The winter breeze pierced through Fin's coat as he stepped out of the door. Ignoring the bitter cold, he looked at his watch. 11:20 pm. Realizing there were no buses available at this hour, he started walking. The thought of having to walk to his house which is more than 5 miles away in this cold caused his teeth to clench unintentionally. Despite that he kept his face expressionless. For him, it was just another day in hell.
After exiting the Southern District, he entered Central Boulevard. This place was filled with people even during this time. Central Boulevard had one of the highest population densities in the world. Even at midnight, the city was packed with people. He passed by office workers, some sitting around, sighing and some walking wobbly, possibly drunk. He finally arrived at the Conbolt intersection and waited for the light to turn green so he could cross the street. A homeless man was sitting on the other side of the street, wearing ragged clothes and playing his guitar as if nothing else mattered in the world. He looked at the guy with envy. A girl with a dog stopped next to Fin. The dog started barking at him.
"Long day at work, eh?" The girl asked with enthusiasm without attempting to stop the dog's barking.
"Tsk"
Fin was annoyed. He was a little introverted and hated being asked the obvious questions. What annoyed him more is the fact this girl was out with her annoying dog this late in the night, bothering people who would otherwise love some peace and serenity. He stared at the dog with murderous intention. The dog shut up instinctively. He would have preferred to do the same to the girl, but he knew that would cause him to gain unwanted attention from his surroundings. Besides, he didn't get a kick out of scaring schoolgirls. Beep-Bop. Annoyed, he started walking as soon as he heard the sound, thinking the light turned green but instantly stopped on his track as he realized his mistake. That was the message alert tone for the girl's phone. "You fucking bitc-" rest of his scream got masked under the loud horn of the truck that was seconds away from impact.
***
"Oh my God"
"AHHHH"
"Is h..he dead?"
"Someone call an ambulance"
Screams filled the area and people rushed to the incident scene. The street was red with blood which looked like a page out of some emo kid's drawing book. Unreal. That was the single thought that circulated in Fin's mind. He couldn't even see a single part of the homeless man's body, except the blood. The truck took a sharp turn at the last second and hit the homeless man. "Pfft" laughter accidentally erupted from his throat. Although most of it was overwhelmed by the screams, some who heard it, gave him a terrified look. Immediately displaying an expressionless look, he left the scene.
Arriving at his apartment, he walked up the stairs slowly. His tiredness was overwhelmed by the thought of the incident that took place a couple minutes ago. The incident kept playing around his mind. Once. Twice. Thrice. It was an infinitely repeating process.
"Ehew. I never expected that I would end up being the reason for that jerk's death. Sigh, I don't think I have any energy to read the novel today" Fin sighed.
He stopped in front of his apartment door and inserted his key in the keyhole. A click sound resounded. Without much thought, he proceeded to open the door.
BOOOM
***
Jin was standing on the rooftop of a building with a pair of binoculars in hands. He calmly watched the person slowly reach for his apartment door. The man seemed ordinary, the kind you might sit next to randomly in a train and wouldn't remember him after 5 minutes. The only distinct aspect about the man was that he didn't look like a local. But that was also normal since this country was full of people from all across the world.
¨Why did the boss put a hit on this guy?¨ Jin mumbled to himself.
¨Whatever. Not my place to meddle¨
Jin continued watching silently. He wasn't anxious or excited. It wasn't his first time in this kind of job. On the contrary, he felt bored. He unconsciously urged the man to walk faster so he could leave and get some food. His target was almost half an hour late. BOOOM. He felt relief.
¨Phew. Finally done.¨
Jin packed up his stuff and prepared to leave. He made sure to erase any evidence that could potentially be used against him. He was good at his job so he took care of everything without a sweat. His phone rang. Probably the notification for the money, he thought. But it was a call from none other than his boss. He picked it up with a bit of hesitation.
¨Is it done?¨
A deep voice traveled through the phone, sending chill in his bones. He couldn't get used to his voice no matter how long he worked for him. Jin tried his best to sound a response.
¨Y-Yes, its done.¨
¨Hmm that should teach her family to not mess with our Yan family.¨
¨Hahaha exac..¨
The word got stuck in his throat. After swallowing his glup, he asked in a scared voice.
¨Sorry but did you say 'her'?¨
The other side on the phone went silent. Jin gulped loudly. Trying to escape the anticipation of waiting for what was about to come, he started breathing rapidly and walking in a circle.
¨Is Yu Xiao dead or not?¨ The voice asked him in a low but clear voice.
Yu Xiao??? Who the hell was that? His target was supposed to be the occupant of room 107 in the Vista apartment. Was she transgender? He asked himself. Yea that might be possible as to why she looked like a man. Ha..haha...hahaha. He slowly laughed in his head.
¨Boss, is she transgender?¨
¨H-HUH?!!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?¨ The voice asked in an agitated manner.
¨Ah nothing. Don't worry boss. The target is neutralized. This will definitely bring down the Xiao family.
¨...ah good. You will receive your money on the next business day.¨
¨Thank you. Goodnight boss.¨
Jin hung up quickly. He checked the details of his contract and immediately recognized what he had done wrong. The apartment was supposed to be the Evista apartment. Not the Vista apartment. He also realized the contract had more details about his contract on the back, including name, photo and that were left unchecked. He immediately started running. He was supposed to eliminate his target before 1:10. It was 1:30.
'Shit, shit, shit. How did I mess up this badly?'
After 10 minutes, he reached Evista. Before he could react, he bumped into someone. He fell down from the impact.
¨Hey watch..¨ Jin tried to say.
The person he bumped into was a muscular man with black coat. Similar to the ones that a bodyguard would wear. He looked ahead and found 20 others wearing similar attire, looking at him.
¨W-What's going..on here?¨
¨There was a bombing close-by. So we need to evacuate Ms Xiao before the situation gets dangerous. Please refrain from going any further.¨
'Shit shit shit'
¨W-What do you mean I can't go further? This is a clear violation of my civil rights.¨
The bodyguards didn't respond. One of them started to crack their knuckles in an intimidating manner. Jin could see Yu Xiao getting away in a car. He watched the car disappear from his sight with utter desperation. He failed. He knew how much his boss pushed for this matter. He knew he was done for. This failure would inevitably lead to his death. He stared at the sky in an absent like manner and deduced the only way for him to live is to go to Albania or some random country.
'...Life really isn't fair'.
***