Chapter 43 — Growing Love

Zinnia.

Spy.

Clave was a spy.

I didn't know how to react to this piece of news. Was I supposed to act shocked? Should I get angry? Should I laugh at him saying it was a bad joke?

"I am a spy, Zinnia. I have a private organization named Zeroed Out," Clave informed me.

I took some time to analyze that piece of information.

Clave. Friendly and flower-loving Clave was a spy—I couldn’t imagine it.

"So what kind of spy work do you do? I mean, do you remove evil from the world like some kind of superhero?" I asked, attempting some humor.

Clave chuckled and wrapped his arms tighter around me. "People give us tasks and we check them. If we accept their deal after proper negotiation, we start working. I started my own organization as soon as I graduated from high school. It was always my wish to start one."

"Oh," was all I could say. I was still in disbelief.

"I promised I would tell you everything. So here is the truth, Zinnia." He took a deep breath as my heart started hammering in my chest. I was afraid of what he would say next. "I got an assignment to break off Kavita's wedding that day."

"What? Who gave you that assignment?" I turned to him, freeing myself from his grip.

"It was Kavita herself. She didn't want to get married, so she gave an assignment to my organization. I took the responsibility and pretended to be a wedding crasher." His eyes were filled with guilt as he admitted that.

"Is that how you know the muggers? Because they were a part of your assignment?"

He nodded. "Those muggers are a few members of my organization. They did a ton of makeup to look the part. Otherwise, they are all really nice and friendly," he said with a small chuckle. "Anyway, you made my job easier that day and the wedding didn't happen."

"Is that why you keep asking me about Kavita? Does she know you helped her and you are a spy?" Suddenly, I felt a sting in my heart at the thought of Kavita knowing about Clave's profession way before me.

He immediately shook his head. "We remain extremely cautious about our identity. We prefer to stay anonymous so she doesn't know about it."

I heaved a sigh in relief. "So I am the first one to know, right?" When he hummed in response, I mumbled, "Thank God."

Clave arched an eyebrow at me. "Why? By any chance, did you get jealous of the fact that Kavita might know more about me than you?"

"No, not at all," I let out almost in an instant which made Clave grin.

"Sure, baby, sure," he didn't sound convinced at all.

I punched his arm lightly, and a thought occurred to me. I recalled all the spy movies I had watched until now, but I hesitated to ask such a blunt question, so I opted for, "Clave, what sorts of jobs do you do? I mean, are they clean?"

He arched an eyebrow and asked, "What exactly do you mean by clean?" He took a look at me, then he chuckled. "Oh, are you asking if I kill people or help in crimes? No, I don't. You don’t have to worry about that. My organization doesn’t take any criminal assignments."

I felt relief in my chest. Because if on the off-chance Clave was involved with any crimes, I might not have cared about it for my sake, but for Draven, I would have had to give us a second thought.

"Anyway, Clave." I had to clear out everything, so I proceeded to my next question.

"Yes?" He moved closer to me and put a few strands of my hair behind my ear.

"So when you said you came to Alabama to help Ryker move on from his rough breakup, was it all a lie? Was everything a lie between us since our introduction started with a lie?"

He smiled and cupped my cheeks. "Nothing was a lie, baby. My feelings were genuine. The moments we spent together, it was real. Everything was real. Does simply telling you about my profession change everything between us?"

"Then why didn't you tell me anything the day I was blaming you?"

"You were angry as Hulk so I could barely say anything." I started feeling guilty. Only if I had given him some time to explain everything, maybe this separation would have never happened. "But hey," Clave spoke up again, bringing me out of those thoughts, "Honestly speaking, seeing you so furious like that was kinda a turn-on for me, you know."

I could feel my cheeks getting heated up, but I managed to roll my eyes instead. "Your flirting nature will never change."

"It's exclusive to you, just like Clave Taylon is only for you." He leaned closer to kiss me. I could feel his eyes on my lips.

However, I changed the topic and asked, "So Ryker never had a girlfriend?"

"Ouch, that rejection hurt," he let out dramatically at me for turning my face away a little. "But yeah, Ryker never had a girlfriend. He liked a girl and proposed but got rejected so... technically I didn't lie."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Hey, I took a break from my work just to spend some time with you. Otherwise, what would I be doing in Alabama for so long?"

"But isn't it your organization? Don't you have to run it or something like that? I mean, supervise it?"

"Yes, I do. But I have a rule about holidays. Everyone has to work four days a week, so three days are saved as their holidays. If they want, they can work on weekends and take three days off even on weekdays. It's up to them," he explained to me.

"Then how did you get to enjoy a vacation of so many months?"

"I never took a day off and saved all my holidays. I used all of them at once just for you," he said with an adorable smile.

"Really?" I asked, arching an eyebrow as I crossed my arms against my chest.

"Yes, this is how much I lo—feel for you," he uttered, and my heart skipped a beat.

Feel? Was he about to say love at first?

My heart raced at the thought that he might love me back.

I didn't know about his feelings, but I knew that I loved him. Now, I was sure of it even more after he told me everything. There wasn't any more secret from his side. It was all clear. So there was nothing stopping my love for him from growing.

"So... can we start our relationship again, Zinnia?" this time, I swear, I could feel the hesitation in his voice. He was scared of my reply.

I smiled and leaned closer to him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I said, "Yes, Clave."

This time, I didn’t turn away my face as he leaned forward to connect our lips. I rose on my tiptoes to kiss him hard, and finally, I could feel my broken heart mending itself.

The kiss wasn’t slow or urgent. It was assuring and needing. We both wanted each other so much that we never wanted to let go, as if we were afraid that if we let go, we would never find each other again.

I swear I never wanted to lose him again. I never again wanted to miss kissing him. Whenever I did, I hoped that he would always be there.

###

I was sitting in my mom's room. I had already finished feeding her the soup and given her medication.

I had also told her that Clave cleared all our misunderstandings, and now, we were back together.

"Why don't you tell him the truth as well and leave no secrets between you too anymore?" as soon as Mom said that, my head snapped in her direction.

"What do you mean, Mom? What truth?" I asked hesitantly, already having an idea of what she was implying and being scared.

"The truth about Draven," as soon as she said that, I got up from my seat.

My fear turned into rage.

How could my mom bring up my past?

"Mom, I have told you several times that it is not important. It does not matter to Clave."

"But isn’t it unfair to him?"

"What unfair? I didn’t ask him to unveil his entire past to me. What I asked for was to know his present. I know it now and he knows mine as well."

"Zinnia—"

"I don’t want to talk about it, Mom. Please go to sleep. Goodnight." With that, I stormed out of her room and started making my way to the bar that Ryker had shown me.

I brought out a bottle of alcohol and started drinking from it, not wanting to let my mom's words bother me.

But as I kept drinking, after I was done with that bottle, hesitation clouded my mind.

Should I actually tell Clave about Draven's truth?