Chapter 29 — One last day with you…
“You need a drink.” Alexei declared as soon as we were back to our hotel suite. Often, when we go to “business” trips like these with Ivanov we all stay in one suite with three bedrooms to keep the boss safe. But now that Ivanov went off to do some “private” things, we have the place to ourselves.
“I’m tired, Alexei.” I groaned as I headed for my room.
“Lilian." He said in a strong tone.
“Fine, let’s have that drink. Just stop calling me that.”
Thirty minutes later, we’re both sitting comfortably on the sofa with a brandy in hand.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked, looking away.
“No.”
“Okay, then let’s talk about something that you’ve been avoiding for a while.”
“What?”
“You’re not really going home?”
“Alexei, this is my home. I belong here. I’m an assassin and I’m good at my job.” I smirkingly said. “Especially with my mutant abilities.”
“This is not your home.” he said while shaking his head. “This is my home.”
“Don’t be selfish.”
“No, Lilian, you don’t—”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Can you just listen to me for five minutes straight without interrupting me?” he said, raising his voice.
“Sure, you didn’t have to yell.” When I said that, I knew at that moment that the brandy is starting to take effect on me.
“You don’t belong here. You have a life outside. You can still go home.”
I snickered as I looked away when he said this.
“I know what you’re thinking, that if you go home, you’re only going to put the life of your family at risk. But Lilian,” he said, placing a hand in mine. “I could help you. There’s a way out of this. You just have to let me help you.”
“The last man who said that to me had me chained up on a basement.” I loathingly said as I held back my tears.
“Lilian, please, there’s a way out of here and I know you want to take it.” he begged. “So just say the word and I’ll—”
“If there’s really a way out of here, why are you still here?”
“Because this is where my family is,” he said with a sigh. “And ever since I was young, I knew that someday I would have to take part in the family business.”
“So, you accepted your fate? Then why are you stopping me from accepting mine?”
“This is not your fate.”
“Who are you to say it’s not?” I bluntly said. “This is who I am.”
“Really?” he tauntingly said. “What if I tell you something really wicked about this family? Will you still be able to say that?”
“Alexei, I know everything there is to know about—”
“Not everything,” he said as he stood up to get something from his room. “Papa didn’t want you to know about this since he doesn’t trust how you’re going to take it.”
“What is it?”
He came back and handed me a folder with a grim expression on his face.
“Section C is still operational and they just took their 8th Batch.”
“W-What? I-I...you’re saying it’s still happening? Young mutants are being taken from their homes?” I angrily demanded as I stood up to meet his eye level.
“Not just young, Lilian” he said with a darkened expression. “Babies.”
I dropped my glass in shock and it sent a piercing shattering sound all over the room.
“B-Babies?”
“And he’s planning to use them to harvest more DNA to create his soldiers.” As he said this, I rummaged through the folder that he gave me to make sense of what he’s saying.
It’s true.
“Y-You’re okay with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay with this?” he said as if I am the one who’s speaking an alien language. “It’s our family business! If this goes down, we will gain back the numbers that we lost in that stupid battle Vadim initiated with that loathsome academy.”
“W-What did you say?”
“It’s practical, Lilian.”
“It’s inhumane!”
“We lost a lot of good potential soldiers that day because of mutants!!” he screamed at my face in such a way that I’ve never heard him before. I’ve never seen him angry.
“They’re not soldiers! They are dead mutants! Let them stay dead!”
“They are soldiers who would’ve been the source of our victory if it wasn’t for those puny mutants in this academy!” his eyes were filled with so much hatred and anger, I instinctively touched the concealed dagger on my back.
“It’s not their fault, Alexei, it was I who—”
“Cut the bullshit, Lilian! Nobody believes that you single handedly took them down! We all know it was those wretched hell-bound mutants! And they will pay for what they’ve done.”
“And you’re planning to take out all your hatred on babies who don't even know that they’re mutants let alone that they’re living!” I screamed back at him.
“They deserve it, Lilian. They’re at the bottom of the food chain and it’s our duty, being in the top, to consume them for our benefit.”
“Alexei, if you’re only saying this horrible things just to throw me out and—”
“Not everything is about you, Lilian.” he spitefully said. “I am telling you this because earlier tonight while you were dancing with your past lover papa placed a target on him.”
