Linger

Presentiments

Supposedly, Gavin went straight home when his car drove out of the courtyard of Kalea's house. But he just turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction, towards a place he should not be going in the near future.

His meeting with Taruna this afternoon still left something stuck in his mind, so inevitably, Gavin had to miss his original plan of not meeting Irina for the next few days until his wedding with Kalea was carried out. He had to ask a few questions, in order to ease the burden he carried all day because of his unexpected encounter with Taruna that made Kalea almost suspicious.

Drizzle down thinly as Gavin's car enters the patio of a luxury apartment complex in the city center. The security guard in front was familiar enough to drive his car into the parking lot after opening a small window and greeting the security guard.

After parking the car, Gavin walked straight to the elevator. The atmosphere is quiet even though the night is not too late. It didn't take long for the elevator doors to open, featuring a tall man playing on his phone. Gavin immediately walked into the elevator, pressed the button where the unit he was heading to was then stood quietly on the left side of the man, keeping a significant distance with the stranger.

As long as the elevator goes up, there is no conversation between him and the stranger who still does not take his eyes off the screen. Gavin was also not a typical person who liked to greet strangers first, so he did not mind the current state of affairs too much.

But when a clanging sound was heard before the elevator door opened and the man stepped out, Gavin was made unable to say anything when from the side of the man's lips came out a sentence that was too difficult for him to digest what he meant.

The man said, "Be careful, here are many eyes and ears. Stay alert, never lose focus because if you go the wrong way, you will not be able to go back to where you should be." Then the man walked quickly and in an instant disappeared from Gavin's sight after the elevator door closed again.

Gavin was obviously confused, but he didn't have enough time to think about what the real meaning of the foreign man's words was because shortly after, he didn't have time to think about it, the elevator door was reopened and he had to rush out of it.

Gavin walked quickly down the hall, occasionally turning to check on the surroundings. Slender. It's always been like this. This is a luxury apartment complex populated by busy people who will only come to stop by the craze of the bustle, the, so Gavin is not surprised that along the way he only met some people who are busy with their respective gadgets. That is also the reason Gavin chose to buy two apartment units here, because he knew the risk of being caught by others was very small. So she can still keep her name and Irina is equally good.

But the words of the stranger in the elevator were quite disturbing. What if this place isn't as safe as it could be? What if it turned out, he was taking things too lightly and had unknowingly dug up his grave little by little?

Those questions and concerns still filled Gavin's head even until he arrived at his apartment unit doorstep. After a long silence, his fingers moved to enter the security code on the door so that the door in front of him was open.

Gavin stepped in, closed the door in a hurry then walked to the side of his apartment unit where there was another door he had made specifically after buying this unit two years ago. The door connects her unit to the apartment unit that Irina lives in. She accidentally buys two units so that there is no gap for others to see her and Irina enters from the same unit door.

After entering the same security code as the one on the front door of his unit, the connecting door opened. Gavin was a bit unprepared as Irina emerged from behind the open door. The woman appeared in a light blue oversized shirt that was only able to close up above her knees. The shirt was Gavin's, he deliberately left a few pieces in Irina's closet just in case he had to stay in this apartment and go straight to the office the next day. Overall, the unit that Gavin rented on his behalf was just a formality, as he always slept and spent time in the unit that Irina lived in.

Long enough Irina was silent at the door, staring at Gavin with a look that was too difficult to define. Until finally the woman walked in, leaving Gavin who was still standing at the door with a disheveled mind.

Gavin saw the woman sitting on the sofa, crossing her legs to make her thighs perfectly exposed. In the woman's hand was a glass of red wine that she inhaled slowly before the thick liquid she sipped, leaving a reddish stain that dyed her originally plain lips without lipstick polish.

When Gavin walked over and their eyes met again, Gavin felt his chest pierced by a dagger as the gray bead looked misty. There was clearly sadness that the woman was trying to hide, and Gavin clearly knew that it was coming from her.

"I don't think you're going to come here anymore." Syndicator Irina. Then he sip another red wine in hand until the real toilet. Gavin saw Irina staring at the empty glass in her hand for quite a while, before exhaling heavily and putting the empty glass on the table.

