I still love Seyon after eight years. I always did...

The thought makes Thiya want to choke herself to death whenever it pops into her head. And it pops into her head often. Her self-loathing is growing each day, spiralling into a maelstrom. The situation hasn't improved in the past few days. Encountering Seyon at work every day worsens things. Sitting next to his desk also suffocates her, his mere presence, the sound of his breathing or just him going about his tasks at his computer, the faint scent of his cologne ever present around her.

She desires to be far away from all of this, if possible. She suppresses her emotions and distracts herself with tasks, but her frustration still bleeds out. It's unstoppable, sometimes. The other day she snapped at Seyon for merely heaving a sigh, muttering she can't concentrate. Though his brows knit, and he threw her an agitated glance, Seyon didn't retaliate. He never does. This is new, as usually he would have a few words to say.

Of course, they never got into any spats after Mira's birthday, but he would say something, anything. More often in that bossy tone of his. He's the team leader, isn't he? Self-made or not. Thiya can't help but think his quiet is disquieting. She sighs when her phone beeps with the perfect excuse to step out of hall 57. The rest of the SIT is presently at the studios, monitoring Kavya and she's left behind, reanalysing Aran's laptop to dig out more data and what does she find? Nothing.

The email she received on her phone is still a good lead. She grabs her wallet and pistol just in case. She leaves a message for the team leader in the answering machine and locks the entrance to hall 57 before stepping out.

***

Lunch break. Seyon and Soham head towards hall 57. Mira is currently at the studios, having a conversation with Kavya. She is hoping to have some alone time with Kavya to dig deeper into the actress' relationship with Aran. The men had to leave them alone.

Seyon unlocks the door to hall 57 with his palm print unlocks it. He finds it strange that the door is locked, but he feels a sense of relief that Thiya is not there when he enters, although he also misses her. What kind of irony is this? And where is she? Has she gone to meet Dr Shah?

Or is she back to gossiping with Ramya again? Or with Ulla perhaps. Is she still venting out about him? While she isn't the type to gossip, He'd rather prefer they have a personal chat than beat around the bush. How does he bring up what he overheard? And is this even the time to discuss personal stuff? There's the case!

Seyon coughs, attempting to dismiss his thoughts, when suddenly an elderly peon enters the room and hands him an odd envelope.

"Someone at the gate asked me to deliver this to you," the old man says and leaves.

Seyon eyes the envelope after thanking the man. The brown paper envelope is out of shape, haphazardly pasted together with crude glue and has a strong chemical odour.

"Careful handling that!" Soham makes Seyon drop the thing to the floor.

Seyon kneels and picks up the envelope with his kerchief after wiping his hands on his trouser. He tears open the envelope using his kerchief as a makeshift glove and reads the printed note inside—

"It's a threat! It says... Worry for what's yours..."

Seyon puts the note back in and laughs.

"Worry for what's mine, ridiculous! What's mine... Do I even own something that valuable? This may be an old petty criminal's sick joke..."

He continues to smile while Soham stands in discomfort.

"Really. You don't need to reassure me. I'm still worried."

"I'm saying you don't have to, Soham! And where's Thiya? Why isn't she back? I bet she'd be happy to see this."

Seyon jokes to lighten the mood. Part of his mind can't stop thinking where she could be. She rarely goes out to eat and the cafeteria isn't her preferred place.

"Are you sure you can brush off that letter?" Soham asks, watching Seyon wrap the envelope in his kerchief.

"Yes. I will still have Dr Shah look at it. Sounds good, right?"

Soham heaves a sigh of relief. "Better."

The men flop on the cosy sofa that Soham has set up, the one placed against the southern wall. Casually chatting up his friend, Seyon finds the light on the answering machine is blinking yellow.

"Unread voice messages?"

One moment he's blinking at the offending light and in the other he's pressing the play button. Thiya's voice is heard in the room, her soft yet slightly haughty voice addressing him.

"Seyon... I'm going to follow the lead I got in the morning. The email I received only had a link to a location, but I suspect it's from the suspicious website."

