ARTEMIS/KAYA

I often used to wonder why people wished they couldn't feel. Why they thought that emotions were a chore.

By the time I turned 9, I'd started to get my answer.

The day I turned 13, I realized my condition was a blessing in disguise.

Still, sometimes curiosity burned within me and misplaced emotions tried to get themselves recognized.

I felt gazes of strangers trailing over me as I walked past them, smiling slightly and as if completely at ease.

How would one actually feel if they were in my position, limited to just flaunting their body and preying on the lust of misguided men for even worse motives?

I had yet to know.

But my practiced smiles and sly expressions, my glassy tears and my anguished looks....

They were tailored into my personality as if I truly felt them.

I couldn't.

Or well...I suppose at this point it was a conscious effort. I refused to feel them, acknowledge them. To better my condition.

Because it'd be useless to feel in a cruel world that only had variations of pain to offer me.

And my sole weapon against anyone.....

Was my condition.

The cars honked, an array of colors moving at a slow pace in the Chicago traffic.

But they didn't lie when they said that practice makes perfect.

And I'd perfected it so well that sometimes I questioned whether I wasn't a psychopath who could fake emotions.

Slightly at home amongst all the noise from the traffic, I made my way to the entrance of my new home for the next four months.

I looked to the left side, spotting the connected restaurant and coffee shop that were a ten minute walk, right across the street on the left.

Emile's Alimento.

The area was mainly filled with apartment buildings and working roads but a few offices were occupying certain floors.

When I was told this was to be my new home for the next four months, I'd naturally started to learn anything and everything about the place.

My Jimmy Choo heels clicked on the pavement as I walked into the classy apartment building. Heading straight for the elevator, I pushed the button for the 8th floor.

Erex would be home right now.

I knew because I'd memorized his schedule. He usually followed the same pattern unless something urgent came up or he had a case to address. Not very smart for an agent like himself but who was I to judge if it made my job easy. And I couldn't underestimate him.

Erex was a man of routine and both my own sleuthing and Marcello's had given a roughly accurate idea of how the Agent spent his days.

I had a perfect plan devised for our first meeting and hopefully it would go well.

When I walked out of the elevator with the small cake box in my hands, I slowly smiled right before I stopped in front of my new neighbor's door and rang the bell.

After half a minute of waiting, the door finally flung open and a tall man stepped out. He rose a brow, a question forming behind his eyes.

My lips pulled upwards.

"Hi. You must be my new neighbor." I extended my free hand. "I'm Kaya. I just moved in next door."

Natural. Approachable. Calm.

His eyes slowly travelled over my extended hand and flicked towards the cake box. "I see. Welcome to the neighborhood then."

I noted how his voice was deep. The kind of husky that women who could feel would love.

When his hand slid into mine, I beamed up at him, encouraging him to introduce himself.

This close, I could clearly see his blue eyes. Dark raven hair fell in a sharp swoop over his forehead. And the picture had really done his striking features no justice.

Calling his eyes a simple blue color felt....

It felt....

Yes, I think wrong. That unsettling feeling you get. I'd read about it. I'd felt it on a few occasions. I could recognize it. Yes.

However I didn't know what exact color they were and I decided I shouldn't bother to try and place them either.

"I'm Erex. I hope you have a good stay here." To the point, no smirking, no feeling me out, no actual welcoming gestures.

His eyes flitted to the wall behind me instead, as if avoiding my gaze and I rose my brow slightly.

"Well, actually...." I offered the cake box and continued undeterred, "I wanted to just let you know of my existence because we share a balcony. I didn't want you to be completely taken aback if you found an unknown woman suddenly sharing the space you considered yours."

He took the cake box slowly, nodding like he understood.

I smiled a little sheepishly.

He blinked at my face once and then glanced inside his apartment. "Right. That....Makes sense." He looked once more at me, eyes tracing my features. "Alright. Thanks."

"No pr—"

Bang!

This time, I was the one who blinked.

My smile was frozen on my face as I processed just what had happened.

I flattened my red sweater dress over my stomach and stood waiting for five long seconds.

But no.

Nothing happened.

Erex Di Castillo really had slammed the door in my face after a partial welcome and a tight smile.

The man was usually welcoming and even indulged strangers as per my reports and data on him but it seemed I'd just raised his hackles.

I exhaled, a confused furrow between my brows, before turning sharply on my heels and heading back to my apartment with a slight huff.

As soon as I closed the door to my own apartment, my expressions smoothed into nothing. Blank.

There were cameras all around the building and although it was second nature for me to feign emotions now, I still sought the empty feeling of nothingness.

Erex might keep tabs on me and watch the CCTV footages. Wouldn't put it past him. Especially since he's an Agent, he's bound to be somewhat suspicious of his new neighbor.

