Submerged

Chapter 7: Five Golden Rings

As Cole continues to drive home, she thinks about her conversation with Harry. Still, Cole couldn't believe what he said to her.

Harry Randall wants to go out with me? she thought.

Despite her lack of dating experience, Cole cares for her clients, especially her ex-boyfriend, Benjamin Hamilton; their relationship wasn't strained or complex, unlike most couples.

Their relationship was happy, almost romantic. Since the moment Ben came into Cole's life, Willow became more than happy to accept their blessing.

Ben is kind, loyal, honest, and intelligent. During their dating period, he never lays a hand on Cole, pressures her for sex, or even cheats on her.

They continue dating, until they broke up in the beginning of their college year; they didn't support long distance relationship.

During Cole's first year of Princeton, a Frat boy was murdered as well as a young college girl. The minute she follows the clues, the minute she ended up gagging fire smoke, rescuing the killer and her snooty classmate, Rebecca.

After staying in the hospital for three weeks, Ben claims his love for Cole and promises that they will be together.

But as soon as the couple graduated college with a criminology degree, they suddenly broke apart. Cole and Ben didn't know why they split: it just happened.

Cole loves Ben more than anything in the world, but she was able to move on and find someone else. Maybe Cole should go out with Harry, and besides, Ben is accepting and supportive to any guy she said dates as long if he's the same age as her.

As Nicole parks the Suburu in front of the garage door, Ben comes  walking on the pavement, holding some type of white package.

"Harry is a nice client," he says, showing Cole the package.

Cole nodded.

"Harry came to me while I was walking out of the hospital." she explained.

"What were you doing in the hospital?" Ben asked curiously.

Cole gave him a small smile then twirls her hair.

Her ex-boyfriend noted her movements as his lips turned into a Cheshire smile.

"Nevermind," Ben replies. "Since the party starts in the evening, let's gather the details."

Cole nodded as she takes her knapsack and follows Ben to his house. Stepping in front of the door, he reaches into his jeans pocket for the house keys and unlocks it.

Meanwhile, Cole steps inside the house and gazes at the room: it has a wooden floor, very old furniture, and dingy walls.

In the living room, Cole notices that the green couches had old coffee stains, a small television, and dust caked on the floorboards.

Every time her boots steps on the floor, she could hear loud creaks and moans. The kitchen looked small, almost as if the huge rooms are crushing it.

It had a white refrigerator, placid black and white tiles, and a small table. The black kitchen counter has heavy clutter.

Ben takes Cole by the hand and leads her to his bedroom. Their sneakers bang against the fragile stairs as the boy opens his bedroom door.

It had a small bed pushed against the right corner. Mystery and crime novels are tucked inside the wooden bookshelf.

Cole smiles to herself when she sees a small desk, closet, and drawer.

"This room hasn't changed a bit," she laughed.

"Of course it didn't," Ben replied. His right index finger smooths across the light blue painted wall.

Cole peers at the wallpapers of Albert Einstein, Alan Turing, and Lewis Caroll sticking above the desk.

Ben peels the rug off of the floor and under it lies a hidden door with a rusted metal latch, instead of a knob.

As soon as he opens it, he leaps inside the dark void. The next thing Cole heard, is the scuffling of Ben's shoes.

Down the rabbit hole, Cole thinks. Taking a deep breath, she jumps inside the square hole and expects to land on the hard floor.

However, she didn't: she appears in Benjamin's arms.

"Um," Cole began to say. She trails off when she stares into Ben's eyes.

Despite the different colors, his eyes seem to be twinkling like stars. Crimson grows on her cheeks as Ben inches his face towards Cole.

Half of her expected him to kiss her while the other wanted Ben to drop her.

"You smell like gingerbread cookies," Ben noted.

The redness on her cheeks evaporated quickly as the English speaking boy turns on the lights.

"Do you want me to put you down, Beautiful?" he asked.

For an instant, Cole's heart skipped a beat.

"What?" she asked.

"Cole, my arms are getting really tired." Ben grunted.

The young woman snaps back in reality as he gives her a confused look.

"May I please put you down?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," Cole stuttered. "Sorry."

Ben places her down gently and hurries to his computer desk.

The concrete walls had gray paint, Marvel posters, and literary quotes on the walls.

Two bookshelves sat next to the small chemistry lab as different shaped bottles filled with colorful formulas.

In front of the duo stood an old computer table with papers stacking on each side of the brown surface.

"While you were in the hospital," Ben began, typing on his keyboard.

"I have pulled up something you need to see."

The computer keys continued to clack as Ben moves the mouse with his right hand and enlarges a window on the blue computer screen.

On it, is a photo of a young, bald African-American man giving Colonel Jones a sheet of paper. The mysterious man had a dark suit, black tie, and dark tinted glasses.

Five golden rings lingered around each of his fingers as Cole caught a tiny detail on the paper.

Classified? She read.

"According to the file he's holding," Ben began. "It contains the president's secrets as well as the location of his bedroom."

"Why?" Cole asked.

Ben shrugged his shoulders as he zooms the gentleman's face.

"This guy is one of FBI's Most Wanted for eleven years." he explained.

"He has been charged for money laundry, insurance fraud, and embezzlement."

"That's strange," Cole murmured.

"Why would a strict, high ranking officer in the United States, talk to a criminal?"