Limerence Turns Ugly

Chapter 18

        Gwen stared at George with opened mouth as he walked towards the living room with his head down. "Steve?" She stared at him in disbelief.
        George lifted his gaze on her, "Gwen?" he breathed. "You are Gwen!" He picked up his pace and rushed to wards her.
        They hugged each other for a long moment before they let go of each other, "I thought I would never see you again!" Gwen said with a shaking voice as tears started to pour out from her eyes.
        "Steve?" Rabbit asked in confusion.
        "He..is he....?" Squirrel looked at Gwen then at Rabbit. Seeing Rabbit in confusion, she tried to retell Gwen's story to her for she was thinking that George might be Gwen's brother.

        "Rabbit, Squirrel, would you mind.....I have something to discuss with Gwen," George said with serious tone but there was a hint of excitement in his tone.
        "Oh, no. We'll wait for you outside," They knew it's better because Gwen and George had just reunited after almost seven years, so they chatted to fill their boredom.
        "I don't really understand what he's talking about," Squirrel said, "I mean his plan,"
        "Which part of it?"
        "I don't know if he's just saying for fun or really wants me to be close with the boss,"
        "I think it's for real,"
        'Poor me...." Squirrel sighed.
        "Be careful alright? It's very dangerous,we don't know what they'll do if they find out about this plan," Rabbit placed her hand on Squirrel's shoulder with a worried glance.
        "Don't worry, I'll be fine, plus you and George will protect me," Squirrel tried to reassure her although she's the one who's walking into trouble.

        After a while George open the door and invited them into the house again, "Sorry for asking you guys to wait for us outside,"
        "It's lucky this is Paris, if not we'll not going to stand the heat," Rabbit said with a flat tone.
        "Oh, I forgot you guys come from Malaysia," George giggled.
        "Squirrel, he's my brother," Gwen said with tears in her eyes, the tears of joy, "The one I told you about,"
        "The one you mention before? The brave one?" Squirrel wans't surprise as she thought her reaction about it just now. Now, she thought, I can trust this guy.
        "Yes, he is," Gwen said with a huge smile on her face.
        "So which is your real name? Steve or George?" Rabbit asked.
        "Erm, Steve's my birth name, but now I go by the name George" George then explained to us that the boss wanted him to turn over a new person after joining the gang, so they started with giving him a new name.
        "So what should we call you now?" Squirrel asked as Rabbit nodded.
        "George." he answered.
        "But what about you birth name?" Gwen asked with a hint of sadness in her tone. But George just smiled awkwardly.
        Gwen sighed, "Although I'm really glad to be able to reunite with my brother and I really want to celebrate it, but now, the rescue plan is much more important for all of us here,"
        "How about my plan just now?" George started to explain it to Gwen.

        After explaining the plan to Gwen in detail, George brought some drinks from the kitchen  since they were all getting thirsty.
        "So...what am I going to be?" Gwen asked.
        "Just be yourself, a police," George said and took another sip of his drink.
        "That means I won't be of any help?" Gwen looked at her own glass of drink dolefully.
        "At the moment, no. But when it comes to the part of catching the criminals, you're then main character."
        "But I want to help you now--"
        "Listen, I can't lost you again!" George said anxiously and frowned. 
        "Alright then." Gwen sighed.

        George shifted his focus on to Rabbit and called her.
        "What? Be the second 'Girlfriend' of the boss?" Rabbit joked.
        "Of course not, what did we said earlier? You're pretending to be my girlfriend." George said with a grin on his face.
        "That's...not what I was expecting, I thought you were joking about that," Rabbit objected as she thought about being intimate with a guy she only knew for days.
        "Hey, want to trade places with me?" Squirrel asked eagerly, but Rabbit quickly said that she loves her role a lot and wouldn't trade places with her even if she treat her for the whole month while acting like she's looking at George with a loving look in her eyes.
        "Talking about my role, it's not fair," Squirrel started to complain about this unfair treat.
        "You're just acting," George reassured her.
        "Easy for you to say. I don't even want to act as the boss's 'Girlfriend'. It's so disgusting," Squirrel carried on her mumbling.
        "Squirrel, you'll have to put up with it at the mean time, please?" George coaxed her.
        "Okay, okay. I just hope that the plan will go fast and smooth, so I don't need to be with him so long...yuck," Squirrel wrinkled her nose. Everyone in the room laughed at Squirrel.

