"My partner, Brian, is a few blocks away. He should have known right away when the signal on the cam was cut off." Karishma explains and extends her legs out in the same posture as Haseena. She glances and sees some worries flying out from Haseena's eyes into the dark. She decides to scoot a little bit closer; enough for their skins to touch and her hand to make its way on Haseena's thigh. "Don't worry. Brian knows what to do."
Haseena glances down at the hand that places on her thigh. She knows that it is only for comforting her but it makes her heart go wilder than it should be. The sound of her heart beating is so loud that she begins to worry that Karishma would be able to hear it and worse, question it. "Hmm. How long have you been partners?"
"About three months."
"Three months?" Haseena repeats with a tiny chuckle. "It always feels funny to me that you 'cops' are so ready to take bullets for each other although you barely know each other. And you said I'm too trusting."
Karishma removes her hand from Haseena's thigh and intertwines it with another on her own lap. "We don't really have a choice, do we?"
"Why did you become a cop?" Haseena asks; not just to kill the silence but to fill in the blanks of her curiosity.
"I don't know." Karishma looks down at her hands and mumbles. "I happened to pass the exams I guess. Why did you become an actress?"
"Well, I happened to pass the exams." Haseena's answer gets both of them to giggle.
"You've read my file, haven't you? It wouldn't be hard for your dad to pass it over." Karishma asks out of the blue without really looking at her to demand the answer. She doesn't mind if Haseena chooses to dodge the question and changes the subject or even lie about it. She doesn't mind because that was exactly what she did. "You look at me differently. Like you've come to know about something that... I don't know... make you feel so sympathy towards me. Don't though."
Haseena looks at Karishma and wishes she could see her eyes clearer than this. She needs to know if they are mad or they are sad. She needs to know what would be the words to say. "I don't."
"Miss." The familiar voice comes through the elevator speaker after the static sound.
"Brian Park with the LAPD."
Karishma quickly gets up on her feet and presses the button on the panel to respond to her partner. "Ah, yes, officer."
"I'm with the building maintenance. LAFD is on their way and they are well informed of your situation. Hang in there. We'll get you out." Brian makes his words cryptic for all others but not to his partner.
"ETA? I mean... When will they arrive?" Karishma clears her throat and hears a bit of laughter coming from her only company in this unfortunate event.
"Five min -" Brian tries to respond as the call is cut off again.
"I don't think you'll do a very good job at a real undercover job, detective. You'll probably just expose your partner in two seconds." Haseena makes her remark and starts tying her long hair back as the area begins to take a toll on the weather. With her one available hand, she digs into her shoulder handbag for some rubber bands or hair ties or anything.
When seeing that Haseena is struggling, Karishma gives her a hand. She squats down and helps her find the rubber band that plays the undercover part better than her. "Yeah. Your boyfriend is also suspecting that I'm not your assistant.'
"My boyfriend?" Haseena takes the rubber band from Karishma and makes it evident that she is not such a fan of the word. "So now, both of you are suspecting one another? What a plot."
Chapter 5
Start from the beginning
