𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 ℂ𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔸𝕨𝕒𝕪 •𝕁𝔽𝕂•

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 3 - ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜꜱ

My eyes fell on his rumpled coat. I reached for it and laid it on my lap , folding it neatly when I felt something heavy in his coat pocket. I reached in and pulled out a thick white envelope with my name mentioned on it. I narrowed my eyes and flicked a glance towards an oblivious Sean who was now sitting against the edge and tossing bread crumbs to the ducks.

"You coming?" I heard him call out to me.

"Yes Sean, I'll join you shortly. Just cleaning up the mess we made." I called back and he turned back again. Once I was sure that he had turned back, I carefully opened that envelope and pulled out a stack of photographs.

I turned the stack of photographs around and my mouth almost fell wide open when I saw the photographs. They were my photographs, not the kind of photographs that you normally click with your friends. They were photographs that had secretly been clicked of me, in the grocery store, walking in the park, on the street, almost everywhere outside my home. And what was worse was that I remembered each day when each of these photos had been taken without my knowledge, they had been taken in between November last year till right now.

A bead of sweat trickled down my temple and settled into the pool in the collar of my overcoat in this winter morning. I lifted my sight and fixed it on Sean, a thousand questions running through my mind. Why did he have these? Was he a stalker? As if on cue, Sean turned my way and the smile that he had on his face was instantly wiped off, when his gaze travelled from my face to the photos I was clutching in my hands. I saw him start wading towards me, his expressions unreadable.

"I can explain, Joanna.." He raised his hands in the air in his defense, his eyes soft and warm. He sat down next to me on the mat but I immediately shrank away from him, my face contorting in anger.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE THESE?!!" I snarled, waving my hand holding those pictures in the air.

"I was going to tell you, Joanna. I didn't want to ruin the date." He said, looking down at his hands. I could see a genuine sadness in his eyes and that helped calm down my anger a little bit but not completely enough to let my guard down.

"So, you were going to tell me after our date that you have been stalking me?" I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Jesus No. I wasn't stalking you. Before you accuse me, just listen first -" He said, trying to calm me down. I nodded and waited for him to answer.

"It's classified, and we are not supposed to tell you anything. But here it is. You are in danger."

"I'm what?" I raised an eyebrow, my fingers now clutching the fabric of my coat.

"I could get fired for telling you all this but you deserve to know. Lee Harvey Oswald was probably not the lone killer. I think that he was going to tell us who had paid him off to kill the President but Jack Ruby shot him before he could tell anyone anything." He said.

"Do you think Jack is involved?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I don't think so.  I guess he wasn't emotionally stable that time." He replied.

"How is Lee Harvey Oswald and the theory that someone paid Lee off to kill President Kennedy related to these photographs? Besides, you don't even have the proof that this all is a conspiracy." I asked, confused. He threw out his palm towards me and motioned me to give him the photos. Reluctantly, I placed the photos into his palm and he curled his fingers around them. "These photos have been taken by an anonymous person. We are still trying to figure out who this person is. But as long as he is out there, you aren't safe. That is conspiracy enough. Joanna, whether or not it was a conspiracy, someone is keeping tabs on you. And it could be dangerous. Who knows what his intentions are?"

"If you want me to believe you, Sean, answer me this. When were you going to tell me this? What if I hadn't found these pictures?" I scowled.

Sean reached out and placed his palm comfortingly over my shoulder and pulled me closer, sliding his arm through it."Don't for one minute think that I don't care for you, Joanna. I was going to tell you by the end of the date that we were moving you to safe house. Until this unidentified person can be tracked."  I looked into his eyes and he nodded. I sighed and laid my head against his shoulder.

"I don't get it Sean. I'm no one. I really think we should focus on keeping our President safe. I think there is more probability that this person will come for the President before he comes for me." I mumbled, my head still resting against his shoulder.

"Listen Joanna, President Kennedy knows. And the Secret Service is taking desperate measures to keep him safe. They learnt their lesson. See, Joanna -" He sighed and forced me to sit upright and glance at his beaten down face. He looked twice the age he was, probably the stress of the situation had done this to him. "He will be safe. But what about you? Who is going to keep you safe? You need to give yourself some credit. You are not a nobody, you're a heroine. Someone generations will remember by, and respect and look up to."

A smile broke out on my lips and I entwined my fingers with his and he tightened the hold on my hand, smiling back.

"Would you let me keep you safe?" He asked.

"Yes, Sean, I guess." I nodded and looked down at our hands. Just then, Sean leaned forward and kissed me gently. His lips were warm and the kiss was gentle until I felt his hands grab my head and turn the kiss more fiery and passionate before we reluctantly pulled away from each other, our chests heaving up and down.

I licked my lips and gave him a weak smile before speaking again."So, where is this safe house?" I asked. Sean ran his hand sheepishly through the back of his head and craned his neck to his side, squinting at me. "The safe house is my -uh- house. I hope you don't mind."

"That's inappropriate, Sean." I pointed out and frowned.

"How? Don't worry, it will strictly be professional. Besides, the entire Dallas Police force is involved. I won't do anything that will risk my job." He mumbled.

"Well, you are here on this date with me. Won't that risk your job?"

"No one would find out." He said.

"Mhm, I doubt that, I really wish there was some other place, but I guess I trust you." I smiled softly at him and looked down at my hands. Within seconds, Sean had both his hands on either of my cheeks and his eyes bore into mine."Hey, don't worry. I will protect you, Joanna. With my life, if required." I could feel tears spring into my eyes. "Thank you, Sean." I blinked , letting the salty tear run down my eyes before wiping it off my sleeve.

"We are going to move you tonight. After 10. It will be the safest that time. And there are less chances that the unidentified man will spot you moving." He said.

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||Update - For my character Sean Douglas, I am using the face claim of James Dean because he was a babe. 💛||

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𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻'𝓼 𝓝𝓸𝓽𝓮- 𝓗𝓲 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼. 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼. 𝓘𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓿𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓘 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵.

𝓡𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰. 💛