        "So you lied to me huh? A friend named Gwen," Rabbit asked George when they were Squirrel and was helping Gwen to prepare for their dinner in the kitchen.
        "No, I didn't mean to, it's just a disguise,"
        "Disguise? Acting like a good man and helping two new friends that he barely know to rescue their friends from his own gang?" Rabbit acted like she's really mad at him but she couldn't hold back her laughter when she saw him panicking to search for an explanation. George smiled a little when he realized she wasn't mad at him for real, but then his smile disappeared again.
        "What's wrong? I didn't mean to-" Rabbit said in shock.
        "Nothing, it's just that, I'm scare of losing her again.This plan....I hate to involve her" George covered his face with his palm and sighed.
        "George, she's a police and your sister. You got to have some faith in her." Rabbit reached out to pull his hand away from his face. "She's not the same girl who you protected that night, she's much stronger now,"
        George lowered his eyes to floor and was silence for a moment. Just when Rabbit thought he wasn't going to give her a response he said okay under his breath, just enough for her to hear.

        "Hey, what's that smell?" Rabbit changed the subject suddenly when an aroma from the kitchen rushed into her nostril, "I wonder what Gwen and Squirrel are cooking for us. Let's go find out." Rabbit stood up and gave George a light nudge on the shoulder. "Cheer up, don't worry so much, everything's going to be okay." she smiled, hoping he would stop recalling that fateful night and blame himself for not trying harder to contact his sister.
        George look up at Rabbit "How are you so optimistic at times like this?"
        "I don't know, but my friends said that too. Come on, give me a smile will you?" Seeing him not moving from his spot, she bend down a little and tried to tickle him.
        "O...okay, okay. Stop it, it tickles," George laughed and surrendered to Rabbit.

        When they were having their dinner at the dinning table, Rabbit said with her mouthful of nourishment, "Gwen, you're an amazing cook." Squirrel agreed with her with a  thumbs up as she couldn't speak with all the food in her mouth.
        "Thanks. You got to try Steve's cooking too some day," Gwen paused for awhile and corrected herself, "I mean George. Sorry, old habits die hard," Gwen faked a laugh and chucked a meatball into her mouth.
        "George cook??" Rabbit and Squirrel looked at George in amazement. And you can see a bunch of chewed food inside Squirrel's opening mouth.
        "Is there any problem?" George put down his fork and cocked his head to a side with a bit of annoyance in his voice..
        "Oh, we forgot men here are good cooks," Rabbit said and Squirrel nodded along. She smiled at Gwen and continued, "But can't deny it, the food you cooked are delicious,"
        "What about me?" Squirrel chimed in.
        "Do burn food taste good to you?" Rabbit mocked.
        "Hey, I didn't burn everything I've cook, okay!" Squirrel dissented.
        "ALMOST everything," Rabbit chuckled. "Though you did improve from burning everything to burning 80% of it." Rabbit snickered while Squirrel tried to stain her arm with mustard.

        After dinner, they were all sitting in the living watching George share some useful tips with Squirrel on how to be closed with the boss. Squirrel sighed and said, "I hate this role even more now,"
        "Squirrel, the boss also quite handsome right? " Rabbit teased and Squirrel acted like she was going to vomit all over the place.
        "I hate the boss." Gwen said in agreement. "He's horrible!"
        "He's actually not that bad" George said, "I swear!" he defended himself when she saw them looking at him dubiously.
        "Did you have Stockholm syndrome? He caught you!" Gwen protested.
        "That's actually Prascale's doing"
        "Prascale? Why?" Rabbit and Squirrel said in unison. "and why did the boss want to listen to her?" Squirrel said with bewilderment.
        "There's actually a secret I have to tell you guys." George started, "our boss is actually---"

Suddenly, a gangster pushed the door open with might and came in pointing at George with an accusing finger when he saw George with them, "You TRAITOR!!!"