Chapter 7: The Day of Surprises

Maya was deep in thought, jotting down numbers on a piece of paper while staring at her computer screen when she was suddenly asked, "How old was your mother when your father proposed to her?"

She looked up at Creek, who was standing in front of her desk. This strange question came at just the right time to pull her out of her deep thoughts. She had been feeling overwhelmed by the many problems she didn't know how to handle. She responded coolly, "Unfortunately, I wasn’t around at that time, so I wouldn’t know."

Creek scratched his neck awkwardly and then suggested, "Why don’t you ask her?"

She replied irritably, "Why don’t you tell me why you’re asking this question so I can tell her, in case she thinks I’m asking silly questions."

He stammered, "N-No reason."

He retreated to his desk, while Maya returned her attention to the notification she had received via email from the construction company where her grandfather, Richard, used to work. She was in a real predicament. The company had reviewed her grandfather's case and decided that the accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down seven years ago was due to his own negligence, and that the company bore no responsibility. As a result, the company's board of directors decided to cut off his monthly pension.

Maya knew that everything written in the notification was just nonsense, and that the truth was that the company had been taken over by a new, greedy chairman. What was she going to do now? Without her grandfather's pension, she was in serious trouble. Her grandfather needed expensive physical therapy sessions every week, and she still hadn’t paid for the tests her mother had to undergo after falling into a coma. Additionally, there were more tests scheduled in the coming months. On top of all that, there was Nina and her never-ending needs, not to mention the daily expenses. Her salary certainly wouldn’t be enough, especially after part of it was deducted thanks to Alex.

Bob called her name, pulling her out of her worries. She resolved to put her concerns aside for now, deciding that the most immediate issue was that she wouldn’t tell her family that her grandfather’s pension had been cut off. They wouldn’t find out because her grandfather had arranged for his pension to be transferred directly to her bank account.

"What is it, Bob?" she asked.

Bob replied, "If Nina has invited her friends from school, there’s no need for us to attend, right?"

Creek interrupted angrily, "Speak for yourself!"

Bob looked down in embarrassment and said, "I just think it would be awkward for us to be around a bunch of high school kids."

Maya responded playfully, "Listen, old man, I think she did invite her friends—it’s her birthday, after all. But she also invited you guys. And by the way, I can assure you that you, in particular, won’t feel awkward around them." She hinted slyly at his short stature, but Bob didn’t catch on, and relief washed over his face.

"Stop being so devious," came a voice from the doorway, where Alex was standing.

She quickly smiled and said, "I’ll stop if you stop spying."

He walked toward her and asked, "Tell me about the people I asked you to investigate in the heroin cases two weeks ago."

Leaning back in her leather chair, she said, "There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about them—just some small-time losers selling heroin on the streets in poor areas. But there is one thing that stood out. According to the files, all of them mentioned a heroin dealer named Sam during their interrogations..." She stopped when she saw Creek and Bob exchanging meaningful glances, then asked suspiciously, "What’s going on?"

Alex, seemingly unaware of them, urged her, "Continue."

She looked at him and resumed, "I had a feeling this Sam was important, so I conducted a second round of questioning with each of them. Two of them told me that Sam was just a name to them—they had never met him directly. But the third claimed to know Sam and said he was willing to tell us where he was, provided we cut a deal regarding his prison sentence."

"Who is this third guy?"

She sifted through some papers, then handed him a picture, saying, "His name is Cal." She added, "By the way, what happened with my request?" She was referring to her request to be transferred to another team.

Taking the picture, Alex responded, "I submitted the request the following morning, but I haven’t received a response yet." He then walked toward his office.

"Wait, Alex."

Everyone turned to Bernard, who had just entered the room. He asked Alex directly, "Are you planning to get married?"

The look of surprise on Alex's face prompted him to reply, "If Creek had asked that question, I wouldn’t be surprised. But coming from you, that’s odd. Have you caught the bug?"

Bernard replied, "You know I don’t ask silly questions."

Maya laughed and teased Creek, "Hey, they’re mocking you, and you’re just sitting there watching eagerly."