“W-What?” I said as I gasped for breath.
“Your Alexander had been working with the authorities to bring this family down and papa has kept him under monitoring but when he saw him earlier at the party, he told me to give you the kill order—”
“N-No...I-I...”
“You can’t?” he smirkingly said. “I thought this is who we are, Lilian?!”
“You should’ve gone home when I told you so.” He added with a devious grin. ”Now you can’t escape.”
I stared up at him with tears in my eyes, hoping to find the kind man I thought he was, instead I saw a stranger in front of me. A complete stranger who had a devilish grin and eyes filled with menace.
“If you don’t kill him, you’ll die and we’ll just send another assassin to kill him. If you want to live, kill him, at least you’ll be the last face he sees before moving on to the next life.”
“B-But—”
“Papa is not as stupid as Vadim. He’ll kill you the moment you disobey him.” he said with a grin. “I think you already know this, which explains your shaking hands and quivering lips. You’re scared, aren’t you, Lilian?”
“I’m not scared.” I barked at him.
“The great Calanthe!” he sarcastically said. “Afraid of dying?”
“I’m not afraid!”
“Save your energy, Lilian, you’re going to need it.” he said as he sat back comfortably on the couch. “Papa only gave you 24 hours to execute your lover. Good luck.”
Without saying another word, I went straight to my room, changed my clothes and grabbed my gear.
“He’s staying at the Watson, room 705.” Alexei called out to me as I started heading for the door out of our hotel suite. “Happy hunting.”
….
“Explain to me one more time why you are riding in my car back to your hotel room when you should’ve been riding—”
“It’s because she walked away.” Professor Alexander hastily answered not wanting Jo to finish her sentence.
“Are you in a wheelchair? You should’ve chased after her!”
“I did, but she told me to let her go. What am I supposed to do?” he said in defeated tone.
“Hold on to her!” she said in frustration. “For heaven’s sake, it’s like I’m talking to a toddler!”
“It’s not that easy.” he said, heaving out a sigh as Jo rolled her eyes at him.
“What could’ve you possibly done to her for it to not be easy?”
“I got angry.”
“So? We all get angry! Wait, did you hit her? But I highly doubt that ‘cause she’s definitely stronger than you.”
“Worse, I knew who she was and lied to her about it. I didn’t help her get out of her mission. I thought I could save her own my own, I didn’t.” he said as tears rolled down his face.
“Oh.”
“And I couldn’t even tell her tonight that I meant every single thing that I said to her even though I told her I don’t know. I was just so angry and afraid.” he started sobbing loudly this time which made Jo stay silent uncomfortably.
“I was so afraid of her that I wasn’t thinking straight. I thought she was a complete stranger. A murderer. I was too late to realize that she’s none of those things.” As he said this, Jo gently patted his shoulder.
“She’s none of those things. She’s the love of my life.”
Jo immediately left as soon as she dropped him on his hotel, someone called her while they were in the car and by the look on her face Professor Alexander knew it was an urgent matter.
When he reached his room, he threw himself on the bed without turning on the lights and started sobbing quietly.
“I hate seeing you cry.” a familiar voice from the corner of the room said. He abruptly stood up and opened his bedside lamp.
“C-Cali?” he stammered, almost running out of breath as he saw Cali standing on the corner wearing all black clothes. He noticed that like him, she also had been crying.
“I came here to—” she wasn’t able to finish her sentence because Professor Alexander went up to her and embraced her so tight. Something that both of them had been wanting to do for months. Cali didn’t push him away, instead she wrapped her arms around him.
After what felt like hours, Cali looked up at him with tears on her eyes.
“They’re doing it again.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re kidnapping young mutants again,” she said with her breaking as she held back her tears. “I thought if I stayed there, I could stop them but I failed. They’re taking babies, Alexander. We have to do something.”
“Babies?!” he gasped. “What a bunch of monsters!”
“I know and I was stupid enough to believe that I could stop them if I—”
“Don’t blame yourself, Cali. It’s not your fault.” he said in a comforting voice. “What can we do?”
“I heard you’ve been working with the authorities to bring them down. I have enough information to put them behind bars forever.”
