RENAISSANCE

20. Ignorance

"I WARNED YOU!"

"And I already told you that we had no other choice!" replied Mike, completely jaded.

It had been half an hour since he and Suzan had arrived here, and they had been arguing about the same subject ever since they walked in the door.

"That would have saved us from losing men," added the brunette.

"We couldn't stay there forever, we had to go back, okay? Sacrificing yourself was part of the deal for these guys."

He was slumped on the couch, completely exhausted from their trip from the looks of it. His shirt was unbuttoned a few notches and his blond hair was tousled, for the first time since I had known him.

Suzan was standing in front of him, pacing back and forth gesticulating.

"We don't pay them to die for us, Mike," she said dryly, stopping for the first time since her arrival.

His gaze flashed in his friend's direction.

"And we don't pay them a fortune for nothing either. They were fully aware of this when they signed our contracts, and you know it as well as I do."

He, too, was harsh and cold in his words. Both were exhausted and the loss of their men back at the airport must have affected them.

"I told you to wait and not run straight into the den of the fucking wolf," said Suzan.

Mike ignored her this time, more than bored by the same speech from the young girl.

And I watched them sitting on my high chair, from the open kitchen.

These two were really two extremes in terms of personality: one serious and calm, the other hyper-active and spontaneous. I also believe that Suzan was more sensitive to the deaths of her teammates, and more sensitive to death in general. I had already noticed it when she took my side against Isaac, defending my right to protection.

"What the fuck," Mike said, running his hand over his face.

They were there on the orders of Isaac, who apparently wanted to see them as soon as they arrived, and not later. But the gentleman had not yet appeared. The announcement of his arrival was like a cold slap to me.

Suzan huffed, trying to regain her composure, and sat down next to the blond in turn.

"Why are there no more coffee tables here?" said the latter after finally taking a look around her.

Oh yes. The coffee table, unfortunately made of glass, had broken into a thousand pieces after our violent confrontation.

"Um, I think it's because he didn't like it anymore."

The sentence came out of my mouth without even thinking about it, automatically. And why don't you just tell them the stupid truth? I don't know.

"How capricious then," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Since when has decoration mattered to him?"

I pretended not to know anything, and at the same moment, the security of the front door deactivated, and announced to us the arrival of the long-awaited.

I tried to keep calm, to appear imperturbable, in front of these two who seemed impatient to see him. My stomach twisted with unbearable tension.

The door opened on him, on this man who had the power to upset my fragile balance. My heart skipped a beat, and I found myself unable to take my eyes off him.

"Well, it wasn't too early!" the brunette exclaimed first.

He looked like he was... okay? He was as usual, neatly dressed and presented. I think I expected to see him in a bad state and completely stoned, especially given how late he was and the fact that he had spent several days I don't know where.