Kyle studied Mark who was busy with a phone call not soon after being seated on a brown leather couch inside his study. Mark was in his late forties with a good physique though slightly on the chubby side, a few white strands of hair scattered across his dark brown hair.

"Sorry for that" Mark apologized.

"It's fine" Kyle replied.

"You look pretty young. How old are you?" Mark asked.

"Twenty two. I assure you Mr. Olson my age will not affect my performance" Kyle answered.

"I'm sorry. By all means I don't doubt your capabilities. I trust Jacob's judgement in choosing you for this task" Mark justified. "Call me Mark" he added. Kyle somehow reminded him of his brother.

"OK, since I will be working here..." Kyle started to say but was interrupted by Mark.

"About that I want to make some things clear" Mark declared.

"I thought you already sorted things out with Jacob!" Kyle exclaimed.

"I did I did" Mark retorted, shifting in his seat.

Kyle sensed that Mark was hiding something, something he didn't mention to Jacob. He didn't like surprises. Sighing internally he displayed a slight look of suspicion demanding an explanation.

"You see I...um...I haven't exactly found out about the hidden micro chip" Mark hesitated.

"You haven't. Then who?" Kyle demanded, eyes squinted making Mark slightly uneasy.

"Vanessa my sister" Mark answered, smiling nervously.

Kyle frowned then sighed.Why is he only telling me this now. I guess there is no point in arguing at this point. "I hope you know the risks you and your sister will be taking with this."

"We do" Mark assured, smiling reassuringly.

"OK, anything else I need to know? Are there other family members who know about this?" Kyle asked.

"No, only me and my sister. Nina, my daughter thinks you are here to help with my home office network security since I plan to work most of the week here than in my office. My wife died few years ago. Vanessa recently got divorced, no kids. She suddenly decided to stay here for a while so just the three of us are in the house" Mark assured.

It seems his cover up plan was ruined by his sister's stubbornness of being a VIP spectator, Kyle figured. "Have you briefed Vanessa about me?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, don't worry she is good at keeping secrets" Mark replied. "I assure you she will not interfere with your work" Mark added sensing Kyle's uneasiness.

Kyle nodded. "Let's not waste time, show me the micro chip".

The meeting continued with Mark showing the micro chip and Kyle doing a quick inspection of it. He eventually did an estimate of how much time it would take him to decode it and told Mark. Mark didn't object and left him to work. Vanessa peered in as Mark was about to leave  the study.

She seemed to be a sweet person with kind blue eyes like her brother. She asked Kyle if he wanted to eat dinner, he declined assuring them he had already eaten and would help himself later on in the night.

Later on around 1 a.m. Kyle decided to take a break and helped himself with the leftover Lasagna that Vanessa tried to coax him into eating earlier.

While eating he heard footsteps coming from the second level of the house. Soon he heard somebody descending the stairs.

Nina could not sleep. Occupied with the thought of her term paper's deadline approaching. She was where she wanted to be in terms of her share of work unlike Ashley one of her group mates who had a habit of procrastinating.

Like most of the time when she found it hard to fall asleep she decided to have a glass of milk and catch up with her favorite TV series *NCIS. With earphones plugged in to her phone she descended the stairs while listening to the series intro song. She used the phone screen as a makeshift flashlight.

Startled, Nina dropped her glass of milk when she noticed movement in the room. On the left side of the kitchen she saw a silhouette of a person standing up from their round dinning table. The table was near to their trio bi-fold door that overlooked the swimming pool. The moonlight cast enough light for her to figure that the person was not her dad nor her aunt.

"Who are you?" Nina blurted out with fear in her voice, tearing off her earphones.

Kyle stood motionless not to frighten her more. "I work for your father," Kyle replied. "Sorry to have scared you," he added.

"What are you doing here?" Nina demanded, relaxing slightly as the stranger was keeping his distance.

Kyle realized how ridiculous his situation was. No sane person ate in the dark especially in their workplace in this case in Mark's house. He was certain he would look suspicious if not absurd to her when she realized he was eating lasagna in darkness. "Um...resting my eyes," Kyle mumbled.

"What?" Nina asked not sure what to make of his answer.

"I mean I was taking a break from my work. I was resting my eyes...from staring at the computer screen for too long," Kyle explained.

"I thought you went home...I mean I didn't expect you here so late" Nina said, she remembered the black motorbike parked on their driveway when she arrived a few hours ago and her father informing her about a tech guy who would be working a couple of days in his study, something about network security.

"I'm in a tight schedule time wise. I'm sorry for the inconvenience," Kyle reasoned.

Nina found the stranger polite with his calm voice, she found herself not frightened or threatened by his sudden appearance.  She wanted to see his face as she was not comfortable talking to someone new without knowing what they look like. She opted to turn on the light but regretted her rash action as soon as her bare foot stepped on a piece of broken glass.

"Aw..." She hissed in pain, stopping and lifting her left foot.

"Hold still. I'll turn on the light" Kyle said, he suddenly realized that she couldn't see him clearly in the dark.

