DARKSIDE

27 | Announcement

To say Derek was just mad would be a huge understatement because from what Nova could feel, he was livid.

"Why are they here?" Nova decided to ask in his place since he looks just seconds away from running down and shooting all of them. Unlike him, Nova was petrified.

How could they know about the ruse? How much did they know already? Who told them in the first place? Was it Tory? Then does this mean that she knows? Is this perhaps her way of blackmailing? Without coming out from hiding and letting the crowd do its work? Because if it was, then, Nova will have to admit, it was a solid plan and up until now, it was definitely working.

But admitting that the opponent has an upper-hand wouldn't help them. Thinking their way out of the situation would. And so, Nova began to think.

But before she could work up her brain and think of a way out of this, she was tugged by the hand by Derek who was leading them out of her cabin.

"Uh, Sir, what should we do about...them?" Genelia managed to ask but Derek paid her no heed.

Derek's rather large hand had engulfed Nova's tiny wrist whole as he was tugging at her gently, making their way towards his own office. Upon reaching it, Derek pulled out a phone from the shelf, dialed a number and waited for the other side to pick up.

When they did, Derek started explaining their situation. Just as he was done he cut himself off, mid-explanation, as his lips pursed and a muscle in his jaw ticked in annoyance. Could be annoyance, could be stress, Nova couldn't yet say exactly.

But then his eyes found hers, he sighed into the phone, gestured to close the door behind her without speaking and when the said things were done, he put the phone on speaker.

"...I cannot believe you Adams, this is the first time and it's such a wrong mission to fuck up yet you managed to do it. How could you be this careless? What is Newton doing? Is it her fault? If it is then you have to let me know as soon as possible, we will have to think straight and think fast to replace her. She shouldn't have been chosen in the first place—you lot had no chemistry, of course people were bound to know! What did you even do to let it spread like that?" the voice on the other side—which seemed to belong to Officer Penton—basically shouted at them through the device. Nova couldn't help but feel shameful as she ducked her head low, looking at her fiddling fingers.

She had managed to pull Derek down with her. The first case he messed up, the case that involves her.

"I have no idea how they know, Penton, you have to—"

"No, Adams, I don't have to do shit, it's you who has to take care of the situation. I can't believe you actually called me up to tell you what to do. This isn't like you at all. You're next in position so you'd better act that way," that said, a beep indicated that he had cut the call.

To say Nova was absolutely humiliated wouldn't be exaggeration at all, because that's exactly how it felt.

"Fuck." The filthy word on Derek's lips brought Nova out of her guilt-trip.

There was no way she was going to cry just because her senior said something about her. He was the expert, she was an amateur, she was bound to make mistakes and although, right now she couldn't pinpoint the main reason for the ruse falling apart, there was no way she was going to sit and wait for Derek to think of something when it should be her redeeming her mistake. Whether she made a mistake or not was out of the question, she will have a lot of time to dwell on that.

Penton said they didn't have chemistry? Well, not just him but everyone else was going to see just how much real this ruse could be.

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