Chapter 129

Chapter 129
California, United States, November 15, 2006
"Are you okay? Does the wound still hurt?" Asked the captain using English that this girl didn't understand.
The girl looked at him with a confused look. He sighed, then handed him a sketchbook of his drawings. He showed it to this girl hoping it would help calm her fears.
When the girl looked at her sketchbook, her expression changed. He looks amazed by the pictures of his work.
"You like?" he asked while gesturing. But this girl still doesn't understand.
"Captain, we have received information from the center that they are on the FBI's wanted list regarding human trafficking. This truck is the third group to enter illegally this year and from the data collected, 29 people came from the Philippines and the rest came from Cambodia and Vietnam. The child who was with the captain is from the Philippines." Said a soldier. The captain stared for a moment at this poor girl's face. Even though his body and face were full of wounds. He still looks tough.
"Okay, let's go now! I want all victims to get treatment at the hospital immediately. Especially this girl and also her sister!"
"Ready, Captain!"
"What's your name?" the Captain asked this poor girl. But the girl just looked at him confused. They really have a language barrier.
The captain tried to think of a way for them to recognize each other at least until this girl could be returned to her country.
"My name is Gavin, what's your name?" Said the captain using hand signals.
"Nina!"
"Nina? Your name is Nina?" he asked. The girl nodded, not long after, she started crying again.
Seeing her like this broke his heart. He has seen so many atrocities happening in the world. But an innocent child was sold to fulfill the greed and desire of humans to make him very angry.
This girl may never know what will happen to her if the soldiers don't stop and surround the truck carrying her and dozens of other passengers.
This poor girl could only cry in his arms with her frail body trembling. Humans can be so cruel and in this cruel world, children are always the victims.
"I'm sorry! I promise, you will definitely come back to your house again!"
This girl felt a little calmer when she smelled the captain's perfume. It makes her feel better.
The kind captain continued to carry him and his sister in the car that took them to the hospital which was quite far from the border. At the hospital, the girl and her sister were treated for several days and the only person who faithfully visited her every day was the captain.
"Did you see what I brought you today? I got it in the toy machine. It's a bracelet with the American flag, you can keep it!" He said as he put the bracelet on the girl's wrist.
The girl smiled happily. He immediately hugged his sister and showed the gift he got.
"Dion, look! I got a nice bracelet, didn't I?"
"For me?" Dion instead asked for a gift for him.
"Relax, I got something good for you!" He said while handing a hat to Dion.
Dion smiled broadly, he really liked his new hat. He hugged his brother who was still lying on the bed who shared the happiness he felt.
"Dion, come on say something!" he whispered to his sister. The two boys looked at each other and smiled shyly as they were about to say the first word in English they knew.
"Thank you, Captain Gavin!"

Nina stopped crying, she was tired of crying. He's heartbroken, that's for sure. He really couldn't believe this was happening. The Aiden she loved, the man she trusted so easily, it was so easy to bring other women to stay at her house.
What he didn't believe even more was that their relationship was over, really over. He loved Aiden so much that he forgot his main purpose in coming here.
"Fucking Aiden! You suck! I won't forgive you!" he muttered. She didn't feel very enthusiastic even though Aiden tried to call her dozens of times.
He decided to block Aiden's number and hoped that he would have time to mend his feelings. His eyes fell on Captain Gavin's jacket hanging on the wall.
Even though she had washed the jacket, the scent of her perfume still lingered. Nina took the jacket and smelled the captain's perfume which made her remember someone.
"Captain Gavin? No! That can't be! They must be different people. My captain is a friendly and kind man. He always smiles. They are different people, yes, they are!" He said, he had convinced himself many times since yesterday that they were different people. But that just made him even more sure.
Nina decided to put the bracelet back on which she had kept for a long time. The bracelet is the only memory he has. If the captain had asked about the bracelet, they would have been the same person.
Today, Nina tries to forget for a moment the problems that happened between her and Aiden. He had decided that their relationship was over and he had to settle his life again.
But when he returned to the office, his body was shaking. He didn't know since when this place became the scariest place for him. Since childhood his life was filled with trauma. To the world, to people and to everything.
For years he struggled to heal the wounds of his past and dreamed of returning to this country, realizing his dream and if there was a chance, he wanted to meet that figure again.
"Good morning, Nina?" Depney's cheerful voice greeted him. Nina gasped in surprise, but when she realized that it was Depney, she calmed down a bit.
"M-morning?" he said nervously. Depney could see the panic in his face.
"Are you okay?" Ask Depney. Seeing Nina keep looking down like that made him feel a little suspicious.
"Y-yes, I'm fine!"
"Did something happen?"
"N-no! Nothing happened! I better clean up before the captain comes!" Nina tries to avoid Depney who she knows will force her to tell what happened.
Right now he doesn't feel like talking to anyone and prefers to be quiet and do his work. Depney knew something was wrong, but he felt that he had no right to force Nina to say something.
Meanwhile, Nina who was busy avoiding her comrades, opted to clear out a storage area that she usually rarely ventured into except for cleaning. But one thing he didn't know was that the storage area was the place Gavin cleaned the most by himself.
"I'll just clean this place-" his sentence stopped when he saw the captain's face standing in front of the window.
Nina was shocked, she didn't know Gavin was in this place. It made him confused, whether he should leave immediately or stick to the original plan. However, rather than avoiding his other co-workers, he is more afraid to meet Gavin.
"C-Captain, m-I'm sorry! I really didn't know you were here. So-"
"How are you?" Ask Gavin. The expression on his cold face did not change at all. Nina was silent, she could not look at this man's face.
"I-I'm fine! T-thank you for-"
"Forget it! He won't be coming to the office for a while due to injuries. So you don't have to worry!"
