𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ; 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Yuri's eyebrows furrowed together, eyes still closed. All of sudden, he barely could breathe.

He felt something heavy on his face.

He reached up his hands to grab and squeeze them.

Something soft... Wait, soft?

His eyes snapped open and jolted up from his lying position, making the thing — that was on his face — fell onto his toned belly. A small 'oof' slipped from his lips.

"The sleeping beauty is finally awake."He heard a feminine voice speak, making him turn his head to the side and look at you over the headrest.

"I was suffocated!!"

"By my cat's ass? Yes, you were."You snorted and gestured to the cat with your mug of coffee, steam evaporated in the air. "Meet Lune. One of my cats."

He looks down at the said cat, who stares at him with an unamused face. Lune's jaw is wide open to let out a long yawn and did a little stretch before jumping off from him.

"You're lucky he didn't pee on your face."You added, making a loud sipping noise while the two of you didn't break the eye contact as you watch the way his eye twitched in annoyance.

"Will you stop that?"

Your eyes narrowed. "My house, my rules."

"Wait, your house?"

"Duh."

His eyes shifted around the living room. The interiors and designs of wallpaper, the warmth in the air from the heater due to the chilly atmosphere of the morning— he could say you have a good taste as it gives him a cozy feeling.

It feels like a good place to be home.

The scarlet hue returned to your figure, sitting on the wooden chair in the kitchen. A small mountain of chocolate chips was served on a plate between two plates of sandwiches.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I’m reading the newspapers, "You flatly responded to his obvious question while flapping the paper in your hands. "I was really busy yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to check the news— Holy shit, that viscount got married again?"

"You mean, Viscount Raymond? Should've seen that coming."

You silently smile at his comment. "For real."

"By the way, you look horrible."

Your smile was dropped instantly.

"Well, Mr. Briar, that's not how you compliment a woman."You scoffed and clicked your tongue, eyes trained back on the paper.

"After all, there's no way I'm sleeping, not when there's another guy in my house."

Not when there is an SSS agent in my house.

"Besides, how can I sleep with these broken ribs?"You mumbled, wincing in pain when you reached up for the Moka pot to refill your mug. Noticing this, he quickly makes his way to your side, gently taking a hold of the pot from you.

"I don't know."He shrugged lightly, pouring an amount of the brew into your mug until you told him 'stop'. "Last time, big sis knocked me out when I told her I couldn't sleep."

Mumbling a small 'thank you', you brought the mug near your mouth."How come I'm not surprised?"

"Character development, I guess."

"Whatever."You wave him off, taking another sip of the drink. "Get yourself ready and get out of my house. You reek. And I barely could get myself a wink yesterday."

"Why—?"He paused and his face twisted into shock and horror, levitating his hands up to his chest as if to cover them. His face erupted into a heavy blush.

"You didn't do anything to my body, right?!"

"Oh please."You scrunched your nose in disgust and emphasized, "Except cleaning your wounds and let your blood stain my precious couch, so no, I did not. Your welcome."

He look over your couch, though he noticed something that reflect light from underneath it.  He makes a beeline towards it and crouches down to grab it.

Your eyes widened when he show the item in horror.

"What are you going to do with this knife?!"

Oh crap, you forgot about it.

"You were right about something. I almost shave your eyebrows."Being a spy has its perks. One of them is you can easily spew a lie with a straight face.

"With a knife?"

This time, you smirked. "Should we give it a try?"

"Let's not do anything crazy, woman."

"Bummer. No wonder you are single."

And it looks like you deeply offended the officer.

"That has nothing to do with this! Besides, I'm single by choice. There's nothing wrong with that."He retorted.

"A quote from a single."

"Well, from my observation, you are also a single ."

"What a creep."

"How can that makes me a creep?"

"Right, you are an intruder. Barging into an innocent girl's apartment without any care."

"Don't make it sound dramatic. You invited me here!"

"Yes, I should have left you there—"You cut yourself off when the realization dawned upon you. A red hue slowly crept up from your neck and settled on your cheeks at the memory. An embarrassing at that. "Wait, you remember?"

"Yes. But most of it is still blurry though."He curtly answered and lifted an eyebrow,

"Hey, you look red. Are you sure you are fine?"

"Get out."

"Huh—?"

"Need me to spell the word for you?"

"But—"

"O - U as in u for you — and T!"

"Listen—"

"Get out. Get out! GET OUT!"Your mouth keeps repeating the two words as if they're a spell, head lowered down to hide your blush from being seen as you pushed him out of your apartment through the door.

Another embarrassing episode that will keep you awake in the middle of the night.

As soon as he stepped outside, the door was slammed closed.

"Wait! WAIT! My suitcase is still in there! If you are kind enough, can you— Ack!"He was knocked to the floor when the item was thrown directly into his face.

Another sound of the door being slammed close erupted.

Ignoring his throbbing head, he scrambled back to his feet. The ache in his bowel is telling him there's something wrong.

"Hey, are you really okay?"

"Just leave already..."He heard your muffled voice from behind the wooden door. The only obstacle between the two of you.

He pondered the reason and possible outcome behind your sudden change of behavior. The first second, you were insulting him and the second after... you are like this.

Worth a shot, he thought when he remembered his sister doing the same. "Are you on your period?"

"Oh my goodness, NO!"

Another pause of silence.

"I didn't hurt you in my sleep, do I?"Genuine laced in his syllables.

"No."You shook your head, an action that he couldn't see. "But your sister almost send me to another life yesterday."

"I see."He said softly. Not wanting to disturb you even more than he should, he eventually complied with your request.

"May you have a nice day, miss—Holy crap, I'm late!"

You hear the way his footsteps rushed down the hallway and eventually fades away. That's when you exhaled a relief sigh.

"So he was awake?"Thud. Your forehead was pressed against the door, rethinking your life decision of crying in front of the stranger.

"Darn it, y/n."

───────────────

"I thought you told me you visit your sister to congratulate on her marriage, not underground boxing fights."His colleague greeted him before glancing over his wristwatch.

"And you are later than usual. Did something happen yesterday?"

Yuri close his locker and shook his head, "No, I couldn't recall anything. Except for—"

"For?"

Your smile. He remembered your smile. Beneath the moonlight, the sight of your sweet, dazzling, gorgeous smile is driving him insane. Your smile that he would kill to see it aga—

His face erupted into flame, slamming his forehead into his locker as hard as he could multiple times to knock the picture of yours out of his mind.

"You must stay focused, Yuri!"

"Perhaps you caused those injuries yourself."The blonde commented, ignoring his second lieutenant's weird behavior, and walk over to his own locker instead.