“That’s great news! I’m going to give them a call.” he hastily said as he started to look around the room for his phone.
“Alexander.”
“If we act fast enough, we can have those mutants rescued by daybreak.” he said as he started dialing on his phone.
“Alexander!” she screamed at him.
“Calm down,” she simply said. “If we act too soon, they’ll suspect something. I think we should wait until tomorrow.”
“You’re right,” he nodded. “Wait, is it alright for you to be here?”
“I am not a prisoner, Alexander. I can go around the city like a tourist if I want to.”
“Okay, uhm..” he breathed out. “Is this only the reason why you came here?”
“You really did stop reading my mind, didn’t you?” she smirkingly said.
“I wanted to keep my promise.” he said with a shrug.
“At first, I thought it was. “she said, trying to evade the subject of broken promises. But now...I guess I just wanted to see you one more time, to make sure that you weren’t a dream.”
“You look exhausted.” he worriedly said.
“Well, this year hasn’t really been good to me, in fact this entire lifetime hasn’t”
“You should rest.” he calmly said. Instead of saying another word, Cali simply threw herself under the covers of his bed. Professor Alexander followed her and they slept in each other’s arms like they used to.
The next morning, Cali woke up from the most blissful sleep she’s ever had after a year of sleeping in different lonely and filled with guilt hotel suites with Alexei and Ivanov. She turned to look at the sleeping face of Alexander and hated herself for feeling happy despite what he had done to her.
Alexander stirred and a few seconds later his lids opened and Cali saw the most beautiful piercing blue eyes.
“Good morning.” she groggily greeted.
“Am I dreaming? Because if I am, please don’t wake me up.”
“You’re not dreaming.” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Really? I can’t help but think that I am because I remembered the hatred in your eyes in that party and then suddenly, I found you in my hotel room?”
“I’m hungry, let’s grab some breakfast.” she said as she stood up and started putting on her shoes.
“Cali,” he worriedly called out. “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m just hungry.” she said without looking back at him.
“Cali, are you okay?” he grabbed her wrist and made her turn to face him.
“You don’t trust me?” she challenged him. “Then read my mind.”
“No, I made a promise. I trust you.”
“Really?” she said in sarcasm. “You trust me? That’s great, Alexander. I don’t remember you trusting me when you screamed at my face with so much hatred because I killed Irene Smith.”
“No, about that Cali I—”
“Stop.” she said as she held up her hand at him. “I don’t want to talk about the past. Let’s just grab some breakfast and coffee.”
Despite feeling suspicions rising up in his guts about Cali’s behavior, he followed her and decided to shrug them off. He’s been waiting to be reunited with her for a year. And if she doesn’t want to talk about what happened between them in the past yet, then he’ll respect that. They’ve got their whole lives to deal with those things.
Before leaving the hotel room, Cali told Alexander to set up a meeting with the agent that he knew would help them take down Ivanov and his men. They ate their breakfast at the hotel and grabbed coffee at a nearby corner cafe.
“So, how did you end up at that party last night?” Cali casually asked as they walked down the streets of New York City. Their meeting with the agent isn’t until two hours from now so Cali invited him to go to the central park with her.
“Well, I followed a trail of shady men.” he jokingly said which made Cali chuckle.
“Right, because that’s how you’ll find your missing girlfriend.” they both stopped to look at each other with surprised faces. They had such a brief time together. They never really got the chance to properly label their relationship.
“What did you say?” he said, not being able to contain your smile.
“Shut up.” she blushingly said before walking away.
“Cali!” he called out to her as he ran up beside her.
“What was your question again, my beautiful girlfriend?”
“Tease me again and I’ll kill you.”
“Don’t be so grumpy, my girlfriend.” he teased again with a wide grin.
“I hate you.” she groaned while rolling her eyes.
“And I love you too.” he said with a chuckle.
“Wait, so how did you end up in the party with Jo?”
“Why? Is my girlfriend jealous?”
“Oh, I don’t even know why I bothered asking.” she groaned as she quickened her pace to leave him behind. He chased her again while chuckling.
“I missed you so much, Cali.” he said as soon as he caught up to her.
“I missed you too, Alexander.” she murmured, looking away.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“No, you said something. You said you miss me too!” he teasingly said.
