"Uff! That's the last box."
Selene stacked up the packed boxes over each other and dusted her palms off. She turned to Keir with a sly smile creeping on her face.
"Seven fucking boxes?" Keir chuckled, amused.
He glanced at his own carton boxes that he brought from his house this morning. They weren't even half compared to Selene's.
Selene shrugged and hopped cheerily to the kitchen. "Well, my things won't fit into two boxes like yours."
"Fine! Seven it is then." He waved off, following her into the kitchen.
Washing her hands off, she plopped herself on the counter.
"What's for breakfast today?" She asked excitedly.
Keir smiled, shaking his head and tied the apron around his torso.
"Whatever her majesty requests." He smirked leaning over her.
She wrapped her legs around him pulling him closer. Keir titled his head to take her lips just when she pulled back with a huge smile on her face.
"Something spicy!" She said but soon changed her mind, "No, something sweet." She grinned.
Keir defeatedly nodded, bummed that she ruined his perfect moment to kiss her.
"Pancakes?"
Selene pouted and shook her head, "Something new."
Keir scrunched his eyebrows, taking a quick trip down the recipe book in his mind. Selene pulled him close and gave a soft kiss on his lips. The recipes in his mind faded, replaced by her full soft lips.
Trapping her between his arms on the counter, he leaned his weight over her, kissing her breathless.
"Cannoli stuffed french toast?" He asked, smirking.
Nibbling her lips to stop giggling like a teenager, she nodded wordlessly.
For the next half an hour he got busy preparing the breakfast. As he took his sweet time, Selene let herself amused by his skill at cooking like always.
"What were you guys arguing about in the lake house?" She asked, unexpectedly.
Her question made him freeze and turn to her with a surprised look.
She wasn't looking at him, instead she was busy tasting the cannoli with her finger.
"Um..we were arguing about.." He paused thinking of an excuse.
"Hotness," He said, on impulse. She turned to him with a bizarre look.
"We were arguing about who is hotter." He nodded and resumed his work.
Selene opened and closed her mouth like a fish in the water. This was unexpected to say the least.
"You guys almost drowned disagreeing about who is hotter?" She twisted her face into an angry frown.
"Well.." Keir shrugged.
She rolled her eyes, "Great! And who was the winner?"
"Obviously, me." He smirked, making her roll her eyes again.
"I was being sarcastic. Geez! I wish the blast turned you mute." She quipped, shaking her head.
"But you love my voice. Smooth like velvet, British accent, sexy." He mocked in her voice, using her exact words.
Selene's ears turned red and she ducked her face away. "I didn't say sexy!"
He smirked, kissing her warm cheeks. "You don't have to, Angel." He winked, turning her into a baby tomato.
***
"You sure you don't want me coming?" Keir asked as she got out of the car.
"No! It's best if you stay here. Do not take off your goggles and do not roll down your window!" She ordered and gave a quick peck on his grimaced lips.
She closed the door and stared at the Manassas town board. It was time that she paid a visit to Thindrel, for one last time.
Selene being paranoid asked Keir to park the car at the town outskirts. She asked Shana to pick her up from there.
As much as she disliked stepping foot into the building she had to do it. It would otherwise look suspicious if she just vanished after closing two projects.
"Hey, Sel!" Shana walked to her and wrapped her into a tight hug.
"I'm gonna miss you, Shan." Selene mumbled. She closed her eyes to imprint this feeling with her, for what can be their last time.
"I know. Me too." Shana mumbled
and pulled back. She placed a bright smile, despite feeling like a piece of her was leaving.
"Why don't just come with us?" Keir who watched them from the car yelled.
Shana walked over to his window. "NIA was never her dream." She glanced at Selene. "It was mine. It will be until I find something else to hold on."
Keir got out of the car, "We will miss you." He gave her a soft smile.
She wrapped her arms around him for a friendly hug and was surprised when Keir hugged her back with his long arms.
"Stay away from Thindrel's eyes." He warned.
She nodded, chuckling. "I'll try."
After Selene warned him straight ten minutes to stay in the car till they were back, the two best friends were on their way to the headquarters.
As they walked into the building towards Thindrel's office, she questioned herself if she would miss anything from here.
Her mind answered for her. Unlikely.
"Sel! So good to see you." Thindrel smiled.
He was in a good mood today. Why wouldn't he? He successfully closed two projects. Or so he thinks.
Selene inhaled deeply and gave a curt nod in greeting.
"Is the paperwork ready?" She asked.
"Yes." He took a file from his drawer and placed it forward.
She walked front and took out a pen to sign the papers.
"You don't have to resign," He said, as she gave a swift read to the front page norms.
