I took a warm shower and the water must have helped clear my mind because by now, I could remember bits and pieces of what happened last night.

The blurry parts I do remember were biting him, being made to drink a lot of water and him making me put my shirt on. Interesting enough, I don't remember taking it off. Hopefully I didn't just randomly decide it was too hot and stripped right in front of him.

What I remember clearly was his long explanation of why he became so distant and him wordlessly holding me close to him when I asked for a hug.

The rest was hazy.

In a way, I kind of don't want to remember because the things that I do remember, they were embarrassing enough. The rest of my actions were probably not much better.

I made sure Alexander wasn't downstairs when I sneaked into the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. To my rotten luck, before I could even take a bite of my toast, Alexander stepped in. I held back my pride and offered him the piece of bread with a smile on my face.

He glanced at the food with a questioning look.

"Let us forget what happened last night."

There was a hint of amusement in his eyes and his lips curved up slightly. Alexander pushed my hand aside.

"Already ate."

Hearing his curt answer, I stared at the food in my hand then took a big bite, annoyed.

Alexander reached above my head and opened a cupboard from behind me. He dangled what he got out using his right hand and I saw that it was medicine for headaches. I was about to yank the medicine from his grasp but he straightened his arm fully towards the ceiling. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes that made me wary.

"Seriously?" I growled out as my head continued to pound painfully. Him, being many inches taller than me, there was no way I could reach that even if I jumped.

Alexander used his left index finger to tap his lips twice.

Unable to believe what he was implying, I reached out and pinched his cheeks roughly. When I let go, I saw a slight tinge of red.

"Aw, you blushing?" I cooed, poking at his usual calm temper.

I must have pissed him off because he held the little bottle tightly in his hands and walked away.

"Bastard," I uttered under my breath.

Chomping down on my food, I tried to think a little harder at what I might have said to him. No matter what I did, I couldn't remember much more and it bugged me. Something I said to him changed the way he looked and acted towards me this morning.

*

When we got to work, I noticed the playful glint in his eyes immediately disappear. The soft look from early this morning was replaced by an iron wall and a vacant mask.

Alexander and I first went to pick up my new ID card first. When we got into our room, both Victor and Emmaline were sitting silently as they worked on their respective tasks. The program I had built to narrow down the locations had already searched through half.

Alexander and Victor left wordlessly an hour after we got to work.

"Where did they go?" I turned to Emmaline and asked, absolutely curious.

Emmaline's bright blue eyes glanced at me and she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

I found this odd but I didn't question her further. Instead, I quickly focused my attention back on finding my parents.

"Vita, do you have any idea what object they were looking for?" Emmaline asked a few minutes later

"No," I answered back, hiding the bitterness I felt. It seems that I just don't know anything and I despised the lack of knowledge.

"Have you talked to your parents recently?"

"No."

Emmaline turned her entire body towards me and eyed me carefully. "I don't mean to pry, but I noticed that you're wearing a ring." She lifted her left hand and pointed at her ring finger.

Emmaline came closer, took my hand abruptly and gazed at the ring I was wearing. "Woah. So pretty. You can see some kind of engravings on it if you look close enough."

Intrigued by what she was saying, I looked closer at my own hand. Like she said, there were thin lines and swirls all around the ring, something I didn't notice before. They were stunning.

"You're married?" Emmaline's deep ocean blue eyes stared into mine, bright with excitement and curiosity.

"I am." I blinked at her, confused at her sudden interest.

"Who? Wait, could I possibly know this person? Looks? Personality?" Her questions didn't stop there. They continued to flow out of her mouth and I just sat there stunned.

Maybe I should have told her I wasn't married instead.

"Vita?" Emmaline paused as she caught her breath and looked expectantly at me like I had memorized all her questions and was about to answer them.

"Why-"

"Am I so curious? Well, come on, who wouldn't be?"

When I simply stared at her and couldn't answer a single question, her smile literally turned upside down and she widened her eyes, looking sad.

"Feed this single lady some information, Vita. Give me hope I'll find someone someday in the future."

"What?"

"I have no love life. Might as well live through you."

"I... don't have much to say."

"Aw, don't say that. What do you like the most about him? Or her. Tell me. I don't judge." Her innocent smile shone brightly on her features.

I shrugged my shoulders and Emmaline gave up. She walked back to her chair and slumped down.

"Fine. I'll just ask Alexander." Emmaline huffed.

"What makes you think he knows?"

She whipped her head in my direction. "I thought because you said you've known each other for... like... 26 years..." Emmaline gasped. "He doesn't know?"

"I didn't say that."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're playing around with me. Mean."

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling and turned around to get back to work. Just then, Alexander and Victor stepped in. Both their eyes zoomed in on Emmaline's, probably unhappy, expression.

"Did something happen?" Victor looked at Emmaline and I oddly.

