"Goodie Morning!." A sweet melody fell in my ears, the first thing I heard in the morning.

"Good Morning. Early?" I replied, rubbing my fingers on my eyes.

"You have classes today, don't you? So to wake you up in time i decided to wake up early!" Jia said, with a sweet smile endowed on her face as she leaned over my chest and started to rub her fingers on my lips. Salty, I wonder why.

"Thanks" I replied to her, but she kept smiling.

I slowly moved her fingers out of my lips, and arched myself up, moved my right hand behind Jia's head and touched my forehead with hers, looking right into her eyes, wide and deep.

"Eren..." She mumbled my name, slowly.

Her voice never failed to arouse me, the softness. Her preamble for submission never failed to wake the animal I try to hide away.

"Huh?" I questioned her.

Our lips were just a fingernail apart, I felt her breath go inside my mouth. Hot, they were. Her body leaned against me, started to heat up. Her heat spread all over me.

My thighs got warm. Her legs twitched, and wrapped around me, as we both lied on bed, covered by a blanket and the bright morning sunlight falling on our eyes.

I was staring blindly at her light brown eyes, her silky tan skin, beautifully enamoured arms holding tightly onto me. I swiftly moved my left hand up and started to rub it on her lower back region, manoeuvring my fingers right to left, smooth.

"Eren..." She mumbled again, words escaped her lips and her eyes shut close, she kept on breathing loudly with her mouth open.

"Say it Jia." I told her.

I held her jaw with my right hand, but didn't stop rubbing my fingers on her back.

I caught a drop of spit fell from her lips, directly on my abdomen. I rubbed her lips with my fingers, wiping the wet corners.

Suddenly, I felt both of her hands grip my shoulder tightly. She pushed me down, now she was on top of me, breathing hard.

Her hot exhaled air fell on my skin, as she licked her tongue licked the lips clean. Her legs moved around my pelvis, warming me up more.

I didn't blink an eye.

She slowly pulled down, pushed her body weight on me, and held my head with her hand, covering my jawline entirely.

"Save it for tonight." She whispered in my ears.

"What the hell!" I groaned. What a turn off, it was just starting to get fun.

I felt her turn towards me, as I felt her soft lips touch my neck. Soothing.

She hugged me tight, kissing my neck. I embraced her back, twirling her brown hair, which were all over my face. Smelled like rose, beautiful.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked her, making circles with her hair.

"Bread-omelet, Josh wants me to be early today. So, get up, before I get fired." She said in my ears, chuckling at her own statement.

"Fine." I groaned, and lightly pushed Jia from top of me. She lied beside me, as I got up from bed, and tossed the blanket of my half aside.

Throwing my feet on the floor, sliding on my slippers, my right hand grabbed the red boxers and I wore it immediately with a second delay, before Jia saw me naked the first thing in the morning.

"You need not be shy. We have already crossed the barrier, remember?" Jia sneered.

She lied facing towards me, resting her head on her arms, still covered up with blanket from top to bottom. A soft grin was there within her lips, already soaking with her spit.

"I'll join you in the table." I said, picked my toothbrush and paste from the table and walked towards the bathroom.

"Gotchu!" I heard Jia screaming, as I shut the bathroom door behind.

"What a pain it is to live another day." I spoke to the mirror looking at myself.

Opening the tap, I collected water in the small mug kept beside, and splashed it on me. One wouldn't do, I did it again. Using a clean earbud, I dipped it into the Herbal cream and applied it under my eyes pre-shower, remedy for sleep crusts and dark circles.

Looking myself into the mirror, I knew I was done. Now all that's needed a cold shower, on a hot April morning.

Finishing with the lavatory, I went inside the shower room, closed the shower door and switched on the knob. The cold drops of water calmed my heart, cleaning every last bit of drench and sweat out of my body and soul. The fire in my heart was calmed, and the throbbing headache of my head which I don't even wanna talk about.

Resting my head on the glass wall I glanced down. Only to notice the same tattoo on my wrists, the number ninety five, written in black with green and crimson shades, no fonts.

I arched my head high up, cleaning my hair and my armpits. A chill ran through my body, I felt so much better, cooler. I was done.

Closing the knob, I wrapped myself in towel and exited the bathroom. The first thing I noticed was the bed, Jia was gone. Probably in the hall room, setting up the table.

I opened the cupboard and picked my second cleanest t-shirt I could find, a sky blue round collared shirt, and a pair of black jeans. Simple the better.

