Car is our second home, isn't it? While it fulfills the need of comfortable transportation, it contains all our essentials. From moisturizers to perfumes, from cup holders to an extra pair of shoes just incase those heels hurt. Love felt the connection right here right now, while she listened to the her favorite playlist on the car stereo system as she drove through the night on the long, curvy, mountain road with it's ups and downs.

The laughing gas was refilled in the Z-watch while she visited Zee a day before. Everything was set for the next case. The research was complete, the emails were read, all the preparations were made. And now she just needed to observe her next target when she'd reach the town. Observation is a key tool in the way we act. What we want, or expect, how we act, what we do, everything. Observation plays a very important role in our intellect as well, that is, if you observe the correct things with the right approach.

As she rolled in a dinner to have a few bites before the morning sun, she noticed a guy sitting in the right corner of the not so dungy little dinner. As he looked up from his table, Love saw his deep dark blue eyes and brown smooth hair. She hadn't seen eyes as beautiful as his ever. She forgot where she was going and as a result fumbled on the janitors mop. 

"I'm sorry," Love said as the janitor helped her up. The old man was a bundle of joy who ensured Love wasn't hurt. "Are you okay young lady?" 

"Yes, thank you," she said as she returned the smile. Holding herself together she noticed how all the people in the dinner had paused their activities for a second to watch her. She didn't look in the blue eyes again, but she knew he already was looking at her. 

Placing the order, the chair of the table at the window was taken by her, while she waited for her cheeseburger. Once she was over with the dinner, she walked in the direction of the washroom. 

The guy didn't look at her now, neither did Love, all she knew was he was eating his meal, not caring to know what, as she felt awkward looking at him again. But when she couldn't resist herself from knowing him, she turned her footsteps in the direction of his chair, rather than the washroom and stopped right when she reached his table. The guy was so engrossed in his hamburger, that he refused to look up. Giving up all hoped of him starting the conversation, Love knew she'll had to initiate. 

"Hi, excuse me" she said earning his look at her, "Is this seat taken?" she asked.

"No," he said as he scrutinized her. "Would you like to sit?" He asked after giving her a good smile. 

"Yes, thank you," Love said.

"I'm Joshua, and you are?" He asked.

"Love," she said.

"Quite a name," he commented. "So Love, you aren't a local, so where are you from?"

"How'd you know that?" she asked.

"This is a small town, people pretty much know each other," he explained.

"I'm from New York," she said.

"Wow, that's nice" he said, "So how's the new town treating you?" 

"It hasn't treated me yet," she said.

He smiled at that. The cute little peachy smile. The chocolate peachy smile. And right there in the moment Love knew what she wanted. A moment for herself. Just to live in the present without thinking of the future, or the past. So she switched off her mind reading and went with the flow. 

"Then let it treat you right," he said with that smile.

"I'd love that," she said.

"So? My place or your?" He asked.

Love raised her eyebrows at that. 

"Mine it is then," he said.

The two of them stepped in Love's car, and while Love drove, Joshua gave her the directions. He lived in an apartment in a ten storey building. With the click of the lock being open, Joshua opened the door for Love. 

"This is a nice place," she said looking at the dark grey heavy curtains in the drawing room. 

"Thanks," he said pouring her wine in a glass. 

"Where's the washroom?" she asked and he pointed in a direction. 

This was the first time Love was with a boy without a case. She hadn't been a normal girl in years now, after what ha happened. But forgetting it for the night, she wanted to make the most of all the time she had with Joshua. So stepping in the washroom, which she hadn't visited earlier in the dinner due to obvious reasons, she looked in the mirror after peeing, while she washed her hands. The shine in her eyes was different, different than the other days. Once in a while she knew she had to feel alive. And this right here was her moment. So she looked into her eyes one last time, to convince herself that live had to be lived. But instead of looking at herself now, she noticed something on the ceiling from the reflection in the mirror. There was a little gap in the two blocks. Not wanting to give her gut feeling the satisfaction, she tried to ignore it thinking of it as a normal household chore. So she unlocked the door and was about to step out of the washroom when her confidence gave in. What ever it was had to be checked. Because something didn't seem right. 

So stepping on the closed lid of the pot, she tried to push the blocks to see if they'd come out, but when it didn't, she tried to push hard, by stepping up on the back of the pot now. As her foot slipped from the top, the flush was pushed hard. She somehow balanced herself on the bathroom wall, just in time to be saved from the great fall. As she looked up now, the blocks had moved back, opening up like a secret door to the attic. 

"Seriously?"

As she popped her head through the blocks, she moved her hands up, enough to push her body up through the little rectangular hole. The place was dark and smelled of dead rats. She pressed a little button on the Z-watch which illuminated the room. As she smiled at the little device Zee had made, she didn't realize she stood above the pool of blood. Something this disgusting was a new low to be seen be Love as well. 

"I can't say I haven't seem all now," she said to herself, as she recovered from the initial shock. Trying to find the source of the pool, she moved in the direction the blood had flown from. She came across white shower plastic material curtains and as she prepared herself to look what stood behind it, someone drew her in his chest. 

"I didn't know you were this eager," he whispered in her ear, rising goosebumps from her core to the skin. Even though she might ha t deal with a psychopath killer, she was attracted to him, and the closeness she felt now, reminder her of the change of fear from comfort she had felt that time. That one time which changed her life.  

"You are so dead," Love whispered leaning back on his chest, right before she pushed her hips out with a jerk, freeing herself from the little scum of a dirt bag. 

As Joshua rushed at her with the intention of attacking her, she sighed, rolled her eyes and gripped his neck right in time, to lock in between her left arm and his waist, making him bend down as he screamed in pain. And as much as Love wanted to twist the life out of him, she wanted to know who he was. So taking out the serum from her back pocket she injected it on the nerve of his arm which held her arm supporting his neck.

Next Joshua rose to find himself tied to the hospital bed behind the curtain. 

"So this pleasures you?" Love asked. Joshua looked at her only to find her bending on the bed as her arm supported her chin.  She smiled at him, but stopped instantly realizing that first looks can be deceiving. Getting up from the stool, she walked around his bed towards the little trolley which held the surgeon's instruments. 

"You know, I really," she paused picking up the anesthesia injection and looking at it in awe, she continued, "really liked you."

"Like after so many years, I finally decided to live, for once," she said keeping the injection back on the trolley top. "But those blur eyes and smooth hair was a hoax," she said looking deep in his eyes, still not mind reading him. "Just like love, it was a hoax," she said. 

"And you see the irony? My name is a hoax, in itself," she sighed.

As she moved back at the trolley, Joshua shrieked through the little cloth tied around his mouth separating his upper and lower jaw. 

"Oh don't worry, I won't kill you," Love said as she moved out of the curtains leaving him alone tied up, with his thoughts and sins. 

"Now remember the people who screamed right where you are," she said as she moved towards the same rectangular hole. "Because you've got a lot of time."

Sliding her sleek yet curvy body down the ceiling she placed her foot on the top of the pot. Pushing the flush back up, she taped it. And while she moved out of the parking lot in her home cum car, she called the cops informing them of mysterious voices from the penthouse.

Things have to be looked after, after all...