I slipped off my Jimmy Choos and then put on slippers before walking into the drawing room of my apartment.

I stared at the unopened boxes and then the plastic covered chairs, the TV, the microwave.

I welcomed the opportunity to ponder and devise my new course of action while setting the apartment up.

I'd never had my own space and even if it were for my deadliest mission yet, something inside me wanted to feel like a child that gets a Christmas gift for the first time at the opportunity of having a space to call my very own.

Even if I never had such an experience or a feeling, I'd seen enough TV to know it was a happy occasion.

And knowing was enough for now.

I walked over to the table Marcello gave me and pressed my fingers to the grooves etched into the brown wood.

It was not a housewarming gift or a meaningful parting on his behalf. It was a tool.

One of the best hiding places.

There was a particular way of pressing the designs on the table much like it's shown in the movies. However, that wasn't the end of it.

If it were an unsuspecting person, they wouldn't spot the tiny needle that would jut out from the back left leg of the wood.

And they wouldn't know to bend and prick their finger on it like they do for a diabetes test.

Because the only way to open it was a blood sample. And you truly can't change DNA so it only opens when the DNA is recognized.

Marcello had programmed my DNA recognition details into it right after our eventful night when he gave me this mission and took his dose of sadistic pleasure.

The table may have looked like an ornate mahogany antique and was just as heavy but inside it was a twelve by eight inch mechanised and fully digitalized safe.

What lay within were undetectable cameras and wiretaps meant to be used as bugs.

And other devious devices I'd need for the mission. Along with a burner phone.

My first instruction from him had been to use the phone and intimate him of my arrival myself even though I knew he had eyes on me.

But I was nothing if not obedient.

So I flipped open the old-style phone I didn't bother knowing the brand and origin of and the moment I did, a call came in.

I automatically picked up since it was programmed as Marcello.

"Hello."

"Why, hello, Kaya." He drawled. "I assume you're settling in?"

"Yes."

His fake pleasantries were always in abundance when it came to me. And my answers were always curt.

"Well, you know what to do. But aside from Agent Castillo, we have a side mission for you as well. It's nothing much really. I'll tell you about it at a later time, I have a meeting with the Pakhaan of the Russian Bravata in ten minutes so I'm sure you understand."

I blinked.

Two missions simultaneously? What was Marcello planning?

Whatever it was, I was either too useful for him or too easily disposable because I inherently knew that the other mission wouldn't be a cakewalk either.

Marcello had to be desperate though if he were resorting to using me so extensively. He had other female spies too. Although none as good as me, he said.

But yet again, I kept my musings to myself.

"Of course."

"Splendid, Mia Cara!" Muffled noises filtered in and I deduced he'd put a hand over the speaker. I patiently waited until he reconnected with me because you do not hang up on Marcello Rossi if you want to stay breathing and if you're a woman called Artemis.

He spoke, "I'll text you soon. Be a good pet and I want my first progress report in a week. Remember that."

"Yes, Marcello."

But he'd already hung up.

I didn't care.

I put everything back to the way it was and then walked over to the window overlooking the street outside.

I spotted Erex almost instantly. It was hard not to, with his blue dress shirt and black slacks amid casually dressed people. He frowned and I noted his companion, Seth, was laughing as Erex sighed.

Must have been an inside joke.

And I didn't know why he was dressed that way either.

Both things would have to change.

Because I were to become an insider and I was meant to know his every move.

I glanced at the July sky.

A clear blue.

I looked back at Erex.

His eyes weren't sky blue. That shade was wrong.

I let the curtain fall back into place and got to work, unboxing and unpacking.

Somehow, a pair of eyes with an unspecified color of blue flashed in my mind's eye.

It was too late by the time I realised I'd opened my cell and searched.

I searched until I found it.

It was a brighter, more arresting shade of blue on Erex but yes.....

His eyes weren't just blue.

They were caribbean blue.

It had kept...bugging me. Not being able to place the color of his striking eyes on that arresting face.

It was the first time I'd bothered knowing the exact shading of an eye color besides my own.  The first time I did something out of the ordinary.

But it would be one of the many first times that Erex Di Castillo would give me.

I just didn't know it back then.

A/N

Well, well, well.

Look what's happened. Seems like an interesting start to me lol.

Every little detail counts, so guys, pay attention because it'll all come together. 

What do you think of Kaya now that you've finally met her, gotten a glimpse of the way she thinks? I hope she's piqed your curiosity and so has Erex. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it may have been short but the chapters will prgressively get longer lol, I speak from experience. 

Don't forget to vote and comment, please! I'd really appreciate it! Thank yoou so much and take care guys! Till the next update then!

~Skyler