Chapter 15 Her ‘darling’
>>Clio
The moment The detective held my wrist, I felt something intense, like a piercing gaze that made me glance at Matthew as I was being dragged away and I swear I saw those black eyes of his flash a bit.
???
I’m not hallucinating, am I? There was an angry expression on his face, right? But why? He looked like he was a little mad out of the blue? I shook my head. That doesn’t make any sense though. He was fine just a second ago.
I was taken to the working area where Harou let my wrist go, "You know something." He looked back at me, "Spill it out." He looked at me intensely which made my mind go a buzz.
I shook my head at him, "No,"
"I can see the fear in your eyes." He spoke softly but I could sense the urgency in them, "You know something. Tell me what it is,” His words were firm, “And don’t lie to me.”
For a moment, the words got caught up in my throat, then I shook my head again, "No…" I can’t tell him. I get in trouble if I say anything. I should be getting caught, that cocktail-beautiful version of me appeared out of nowhere and then vanished the same way. No one should be able to catch me when that woman doesn’t even exist!
“Then why are you so nervous?” He kept his eyes on me, observing every single detail.
“I just,” I gulped, “I’m just nervous around the boss…”
“....” Harou watched me and I averted my gaze, which I knew was foolish but I couldn’t help it. Then he stepped back, “Is that so?” He turned his head away with a sigh, “You’re the intern, aren’t you?”
“Yes…” I slowly looked back at him. That’s it? He isn’t going to pressure me more?
“You better start working on your expressions.” He glanced at me, “Anyone can tell you’re hiding something.”
!!!!
My heart skipped a beat at the way he looked at me. Panic welled up inside me, as I couldn't shake the feeling that he was onto something.
An alarm blared in my head and there was a feeling throbbing in my mind that Harou was highly suspicious of me and I had to change the subject.
“Are you really going to find that girl?” I asked, “That one the boss is asking about?”
“Yes,” His answer came immediately, sending a boulder of doom down on me, making me feel like it was hard to breathe.
“I-I see,” I ended up stuttering a little as my mind got filled with wild thoughts.
“But I’m not going to give her to Matthew.” He replied, making me look at him while he fiddled with something on his phone.
“You’re not?”
“Does it make sense,” He kept his eyes on the phone screen, “He claims he’s not involved with the mafia yet he wants to find the girl who fled with the files?” He glanced at me, “That only means danger for the girl.”
“What are you going to do then?” I looked at him with some sort of desperation in my eyes.
And he looked back at me with a suspicious gaze, “I have my plans,” He answered, “After I find her,” He clicked his tongue, “But heed my words, boy, your face gives everything away.”
!!!!
A cold realization settled over me like a heavy shroud. I could feel my emotions on my face, so obviously he saw through that. He’s suspicious of me but he’s also being careful. And, he’s not saying anything so I have no idea what he’s going to do.
That just makes him dangerous as well.
And is he not going to ask anything more of me? Why?
"Detective,” Matthew’s voice made it to us, making us both look in that direction even though from where we were standing we couldn’t see him, “Are you gay?"
Matthew's question made Harou angry, "Shut it! I told you before too I'm not sleeping with you! I'm straight as an arrow."
There was a chuckle that came from the boss, "I hope that's the truth.'
Harou rolled his eyes, then looked back at me, "You can leave." He told me, "But remember if there is anything you need to say, if you want to feel safe, come to me." He made sure to word everything out clearly, emphasizing that I should trust her.
I stared at him while he dialed a number, the call went through and I nodded at him, simply because I wanted to go away now. He turned around as the other person answered the call and began to walk away while I took a deep breath.
The back of my neck was sweaty and I took another deep breath as I wiped my skin with the back of my hand and began to leave.
“Miss, you can’t just barge in like this.” I had only taken like two steps when I heard a commotion.
“What do you mean I can’t!!?” I heard a very familiar voice, “My darling is in here!!” I heard some tugging, “Move!!” And something crashed followed by the stomping of feet.