I timed it this time, within thirty seconds I was completely ready to roll. Walking towards the dressing mirror on the right corner of the room, I combed my hair left, detaching all the knots that formed. Applied the sun's cream and lip gel, I headed to my bag. I already prepared the bag last night and kept on my table.

But, again, the only thing which I dreaded the most.

Jia's bra on my bag. AGAIN! How many times do I have to remind this girl to keep her stuff properly. I hooked my bag, holding Jia's bra I stormed out of my room.

"Jia, what the actual fuck?" I screamed, seeing Jia set the table.

"Aish, stupid me. Drunk'n Jia shouldn't be messed with." She replied, with a wide smile.

Melting my heart with her morning energy, I hung the bra on the door of her room.

She was wearing her red shirt and shorts. Her hair was wet, she must have just escaped the shower, even managed to make breakfast. Wow.

"You are fast aren't you?" I asked, pulling the chair of the dining table.

"Noii, I had them made last night itself. But they will definitely taste good as new." She replied, sitting in front of me, chugging on her bread.

"And here I was appreciating how efficient you were."

"You can always count on my food."

"Never doubted." I said.

I picked up the knife and fork kept beside the plate, and ate a piece of bread and omelet.

"Oh! These are better than I expected." I said, smiling, eating the rest of my sandwich,

"Thank you so much. You flatter me! Like I said, you could never doubt my food." She replied winking her right eye. God save me from her daggers.

She sat in front of me, kept her phone on the table and started to drink coffee, skimming the morning newspaper in front of her face.

I kept eating, looking at the news about secret underground mafia uprising, named 'Renegades' on the backside of the paper. 

"Interesting, so the small factions have finally started to come together."

Kidnapping, murder, money laundering, black marketing, sex slavery. The list of their doings never ends.

I was chewing the bread between my teeth, and the sound of Jia sipping her coffee, her phone lit up, sending vibrations all the way to my feet. Damn, that scared me.

Jia kept the paper aside, and picked up her phone. The light of phone fell in her eyes, when all of a sudden, the light in her eyes faded. 

They became gloomy. She held her head on her hand, as a strand of tear fell from her eye.

"Your parents?" I asked in a low voice.

"Yeah," she replied, whimpering, trying hard to hold back her tears.

"What now?"

"I don't give two flying fucks anymore. I am better off without them. I don't have to follow them to be their ideal daughter. I am doing pretty well without their help."

"How many this time?"

"Five, whom I don't even know of. From different regions, claiming six figure earning. What do they think, they can flaunt me just by their money."

"There is some lucky man out there for you, you know?"

"Maybe. But I'd rather find him on my own. Maybe cross paths with him on my own, fall in love with my own terms and not for any business deal or peace between communities or whatever they are cooking out there!"

"Good." I finished eating and wipe my face with the tissue papers kept in the middle. 

"I am always there for you. Always will be." I said.

"Eren. Don't make a girl, a promise you can't keep."

What? Where did she come from? Promise? That was deep. What was that she said?

It felt like a bullet in my chest. My heart and fingers froze for a moment, I was sitting numb, on the table, looking at the empty plate, breads crumbs lying on it.

Hate to admit, but she is right. For few minutes, I was just sitting there, numb.

After a few seconds, I got up and went straight to Jia, hugging her while her sitting on the chair. I hugged her tightly, and pushed her head on my chest, resting my chin on her head.

"Don't worry." I whispered.

I felt Jia trembling, her tears were warm, but I felt them. Her tears, her fears, her feelings, everything crossed my heart. I heard the strings of her heart, beating.

"Thank you. I am so glad to have you in my life. Now go, don't be late." Jia said. She whimpered, her voice echoed deep on my chest.

I held her face with my two hands and gently kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes, she smiled, but still crying.

"Want me to drop you off?" She asked me lifting her head.

"No. Bus." I left her immediately, grabbed my bag and rushed to the door.

I stood near the shoe rack to slid on my shoes, as I saw Jia, still looking at me, with tears floating in her eyes. Honestly, I didn't want to leave her, but I have to.

"At four. Main Gate." I said and went past the door.

"Yes, I remember. I don't forget stuff. Bye bye. And, thanks" I heard her.

I press the elevator button, as I patiently wait for it to arrive on the seventeenth floor.

The weather is good today, hard to see such weather in Arizona summer. Clouds covering the sky, cool breeze blowing all around. I felt the chilly wind brush through my neck. 

