February 10, 2020.
Why am I feeling like this?
Why do I want someone to be here with me?
I don't need anyone. I never did and never will.
That is never going to change.
I need to kill him, that's all I should focus on.
I will kill him.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Haven rubbed her eyes, almost bumping her head against the wall of the parking lot as she slid off her bike.
'Curse whoever that guy was.'
She'd stayed at home for a whole day before going back to the CIA building since apparently, her death had caused a little 'too much' panic around the department. Also because her sleep had been utterly ruined because of a person whom she still couldn't forget.
'My poor diary...'
She hadn't written too many personal entries apart from continuously writing how she wanted to kill Ezekiel Wei abundant times. If he ended up reading all of those, at least he'd be unprepared for another fight after personally killing her off.
She had gotten used to her nightmares but the one she had last night had been a little different from the rest of them. The last thing she had seen before her eyes burst open was the same man's hand on her arm and him looking straight into her eyes up close.
The man couldn't have been Ezekiel Wei since she had seen him up close before she fell off that cliff. He had black eyes and this man...
His eyes were a breathtaking deep shade of grey.
Haven's brows narrowed down when she replayed the night's event back in her head and wondered if she had witnessed it wrong. Grey eyes? She'd never seen anybody with that color ever in her life.
'Contact lenses perhaps?'
Shrugging internally, she walked up the stairs and after the thorough security check, entered the elevator and stepped out when the last floor appeared before her eyes.
Glancing through the glass wall, she noticed that everybody was still busy doing their work, unfazed that one of their fellow workers had just died a few days ago. That's just how life worked but when she scanned the place for Gavin, she couldn't find him anywhere.
She continued to feel uneasy as she walked up to the Head's office and knocked softly.
As soon as she heard she was allowed to come in, she stepped in and closed the door behind her. Victor was still looking as busy as always, looking over important case reports from various agents that were working under him and having a cigar stuck between his teeth at the same time.
When he looked up, however, he dropped his files on the table and leaned back against the chair.
"I must say I'm quite surprised to see you back Agent Lee," he commented.
Haven internally smiled. "You expected me to back off after hearing that Agent Chen died," here she paused for a second, looking straight into his eyes. "Or was murdered during her mission."
His brows rose, a tiny yet visible twinkle in his eyes showing that he was unwillingly impressed by her quick mind-reading skills. 7 years of practice weren't all for nothing, she silently thought in her head.
"So you are still bent on taking up the case I presume?"
Haven nodded astutely. The firm resolve and determination in her eyes must have finally made Victor give in as he released a sigh and acquiesced.
"I will contact your department's head and make the following procedures for your transfer. I assume you have the physical skills to be included in this department?" he questioned, looking over her in the way a mechanic does when he's accepting an apprentice.
"Will I be required to prove myself?" Haven had already expected this. It happened with all the agents in the Strategic Department. One of the top assassins was brought and the newcomer had to manage to stay in the ring with them for about 5 minutes at least.
Back when she had to perform the test, she'd managed to break a quarter of the bones in the man's body and walked out 10 minutes later with her head held high under everyone's scrutinizing gaze.
This time would be no different.
She couldn't risk acting weak since if she did, Victor wouldn't risk another one of his agents dying on him again. Her temple ached painfully with all the things going on inside her head, constructing a mass of chaos all over.
She still needed to explain everything to Gavin after finding him, needed to gain more information about Haven Lee who she now was, and find a way to filter in Ezekiel Wei's infamous gang as well.
"When will you be prepared to fight then?" Victor questioned and Haven pondered this in her head for a minute.
"Next week," she spoke, after analyzing everything she would have to do under 7 days. It would be a tight pack schedule but that was what she had always been used to.
A second's rest meant failure to her.
This body also needed refurnishing to be able to beat a high-level assassin like the ones they mostly sent in the ring for cases like the ones she was undertaking. It was simply to reassure themselves that the person was capable of handling the mission and not dying within 24 hours.
"Very well. Your new ID will be sent to you next week if you manage to win." his lips were set in a firm line as if he was still inspecting her intentions for the suicide case she was so desperately after.
"You can find Gavin with help from the main desk. He'll hand over the case files to you and it's up to you to convince him to partner up with you. He's recently been quite shaken up with the loss we've all suffered."
Victor had always looked young to her, similar to a man in his 30s. At this very moment, however, his mask fell shortly and she got a glimpse of the man burdened with everything including her sudden death. Not knowing what to do with his unexpected show of vulnerability, she could only bow and depart, leaving him in the same state as he was before she entered.
'Time to find my one and only partner.'