The Green Street Marina Bazaar had barely opened its gates for a short while, yet due to its highly peculiar geographical location and the already significant crowd on Green Street, it welcomed its first wave of customers just a few days after opening.
At this moment, the entire bazaar was shoulder to shoulder, with rows of people lining up at the edges of the crowd, squashed in and seemingly endless.
Bruce, holding two coconut drinks, took a seat, while Selina toyed with her wallet in hand. After taking a sip of her coconut juice, she said with a sudden realization: "So, it's Talya."
"What about her?"
"I didn't remember until I saw her face. I think I've met her before. Honestly, she is quite pretty. No wonder Little Pa is into her." Selina twiddled her wallet with her slender fingers, drawing Bruce's gaze.
"Wait here, I'm going to meet her." With a sly smile, Selina put her wallet back into her bag and disappeared into the crowd.
Talya was using her height advantage to scan the crowd when a familiar figure darted past her. Like a hawk-eye and swift as lightning, she wasted no time in pursuing the figure.
Being close to the beach, many women were dressed lightly. Selina's belly-baring and short-sleeved outfit was by no means outlandish. Weaving through the crowd, Talya quickly lost sight of Selina.
Suddenly, she saw a shadow race past beside her. Reacting instinctively, she reached for her fanny pack - her phone was gone.
Talya wasn't well-versed in handling such situations. As assassins typically commit premeditated murder, they can lie in wait for several months, even a year, until their target is alone.
Being alone is crucial: less defense makes an ambush easier, and to execute a deadly blow accurately and ruthlessly, some space is needed. No assassin would choose to kill in a crowded subway during rush hour. Even if they intended to poison someone, they would first need to be able to lift their arm - blending in like a piece of luncheon meat won't do.
Talya wanted to take long strides to catch up, but people and crowds were constantly blocking her way against the flow. She wanted to throw a dart, yet every time she lifted her arm, she was bumped into, which led her to lose her balance.
But Talya was neither impulsive nor riddled. Her choice was to first get out of the crowd and run towards the nearest gate, circling around the outside of the marketplace to catch up.
The bazaar had eight large gates in four different directions. Mentally determining Selina's direction, before long, Talya caught sight of the damned thief through one of the main gates.
"Halt! Stop running!"
Talya promptly charged in, taking sight of Selina standing behind a snack cart, swinging her stolen wallet against Selina's wide grin.
Talya lunged at Selina with one hand, but Selina, showing agility not fitting her figure, grabbed the bar on one side of the food truck to dodge Talya's reach and swung to the other side.
As Talya attacked from the other direction, Selina turned to face the opposite side. Talya threw a knife towards her, but Selina avoided it by diving over the food cart's countertop. As Talya rounded the cart to pursue, she was struck squarely in the face by a flying object.
The object turned out to be her wallet and phone, which had fallen into her arms. In the short span of a few seconds, Selina had made her way to the top beam of the market roof. Mat-like, with her hands aligned between her feet on the ground, she exposed her teeth at Talya.
"Keep your damn hands off my man, you slut," she hissed.
With a whoosh, like a fish, Selina disappeared into the crowd.
When Pamela found Talya again, she was fuming like a cabbage, so Pamela sat her down at the nearest table and handed her an iced coffee.
"You knew this day would come when you started going after someone else's boyfriend. The price of being the other woman..."
"But I wasn't the other woman!!" It was precisely this that infuriated Talya so much. She retorted, "What did I do? Did I date Bruce Wayne? He fucking drugged me on the way to the date!! And look at that bitch, she even scratched my face earlier!"
Pamela sighed and said, "Haven't you noticed that your professional attributes have been diminishing ever since you came to this city? Which assassin would get worked up over this kind of thing?"
Talya froze, then pressed her fingers against her forehead and took a deep breath, acknowledging that Pamela had a point.
Ever since she came to this city, she had become somewhat emotional, which was not how things were supposed to be.
From a professional point of view, Talya had always been willing to do anything to complete a task and was well aware that the goal of these actions was solely to achieve the objective.
If any of these actions were unsuccessful, she would evaluate the efficiency of giving up or changing her strategy. Throughout the process, emotions were never a consideration in Talya's decision-making. Typically, Talya was an emotionless person.
This may sound strange, but the fact was that Talya never felt happy or unhappy about her assignments. She would work on the task, finish it, then move on to the next one—this cycle shaped her life.