Chapter 13: A Red Rose

Dressed in a pink blouse and a white skirt that reached her knees, Maya crossed her arms over her chest with her white purse hanging from one of them. She leaned against the wall and watched as Alex received the bouquet of red roses from Nina and smiled at her. He was half-lying on his white bed, propped up by several pillows behind his back. Finally, after two weeks of treatment, Maya saw the Alex she knew. Since threatening to kill his uncle, she had not visited him, instead relying on updates from his doctor and friends.

Maya smiled when she heard Nina ask eagerly, "Tell me, how did you feel when you took a dose of heroin?"

Alex raised his eyebrows and said with amusement, "Well, give me another two weeks to answer your question because I think if I start talking about how heroin affected my body, I’ll be strongly triggered, and that’s not something easy to resist after just two weeks of addiction."

Nina whispered apologetically, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…"

He cut her off, passing his fingers over the red roses, "Despite all the flowers I’ve received, no one has given me such enchanting red roses. Thank you."

Nina laughed, "No thanks necessary, although I didn’t pick them." She then turned to Maya, "Crick is waiting for me at the hospital café. I’ll go now." She walked to the door and called out as she closed it behind her, "Goodbye, Alex."

After she left, Alex said as he placed the flowers on the table, "Am I supposed to thank you for them?"

Maya replied calmly, "No. The person you should thank for the red roses is the florist. He’s the one who chose the color, commenting that a charming girl like Nina deserves nothing less than a charming color like red." Then she added provocatively, "Sorry, but I’m not desperate enough to give a man red roses."

Alex responded quickly, "Yet you were desperate enough not to visit me for the past two weeks."

Maya pursed her lips thoughtfully, then said, "In truth, I saw no reason to visit. I was in touch with your doctor and knew from him that you were improving steadily and had nothing to worry about."

He asked coldly, "So, what brings you here now?"

She gestured to the door with her thumb, "I’ll leave if you want."

He stared intensely into her eyes before speaking through gritted teeth, "Do you have any idea how much fear and doubt you instilled in me?"

Realizing he was talking about her threat to kill his uncle, she whispered softly, "I saved you from addiction."

He retorted sharply, "You saved me from one hell only to throw me into another. Those two days were a nightmare for me. Besides the pain and inability to speak, I kept hallucinating about how you’d kill my uncle and his final words, without being able to do anything. It wasn’t until the end of the second day that I began regaining some mental clarity." He exhaled deeply and continued with gratitude, "I still disagree with your method, but thank you nonetheless."

Maya ignored his thanks and asked, "Why did you go alone? Why did you meet with Cal without telling us? Why did you turn off the microphones? Why didn’t you tell anyone?"

He replied gently, "Which question would you like me to answer first?"

Annoyed by his indifference, she snapped angrily, "Do you realize the position you put us in?"

His blue eyes sparkled, and he said seriously, "Yes, I realize it. I deprived you of sleep, caused you anxiety, made you argue with the head of the narcotics unit and his deputies, sent you to Sam’s hideout, and put your lives in danger, especially yours and Bob’s." He paused briefly before adding, "Yes, I fully understand the situation I put you all in."

She had only wanted to return the jab he had made at her earlier, not to make him feel guilty as he seemed now. So, she tried to change the subject, "Wow. Is there something that happened that day your team hasn’t told you about?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"How did you get Cal to reveal Sam’s location without a deal?"

"Who told you there was no deal?"

He asked, surprised, "Really! What was it?"

She answered slyly, "Trade secret."

He wasn’t fazed by her response and asked again, determined to know, "What did you offer Cal the extortionist?"

She exclaimed, "Why does it matter to you?"

He explained, "When I met him, I offered him everything in the world, but he refused anything except a reduction in his sentence. I want to know how he agreed to your deal."

Her lips curved into a cunning smile, "You’re jealous, aren’t you? Wondering why a hard-headed man like Cal yielded to me and not to you! Well, the simple answer is that I’m better than you mentally and physically."