"I know," She said, turning to the next page.
She went through the other pages and signed her resignation.
Closing her pen and releasing a breath, she spoke again. "But I want to."
Thindrel nodded and checked the papers.
"We'll miss a good agent." He looked at her with a sad smile, "I'll miss you." His words came out like it was hard for him to admit.
"Yeah. Me too." She smiled, lying through her teeth.
He sighed and took out a paper from his wallet, "As for the deal about your parents' identities-" He paused sliding a piece of paper forward.
Selene froze. Her hand itched to grab that paper yet she was scared to look at it.
Once she gathered courage to take it, Thindrel's voice stopped her.
"They are dead, Selene."
His words felt like a punch to her gut. She was shocked, frustrated rather than hurt and angry. For a brief moment she felt nothing, like their deaths didn't affect her. It confused her.
"How?" She whispered.
She could see Shana moving closer to her from the corner of her eyes.
"Fairfax massacre, 2015. Ring any bell?" He asked after a long silence.
Selene took a deep breath from her mouth, preventing her from hyperventilating.
Seconds passed, minutes passed but she stood silent, frozen.
"He was a cop?" She asked about her father.
"A security guard, who fought bravely to stop Keir." He answered, "But died serving." He dipped his head down, in respect.
"And her?" She asked, not able to call her mother.
"She already passed away by the time we started investigating. She died a few years after your father." His voice was full with sympathy, something Selene didn't want.
"You knew all this time and left me on a wild goose hunt?" She gritted and closed her eyes to calm herself.
"I wanted to tell you after you brought justice for your father's murder." Thindrel reasoned.
"By killing Keir." Selene nodded in realisation.
Shana watched as Selene talked in an eerily calm way. It scared her that she didn't react like she usually does. She didn't yell, she didn't argue. She just looked indifferent. That concerned her.
Another pregnant silence fell between them. The ragged breaths that the trio took were the only thing audible.
"Keir's project," Selene started, "Wasn't just for NIA, is it?" She asked looking directly into his icy eyes, "It's personal for you. Isn't it?" Her questions sounded more like statements.
Thindrel gave her an impressed smile, "You're right. It is personal. Keir killed someone I love too."
Selene scrunched her eyebrows thinking who it might be. Once she had her answer it all became clear to her.
"Your son! Thomas worked in Fairfax." Selene nodded, putting pieces together.
Thindrel gulped, the pain in his throat evident every time he thought of his son.
"He was a good son. Honorable, dedicated and a leader." Thindrel gritted, his voice threatening to break, "He was engaged. He was to be wed, be a good father, grow old and die peacefully." He hit the table before him as a lone tear ran down his wrinkled eye.
"And Keir Mathew fucking Hunt took it away!"
"-After Thomas, Olivia was never the same. Soon she left the world leaving me alone with my vengeance." His voice broke, talking about his wife.
Selene could feel the amount of despise and hatred he had for Keir from his words.
They were standing at the two poles of the world. He was on one side who hated and wanted Keir dead, she on the other side who loved him enough to die or kill.
He laughed, shaking his head, "After all those years of chasing him, I finally found peace. That bastard is fucking dead. More easily than I planned for him." He seethed, gazing distantly.
Selene's palm curled up feeling her urge to protect Keir heightened.
"We both got justice, Selene." He looked back to her and smiled, "You brought it. I'm so proud of you. I always have been."
Selene internally laughed. All these years she wanted him to say those words, tell her how she made him proud. And when he finally did, she wanted him to take it back.
He got up from his chair and walked to her, placing his palms on her shoulders with a proud look in his cold eyes.
"Your father was a fool to leave you. Any sane man would be proud to have a daughter like you." His words welled her eyes up. "I for one am." He said nodding with a proud smile.
Selene smiled through her unshed tears. She felt happy despite the irony of her fucking life. She never wished to hear anything as much as she wanted to hear those words.
She wasn't an unwanted, unloved baby anymore. She never was, it was her parents who were the unlucky ones.
She smiled with her chin high up, "Thank you-" She whispered, "-Dad."
Thindrel puffed his chest, his heart bursting out with joy. He tried controlling his emotions as he spoke with much happiness, "Be happy, son." He nodded and stepped back, turning his teary face away from her.
Selene looked at Shana and gave her a side smile. In Spite of everything that happened here, she felt whole.
It surprised her that the deaths of her parents or the fact that Keir killed her father didn't affect her. It was his past but now it was theirs. There was no point dwelling in it anymore.
"What are you gonna do about it?" Shana asked, once they were driving back to meet Keir at the outskirts.