There were a few drops of blood on the polished wooden floor along with spilled milk and broken glass. Kyle took Nina's phone and placed it on the counter then he gave his hand for support. Nina took his hand and balanced herself. She lifted her left foot in front of her and inspected the cut. There was 3/4 of an inch of broken glass sticking out from the ball of her foot. She pulled out the piece of glass then a few more drops of blood dripped to the floor.

As soon as the glass was out Nina straightened up and placed her foot on the ground putting weight only on the heel of her injured foot as she proceeded to take a step with her right foot. Her balance was unsteady, spilled milk and scattered pieces of glass made her foot spacing wider causing her to lose her balance.

Before Nina could find herself on the floor Kyle lifted her between his arms. "That was reckless of you," Kyle scolded her as he carried her to the chair that he was sitting on.   

Before she could protest he put her down to sit then went to grab a few sheets of paper towel. He knelt and applied pressure with the paper towel. "Where do you keep your medical kit?" he asked, inspecting her other foot for cuts.

Thrown off guard from being carried suddenly. "Uh-um third drawer on the counter island," She answered.

Only now she realized how good looking the guy in front of her was as she studied his features while he worked on treating the cut on her foot.

She found herself looking at his toned body. No wonder it was easy for him to carry me, she thought. Her gazed shifted to his jaw line then to his slender lips, nose. His thick lashes caught her attention as it matched the darkness of his messy jet black hair.

Nina started to blush as she realized what she was wearing. She was bra less with only a light gray spaghetti strap crop top and a matching color high waist pleated short.

"There you go" Kyle said, placing her foot on the seat of another chair.

Kyle noticed her blushed cheeks. "Are you alright?" Kyle asked.

"um...yeah" Nina said, with cheeks blushing more. She didn't even feel the pain when he poured disinfectant on the cut.

Kyle studied her noticing the difference on how she looked with lights on, colors added life to the once familiar feature of shades of gray. She had soft facial features with a natural soft pink thin lips that contrasted against her flawless pale skin. Her cheekbones complimented her heart shaped face as her shoulder-length dark brown wavy hair framed her face perfectly.

What mesmerized him was her unique eye color. She had hazel green color surrounding her pupil and ocean blue extending to the rest of her iris. Exotic beauty he admitted to himself knowing even his old self would agree with those exquisite features not basing his judgment on his gender but based on general standards of beauty. 

Kyle stared a moment too long making her blush even more, finding her cuter by the moment. He had to tear away his eyes from gazing at her because he didn't want to intimidate her. He stood up abruptly and walked away.

"Where do you keep your broom?" Kyle asked, looking around avoiding looking at her.

"Oh, you don't need to. I will clean that up" Nina replied, standing up.

"Sit down. It's not a big deal" Kyle objected, opening what looked like a utility closet and finding a broom and a mop.

Kyle looked back at her still standing. "Give it up you're bare foot" he said. while sweeping the floor he avoided looking at her again as he realized he made her conscious of what she was wearing. He could feel her blush even more.

"You should go back to sleep. I know it's just a small cut but you need to rest your foot" he added not wanting to have an awkward conversation going on. He knew how she felt based from his past life experience. So, he didn't allow himself to admire her body nor fantasize about it.

"O-OK, good night," she said with a bit of hesitation. "Uh thank you" She added before leaving.

"You're welcome" Kyle replied, looking at the pile of broken glass he gathered in one side.

Nina rushed to her room ignoring the slight twinge in her foot she however failed to notice the lack of phone in her hand. Looking in a mirror, she huffed realizing how blushed her cheeks were and how inappropriate her outfit was, her hair was messy too making her insecure of her appearance and ashamed of herself.

In bed, she buried her face in a pillow trying to shake off the replay that had been going on again and again in her head. "Those eyes," she uttered, remembering those amber eyes of his. She had seen amber eyes before but his was unique with that yellowish-golden tint.

Nina was not the type to be head over heels nor speechless when talking to good-looking guys. She simply didn't care for outer appearance but she was perplexed on how she acted earlier. She reasoned that she was surprised by his sudden appearance, and she was under dressed. Definitely, not in her best form when interacting with the opposite sex.

What time is it? She asked herself, fumbling blindly through her bed cover. Great! I left it on the counter.

She sighed as she gave up and went to sleep after debating for some time on whether it was a good idea to sneak down and fetch it. She sure was not going down under dressed again but she didn't want to run into him by chance and he would surely notice that she was insecure about her outfit.

Kyle made a mental note never to eat in the dark while in Mark's house. He was lucky that she didn't notice the half-eaten plate of lasagna or that she was too occupied to be suspicious of him he thought to himself.

Meeting her in a few hours again will sure be awkward. Kyle sighed as he finished up his lasagna.

Occupied with his thoughts, he only then noticed her phone playing an *NCIS series as he was about to wash his plate. He logged out of the app and left her phone as it is not daring to invade her privacy.

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Author's notes:

Thanks for reading and your support.

*NCIS is an American action police procedural television series, revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service

What do you think of Nina?

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