"He didn't do anything?" Luka was worried as always and it touched Yana.
She shook her head, "No, he was here to annoy me."
"I should stay here from now on to make sure he won-"
"No."
"Yana!" Luka really left no opportunity out to cling to her.
"The dinner…" Yana stared at the ingredients rolling on the floor before Luka hastily picked them up. Seeing Luka's domestic side was really funny.
"I'll cook, so sit back," Luka headed to the kitchen after making sure Mik really was no threat.
It was endearing to see Luka like this and Yana had to admit that she was getting more and more dependent on having him around, which wasn't good because once he wasn't here, Yana was sure she felt lonely without him. It was a curse.
Yana watched Luka's back as she turned on the TV. Mik's last words gave her a bad feeling. Would he create a scandal of her after she made one of him? Zapping through the channels, Yana found what she was looking for.
"Luka come here," Yana waved him to her as she would with an overly obedient dog, and as expected Luka came sitting next to her. He intentionally scooted very close to her. Yana deliberatedly avoided his stare because she knew he was expecting her to praise him.
"Let's watch," Yana's tone was serious, so Luka focused his attention properly on the news. It was a complete surprise.
"Breaking news, we have just received the information that the reason why Nixo was linked with the government to create a new 'era' as Nixo's CEO has previously mentioned, is to stop the current business models of independent companies. The true reason for the economic recession and why several companies have plunged down is because they have secretly transported illegal weapons to the border in order to ignite a war. So the government made the decision of inflation to pressure the companies and-"
Yana couldn't help but laugh. They made a nice twist to tie all loose parts together. The big companies falling apart? The economy falling? The government not responding to the citizens' outcries? Nixo becoming a government company and setting a new norm? The mass production of weapons?
All seamlessly linked together to form a lie to feed the people who instantly believed it. Yana knew it wasn't the truth. These things most definitely had something in common but it wasn't what the coverage dished everyone.
Yana scrolled through the internet and as expected the public became supportive of Nixo and the government, they instantly turned around their opinions. The protests would probably stop. The public were content with that, after all, war was the worst outcome. Although it didn't involve this country but being responsible for causing a war weighed heavily on one's conscience.
And this definitely weighed heavily on Yana's mind. If she didn't get caught at the factory, the organisation wouldn't be able to easily spin around a fake story.
It was all Yana's fault. Now they had the public's favour. Luka noticed that Yana's mood turned bad and patted her head, "It's fine. You've done nothing wrong. They would've done this sooner or later.
So, Luka already figured out the purpose of the factory and connected Yana's visit to it. Why didn't he question Yana's motives or goals or her background?
Yana snuck a glance at him as Luka's fingers played with her hair. Again and again, Yana wondered why he was so good to her, although deep down she knew the answer, she still had her suspicions or maybe wanted to have the suspicion to not want the truth to be true.
Yana couldn't help but finally ask, "Aren't you one of them?"
"One of them?" perplexed Luka titled this head while his hand didn't stop patting her, "Is that why you've avoided and ignored me? You think I'm one of them?"
It seemed like Luka knew what she was talking about which made Yana sceptical but-
"I swear, no matter what, I'll always be by your side."
This. Luka continuously acted so sweet and said words of dripping honey to her, melting all of her defences. His relentless stare burned her completely and heat rose. Yana's face felt hot all of a sudden. This... this was embarrassing. It felt now that they were even closer.
"I promise, it'll be all ok."
"Yes, I'll do something to stop it," Yana's mood lifted. Luka's words, his presence helped a lot. It was so comfortable. He was so good to her that Yana felt guilty for treating him coldly all the time. Although she wanted to remain in a neutral relationship with him, it should be ok to take a step further, right?
"Luka," Yana tugged on Luka's' shirt as he turned off the TV, "Mhm?"
"Once… once this is over, let's go on another date."
A massive light beam wiped Yana off the face of the earth. Too blinding, too mega damaging.
Luka's happy expression also made Yana happy, "Really?"
"Yes, after all the last one was interrupted and it's my fault."
"Hehe," Luka's childish laugh and him cheekily wanting to hug Yana made her stand up.
"L-Let's make dinner, I'm starving."
Yana never felt really embarrassed about Luka but now she experienced scorching heat whenever he was close. Of course, this couldn't go on for longer.
"I'll help you," Luka stood up and like a parasite clung onto Yana. She was unable to peel him of her. Was it so hard to ask Luka to stop acting like sticking rice?
Just like every other evening, Luka and Yana peacefully ate dinner before Yana shooed a sulking Luka back to his place, except this time, Luka was harder to get out. Yana wasn't afraid of Mik coming back. She knew he wouldn't come back so soon and even if he did, Yana could defend herself.
And so a week passed. The delivery company has been shut down. Protests have ceased and the government stopped the mass production. A cleansing or 'purging' of companies has started. The leaders were forced to resign and the companies fell under government control.
This was the most terrifying state a country could be. The public expressed joy but they didn't know that they were slowly giving up their freedom and democracy people were deluded in having. Step by step, the country was inching towards a dictatorship where the government had full control over the country and people could do nothing.
No, it has been like this from the start. The government only started to shed off its disguise of democracy. They obviously took over the economy yet the public wasn't worried. It was a only handful of people who knew the truth but were labelled as conspiracy theorists.
Through lies and deceit, the government managed to publicly exert control and dominance over people but no one noticed it. Once everything else fell into the government's hands, did people really think the government wouldn't start to change the law one by one to their favour?
Basic human rights could be taken away. Put the people into a bad state and slowly propose methods that harm them more than they do good, but the people didn't know that because it was their saving grace to escape the fake bad situation the government put everyone in.