She flipped the paper that Thindrel gave her and thought for a minute.
"Nothing," She said.
Shana gave her a confused look. Selene knew what she must be thinking. How can she be calm knowing Keir killed her father?
"Keir can't know, Shana." She shook her head, "He would never forgive himself."
"Sel, he killed you father-" She cut Shana off.
"My father is alive. We just met him." Selene said, making no room for argument.
An awkward silence fell between them.
"Keir killed sinners." Selene mumbled leaning back into her seat. Shana heard it but didn't respond.
"If leaving a day old baby and letting her to figure out this fucking world alone is a sin. Then he was a sinner and Keir did exactly right killing him." Selene seethed and crumbled the piece of paper in her palm.
She pulled down her window and tossed it out, letting the wind to drag it away and never be found.
Shana placed her palm on her knee and nodded reassuringly.
"Keir won't know. It'll be our secret, like many more."
Selene smiled feeling her spirits up. She knew whatever happened and whatever she decided, Shana would back her up without questioning right or wrong.
As they came back and gave one last goodbye to each other, Keir and Selene were back on the road on their way to their new life.
"What did Thindrel say? Did he give you the names?" Keir asked, glancing at her silent self.
For a minute she continued her silence then shook her head.
"You can't search for someone who doesn't want to be found," She said, looking distantly.
Keir didn't ask her to elaborate, he didn't care. She was right. This chapter should be left behind them, it's time to look forward.
He took her hand and placed a small kiss on it, giving her a soft smile.
"You have me." He reassured and she knew he meant it.
She leaned over his seat and placed a long lingering kiss on the corner of his mouth.
"That's all it matters." She smiled, making him grin proudly.
"Metal or rock?" He asked fumbling at the stereo in the car.
Selene stared at the stereo with confusion and shook her head, "I didn't know they were different."
Keir gave her a shocked look before sighing, "I'm gonna teach you so many things, Angel."
He tuned the station and a fast beat song blew through the speakers. Keir bobbed his head to the beat and winked at her in between.
Selene laughed and shook her head at his goofiness.
She leaned into her seat and turned to the window as they drove away from Downtown. The air felt lighter as they moved far.
After years of nothing but torment and misery in her life, it felt too good to be true when she finally found love and bliss.
For once, life is going right. This time she knows it's real and will be long term.
Staring outside the window, as the trees and wild grasses passed by, Selene rewinded all that happened in her life. Some good, mostly bad.
Selene learned a few life changing lessons that day.
One; That everyone is a villain in someone else's story. Keir was in Thrindrel's. And Thindrel was in theirs.
Two; that life isn't black or white. It's what that is in between, that dwells in those greys, smudging the lines of difference.
Three; there is no good and bad. There is evil in all good people and good in all evil people, like the yin-yang that the Chinese believe.
Selene saw the good in Keir and Keir saw evil in some others.
Lastly, there's always two sides to a person. Like a coin or a tale that has two sides, Keir has a charmer and a killer.
She fell in love with a man who wasn't wrong but just different from the rest of the world.
She fell in love with him because she learned to accept the 'two sides of a serial killer.'
- - - ☯︎ THE END ☯︎ - - -
☞︎︎︎ This book is my paean to all those serial killers and psychopaths, especially those like Keir that shared their love and good with people who saw good in them and gave hatred to people who saw evil.
So what did you learn? Are you going to see bad in good and good in bad?
Whatever you do, know that if you share love, love is all that comes back; hate then hate is that reciprocates.
Here's to all those killers who were a good son/daughter, a loving father/mother and a loving husband/wife to their loved ones despite their monstrosity.
Because in the end, love can change anyone. It may take time, but surely not impossible.
Maybe you got someone that needs your love and wants you to understand their other side.
*****
A/N: ⚠︎ This book is a fiction of mine. I don't intend to use this book to communicate that serial killers, psychopaths, sociopaths are safe and harmless.
It's not the book's intention nor MINE.
I wrote it from my own ideas and facts that I've gathered. I don't own a legalised study nor am I trying to say that the existing studies about the mentally ill are wrong.
The readers should understand the difference between this fiction to that of the reality of the actual world.
It's just my small attempt to show the world from a villain's point of view. I hope that everyone who reads this books will from now on understand that villains are people too.
Thank you so much for the immense support you guys have shown me.
Without you, I would have lost motivation to continue this book.
I thank each and everyone; my constant readers, my supporters, the voters, commenters and of course, the silent readers who all stood by me in this journey.
P.S; Don't mind the cheesy ending. And also if you guys can give on last thought about this book before leaving »»
See you again, till the next book.
~You know Who. ✍︎