want to work immediately after that whole mess. Will they come after you?"

"Maybe they will," she said. "If you got my back. I got yours. So we'll try our best."

Nikolai bit on his egg sandwich.

There was this certain serenity that Nikolai had that she was quite fond. That calmness that if broken would reveal such explosive emotions. Here was the man who desperately tried not to kill. He tried not to. He really did. But in the end, couldn't hold that rage in him.

After they ate breakfast, they walked around the resort. Nikolai led the way while keeping an eye everywhere. Jisoo followed silently while doing the same. They found an open-air bar and then sat down. The two were like salted fish under the sun. There was a mood of laziness around them. They spent hours at the bar. When noon arrived they left the bar, went back to their hotel to get their luggage.

Nikolai checked out first. He waited outside of Jisoo's room while holding on to a duffel bag of his choosing. Jisoo went out and carried her luggage across her back. The two went to the parking slot. Nikolai looked around. She saw that he was looking for her motorcycle.

"It got totaled."

"A shame. It's a beautiful bike."

Nikolai trotted to his car and threw his luggage and hers on the backseat. She rode shotgun while Nikolai started driving out of the resort and to the main road. Jisoo looked around the car and wore the mechanical eyepatch of hers to scan Nikolai's car. After the scan she raised a brow.

"I can't detect any tracers, oddly."

"I made sure that it's cloaked. That skull mask gave me an idea and I modded a program into the interface of the car to do the same."

"That's clever."

"It's basic. I didn't want to be found. If anything I got sloppy. Guess I should have been far more thorough considering that you found me."

"Don't worry. No one will find you other than me."

Nikolai tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. The car passed through this mountain-side road and just next to the road was a long drop. There were barely any cars around. Only the holographic road signs that were deteriorating because of the seaside conditions.

"Did you trace the skull mask?"

"I did. Didn't help that much, but it was easier to find someone who was using their bank account," she grinned. "You tried to, but from description alone. It was quite easy to find you. If anything, Nik. You have such low confidence in your appearance. Almost like you're mocking yourself."

"Nah, you just have bad taste, Jisoo."

Nikolai didn't reply. He continued driving until the car arrived in front of this roadside stop. Nikolai went out. Stared at the cliff before buying snacks. He went back to the car and handed the snacks to Jisoo. She ate while staring at the road quietly.

The roads remained open and quiet until they started nearing the city. By that time they were near the city. Different kinds of vehicles from small sedans to smart trucks covered the road. It was so congested that it made Nikolai take out his phone. He started browsing every news that he can from Pacifica's city.

Jisoo took sideway glances at her partner. Then she turned towards her emails where the Solomons had asked her to look for him. She deleted the messages and temporarily blocked their numbers.

Two hours passed after waiting in the road. The car entered Agua and was inspected by the city guards. After paying the toll, Nikolai asked Jisoo the place where her safehouse was. The city was a mix of tall brick and marble buildings. Every major road had large canals where communal boats were transporting passengers. Unlike Pacifica, Agua had a much more serene feeling to it.

Nikolai drove to Maribor Street. It was a street surrounded with tall identical buildings with the same material and same color. The street itself was uniformed. The granite building had this old feeling. Inside the building was a different look compared to the ancient granite building. The interior was decorated with modern white. Jisoo ignored the receptionist and just took out her key. She twisted her key on the elevator and entered with Nikolai.

The room was on the second last floor of the building. Going through the door, there was a rather large room. There was a small living room on the side. There was a bed on their left with the shower/bathroom on the left side of the building. There was only one bed and what caught Jisoo's eyes first was the phallic object. She rushed to the side and quickly broke them before throwing them into the bin. Nikolai threw the duffel on the circular couches and sat. While he was not looking, she searched her room with any object and found her picture with Leiko. She broke the picture frame and threw it in the recycling bin where it was grinded.

She turned around and saw Nikolai inspecting a picture. Her face went red and slowly approached Nikolai to take the picture.

"You two sure were close," Nikolai said as if he got a treat.

She took the picture and saw an image of her and Leiko. She was a bit younger in the picture and had shorter hair. She wore only a matching black lace collar while embracing Leiko. She was rather bare and they were clearly under their sheets. Leiko was kissing her cheek in the picture. For a moment she thought of those days, then it was replaced by a surge of embarrassment.

"Any more intimate things you left around? Would love to have a look," he grins like a creep. But he was her creep.

"No. And if I have some here, don't you dare look at Leiko's."

"I think yours is bigger than hers anyway."

She glared at Nikolai and folded her arms. Nikolai smiled lightly before walking around the room searching for 'evidence' as he'd like to put it. She thought that she only had so little, and Nik found more pictures than she expected. She wasn't even sure when Leiko took some of the pictures.

"I should have done far more harm to her," she thought to herself. Then she saw Nikolai boldly inspecting a picture. He turned towards her.

"Can I keep this?"

She was in a spotted bikini. She smiled at Nikolai and then took the picture with her fingers.

"No."

She threw the pictures to the bin, still smiling. Nikolai shrugged his shoulders and stayed on the safehouse's balcony. She looked at Nikolai for a moment before she pressed her palm on the biometrics hidden under a panel. The wall opened up and revealed her arsenal of weapons. She looked at the frame of her and Leiko standing together in matching dresses. She thought to herself that such days had long passed and coldly, she threw the framed picture on the bin.