Thank god I decided to cover myself with a jacket over my t-shirt. It felt really good after a month of scorching hot days of over forty degrees.

I took my phone out and checked the time. It's quarter to eight, and class starts in an hour, bus takes ten minutes at most. Either I will make it time, or time will make it up for me today.

"Oh, that's why I love your wife. Hey, did you hear those Russian motherfuckers invading the gold store?" I hear from the man, standing beside me. In his thirty's or forty's, speaking to a bald old man.

"Sources say it's the doing of the Renegades and Pacifists. Russians were always a pain in the ass!" The old man snarled, grunting after like a pig. He pulled his inhaler out, and started to use it in his nose, inhaling and exhaling heavily.

"I swear man, these dogs need to stay away from our country." The man said, and went quiet. It was quiet. Only the sound of the wind rustling through the dry leaves fell on my ears.

"Russians? Pacifists?  These people are upto something big again, aren't they?" I question myself. Something was not right.

I looked towards my right, and saw the timing of the next bus in the L.E.D fixed in the iron pole. Three minutes it showed. Good grief, I was bored here anyways.

"Wish I could trust people." I told myself.

Those three minutes were probably the longest three minutes of my life. I counted nine ants, three houseflies flew and two homeless man crossed by me during those three minutes.

Finally, through the distance, the red lights of the bus fell in my eyes. Oh! How happy I was! 

The bus came and stood right in front of us. I stood in the queue, in the fourth place. I jumped up, scanned my monthly pass, and sat near the window in the right wing. The seat beside me was unoccupied. 

For a reason of course!

I was looking at my phone. Exactly thirty seconds, driver pulled up and started to move again to the next stop. Arizona state university wasn't very far away from where I live, but its better to use the public transport, saves my money.

The bus took a sharp turn at the traffic signal, the usual route. I was resting my head on the front seat, looking outside, without making any notice. As we were moving, my eyes fell on a shining board of a shop.

It was a brand new store, it looked so beautiful. There was a signal again right ahead, so we stopped again for a while. I kept looking at the store. 

I could see from far away the floors were shining like diamond, the yellow lights reflected from the floor and fell on my eyes. The glasses were as transparent as air. It would have been difficult to figure out if anyone stood there. So royal and magnificent.

I rolled my vision a little up, where I read the name of the shop, 'Evenfall'.

Talk about creativity, the name was quite intriguing. For a coffee shop to have such an aesthetic name and high level of polish, it was so far above my expectation.

"I gotta bring Jia here one day!" I told myself.

"You are not thinking about bringing Jia here, right?" I heard the sound come from behind.

"You're late." I replied, unfazed, still gazing over the coffee shop as the bus started to move again.

"Only by a minute. May I have a seat, Master?" I heard him, but didn't reply as the shop was left behind, and we kept moving.

"You are very arrogant for someone your age. May I have a seat, Master Eren?" He repeated, his bland monotonous voice ringed my ear like a hammer. 

"Go ahead." I said. "But before I let you sit..."

Holding a black briefcase on his left hand, large fully covered black leather coat, a bit leather hat with a crowbar in his right hand and huge sun-glasses covering his eyes. 

"Which place did Operation Rutherford crash?" I continued and asked him.

"New Hampshire." He replied.

He continued to looked around him, as if we weren't even talking. 

"What's new?" I asked him, sighing. 

"The entire country is going on war, and look how casually you are asking. Do you even have any sense of devotion to this country or not? Maybe Commander was right, you are nothing but a privileged brat." He said, batting an eye to me.

"Maybe I am. Now tell me." I said. Mornings make me very tolerant.

"Pacifists and Renegades. Pacifists are the group of Russian mobs finally getting their shit together, and Renegades are the terrorists. They are starting to come in action. Last night a jewellery store was robbed, three guards and a woman manager murdered, dough worth three million." he said, holding the newspaper in front of his face, covering himself as he spoke.

I looked around as soon as he stopped. Relieved, there was no-one behind us, and in front was three seats away. Perfectly personal.

"Heard about it. I have three suspects. First, entrepreneur and millionaire, Jack King. Second, actor and secret marxist, Joe Smith. Third, the face of Texas jewellery itself, Maya DeShaw." I said to him, who was in turn listening my words very carefully.

"I don't know that much, but yes they have to be involved. Their records ain't any cleaner than their past. The money they took went directly to the bank account of Italian Godfather." He said.

"Frank Loretzo." I replied.