Seyon looks between the wrapped envelope in his hands and the answering machine, blinking several times. His eyes narrow, then widen in realisation. He dashes out of the room, but not without handing the envelope to Soham.

"The envelope! Get Dr Shah to look at it, Soh! I will get Thiya."

"Seyon, stop, we gotta think this over. It could be a trap."

"I'm going because it is a trap! I need to get her back!"

Soham chases his friend into the hallway. "Shouldn't I come with you? Dr Shah might find nothing valuable from the envelope. Also, where's Thiya? Do you know where she went?"

Seyon halts and swiftly retraces his steps to hall 57. Soham watches his friend as he tries to hack into Thiya's laptop.

"Huh? How do you know the password?"

"I saw her typing the other day... uh... I'm always sneaking glances at her these days... Oops, forget I said that."

The password is: Gambler1224. The title of Sherry Maran's classic hit novel. With a bit of guilt, Seyon unlocks Thiya's laptop and checks her email. Once he emails the suspicious mail to himself, he clutches his phone and runs out of hall 57 again.

"I will bring Thiya. You find Dr shah, Soham."

"Ugh, okay. Be careful, Sey!"

"I will. Don't worry!"

Seyon's voice fades away; his footsteps become more distant. Alone in hall 57, Soham sighs. "Seyon can handle himself, I'm sure... But I wish I can chase after him."

With a heavier sigh, he looks at the envelope encased in Seyon's kerchief. "Worry for what's yours... Seyon, you think that threatening note coincides with Thiya being summoned to that strange location don't you? You think she's in danger? Just how much do you care about her... You love her, don't you? Thiya too. Your love for one another remains unwavering, even after eight years. I'm so glad. Not everyone is fortunate to experience this kind of love... Yes, you've had your hurdles, but even so..."

He laughs at himself for thinking out loud, but can't stop.

"Also, isn't it strange? Is this note Aran's work? How does he know about you and Thiya? The gossip is around CBCID, but... does Aran have an insider? That incident with Thiya's sketch book too... is it Aran or someone else?"

He clamps his mouth shut though boggling questions dance in his head, his thoughts spiralling on and on. We have solved many cases, but this seems dangerous than it appears. We have to be more careful and ... hopefully we will all solve this case while getting out of it unscathed.

He locks hall 57 and sprints to the forensic lab. Shortly after he delivers the letter to Dr Shah, he receives ACP's summons regarding the symposium preps.

With a frown on his face, he mutters to himself, displeased, as he glances at his pager. "Excellent. Now I can't even check on Seyon and Thiya or Mira... The ACP truly is demon incarnation."

***

Plenty of daylight during the mid-morning. Thiya arrives at her desired location after a short walk. An abandoned amusement park at the edge of the city outskirts. This being a weekday and construction midway means the street leading to the park is desolate. And the cab she hitched a ride on dropped her about 700 metres away from her sought location.

She realises she left a message for the team but didn't leave them the location of her whereabouts. She turns on the GPS on her smartwatch and shares her location with the team's WhatsApp group.

She struggles in eerily quiet, dark, or desolate environments. Swallowing the discomfort in her chest, she proceeds with caution.

The compound wall surrounding the park is sturdy except for the metallic entrance gates coated in rust. Wired barricades block her entry into the park, or so she thinks, but they are broken, the thorny metal wrapping having such gaps. She can squeeze herself through, lifting her feet and bending her torso a little.

The ground is uneven under her boots, the sun's heat scorching, already giving her a mild headache. She is the only one present in the park.

"I'm here, but no one's around? I knew that could be a case, but I still have to check out..."

She moves through the park, past the open space, towards the rides. The merry-go-round is in such a dilapidated state that it resembles something out of a horror film, unsettling even in broad daylight.

"My destination is the view tower, isn't it? It's odd that there's no security here. But that's why the villains picked it."

She checks on her phone, googling information about the location. The signal is weak, but she still finds a little information on the subject. The park's development hit a pause as there's dispute over the ownership of the land in court. "What a drag."

She approaches the view tower, a cylindrical concrete structure, without a hitch. Right before she reaches for the doorknob, she realises there's a digital lock installed on the door.