"I understand! I'm really sorry for the mess I caused!" Nina bowed repeatedly in regret. He felt very ashamed of Gavin who had to get involved in his problem.
Gavin didn't budge, he wasn't bothered at all. He decided to leave before people would create new gossip again about this poor woman. But when he stepped right next to Nina, he saw a bracelet of hers on this girl's hand. He stopped walking and his eyes focused on the bracelet. Realizing Gavin suddenly stopped in front of her made Nina feel uncomfortable.
"Nice bracelet, may I see?" He said. Nina trembled, her heart seemed to be about to jump out of her body.
This morning he tried to put the bracelet back on to see if Gavin was the same person who helped him 12 years ago when he and his sister became victims of human trafficking.
His hands were shaking, his chest felt tight. He didn't really remember the man's face. He only remembered the smell of her perfume and her sharp, beautiful eyes. Nina took off the bracelet on her hand and gave it to Gavin. If it was true that Gavin was the soldier who had saved him at that time, he didn't know what he would say.
Gavin studied this bracelet with a flat expression, seeing every detail of this bracelet.
"You really like the American flag, don't you? May I know where you're from?"
"Philippines!"
"Philippines?"
"Yes, I'm from the Philippines!" He said in a trembling voice. He held his breath because he felt so nervous and confused.
Gavin put his bracelet back in his hand as if there was nothing special about it.
"Okay, you can clean this place up!" He said as he walked away. Nina was confused by Gavin's reaction, as if she didn't remember anything. Nina begins to have doubts about her beliefs, maybe Gavin isn't that man.
"Seriously? So it's not the Captain? But why isn't he reacting anything about this bracelet? Is this the bracelet that many people easily have because it's nothing special? But, I have to make sure!" she thought.
"W-wait, Captain...!" he shouted, hastily stopping Gavin.
Gavin stopped walking and looked back with his trademark cold gaze. Nina was afraid, she felt that Gavin didn't want to make small talk with her at this time.
"What?"
“T-that, s-I wanted to ask t-about-”
"About?"
"T-that, s-I wanted to ask if it's true that you were once a soldier?"
"Yes!"
"R-really?"
"What do you want to ask?"
"Th-that's me-I was wondering if you ever saved-"
"Captain Gavin?" Suddenly, Bella came into the room and forced Nina to stop talking.
Seeing Nina and Gavin alone in the same room surprised Bella. He didn't know since when Nina was close to the captain. Of course it made him jealous, all this time he always felt he was the closest person to the captain in the pocket and he didn't want any new competitors after Depney.
"Nina, what are you doing here?" Bella asked in a sarcastic tone. Nina could feel jealousy from the look on Bella's face and really, she had absolutely no intention of taking Bella's position as the person closest to Gavin.
"I-I just wanted to clean up this room, I didn't know the captain was here. So-"
"You don't have to be so suspicious! It's none of your business!" Gavin said sarcastically to Bella as he walked away.
Nina felt bad for Bella because it was clear that Gavin's attitude showed his defense of Nina. Bella's face looked even more sinister and it made Nina feel uncomfortable. He tried to distract himself by cleaning the room. But Bella actually approached him with predictable intensity.
"Nina, can I ask you something?"
"Y-yes, what do you want without?"
"It's about Captain Gavin!"
"Oh... yes, what do you want to ask?"
"I love her!" she said. Without further ado, he expressed his deepest feelings for a woman he considered as his potential rival.
"I-Is that so?"
"I just wanted to tell you something that you shouldn't get too close to him, because to be honest I don't like him!"
"Bella, listen! You must know the gossip about me, right? I thought I didn't want to hide it anymore. So-"
"About your relationship with Aiden Supernova?"
"That-"
"I know, you and Aiden are secretly dating even though Aiden is in a relationship with Samantha. When I saw Miss Samantha attacking you at that time I felt that I could understand her feelings. Her anger when she found out that her boyfriend was having an affair with a girl who was much lower than him When I saw that I thought Aiden was really stupid because he had wasted a great woman like Samantha for a woman like you."
The sentence that Bella made was clearly a signal of the war she was showing. His face looked annoyed and his tone was cynical. Nina was stunned, she really didn't expect that Bella would be so blatantly sarcastic and even put her down.
Nina took a deep breath and let it out slowly. For days he has been crying and unable to sleep since the incident where Samantha humiliated him in front of everyone. He must close his ears to the negative comments that are directed. Not to mention the rumors circulating that he was invited to Victor's apartment, almost harassed by Victor in his study and lastly he had to accept Aiden's betrayal.
For him his life was completely messed up and there was no more happiness left for him. His heart hurt so much that he almost felt numb. Now he could not accept this kind of humiliation. Will no longer.
"Listen, I don't know if you're trying to threaten me or what. Previously you once made a scapegoat for me in front of the Captain and I tried to excuse your actions at that time. But now you really have gone too far! about me and the Director!"
"What? You are accusing me of doing it? You are really too much! You are not aware of your position? You are only an intern, yet your behavior is so bad that you even try to seduce all the men here!"
"Hey, shut up! You're really out of your mind, aren't you? Just because the Captain doesn't return your feelings, you get to be around other people! You see me and Depney as rivals, do you think? Look, I respect the Captain and I the same." I have absolutely no intention of approaching her in that way. And I can tell you one thing, stop pretending to be a nice person in front of everyone, because your kindness is so fake!" Nina said, trying to give Bella a fight. He's tired of being the downtrodden and can only accept other people's bluffs just because he has nothing.
After giving Bella an ultimatum, Nina immediately left. He didn't want to waste his time dealing with the jealousy of every woman who saw him as a bully.
Now Nina is determined to restore her shattered self-esteem. He thought about refocusing on his main goal of coming to America, which was getting rich and reuniting with his savior.