"Hey..."
Yamilet hung on Dorian like a big koala, holding her phone in one hand and rubbing Dorian's slightly prickly hair with the other.
The trailing sound in her nose was like a layer of sugar, soft and sweet, causing Dorian to tilt his head and bite and lick.
The voice on the phone was warm like a spring breeze, but simple and clear : "Come to 'The Big Day', we have a new target."
See? One more word won't do.
"Do I have to go by myself? Can't you just get someone to give Jacques the information?" Yamilet pulled on Dorian's hand. He understood, so he slipped his hands under her clothes and swam towards her breasts like a fish, pinching and twisting her nipples.
"It's been three months since you've come. Come see me."
The speaker on the old phone was amplified clearly. After hearing it, Dorian paused his actions and shook his head at Yamilet.
Don't go.
At this point, Yamilet stopped smiling, stood up from the couch with a whoosh.
The full warmth of flesh that had been in his hand just now left, Dorian pursed his lips without speaking, slowly letting his hands drop down to clench into fists on the couch.
"I got it. I'll be there in an hour."
"Half an hour." The person on the other end hung up before Yamilet could reply.
Jacques handed Yamilet back her skirt and underwear. "I'll take you there."
"Okay." Yamilet took off her T-shirt and threw it at Dorian's face.
Dorian buried his face in the fabric as he spoke injuredly: "What am I supposed to do then?"
Yamilet fastened her bra strap and glanced at the small tent rising under the man's crotch. She immediately smiled mischievously.
She jumped onto Dorian again, pulling off the T-shirt on his face and hugging his neck to give him a kiss. "After this job is over, why don't we all go abroad and have some fun together?"
Dorian didn't follow her lead or kissed her back. Instead, he bit down hard on her nose: "...we share the same room?"
"Umm, we'll see when the time comes."
Dorian grunted and pressed down on her waist, biting into the soft flesh that wasn't covered by her bra until he left a small red mark before letting her go.
***
Jacques was driving his taxi today again, the Buddha pendant swinging in the dark night, and the meter ticking away.
Yamilet sat in the passenger seat, her cute short hair half-dried by the air conditioning. Her feet were pulled up onto the seat, with her toes looking round like pebbles under moonlight.
Her two thumbs quickly tapped on her phone's keyboard as she controlled the increasingly long pixel snake game, making sure it didn't collide with its own tail.
She was just going to meet Luis, so she needn't bother disguising herself.
Beep--Game over.
Yamilet started another round and said the first thing after getting into the car: "Jacques, would you be upset?"
Jacques quickly shook his head. "Why would I be upset?"
"You see, Dorian is upset."
"He's still young."
Yamilet laughed and said: "You all always say he's 'young', but actually he's a year older than me."
Jacques glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "You all? Who else?"
"Well...a friend."
Yamilet hadn't revealed her relationship with Bryce to anyone because Bryce was an independent assassin who didn't belong to Black Whale or any other organization.
To put it seriously, Bryce and she were actually competitors in their profession and had conflicting interests at times. It could even happen that Bryce had to protect someone whom Yamilet needed to kill.
The car stopped at a red light and Jacques pulled up on the handbrake. His voice was lower than the engine noise: "Dorian said someone went to your place last night."
"Uh-huh."
"Another friend?"
The small space couldn't contain Yamilet's increasingly long pixel snake game anymore, but it still moved forward towards its "prey" greedily, never getting enough no matter how much it fed.
Yamilet concentrated, but still couldn't break the highest score in the game. The snake bit its own tail, and the game ended again.
When the traffic light turned green and Jacques stepped on the gas pedal, he heard Yamilet's answer: "Yeah, just a friend." She turned off her phone and asked back: "What's wrong?"
Jacques shook his head. "Nothing. Just make sure you know what you're doing."
They drove over a flyover and then down again.
They passed through Lion Bridge, where there were tall old locust trees along the road with their crowns growing towards the middle of the road. If you were driving past this section during the day and looked out from the windshield, it would be a beautiful sight that could calm your restless soul for a few minutes.
The flickering street lamps were hidden among them, illuminating the lush leaves like mint leaves soaked in orange juice.
Jacques parked the car on the side of the road and unlocked his door. "I'll be in a nearby parking lot. Call me when you're done, and I'll come pick you up."
"Okay," Yamilet replied.
On both sides of the road were wedding dress shops of all sizes, ranging from Western-style bridal gowns to traditional Chinese qipaos. Although it was already late at night, they still had their lights on.
Yamilet stopped at one of the bridal stores for a moment.
She looked up at the mannequins dressed in luxurious white gowns displayed in the windows, with diamonds shining brightly under spotlights while heavy lace veils trailing behind them.
The mannequins held pure white fake flowers in their hands as they stood quietly at this corner where old and new streets intersected, attracting passersby's attention.
She turned into an alley where time seemed to have derailed from just a few steps away from bustling city noises.
The smell of ginger and green onion stir-fry wafted through the air. Electrical wires crisscrossed between rows of brick houses like spiderwebs.
An old man who had finished his dinner opened his gate; Guangdong opera songs floated along winding stone paths.
There were also many small-scale bridal shops scattered throughout these alleys. Unlike fashionable and eye-catching dresses displayed by big stores along main streets, dresses in these stores were much cheaper.
Many shops pushed their hangers and models to the front, with phoenix embroidered on gold thread qipaos and bright red dresses standing on both sides of the narrow alleys; they looked like eerie ghost fires in the darkness.
Yamilet took many twists and turns until she arrived at a three-story low-rise building.
"Black Whale" had many bases - some were located in the CBD's precious office buildings, disguised as regular company headquarters. Others were scattered throughout the city as service stations or safe houses that were unrelated to pest control companies.
The ground floor of this residential building was a storefront with a red and yellow sign that read "Big Day Wedding Supplies."
A large red lantern hung under the eaves, and various lucky characters were pasted on the glass door. A narrow alley in front of the store also had a rotating display rack that held samples of bright red bridal umbrellas and other festive items. The samples were covered in yellow dust-proof covers, most likely due to being handled by too many customers.
Yamilet pushed open the door and walked into the store, where her eyes met an overwhelming sea of bright red decorations.
Behind several layers of shelves stood a middle-aged Chinese man at the cash register with his head down writing something. Yamilet called out: "Liang."
Without looking up, Liang already knew who it was. He grunted, "He's waiting for you on the third floor."