He raised his eyebrows, repeating, "Physically?"

She spread her hands in front of her face, looking at them to provoke him, "Didn’t I overpower you and snatch the knife from you in our first encounter?"

He replied coolly, "The simple truth is that I didn’t want to hurt you. I don’t hurt women."

She retorted playfully, "Who’s talking about hurting!"

He warned sternly, "Maya! Pray you never give me a reason to use my physical strength against you."

She enjoyed the conversation and said, "Don’t be angry! I was just wondering where your strength was when you were in my grasp! Maybe if I had seen it, I wouldn’t have stabbed you…" She suddenly fell silent, as if deep in thought, then her expression turned to shock and paleness.

Alex asked worriedly, "What’s wrong?"

She looked at him fearfully and whispered, "You… you’re an addict."

He scoffed, "I thought we agreed on that fact."

She spoke as if clarifying to herself, "You’re an addict, so you can’t take any anesthetic. That means the knife wound I caused on your thigh was stitched without any anesthesia. You were fully conscious and feeling everything during the stitching, weren’t you?"

He smiled and gently reproached, "That’s right. Now do you see the amount of pain you caused me?"

She hesitated, "How… how many stitches did it take?"

He replied plainly, "Twelve."

She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, imagining the pain he must have felt. Then she heard Alex say cheerfully, "Don’t blame yourself. As I said, I got back at you by having your salary docked, didn’t I?"

She opened her eyes and feigned seriousness, "First of all, I don’t blame myself; I didn’t know. I just feel sorry for you. Secondly, I’m still convinced you got back at me by docking 30% from my pay and 70% from yours."

All Alex could do was let out a nervous laugh, "You’ve uncovered all my secrets, haven’t you!"

She straightened up after leaning against the wall and murmured, "I’m still waiting for you to explain this gallantry."

He ran a hand through his dark hair, saying, "It wasn’t that important. I just thought the decision was unfair to you. You weren’t aware of how crucial that surveillance was, and your mother’s coma affected things too, so I objected on your behalf. And since I knew they wouldn’t back down easily, I offered to split the penalty between us."

She scoffed, "Split isn’t the right word."

He tried to convince her, "Being a very wealthy man, I decided to bear the larger portion of the loss."

She sat on a chair near the foot of his bed and asked, "And how did you become a wealthy man?"

He replied simply, "My father is wealthy—he’s a pilot—and my mother comes from a rich family, so it’s only natural that their son would be wealthy. Plus, I own 20% of my uncle Frederick’s advertising company."

Leaning her elbow on the small table to her right, she rested her cheek against her palm and spoke softly, "You’re quite a treasure then. I might start coveting you."

Alex muttered, "You’ve been sarcastic ever since you walked into the room. Can’t you be more serious?"

She sat silently for a few seconds, then said sternly, "Yes, I can be serious. I’m visiting a patient, and I’m giving him a recovery gift." She then pulled a small blue box from her white purse and pushed it toward him.

Seeing his raised eyebrows, she added, "Don’t worry! It’s not an engagement ring. I’m not Crick."

He laughed as he took the box and opened it, but the laugh froze on his face as he saw what was inside. His hands tightened around the box, and his eyes darkened as he looked at the bullet that Maya had saved for his uncle Frederick. He spoke through clenched teeth, "What does this mean?"

She smiled pleadingly, "Why do you have to make things difficult for me? Don’t you know how much time it took for me to take this step?"

He shifted his gaze between her and the bullet, his expression stern. Then he asked, "What’s happening? I don’t understand."

Lowering her eyes to the floor, she bit her lower lip and spoke in a choked voice without looking at him, "I’m not going to kill Frederick. I no longer even accuse him of killing my father. I’ve realized he’s innocent, and that I’ve wronged a man who loved my father and was his friend for eight years."

Two moments passed before her phone vibrated inside her purse. She took it out, then stood and walked away from Alex as she answered.