"You're here because something's not quite right with your plan, right?" guess Irina's on target. Gavin grimaced as Irina turned her head and put on a smile on her lips. Something that made his heart hurt more than ever before.

Gavin could have lied by saying that he came here because he missed her. But because of this Irina, her lie would only end up in vain. Because Irina understands herself too much. Even more understanding than he understands himself.

"What's wrong? Kalea why else?" there was a vexation that Irina was not trying to hide behind her tone.

"Taruna." Gavin answered straight to the point.

Irina's eyebrows are raised next door when the name Taruna is suddenly mentioned in their talk about Kalea. Indeed, since when did Taruna participate in the complicated relationship between him, Gavin and the woman named Kalea?

"Last afternoon I met Taruna at the supermarket." Obviously Gavin after sitting himself next to Irina. Maintain a distance that is quite obvious because he knows Irina does not like to be plastered if her mood is bad.

Gavin nodded his head, making the line of cuts on Irina's chest feel wet again. Their four years together, their two years spent as lovers and Gavin never took her around the supermarket like the other couples. But today, the man left with another woman who had only been known for two months. Irina knew this marriage was necessary to keep their position safe. But if the woman named Kalea had to seize her opportunity to do many things that she always dreamed of with Gavin, Irina could not guarantee whether she could stick with this plan until the end.

"Taruna isn't a threat, so I don't think you need to come all the way here just to give me a report like this to me." Irina straightened her back, intending to get up from the sofa but stopped because Gavin first held her arm.

"Everything related to us is a threat to Kalea." Sela Gavin fast.

"So Taruna accidentally found you and Kalea? No, right?" pissed Irina. Slowly, he moved to release Gavin's hand from his arm. "Aware, Vin, if your response to something that actually has the potential to cause suspicion."

"I overreacted because I saw something shocking."

"What's? What's so shocking that you're this big?" Irina's voice began to rise. His mood was not good because the rumors of his date with Gabriel Permana never died down. And Gavin's exaggerated attitude toward anything related to Kalea was not helpful at all.

"Taruna has a foster child. Women."

Irina fell silent. His lips clenched tightly as Gavin's eyes stared at him so intensely, as if demanding an answer to a question that not even the man had yet thrown out.

"What's wrong with that?" irina's voice shrunk. He tried desperately to hide the nervousness that began to creep over him.

"There is nothing wrong with the fact that Taruna has adopted children. I'm just confused, why don't I know anything about that?"

"There is no obligation for the cadets to tell you all about him"

Irina was still trying to control herself.

Although his heart was slowly beating at a faster tempo and his throat felt dry for no reason.

"But he told you." Previously, Gavin hoped Irina would deny by saying that the woman was also the first time she heard about Taruna who had adopted children. But Irina's next successful response made her feel pain in her heart. Because it seems his hunch is right. Irina obviously knows more about Midshipmen than she does. And Gavin doesn't like that. Gavin dislikes it when the three of them hide something from each other. Because their relationship cannot go that way.

"Vin, man,"

"He didn't tell me, but he told you. Wh why? Because you guys are getting closer to each other as long as I'm busy with this matchmaking business?"

Rather than jealousy, Irina saw more visible anger from Gavin's eyes. And he didn't know why this guy was acting that way.

"That lowly cadet in your eyes?" ask Irina at the end. He was too tired to argue with Gavin in a high tone of voice, so he asked in a very slow voice. "You guys were friends for quite a long time, and you got that far thinking badly of Taruna? Just because he didn't tell you one thing, even if you knew, you wouldn't have enough time to care?"

Finished saying that, Irina actually got up. He walked away from Gavin, carrying with him an empty glass on the table to fill with red wine in the kitchen. As he walked, he said, "If you had come here only to pour out all your suspicions on me and the Cadets, mending you home. Just take care of the woman you want to marry, because she seems to be much more important now."

That sentence sounds more painful than a sentence handed down to a death row inmate. Because after Irina clenched her lips and slim body disappeared behind the turn, Gavin felt the flow of oxygen to her lungs was not smooth. He scooped up oxygen in frustration, as if he was about to die.

Seriate