“No, I didn’t! Why would I miss you?”
“Because I’m your boyfriend.”
“No, you’re not, you’re just an old nosy professor.” she teased with a smirk on her face.
When they reached the central park, Cali led Professor Alexander to a nearby bench under a beautiful yet old tree.
“You seem different today.” Professor Alexander said which he immediately regretted since he knew it would ruin the moment.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re acting like nothing happened between us,” he said with a sigh. “As if the past year didn’t happen.”
“You don’t like it?” she said, raising her eyebrows. “I just wanted to spend a day with you like we used to.”
“And I want that too, but this is not right. We’re running away from something that we should face head on.”
She was quiet for a while as if contemplating how to react.
“Okay, since you want to do this,” she bluntly said. “That night, why didn’t you even let me explain myself? Why did you have me thrown into the basement and chained down like an animal?”
“T-The basement? I told James to put you in a room!”
“Your secretary never did take a liking of me,” she said with a shrug. “Now, answer the question.”
“Because I was scared, Cali.” he said after a long pause.
“Of me?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “As much as it is shameful to admit, I was scared of you. I didn’t know who you really are and I was scared. I shouldn’t have been, I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you do anything when you knew all along who I was?”
“I thought…I thought I could save you on my own.” He said with a sigh. “And I was being selfish, I didn’t want to lose you. I know that the moment I helped you and those men are behind bars you will cross the hemisphere and go back to your family. I didn’t want to lose you. I felt safe and myself when I am with you.”
“You were being selfish.” She said in a firm voice, looking away. “Is that the only reason why you wanted to just tame me and not help me?”
“I thought about my students, they have been hunted all their lives despite the world having almost as much as mutants as normal people and I only wanted to make sure that they—”
“So you care more about them than me?” Cali felt her eyes burning as she tried to hold back her tears. “You chose them over me?”
“Cali, like I said we were so new and—”
“And what? I’m only one and they’re over fifty, so do the math?”
“What? No! Cali just please let me finish.”
“Fine, finish your damn explanation.”
“I was scared of what they were going to do to you. A bunch of scared kids who had been hunted most of their life finding out that one of their hunters decided to disguise as one of them? That would get you killed.”
“You’re a selfish bastard.” she spitefully said before walking away.
“You know what? This is what you do best. Walk out when things become too difficult for you, not even giving a damn about those people you leave behind. And you’re telling me I’m the selfish bastard?!”
Cali stopped dead on her tracks as tears streamed down her face.
“For once, could you just be brave enough to stay?” Alexander desperately called out to her as he tried to hold in a sob.
“For once, could you just be brave enough to stop thinking about others and make me stay if you want me to?”
Alexander ran up to her, pulled her in his arms and kissed her lips longingly.
“Stay, Cali. Don’t ever leave me again.” he whispered in her ears.
“You left me, remember? You betrayed my trust by lying to my face and—”
“I’m really sorry, Cali. I just didn’t want to lose you. I was so stupid. I lost you either way. I should’ve just been honest with you.”
Cali stared into the eyes of the man she loves. After a year of trying to be mad at him for lying to her, for betraying her trust, she just couldn’t do it. She would always find herself still loving him.
“I’m sorry for lying too, Alexander. I should’ve told you the truth.” Cali said in between sobs. “And I’m sorry for what I did to Irene Smith.”
“I know you only did that because you didn’t have any choice. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I searched the world for you. I want to give you a choice.”
“And I don’t want you to ever feel alone again. I am here.” he added as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
“You know, you were a pretty good actor, you had me convinced that you knew nothing at all.” Cali teased with a chuckle.
“Hey, you’re not so bad yourself. You had the entire school fooled!” He said as he hugged her tighter.
“I even had myself fooled, Alexander.” She said in a sad voice.
“Well, you didn’t fool your boyfriend so I guess now we know no one is going to cheat in this relationship.” He jokingly said as he led her back to the bench. When Cali laughed at his joke, he felt his heart tingle with joy.
“Hey, you can still cheat, you can control my mind to forget all about it.”
“I will never do that to you.” He said in a sincere voice as Cali smiled at him.
He had never felt so happy in the past year. He never wanted this moment to end.