[PREQUEL] (W) ᴜɴᴅᴇʀʟᴀɴᴅ ♗

3| Two agents, one car

I squint my eyes as if to help me see better.

But I near the car.

The closer I walk, the more familiar it gets. The more I near the driver's seat, the clearer I see Leonidas-Alessio Santiago's pearly whites flash at me the way his headlights do.

For a moment, and a moment alone, do I reciprocate the ghost of a smile to my father's best friend's first-born son. 

He revs the engine of the white Centodieci, going out of his way to make the most noise possible in this much silence.

I round the car. My approach is a slow one, the handcuffs are still clipped onto my wrists when my knees hit the front-end.

Keeping the dirty jumpsuit at an acceptable distance, I reduce the contact between it and the freshly polished hood.

I stood cautiously.

Leo went bat-shit crazy when it came to his baby.

''Thank you,'' He nods. I don't expand on what I'm thanking him for. Him being here to pick me up was enough to explain he was my hero for the day.

If he drove me back to his house where I had a hunch Daniel had stayed all this time? He would have been my hero for the week.

Before closing the passenger door , I click the distrusting soles of my shoes a total of three times, letting all the grimy remains of the prison cell fall off with the motion—before closing the door.

Get your dorothy from the wizard of oz ass out of here.

Leaning into the cushions of the passenger side, Santiago waits for the car to heat up. His hand is already laid flat on the back of my headrest, he glances back at the unmoving dark cars.

His light brown–blonde-like–curls drape over his light brown eyes like wilted white curtains from one of those horror movies.

From this side's perspective of the sight however do I see a newly pierced ring embedded on the right side of his nose. It's faint but it's there and very much polished.

The soldier turns back to his front, gripping the steering wheel with a delicate touch coming from a rough looking tattooed grip.

Contradiction at its finest.

''I wasn't the one supposed to be picking you up tonight.'' His eyes fall onto mine, ''Bright eyes was.'' I blinked once. Then twice.

I take the silence as an advantage to add on.

''Bright eyes would always be the one behind this wheel. You were always too busy to even fill up your tank with gas,''I recalled, sinking into the plush seats. The clink of my handcuffs follows.

All Leonidas does is hum.

But then I thought, what were the chances that maybe just maybe he wanted to just see me?

Maybe I'm just that girl.

My grin is as wide as his forehead without bangs.

''Don't lie,'' I smiled, pulling off from the seat. I leaned over the gear shift. I searched for any sign of a growing smile. His hard stare can only linger for so long.

It's short, but it was enough to make my smile fall and change the atmosphere.

He was usually a happier person than I was.

And right now, well, he wasn't exactly smiling upwards. Something was serious.

''What happened to Bright eyes?'' I'd like to believe the voice I hear is my own. But even I can't recognize the surge of empathy and curiosity that engulfs me.