"What the hell is going on!?" Max asked in a fit of rage.
Both of the men that sat in the seats next to each other didn't speak at all. All they did was death glare at each other, waiting for one to make the first move.
Max rolled his eyes at the childish act, "Both of you should consider yourself lucky that I am not gonna throw you into the Chasm. You guys should be well aware of one of the prized Dauntless saying that we live by?"
Four sighed, "Dauntless don't turn against each other."
"That's right," Max stated blankly. "And I expect the both of you to be intelligent enough to live by that saying. I don't care if you guys don't like each other. Am I clear?"
Both of the men nodded, still tense around each other.
"Now, what is this all about?"
Eric sighed, his left hand stroking through his faux hawk, "It was just recently discovered that Four and Tris have some sort of secret special connection."
Max's eyebrow quirked up, "Is this true?"
"There is a connection, but not a romantic one. She just wants extra help with the simulation, and I was there to hook her up and have her go through it under my supervision," Four stated matter-of-factly.
Max became interested in Four's accusation. He had already known that Four had a special connection with the initiate, so why was he trying to play it like it wasn't anything?
"If there was no romantic connection, did Adelaide know of your mysterious outings?"
Four's eyebrows furrowed, "Are you accusing me of cheating?"
Max lifted his eyebrow, giving him the hint.
Four sighed, "If you're so concerned, no, I didn't cheat. Tris was just being a stupid girl, thinking she could get with me even though I was in a relationship."
Max nodded, "Are you sure? You don't think she might be doing it because she wants you to break up with her?"
"Even if she tried, it wouldn't work. I don't plan on breaking our relationship any time soon," he said, sending a slight glare toward Eric, who was also glaring right at him.
Max sighed as he looked between the two of them, "I better not see you in this office again Four, do you understand me? And the next time I hear that you are snooping around with an initiate, you will be in trouble."
Four nodded and stood up, "Yes, sir."
"You may leave."
Four quickly strolled out of the office, making his way to where he needed to be most.
While the door shut, Eric sighed and looked at his boss, a conflicted facial expression on his face.
"You're just gonna let him off the hook like that?"
Max shrugged, "He is in much deeper trouble with Adelaide than with me. If anything, she will break him down. If someone can get him to talk, it's her."
"But we were planning for them to be separated two days before the plan took place."
"Well, Eric," Max said, sitting up, "if Four is so upset about this turn of events, don't you think he will tell her anything she wanted to know to patch up this relationship? He did say that he doesn't plan on having them break up any time soon. We need Adelaide to keep picking at his brain and try to get him to confess. As of right now, we still don't even know whether if he is Divergent or not, and we only have Tris and Uriah down as SUSPECTED Divergents. At this point, we have no proof that these people are Divergents. We just need to give her more time to do what she needs to do."
Eric stayed silent, pondering over the words that came out Max's mouth like spitfire. "I understand that you want to be with Adelaide and stick with the plan," Max went on, "but this might actually get us the lead we need. Until we get it, we can't break them up. Plus, there are only four more days until the third stage examination takes place, and five more days until the actual attack takes place. And their coming fast. You're going to have to deal with whatever is coming."
Eric sighed, "Fine."
Max nodded, "Now,let's go get a drink while things unfold. You need to unwind."
********
I was sitting at my desk in my room, writing all my tension away. The point of the pen pressed hard against the paper, creating smudges desperately wanting to get away from the firmness of the pen. Writing was my only friend at this time, since I had no clue where Eric was, and Lucas was out with Zeke again at the fence, checking on what has been going on with the Factionless and stuff like that.
I didn't know who I was more mad at; Four, for not telling me he had a close connection which was possibly a romantic one and not stopping the romantic gestures Tris acted out; Tris, for doing these things with my boyfriend; or me, for not realizing the connection and being irrational with this situation. I didn't even let Four speak for himself. I just ran off like a hurt schoolgirl. Then again, I was glad that I walked away from the situation. If we were to talk anymore, I think we would have taken each other's heads off. So, I decided that I would separate, calm down, and talk to him when I was ready.