Bernard didn’t give Creek a chance to respond, instead continuing, "The cleaning manager just came to see me. He said that while cleaning the conference room—where we had our meeting this morning—he found this box on the floor." He held up a small jewelry box and opened it for everyone to see a shiny silver wedding ring inside.

The surprise on Alex’s face led Bernard to mutter, "So it’s really not yours, huh?"

Maya lowered her head, closed her eyes tightly, and tapped the edge of the desk lightly with her finger before raising her head to say to Bernard, "It’s mine."

Despite his astonishment, Bernard tossed it to her without saying a word. She caught it and then corrected herself under their intense gazes, "Well, it’s not really mine. It’s just that I was asked to hold onto it for a while."

Bernard said, "So you mean a man proposed to you, but you haven’t given him an answer yet, so he asked you to keep it until you decide."

Smiling, she replied, "You’re the only one here who understands women."

Bernard responded as he walked to his desk, "Well, now that we’ve cleared up the ring issue, I should tell you that Chief John wants to see you."

She stood up calmly and left the room without noticing Alex watching her leave, fully aware of the state in which she would return.

She said in shock, "Repeat what you just said."

John spoke, trying to calm her down, "Hey, it’s a decision that can be revised after a month, so there’s no need to get upset."

She asked absentmindedly, "What reason did he give for requesting my rank to be downgraded?"

He answered, "Unauthorized access to case files. You know that’s not allowed, especially when it’s a case involving the death of one of our officers."

She exclaimed, unable to believe what she was hearing, "That officer who died was my father!"

"So what?"

"You let me read the case file three years ago. What’s the problem now?"

He replied, "Three years ago, I let you read the file as the daughter of the slain officer. But now, you have no right to read it because you were on duty, which means you’re just an officer. You know the rules well, so don’t pretend to be ignorant."

She ran her hand through her hair in frustration and said, "Okay, but wouldn’t a warning have been enough? Isn’t demoting me a bit extreme?"

Pursing his lips in thought, he finally said, "Maybe, maybe not. Alex mentioned that you’re sometimes insubordinate to authority, so demoting your rank seems like the best solution to keep you in line."

What a man, she thought. He had just told her that he had submitted her request two weeks ago, and she had been happy, thinking he had requested her transfer, without realizing that he had requested her punishment. Sighing, she said, "So I’m a first lieutenant now?"

"Yes, but as I said, the decision can be revised after a month."

"And of course, the revision will be up to Alexander."

"No, it’ll be up to me. But it would be best if you smoothed things over with Alex. As long as he’s your commander, he has influence over your future."

She stood up and said, "Don’t worry! I promise I’ll smooth things over so well that he’ll drown in it." Then she left, searching for Alex.

He was on the phone when she entered. He saw the sparks flying from her eyes as she stood there, waiting for him to finish. So his assumption was correct—John had called her in to inform her about her demotion, and now she was definitely looking to unleash her anger on him. Deliberately prolonging the call while watching her, he found great amusement in seeing her so angry. He lowered his gaze because his eyes and mouth were starting to betray his enjoyment. However, he picked the wrong moment to do so because as soon as he looked away, she pulled out her gun from its holster and fired a shot at him without so much as a blink.

Impulsive, fiery, rebellious—all these traits he admired. But being crazy? That was a whole different matter. He stared for a long time at the phone that had been shattered by the bullet, then covered his face with his hands, trying to regain some composure, but he failed. The bullet hadn’t stopped his breathing—it hadn’t hit him—but it had completely derailed his thoughts and every ounce of common sense he possessed. He started walking toward her with no intention other than to wipe her out of existence.

She dropped the gun from her hand in fear as she watched him approach. His eyes, which had once reminded her of a clear sky with their light color, had turned into a dark, ominous blue. His lips were pale from being pressed together so tightly, his face was frighteningly pale, and his body was tense to the extreme. These signs indicated one thing: the calm and composed Alex was long gone. She began to back away slowly, unable to think of what she should do. She couldn’t run, couldn’t resist, couldn’t do anything, as the sight of him in this state froze the blood in her veins. She knew she was the loser in this battle that hadn’t even started yet, but the opening of the door and the appearance of Bernard lifted her hopes to the point where she could no longer stand, collapsing to her knees.

