There was this rumor going around about some famous faceless criminals in this country. They were so popular among teenagers and politicians. People would talk about them in a hushed whisper, and they would find the thrill in it.
No, they were not just easy robbers or some killers in the street. It was not even the mafia that kidnapped Zack before.
It was the four criminals. The hitman that never misses, the assassin of governments, the mercenary that never kills, and the mercenary's deadly murderer. They had their own specialties, like some heroes or something.
Well, not heroes, more like villains. Wrong choice of word.
No one knew who they four were. And if someone did know, they would be in the afterlife with that knowledge already.
The four criminals all wore masks for identity's sake, like Spider-man with his red bright mask. The hitman wore all black with a fancy mask that covered his whole head and a black suit.
The mercenary wore a black trench coat with a black half-mask, while his mute murderer wore a white hoodie with jeans alongside a white cap and white half-mask. Some people called them the deadly yin and yang.
And of course, the famous red assassin. The assassin was Zack's favorite criminal. The red porcelain mask covered her face with the black cloak and red fancy gloves. It was so cool and he found himself fanboying at the sight.
Okay, maybe he was not supposed to root for a criminal who actually killed people, but she was- she was his hero. She was the reason why he could run away from the hell hole he was captured in.
It happened about a year ago when the damn mafia took him to be forced labor. Locked him in for six months to work as a hacker in their so-called family. It was a nightmare for him until she came.
She came to kill the previous boss, who happened to be the current boss's husband. That was when his opportunity struck.
When grey eyes met the red porcelain mask, slightly seeing the deep blue eyes behind it. When the hacker met the assassin, and so he pleaded to be saved. When Zack did not know that the woman actually cared enough to save him.
And when he never got to say thank you for what she did for him.
And now, Zack was saved by her again. However, he did not know that.
"Holy shit." Zack breathed. Everyone was frozen as they watched Adreanna sweep the mafia in front of her and knock him out in one swift move.
Everyone stood still as if waiting for her to do something. Adreanna swiped the invisible dust on her tight shirt and cracked her neck. She sighed boringly as her gaze fell on the people around Zack.
The abandoned building they were in suddenly felt too intense. The atmosphere was tight, and the group of mafias unconsciously hunched their shoulders. One of them was still holding Zack by the collar, making it ten times more tense for Zack.
All hell broke loose when Adreanna skidded down the floor and kicked the man who was choking Zack with his hold. The man stumbled and fell down headfirst. Zack swore he could hear a crack.
Zack quickly turned his head away, grimacing at the poor mafia. He could feel his heart beating as he closed his eyes, hoping for everything to end soon. Though, he could not help but sometimes peek a little to make sure the girl was actually alright.
When he did peek, he was not aware that he opened his mouth and made an 'o' shape. What he saw was a funny sight yet scary at the same time. The pretty girl was destroying them all.
Like- they were all getting destroyed destroyed.
Some of her braided hair went loose as she kicked one of the last men standing's face and sent him crashing to a wall. The woman's oddly beautiful blue eyes looked emotionless as she looked down at the pile of bodies that were surrounding her.
Some of them were groaning on the floor in pain, and some of them were unconscious. The woman stood almost proudly in the middle of the room. Her chest was heaving up and down from the fight she was in.
Her ocean eyes caught the grey one, and Zack could feel his world stopped. His heart was throbbing in his ears. He did not know it was from feeling scared of her or the fact that the woman felt too familiar.
Or she was too much like his type, but he pushed that thought away.
"Uh, hi?" Zack hesitantly said. He smiled awkwardly and was aware of how he was still trembling on the floor.
Adreanna was only staring at him. She was standing there observing him like some kind of museum art or something.
Zack could not help but do the same. He was observing her pretty blue eyes, red rose lips, messy braided hair, and little sweats on her forehead that made her look kind of hot and se-
"You again." She broke the staring contest. A cold voice reached Zack's ears and he quickly tried to stand up, stumbling a little while doing so. He tried to balance himself and awkwardly grimaced at his clumsiness.
The teen finally looked up at her and tilted his head to his right, frowning. "Again? Have we met before?"
Silence ate both of them at his question.
