James set his bottle of water at his bedside table before getting into bed and pulling his sheets over himself. He could never sleep without a bottle of water by his side.

He lay on his back and stared at the plain white ceiling. Today's interrogation was a huge step forward in comparison to the past few days.

It was a reminder that Paul was breakable. Every criminal, no matter how powerful, always has a crack in their wall that ends up being their downfall. James just had to find that wall.

On his drive home, he had been thinking of what that crack could be. He could feel that Paul Winfield wasn't invincible and that he just needed to work harder to find that weakness.

James hadn't even been able to eat when he got home. His mind was fixed on the case, especially seeing that he could break through Paul. He had gone straight to the gym in his apartment and had worked out till he felt his racing mind slow down.

He was now in bed thinking more clearly and still couldn't figure out what to do. He had stayed past time in the office, going through files and records, and still found nothing.

James decided he'd call someone with better skills in digging stuff up. Someone like Newt. Newt specifically, to be exact.

So, he got up and went to call him. James always leaves his phone in the living room to help him sleep better and not waste time scrolling. It's a habit he picked up and was now very used to.

The phone rang only twice before Newt picked up.

"Hello. This is Newt."

"Yeah. Hey, Newt. James here."

"I know." He replied curtly, but James did not have time to worry about why he responded that way.

"Sorry to disturb you by this time, but I really need you to dig deeper into Paul Winfield. Any loose end that can lead us somewhere. Just keep digging for anything you can find."

"Didn't we already do a lot of that? This was when we found out that we couldn't really find much on him cos he's him." Newt replied, still sour.

This time,  James caught onto his sourness and realised it must be because he woke him up or something.

"I know, but I think we should go again. Just in case."

"By 'we', you mean 'me' but okay."

"Yeah. Sorry again for waking you up. Good night."

"Yeah, night," Newt replied as he slammed his phone after the call ended.

.

.

Men like James were the kind of men Newt had always hated right from his school days. Men that had it all together but seemed oblivious to that fact. Their seeming humility seemed to draw even more people into them.

Newt knew it was insane to even hate on someone like James, given his background and circumstances, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't really about James. It was simply because of what it triggered in Newt, the insecurities.

When he saw men like James, it reminded him of what he lacked as a male. It felt like his insecurities were screaming in his face.

It brought him back to the days he was bullied as a young boy. Memories that never seemed to go away no matter how old he grew. Memories of him being bullied or was it "punished" for being half a man or not man enough.

He wasn't conventionally attractive. He was socially awkward, and he was a huge nerd who couldn't help his love for nerdy stuff.

And then there were men like James who weren't the bullies but were guys who earned everyone's respect without trying, liked by everyone, and always seemed to succeed at whatever it was they did. Newt always resented them.

When James walked into that office, Newt immediately knew. He had the air of someone who had everything figured out and was always calm and collected. All eyes were on him, but he seemed oblivious. He represented everything Newt could only dream of being.

Newt had had a crush on Charlotte for the longest time. He was genuinely heartbroken to find out about the douche of a boyfriend she was with. He wished she could see herself with his eyes. See how incredibly gorgeous she was.

But she wouldn't. She would never even spare a glance at someone like him. She was way above his league, so much so that she seemed genuinely offended when he first mentioned the fact that he liked her.

She immediately made it clear that he was a friend and nothing more, and nothing about that would be changing soon. He respected her decision but was and still is incredibly heartbroken by it. He still held out hope that one day, she'd see him. He was ready to give her the world.

Then, James walked in that day, and Newt knew it would never happen. Charlotte had had her eyes on James since the first day he walked in, but she didn't realise it. It was hard not to, to be honest. James caught attention wherever he went.

Newt saw the way she acted around him. Her guard was always a bit down when he was around. Newt knew Charlotte had feelings for James way before Charlotte knew.

Newt also knew when Charlotte realised she had feelings for James. He saw James teasing her outside her dad's office and how she blushed.

What was terrible was that it was obvious that James didn't notice anything. It was also obvious that Charlotte was falling harder as each day passed.

This was why Newt knew that life was unfair. He spent his time hoping she'd for once notice him. Yet, James got all this attention without trying for it and didn't even notice it.

Newt spent so much time thinking about how well he'd treat Charlotte if she agreed to be his woman. It physically hurt him to see her not being treated well. Especially at the hands of her ex, he wanted to murder that guy.

If only. If only she'd look his way.