I could feel Alexander's stare but I didn't bother looking over at him.

"It's nothing." Emmaline sounded deflated as I heard her tapping her keyboard once more, going back to work.

Alexander went to sit down and Victor stood there for a few more seconds before he went to his desk.

"Alexander, do you perhaps know who Vita's married to?"

Alexander glanced at Emmaline before giving her a nod.

Victor's mouth dropped open. "Really?! Who?"

This time, Alexander didn't answer. Instead, he looked over at his computer screen.

Both Victor and Emmaline began to question Alexander and I. Both of us ignored them and after a few minutes, they gave up and the room quieted down. Soon, everyone went back to work, but I could still feel curiosity lingering in the air.

*

Alexander, Emmaline, Victor and I occupied a four person table to eat our lunch.

The others were halfway through their food while I barely touched mine. My head was still hurting but it was the feeling that someone was watching me that made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

I felt Alexander pat my leg lightly from underneath the table without looking at me, questioning my unusual lack of appetite without using his words.

"Is it just me or-"

"You're not the only one. You get used to it," Victor mumbled as he continued to eat.

"What?"

Victor looked up at me. "The feeling of being watched."

"Who-"

Victor wiggled his eyebrows. "Probably ladies looking at me."

I rolled my eyes.

He let out a laugh. "Well, when you look like this..." He trailed off, motioning to his body before tossing me a smirk.

"I'm done." I stood up and Victor's smirk remained.

"Where are you going?" Emmaline glanced up from her empty plate.

"Bathroom."

"Me too!" She quickly picked up her waste and left to find a garbage bin.

I narrowed my eyes at Alexander and pointed at my barely touched food. "Don't eat it."

There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he went back to eating.

When Emmaline came back, she led the way to the washrooms.

"You know, I think I saw something interesting on Alexander's left hand. Something that looks extremely similar to yours." Emmaline teased. From the knowing look in her eyes, she had already figured it out.

Out of nowhere, she stuck her tongue out at me with a smile. "I approve. You guys look great together."

*

As soon as we got out, Emmaline was corned by 5 other women near the entrance to the bathrooms. They had friendly smiles on their faces so I didn't think much of it but when I looked at Emmaline, I knew something was wrong. She looked terrified.

"What do I keep telling you, Emmaline?" The girl that seemed to be standing in front of the rest questioned.

"You're being unreasonable, Avery." Emmaline didn't back down as she faced the woman standing right in front of her squarely.

Avery, the woman that seems to be the boss of this little group, snorted.

"One is my unit leader and the other is my teammate. I can't exactly stay away from them." Emmaline reasoned.

From that moment, I knew they were talking about Alexander and Victor.

When Avery stepped closer to Emmaline, she backed away slightly.

"Then do you have information?" Avery gave Emmaline a shove and Emmaline staggered back a few steps.

Emmaline, being barely over 5ft, had to look up to the ladies in front of her who were around my height.

"Leave me alone."

One of Avery's lackeys raised her hand and I caught her swinging palm before it could make contact with Emmaline's face.

The mask of indifference slipped easily on my face. Making sure Emmaline was safely behind me, unhurt, I tossed away the hand that I caught.

Avery glared distastefully at me. "Who the hell are you?"

"I believe Emmaline asked you to leave her alone. Listen to her and do that, will you?"

I grabbed on to Emmaline's hand and tried to walk us both away from this situation. The longer we stayed, the risk of me losing my temper and landing a solid punch on her face to shut her up, drastically increased. Alexander should be so proud of me right now. I'm being a saint.

I felt a hand grip my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you."

"Let. Go." I enunciated carefully and icily.

"If I don't?"

"I'll make you."

Avery huffed disbelievingly. "Make me?"

I faced Emmaline. "Go."

Her eyes widened. "But-"

"Trust me." She must have seen the fierce expression on my face because she nodded.

The moment Emmaline was a safe distance away, I grabbed the hand on my shoulder and twisted her wrist so that it was in a uncomfortable position for her.

"I was going to let this incident pass by, but you just keep provoking me with that mosquito like voice of yours. Extremely irritating. Listening to you just keeps making my headache worse." I seethed, not even bothering to hide my fury at this point.

Avery narrowed her eyes at me as she wiggled her wrist out of my grasp. "Were you the one sitting next to Alexander today?"

I felt my eye twitch. "Were you guys the ones that keep looking at our table?"

Avery ignored me as she used her pointer finger and jabbed me near my collarbone. "Get your dirty hands off of him. He's mine."

Unable to believe what this whole thing was about, I grabbed the finger that touched me and held it tightly in my fist. "This is what it's all about?"

Avery tossed her nose upwards and looked condescendingly down at me. "We're dating."

I felt a sinister smile form on my face. "Which blind date number are you? 10? 20? Or maybe the latest, 24?"