Bernard had been walking down the corridor toward the cafeteria to join Bob and Creek for lunch when he heard the gunshot. Fear gripped him, but when he realized the sound had come from their room, specifically from Alex’s office, he assumed it was just an accidental discharge while cleaning a gun. After all, Alex was alone in the room, as Bernard had seen him just fifteen minutes earlier. Still, he approached the room cautiously, listening for any commotion. When he heard nothing, he opened the door to find Maya looking like a frightened kitten and Alex resembling a wild beast charging at her. Bernard jumped just as Alex tried to pounce on her, shoving him away before he could reach her, causing Alex to fall. But not even a second passed before Alex was back on his feet, trying to attack again. Bernard punched him hard, not understanding what was happening. All he knew was that Alex’s eyes were saying he was going to kill Maya, and Bernard certainly wasn’t going to let that happen. He saw Alex glance at her after being momentarily staggered by the punch. My God, the man was determined to get to her. Bernard yelled at Maya, who had fallen to the ground, “Get out quickly and lock the door behind you! Hurry! Get out!”

Bernard’s shouting, which she had never heard before, snapped her out of her shock. She stood up instinctively and ran out the door as fast as she could.

About half an hour later, the door opened, and Alex appeared, soaking wet from head to waist, with a few drops of blood on his sleeves. In an almost robotic manner, he put on his jacket and left.

Bernard followed him out, breathing heavily, his face marked with cuts and bruises, his lower lip split and bleeding. Bernard was surprised not to find her in the room. He had thought she would stay, but his surprise faded when he stopped in front of her desk. She was behind it, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, staring at her chair. Bernard smiled gently and said, "You coward! It’s all over now."

She stood up with difficulty, her eyes locked on Bernard, who bore the brunt of Alex’s fury. He was utterly exhausted, and if her guess was right, he could barely stand. What she had done to Alex! What Alex had wanted to do to her! What Bernard had done for her! All of it overwhelmed her, and she collapsed into Bernard’s arms, who held her with all the tenderness he could muster.

She was staring at the shattered pieces of the phone when a voice exclaimed, "Thank goodness it ended with just the phone getting killed."

She turned to see Bernard, who had just walked in, holding an ice pack to his lip. She asked softly, "How are you?"

"I’m fine," he replied, then sat down on the leather couch to the left of Alex’s desk and asked her, "You were the one who shot the phone, right?"

She looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Didn’t Alex tell you?"

He laughed and said, "Alex was like a raging bull seeing red. He didn’t have time to talk."

She asked nervously, "How did you stop him?"

"I gave him a cold bath. I dragged him over and put him under the water until he calmed down a bit, then he left the room without looking back."

She sat down beside him on the couch, fidgeting with her fingers, saying, "Do you want to hear the story?"

Leaning back against the couch, Bernard lifted his head, closed his eyes, and muttered, "No."

She fell silent, her admiration for him growing, then whispered, "Alright, but you should know one thing—I was fully aware of what I was doing."

"Of course you were aware—you chose a time when you knew everyone in the building would be out for lunch, so no one would hear the gunshot."

She smiled and whispered, "Well, I’m sorry for what happened to you because of me."

"No need to apologize. My wounds will heal by tomorrow, and Alex will be back to his usual self with me by then. Now, go home and let me clean up this battlefield before anyone else comes back."

She didn’t want to leave him alone in this mess, but her desire to get out of this place drove her to do as he asked and leave. She was on her way out when she saw Creek standing by the exit, talking to one of the officers. He hurried over to her when he saw her and started stammering, "Maya... about the... I..."

She looked at him indifferently. Unfortunately, Creek always chose the worst times. She reached into her bag, pulled out the small jewelry box, and shoved it into his hand, saying forcefully, "We’ll talk about this later, darling." Then she left him standing there and walked away.