Then a girl came into view and I frowned as I watched her. She noticed me, “Clio!” And came running over, “Where’s my darling!?” I really had no idea what to make out of it, so I just pointed towards the holding cell around the corner and she didn’t waste any seconds before running towards the cell. I looked back at Harou, he watched what had happened but didn’t seem bothered. He was on a call and preferred to stay on that call.
So I turned my head around and walked back to the cell as well even though I wanted to leave. I don’t know why I went back to Matthew, but I just felt uncomfortable leaving him and a young girl alone. Not that they were alone… But I was just bothered… I don’t really know why…
Matthew was staring at her as I arrived, “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“Um,” Rameen froze, “No?”
“Did you skip school to come here?” Matthew glared at her and she flinched.
“W-well, was I supposed to stay in school when my darling’s getting arrested?”
“This brat!” Matthew stood up from the chair, “You better get back to class.”
Rameen pouted, “There’s no point in going now.” She folded her arms, “School’s about to end anyway.” She glanced at me, “I just left a little early, it doesn’t matter. Right, Clio?”
Wow
She’s really attached to him.
“Um,” I glanced at the boss and he shook his head at me so I looked back at her, “It’s not a good thing for students to skip classes.”
“Ah!” She was annoyed, “I don’t care,” She grabbed the bars, “Someone needs to take care of you, darling!” She was persistent, “And who better than me?”
Matthew quietly stepped closer to the bar, then leaned down a little, “Show me your report card.” He squinted his eyes at her and I saw her soul leave her body.
“W-what?” He was about to let the bars go and step back when he grabbed her hands over the iron bars, “What report card!?”
“I know you got it this week,” His voice was low but so powerful at the same moment, I could see Rameen panic, “Hand it over.”
Rameen averted her gaze, “We didn’t get it.” She was obviously lying and for some reason their interaction made me chuckle. All of the fear and anxiety that was suffocating me dimmed, making my heart feel lighter.
The two on either side of the cell bars looked at me in surprise when a third person joined us
“Didn’t I question you because of this kid before?” Harou looked at Rameen and the boss closed his eyes and sighed, moving his hands away from her and walking back to his chair.
“You shouldn’t have questioned him.” Rameen glared at Harou, “Don’t you know love is love. Age is just a number.”
Harou had his arms folded, “Yes, and jail is just a room.” He looked at Matthew and smirked, “Where you’ll be enjoying your stay.”
“Hey,” The chains between his wrists jingled as he got worked up, “She’s like my daughter,”
Rameen was butt hurt and she gasped, “What?!?” She looked at Matthew in disbelief, “All men do is lie.”
Her words made me chuckle again. She sure is a drama queen and a very lively person at that.
“You,” Harou grabbed Rameen, “Come here,”
“W-wait, what’s going on here?!”
“I need to question you as well.” Harou began to drag her to the officer's work desks.
“Matthew!” She looked back at the boss for help but Matthew wasn’t bothered, “Aren’t you going to help me?” He didn’t even say anything and I too simply watched them both go out of view with a smile on my face.
It was especially funny to see her act dramatically as if she was being taken to her execution but being busy with that I didn’t notice the boss staring at me softly.
“You look very pretty when you smile,”
!!!!
Matthew’s words came out of nowhere, making me shoot my body towards him in surprise.
“Yes?” I pointed at myself and noticed how he was looking at me, there was something in his eyes, something that made me feel weird, “Me?” His eyes, those dark abyss ones, locked onto mine with a tenderness that sent my heart into a buzz. “Did you call me pretty?”
“Yes,” He nodded without any shame
“W-why?” I felt weird, no one had ever called me pretty. People would often just refer to me as a freak.
There was a gentleness in his gaze, clean of any lies, “Because you are,” He replied sweetly and I felt a loud flutter in my chest which made me panic.