The Italian Godfather and I have a little score to settle. Not in my wildest dreams, will I forget that name. Fucking low-life bastard!

"Commander William wants you to find about the bank from which this transactions was made, which was I suppose ten hours ago. You are the best in stealth operations after all." He finished with in a deep monotonous tune, mixed with the shrills like that of an old man.

"Ok. Anything else?" I shook my head and proceeded to facing the floor.

"And keep your feelings for Jia in control. You have been growing too close to her. Don't forget your mission. So, shall I take my leave now, Master Eren?" he said, and started to fold his newspaper back to the briefcase.

"Ok. What's your name?" I asked. I didn't know the man, I had to know for future needs.

"Alan Border." He said. 

"Fake name."  I mumbled to myself. "Later then." I looked to him and shook my head in gratitude.

He subsequently got up and started moving towards the gate of the bus.

"Well, aren't we all very good at pretending?" I asked myself.

I put the phone in my pocket after having checked the time again. Ten minutes past eight. Perfect. And the bus has already arrived at the university gates.

I walked towards the exit gate of the bus, scanned my daily pass at the scanner again and jumped down of the vehicle.

I breath in the fresh air, as i felt it expanding my chest like a balloon, my diaphragms finally extending to it's maximum, and the filth clearing from my insides. Refreshing!

"Here we go!" I said to myself and started to walk inside the campus.

"Hey Eren!" A sweet voice called me from behind.

An instant smile came across my face, as I turn around to see Natallie calling out for me.

"Hey Nat." I squealed.

She ran and jumped right onto me, locking me in a big hug. I hugged her back, smiling. After a few seconds, she let me go as I cup her cheeks.

"I am fine, how about you?" She asked.

"Good." I replied.

"Well, will you join me with Vanessa and Tina? We are doing the Prom preparation, but they are acting so arrogant and weird around the boys, it's hectic." Nat replied, sighing.

"Ok" I said as I started walking towards the building, accompanied by Nat by my side. She was shorter than me, well she still looked pretty fine by me. Her height reminded me of Jia.

"Stop thinking about Jia." I screamed to myself in my head.

"Anything wrong? You seem a little stressed." Natalie asked, bending a bit down in front of me.

"Nothing." I said, walking continuously.

"You know I can feel you. There are two weeks left though with the Prom. Until this is finished, the academy won't go back to norma. So did you decide who are you going with?" Nat asked.

"No" I replied as I looked straight down the path and didn't move my head even by an angle.

"Oh. That's fine we have allowed stag entry too. Dave asked me, I don't know if I should go with him." She said

"Go out with him."

"I was wondering if maybe yo..."Nat was almost about to speak but she was interrupted by Dave, who came right in front of us. 

"Hey babe, wanna go to class and do assignment together? We'll get some hot chocolate too." Dave said, completely shifting the topic and not making any eye contact with me. 

Nat, visibly nervous stood like an idol in front of me, not a single word other than that came out of her mouth.

"Yes. I still didn't complete the Bernoulli's derivation and Stok's law. So I will be doing it in class." She replied.

"Cool, I'm in class. Come in five minutes. Oh hey Eren. Morning." Dave said, finally acknowledging my presence and nodding to me.

"Good Morning." I replied back.

"We will talk later, okay?" Nat frowned at me and walked away. Although I have found her annoying, but this particular time was different. She didn't go, she was pulled. 

"Not my problem." I said and continued to walk forward.

Even thought she might not say, I know she is hiding something from me. It's been six months, I can literally read her by now.

After walking for a few minutes, I finally arrived at out class. The hallway to the classroom were singing the ballad of silence. Everyone was busy with Prom and their partners, probably bunking their lectures.

I entered the lecture hall, just to see Nat and Dave settling in with their laptop on, probably finishing their assignments. 

"Good for her. But I got a bad feeling about this." I spoke to myself.

My name is Eren Gracefield. I am eighteen, well, will be nineteen in two months. I live in a shared apartment with Jia. She is Twenty two. We both are something beyond friends. Who knows what it is. Whatever that is. I study in Arizona state university, my first year will be completed in four months.

And this, is my story.

_________________________________________________

Hey guys, I tried my best to write this chapter. First time addressing a genre like this.

The characters have no resemblance to anyone living or dead.

Please forgive me if anyone gets triggered/offended/upset by my language or writing skill. I am truly sorry.

Other than that, enjoy it.

Thank you,
Norman Leoborn