So for the past few hours I sat at my desk, only getting up to get either a food or drink, and to use the restroom. Otherwise, I skipped lunch,which I regretted because my stomach killed me, and I only had a small bag of chips and a powder protein shake mix. Trust me, that's not a filler.
Two knocks sounded at my door, "Adelaide! Are you in there?!"
I sighed, putting down my pen and getting up.
"Yeah! Come in!"
I moved over to my bed, gently placing myself in the middle and propping myself up against a few pillows. About two minutes later, I saw a tough, strong figure appear in my doorway, a worried face looking at my blank one. In his left hand held two Coronas, and a rectangular, red box in another.
"Can I come in?" He asked politely.
I nodded, motioning for him to sit on the bed.
He made his way over to the left side of my bed which was closest to my desk. He set the Coronas and the box down before taking a metal beer opener out from his pocket.
"How are you?" He asked, grabbing one of the Coronas, using the tool to take off the bottle cap and passing it over to me before grabbing his and doing the same thing. I took a swig before speaking.
"I hope you don't insist on getting me drunk," I teased a tiny bit.
A light chuckle sounded from his throat, "Of course not."
A deafening silence came over us once again before he opened his mouth slightly.
"I'm sorry, Adelaide," he said, his tone full of forgiveness.
I sighed, "Before I forgive you, I want you to explain something to me."
"What would you like to know?"
"Why are you so keen on helping Tris? And what is your relationship with her?"
Four took a gulp of his Corona and set it on my desk. His body turned to face mine, scooting to get closer to me. "When Tris first came here, she was daring. She was the first jumper, and the one to approach me. When training began, she wasn't doing very well. She was weak, had no muscle whatsoever. However, she never gave up. I could see the determination in her eyes when she would stand in front of the punching bag. So, I started to help her little by little. It started out with her positioning, and then it moved up to paying close attention to her skills. Before you came, she challenged Eric by taking Al's place in front of the knife target, while I had to throw knives at her.
"She passed stage one, and went on to stage two. From the beginning, she went through the simulations at a fast rate, and passed in a unique way. She thought different, and it lead me to think that she was a Divergent. From then on, I knew I had to help her in some way, just because I knew that if any Dauntless member found out, she would be thrown in the Chasm. I helped her through the second stage, but now I have been trying to help her through the third stage as much as I could, since the final examination is in four days. She needs all the help....."
I took his words and processed them through my head, analyzing his message. He really wanted her to pass through.
"....personally think that she will make a fantastic Dauntless member. She has the drive that some of the other initiates didn't. I will admit that during the process, there were times when I did have a little kick of feeling towards Tris. However, the hug she gave me today was unexpected, but I returned it lightly because I wanted to assure her that everything was okay. I wasn't trying to show any affection. I guess it just seemed like it in the footage."
I nodded, "She must mean a lot to you. Especially if you're talking about her with so much emotion like that."
Four lightly smiled, "It doesn't compare to what I feel for you."
I smiled lightly, feeling all giddy inside. It was like all the tension I had felt in between us went away in a flash.
"Adelaide, I have a couple things to show you."
My eyebrow quirked as we leaned over to grab the red, rectangular box and passed it over to me.
"What's this?" I asked, holding the box in disarray.
"Open it," Four commanded, looking at me intensely.
I huffed before lifting the lid of the box, only to gawk at what was inside. Inside the box was a cushion of black padding that held a comfortable, silver throwing knife. The knife was pretty long, hence why it needed a long box. The knife was a sterling silver, with four circles in the middle of the handle of different sizes. The blade was double-edged, and had some sort of Kanji down the middle that I couldn't read. Despite that, the writing added a lot of character to the knife. And I absolutely loved it.
I looked up at Four with disbelief before gently lifting the knife and studying it, seeing the same Kanji on the other side.
"Where did you get this?"
"I stretched a couple rules the last time I was down in the armory. I have a friend, Dionisia, who works there, and she was able to get me into the knife inventory, where they keep all of the knives before they allow them to be sold. That knife was brand new, and it reminded me of you in a way. I knew you were into ancient writing. Plus, I thought you would enjoy the unique handle because you yourself are a unique."