"...no." Adreanna answered and quickly turned her back on him. She jogged her way to the front door, leaving Zack confused.
Realizing that she was starting to fade from his sight, Zack snapped out of his thoughts and ran to her. "Wait!" He yelled and caught her wrist.
Adreanna pulled her hand away from his grasp and glared daggers at him. Zack scowled a little at her movement, he had to admit that it was kind of hurt.
"Sorry, didn't mean to touch you." He cleared his throat, wrinkling his nose to throw away the nervousness inside him.
Adreanna was just staring at him again. She raised her eyebrows as if asking why he was here face to face with her. Zack found out that she was a woman with few words.
"I just want to say thank you for saving me." He confessed, wrinkling his nose again out of habit.
"And uh, I'm- I'm Zack." He finished his sentence, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
Adreanna was just standing there with dead-looking eyes. The wind blew her locks covering her pale face a little. She then suddenly turned her back on him again, ignoring his words while walking away.
Zack sighed quietly, brushing his hair with his hand. Well, at least Zack thanked her already and tried. Before he could move from his place, he was startled again by the sudden appearance of the girl.
"Adreanna." A soft monotone voice spoke, almost missing his ears if they were not in a quiet place. Adreanna actually went back to him while handing him his forgotten groceries.
Zack quickly snapped his head towards her. He looked up and down at the groceries and Adreanna a couple of times. She made a move with her chin, signaling the groceries that were still staying in her hand.
"Oh, right." He took the groceries in her hand, accidentally brushing his own with Adreanna's soft hand.
Adreanna nodded toward him and left the abandoned building. Her hair was bouncing along with the thumping of her boots. Zack was staring at her until she faded out of his sight.
"Adreanna." Repeated Zack dreamingly. He could not hold back his smile.
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Zack was a hopeless romantic.
He was that hopeless that he actually hacked Adreanna's profile.
He was that hopeless that he turned white after seeing the truth about Adreanna through his laptop.
It started with "Should I hack her data? Just to find her address, I swear." and ended with "I should not have hacked her data, I'm going to die."
You see, he was the best hacker like- the best of the best. His mind was a total computer. His parents were scientists. When he was still a kid, his parents made him to be the perfect kid.
They messed with his brain so much. There was a reason why his eyes were grey now. He could hack everything, crack every code, and turn down any electronics.
His parents were already dead. The infamous hitman killed them when he was seven. The governments wanted them dead and Zack found himself shedding a tear despite what they did to him.
He forgave them before he had time to be angry.
But he was not here to talk about his past, he was here to calm himself from trembling any further.
The smell of caffeine adorned the air. Appetizing donuts were on display for people to choose from. The cafe was not empty, though only a few people were actually there. From the window, you can see the sun was already halfway leaving the earth.
Zack took a seat on the furthest table in the room where no one would bother him. He closed his eyes as he silently listened to people's inaudible chatters, trying to calm himself down.
He never had any luck with girls.
No, no, let's rephrase that. He never had any care for girls.
So when an assassin who happened to be a woman saved him a year ago, he had a little crush on her. Just a playful fanboy crush.
And then yesterday he was saved by a girl named Adreanna and he caught another crush. So he was like, "I might try to date this one," and regretted it afterward.
Apparently, they were the same person.
Haha, surprise.
Now he knew the secret of one of the most deadly criminals. It was funny how he went into five stages of grieving in a flash after finding the truth. Because he would die if she found out that he knew, he was the one who was digging his own grave anyway.
Zack stared at the coffee in front of him that already turned cold an hour ago. He dropped his head on the table, making a loud thump, spilling some of the coffee from the impact.
"Haha, dead or date, am I right." Mumbled the hacker sardonically.
He was crying inside.
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"Alright, this is not a bad thing. This is a good thing. Zack, it's alright. You're just going to thank her and give her a flower." He assured himself as he stared at the mansion's door.
A white flower was in his hand as he swayed slightly where he was standing. He wrinkled his nose bridge, trying to calm himself.
The door opened, and he found himself holding his own breath. He put on his best smile, chewing on his lips once or twice. This was dead or date, he could do this.