"I surrender!" Alex whispered as he watched her. Yes, he was surrendering in his attempt to understand this woman standing in the corner of the room, talking on the phone. Since their first meeting, he had tried to understand her, initially with the intent to interrogate. After learning who she was, his desire to understand her only grew, especially since he knew she hated his uncle. Then her strange and often crazy behavior made him more determined to unravel her mystery. Eventually, when she told him she planned to kill his uncle, he vowed to keep her under his watch and find a way to convince her of his uncle’s innocence. But now, after this confession, he was raising the white flag. Maya was destined to remain an enigma forever. He was surrendering because he thought it was her emotions driving her, but now he wasn’t so sure. What emotion could make her even consider the possibility of Frederick’s innocence, let alone accept and believe it? He had thought she was deceiving him to get him out of her way, but the blush on her face and her struggle to articulate confirmed she was sincere. It also confirmed that this was a recent decision she had made with difficulty.

He saw her approaching after finishing her call, regaining some of her confidence. He opened his mouth to ask her something, but she raised her hand toward him and calmly said, "Stop! I’m not done talking yet. I have one more thing to say. Please don’t ask me any questions; it’s still hard for me to admit that I falsely accused an innocent man for three years. Agreed?"

"Maya…"

She cut him off hastily, "Not now, I have to leave." Then, in a quick motion, she reached for Nina’s bouquet of red roses on the table, plucked a rose, and handed it to Alex, saying in a hoarse voice, "Thank God for your recovery. I’m glad you’re back with us."

Alex mumbled, "These aren’t your flowers."

She whispered with a smile, "I paid for them." Then she gently tossed the rose onto his chest before walking out and closing the door behind her.

"Is he in there?"

The security guard posted outside the room replied, "Yes."

Maya knocked on the door, then entered without waiting for Sam to invite her in. She shut the door behind her forcefully and asked, "What do you want?"

Sam, reclining on his bed, said, "What a way to treat a patient."

She glared at him. Every time she thought about the torment Alex had endured, she regretted not killing Sam. The two bullets he received from Bob and Crick weren’t enough to kill him but instead landed him in the same hospital as Alex. After a successful surgery, he remained hospitalized for observation. Just a while ago, the security guard assigned to watch him had called her, saying Sam wanted to see her. So she left Alex and came to him.

Sam spoke calmly, "If you knew the information I’m about to tell you, you wouldn’t be so angry with me."

She asked, already determined to leave, "What do you have?"

He replied slowly, "Let’s see. My lawyer visited an hour ago, and I asked him about the officers who arrested me. I was surprised when he told me the team was led by Captain Maya Fan, which is you."

Maya, her patience running thin, asked, "Why the surprise?"

He clarified with a yellow smile, "How could I not be surprised to see the second generation following in the footsteps of the first! We thought we had separated the two families, but as it turns out, we were wrong."

Maya fell silent for a moment, then said, "Either you’re speaking another language, or you’re insane."

He completed her sentence, "Or you’re just stupid."

Maya, despite her hatred for him, couldn’t help but laugh. She then said, "Since you made me laugh, I’ll give you one minute to clarify what you mean."

The burly Sam took a deep breath and said, "I want to know why Fan’s daughter is with Frederick’s nephew, despite what happened between Fan and Frederick because of Alexander."

Maya furrowed her brows, asking, "What do you mean?"

He muttered, "See, you are stupid."

She shouted at him, "What do you mean?"

He scrutinized her features, then whistled and said, "You don’t know, do you? And here I was, wondering why you saved Alexander."

"What are you babbling about?"

"I won’t tell you. Have Frederick explain it. There’s a unique connection between you and Alexander."

Maya fell silent, trying to process this, then laughed sarcastically, realizing Sam was trying to mess with her. "Oh, I hope we’re not siblings."

"It’s even more interesting than that."

"My God, are you suggesting that Alexander is my real father?"

"Mock all you want, but I’m sure you’ll come running back to me once you learn the truth."

She confidently replied, "I’ll definitely come back to you, just to let you know when your death sentence is issued." Then she left, thinking Sam would need to try harder if he wanted to mess with her again.