I stroked the handle with my thumb as I heard him say those words. It was absolutely unique, just like he said. I placed the knife back into the red box and set it on the desk. Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you so much," I said, nuzzling into his neck and smiling.
"You're welcome," Four said breathlessly. "However, there is one more thing that I need to show you."
I furrowed my brows and pushed myself away, "What is it?"
Four sighed a shaky breath, "So, I only told you part of the reason why I am helping Tris out."
"There's more?"
He nodded silently, "And instead of explaining it, I'll just show you."
Four stood up and grabbed the black edges of his shirt near his neck and pulled it off, revealing his tanned sculpted front. Did he want to show me his body?
However, I could tell that he was nervous about what he was doing.
I interjected, "Four, if you're not comfortable with-"
"No, I'm fine. You just have to keep this to yourself okay, there is only one other person that knows."
I was shocked by the sudden interruption, but I nodded for encouragement. I just hated the fact that whatever he was about to show me, Tris knew first. Gut feeling.
He turned around, revealing an intricate tattoo that made my mouth drop. It. Was. Beautiful.
On the outer parts of his back, mainly on the Scapular, he had an intricate, modern tree-looking design. Although the designs were fairly composed, there were some parts that had broken up areas. They weren't necessarily large separations. The design started with two singular designs starting at the nape of his neck and again traveled down his back, but avoided the middle of his back. In the vertebral section of his back, were the faction symbols. The first one, Dauntless, was placed just below the base of his neck; the second one, Abnegation, was placed below the Dauntless symbol and lined up with the middle of his shoulder blades; the third one, Candor, was placed underneath Abnegation and lined up with the bottom edges of his shoulder blades; the fourth one, Erudite, was placed beneath Candor and could probably line up with either his third or fourth rib; and finally, the last one being Amity, was placed under Erudite, and could probably line up with his navel.
I crawled closer to him so I could look over the masterpiece. He shuddered as my pointer finger lightly traced the modern branch patterns, occasionally trailing away to trace the Faction symbols. I lightly drew the designs from the base of his neck all the way to the rim of his trousers, where the tattoo eventually stopped.
"It's beautiful," I whispered, still staring at the black designs that used his back as a canvas.
Four lightly huffed, "You know what it means?"
"Divergence," I whispered, overlooking the tattoo once again. Before I could scan it fully once again, Four turned around to look at me in the eyes.
"When I took my aptitude test, I showed all of the qualities of each faction. The order of the symbols that I have inked remind me of the one I showed the most and the one I showed the least, but still had within my body. When I was an initiate, I had a trainer named Amar, who helped me conceal my Divergence. He helped me because he was the same as me. Unique.
"Even though his end came near, I couldn't help but feel that I needed to help Tris, just like he had helped me. Amar, our trainer in my initiation class, taught me that it was okay to be who I was, the only thing was that I had to make sure that no one knew, or else I could be a goner. So, I taught the skills that Amar taught me to Tris, so that she didn't have to worry about death. However, now that they have figured out how to control a normal person, it looks like that the skills are useless."
He grabbed a hold of my right hand, squeezing it gently, "I'm sorry I hadn't told you earlier-"
I made a long 'sh' sound while my left pointer finger placed itself over his lips.
I smiled, "You listened to me when I told you about my tattoo tribute to Eros. Now, I will return a favor. This will be our secret."
Out of relief, Four sighed deeply and laid his head in my lap, squeezing my hand gently.
"Thank you," he said lightly as he lifted his head up.
I smiled and nodded. His tan, right hand touched the left side of my face before gently pulling my head down to plant a passionate kiss on my lips, taking my breath away in one fell swoop.
Reluctantly, I pulled away to look into his eyes.
"I forgive you. And I'm sorry for freaking-"
Four mimicked my 'sh' sound from earlier and placed his right pointer finger on my lips.
I smiled, "Did we just literally have our first argument?"
Four smiled, "If that's what you wanna' call it."
I nodded, kissing his finger before he spoke up again.
"Don't worry about it. Now, how about some food? You're stomach has been grumbling through this whole entire conversation."