After some hacking, she opens the door and steps onto a metallic spiralling staircase. The air inside is dank, the space laden with cobwebs and dust. More doors stand in her way, newly planted with digital locks. There are no footprints on the steps; the perpetrators wiped them clean.

She overcomes the obstacles one by one, completely losing track of time with the hacking processes. Just as she believes she's reached the last door atop the staircase, judging by the view from the small window and the breeze blowing in, she hears the sudden banging footsteps drawing closer.

Is it Aran? Or Asterix... If this is a trap, it's too late to turn back! She still intends to fight, though. She turns her attention to the door, determined to unlock it before the villain's arrival. However, they snatch her hand before she can go that far.

"Seyon!"

She's half relieved and half exasperated that it's only Seyon who has crept up behind her. Before she can speak, his hand is tight around the wrist and he's dragging her down the dim-lit staircase. She resists firmly after they descend a few steps, causing him to click his tongue.

"Why did you come here, Thiya? This could be a trap." His rage echoes in between the walls, stirring up dust that gleams faintly going up in a swirl. "And that's how you inform me? Through the answering machine?!"

"I shared my location and turned on the GPS! Seyon, if there is a clue here, I want to find it."

"At the cost of your life!?"

The fact that he sounds more worried than furious surprises Thiya.

"You're utterly stupid, Thiya. This was a trap to begin with! Maybe the website is set up too. Asterix is not multiple people. Yeah, we wanted to consider the options. But this incident confirms my suspicions. The website was to throw us off track!"

Seyon's breath comes in quick gasps. He has run here in a haste. Thiya thinks he doesn't need to convince her it's a trap. She has had a hunch. As they enter a brief standoff on the stairs, the door opens with a creak. They witness a mannequin being electrocuted as it descends from above and passes through the door.

Thiya shudders and takes a step back. She'd have spiralled down to a fatal fall, if not Seyon catching her by the waist.

"This proves it..." Seyon declares, focused on the smoke billowing from the door. "The website is a hoax."

"All that digging was for nothing?"

Frustrated, Thiya steps away from Seyon. What bothers her more is that Seyon rescued her! From electrocution and a fatal fall! The air outside the tower is fresh. For a moment, she basks in the feeling of being alive and breathing again, not on the man who's appeared as her saviour.

***

Seyon stops the car after escorting Thiya back to CBCID. The car door shuts with a thud. She walks ahead of him into the office. Exasperated, Seyon recalls the conversation they had in the car. Anybody would have been shaken while subject to such near death experiences. Being a cop helps to a great extent as they are not fickle hearted, usually. Yet she was eerily quiet half the time during their ride. He had to ask what was wrong.

"I despise being indebted to you, Seyon!" she said, her chestnut brown gaze accusatory.

Why the sour face? Is that how she treats her saviour? In the aftermath of her ordeal, he refrained from vocalising his true thoughts. He drove on in silence as she nitpicked.

"Honestly, Seyon, I could have handled it by myself."

He glance at her profile next to him. She was focused on the road ahead, fidgeting in the passenger's seat. What was her problem?

"You meant you could've died."

"No, I could have avoided it somehow. I don't want to owe you anything..."

Again with the "owing." He had to remind her she saved his life from the bees and they were even. She huffed, though she looked mildly relieved.

"Well, you could at least say thanks..."

Her response was another grunt.

Seyon walks towards hall 57, still finding it odd that she's annoyed. Out of love? What are the odds? Soham was a fool to have thought she may hold feelings for Seyon. It's clear as a day. She despises Seyon Harith.

"I at least deserved a thanks. Of course, I didn't save her for the sake of her thanks... Even so."

Seyon whispers to himself. The elevator is in use. Thiya didn't even wait for him. He takes the stairs, making a quick call to the local inspector to look into the incident at the abandoned park.

***

TBC

AN: That's all for now <3 Hopefully I will update soon.

Up next: Seyon Thiya get into an argument which unearths the truth of their past. Is it a huge revealation? Well, maybe. It's certainly one that will change their future...