"Watch what you say." Avery raised her other hand to hit me and I tsked her haughtily.

"You watch it. One bad move and you're going to end up with a broken finger." I tightened my fist around her pointer finger to show what I still had hostage.

She didn't heed my warning. Instead, she made a fist and swung it towards my face.

*

By a few minutes, half of the women laid on the floor groaning in pain, some crying, and the other half were sitting, clutching where it hurt.

"Don't stare in our direction when we're eating. It's creepy. Make sure you stay far away from Emmaline because if I hear one complaint or see one bruise, I will hunt down every single one of you," I warned while standing over a sitting Avery cradling her broken finger near her chest. "Also, don't chase after married men."

Avery's mouth dropped open. "What?!" Her screech went straight to my head, worsening my headache immensely.

I rubbed my temples. "You didn't know? Alexander got married recently. Heard she's absolutely gorgeous, too."

She looked like she was about to come at me again, but her eyes shifted away from mine to look a little behind me.

"Alexander!" Avery called out and put on the 'I am the victim' act.

I immediately stiffened as I felt his presence from behind me. When I was about to turn around to face him, Emmaline appeared in front of me.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt?" Emmaline's voice was soft as she examined me but I couldn't pay attention to her.

"What the hell is going on?" Alexander's low voice was stone cold, but I could feel his anger simmering just beneath his emotionless exterior.

"She broke my finger then came after me and my friends." Avery's eyes teared up and my finger twitched at her preposterous behavior.

"No!" Emmaline piped in, while tossing a glare in Avery's direction, trying to defend me. "Vita was protecting me."

"Don't bother, Emmaline." I turned around and faced Alexander. I looked into his dark greys for a moment before I walked past all of them and towards our unit room.

What was the point of explaining when he wasn't going to believe me nor take my side anyways?

*

A few seconds after I got into our unit room, Alexander came in. From his icy expression, there wasn't much I could see but anger.

"What happened?"

I rolled my eyes and sat down on my chair.

Alexander stepped towards me and caged me in by putting one hand on each armrest of my chair. "Stop being so damn difficult."

I crossed my arms over my chest then sat up a little straighter. "Stop being so damn demanding," I growled out, leaning closer towards his face.

We stared at each other, both of our angers clashing. In a moment, his dimmed down and he let go of the armrests.

"Are you angry because I lost my temper or because landed a solid punch on your girlfriend Avery?"

Alexander looked a little puzzled as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Girlfriend?"

I stood up to face him so that I could diminish our height difference. We were standing barely two feet apart. "You should have just asked her to marry you. Or, you should have asked one of the many girls lining up for you. They would have all loved it."

"If you must know," he sighed softly, "Avery was the latest one my mother set up. It was after her that I ignored my mom until she promised to stop."

Alexander reached up to cup my face but I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me."

"Tell me what happened." Any harsh edge he had to his voice before disappeared as his eyes softened slightly.

"If I tell you one thing, you tell me one thing from last night."

Alexander voice was calm and he seemed to be thinking hard about what he should reveal. "Sure."

"Great." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Emmaline and I came out of the washroom when we were cornered by five women. Your turn."

"You and Cadence were very close friends."

"One of them was about to slap Emmaline and I stopped her. Then, I was walking us both away from the conflict when Avery put her hand on my shoulder."

"You signed up for the army, but you were handpicked be a part of something else along with Cadence."

"I gave her a warning to take her hand off. When she didn't listen, I told Emmaline to leave."

Alexander turned my body around so my back faced him. I stiffened when he began to trace almost right on top of my scars. "I was about to ask you when you told me, 'don't make me remember tonight.'"

Slowly, I felt his arms slip around my waist and pull me closer towards him. I let him hold me and I shocked myself when the thought that I liked being held by him appeared in my head.

"I do believe you," he whispered close to my ear as his scent wrapped around me like a warm blanket.

I pulled his arms off of me and turned around to look into his dark grey eyes only to be confused by the mellow look in them. "I don't care if you believe me or not. I'm just telling you my side of the story."

I opened up my laptop and sat down, ignoring the fact that he was standing right next to my chair. Alexander soon went to his desk and opened a drawer. He walked back to my desk and put down a bottle of water and a small container. Looking at the container closer, it was medicine.

Glaring at Alexander, I was about to snap at him to tell him I didn't need it when my phone vibrated on my table.

Looking at the screen and finding it odd that it was a number I didn't recognize, I answered cautiously.

"Hello?"

"Simmons." I heard a familiar gruff and husky voice through my device. It was a voice I thought I would never hear from again after that incident a few months ago.

****

Officially reached the double digits for parts published. Yay :D

Please don't forget to comment and vote if you liked it. :)

Until next time (hopefully very soon ;) ),

InvincibleBunny