A boy around sixteen popped out from the house, his fluffy hair bounced as he peeked a little from the door before opening it fully.
"Is Adreanna home?" Zack asked sheepishly, feet fidgeted as he waited for an answer.
"Oh? My sister? She hasn't come back for a month now." The boy answered while tilting his head.
A month? That was weird. He met her yesterday, yet she did not come home?
"You're her brother? Oh, right, silly me. I'm Zack, your hopefully future brother-in-law." He quickly introduced himself when he realized he was dozing out for a second.
He should not have said that. He really shouldn't have said that. Why did he say that?
He offered his hand for a handshake, hoping that the boy would ignore his last sentence. Her brother seemed to stutter at the hand gestured, clumsily accepted his hand, and gave a nice smile back.
"I'm Axel," The boy stated and moved aside, making an invitation to the older guy.
Oh no, he did not want to get in and die. It was enough for him to know her identity. He was not going to get in the lion's den.
It was ironic, though, that he tried to date the lion herself.
"Oh, no, you don't have to." Zack waved his hands in front of Axel. "You see, I come here to ask her on a date, but she's not here, so yeah, I better get going." He continued as he patted Axel's shoulder, trying to be as friendly as possible.
"You didn't tell her you would be coming here? You're her boyfriend, I'm sure she'd come right away." Axel questioned Zack, he leaned on the doorway as he asked him.
Zack's breath caught in his throat, and he swore his face turned red at her brother's words.
"Oh, this is the best day of my life. Her brother even gives me permission to be her boyfriend!" He exclaimed.
He was stuck between dead or date. Seemed like the date part was going smooth.
The boy gaped at his statement. "I'm sorry, what?"
Zack chuckled, trying to hide the embarrassment. "I don't even have her number. Like I said, I was just going to ask her out."
"Ah." Axel nodded in understatement. He squinted his eyes, trying to examine Zack.
It was silence all around again. Was all her family like this? Just staring at the person they were talking to?
"She loves the red color theme. She may seem emotionless-" Axel paused, a finger rubbing his chin. "-which she is, by the way. So good luck." Uttered the boy as he gave a thumb up to Zack.
Zack blinked at the boy slowly. He looked down at the white flower in his hand. He knew he should have brought a rose, damn it.
"Noted, thanks, kiddo." Zack patted Axel's head awkwardly while trying to hide the flower in his hand to his back.
"I can give you her number if you'd like." Axel offered as he took out his phone.
Zack's face beamed at the statement, at least he did not have to hack again and be true about this one. "Yes, please."
He bid goodbye to the nice boy and quickly got home. When he arrived at his apartment, he tried to message Adreanna, ignoring how his hands were kind of shaking.
He was biting the inside of his cheek as he pressed the send button. He stared at his phone, waiting for an answer. Maybe he should wait for an hour.
And then an hour turned into a day.
And a day turned into a week.
"Maybe she put in silence? Should I hack it?" He asked himself in one of the afternoons after waiting too long.
He stared at his phone for a moment and put it away. "No, no. I've done enough bad things with my skill, I should not do this again."
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"So yeah, please contact me back. I- I want to thank you for saving me that day, I'm hoping we can get a coffee?"
Zack turned off his phone and nervously put it down after re-listening to his voice note. He finally hacked her phone and dug his grave even further down. Oblivious of what the impact his voice note had done.
He sat back down at the edge of his bed and put his face in the palm of his hand, covering all of his features. The moon was mocking him through his window. His feeling was complicated, but he really did like her.
Suddenly something hard was pressed down on the right side of his head. His whole body became tense, and a cold sweat formed on his hand. He caught a glimpse of a red porcelain mask and noticed it was her.
He raised both of his hands in surrender as he noticed it was her gun.
"Look, Adreanna, let's talk about this, yeah?" He offered slowly. He could see her startled a little at the mention of her name but brushed it off as fast as it came.
She pressed her gun harder at his head, red gloved hand grazed his brunette hair a little. "What do you want?" She demanded.
Zack's hand moved to the tip of her gun and slowly lowered it to the ground. He smiled awkwardly at her porcelain mask.
"Uh, a date?"