He stepped on James’ fainted body as he went over to me. “Are you okay?” He asked, worried as he reached for me. In fright, I scrambled away.

He stared at me for a few seconds and then stared at James. He repeated that motion for a few more times as if he was contemplating something. I was about to ask him what he was doing when he suddenly slammed the crowbar down onto James’ chest. I shrieked. He just continued to hit him full force.

“Stop!” I yelled, not wanting to see any more bloodshed.

Jack just ignored me, as if he was in a trance. “You’re killing him!” I yelled again.

I latched on to his arm, trying to stop him. “Don’t stop me April. I’m going to mutilate him.” He said through gritted teeth as he shrugged me off him with ease. I hissed in pain when I felt the sharp pain of my twisted ankle again.

He stopped mid-swing and looked at me. “You’re hurt!? That bastard got you!?” He yelled, dropping his crowbar. He crouched down, trying to reach for me again, but again I flinched away. He sighed, frustrated at my reaction. “I have to check if you’re okay baby girl.”

I shook my head. “No need. How do I even know if you’re Jack?” I asked cautiously.

“Really babe?” He asked in disbelieve. “I am Jack. Your Jack. I’m the only one who could have possibly known where you were.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. Okay yeah, I know it was a stupid question, but can you really blame me? A few seconds ago, I was at the brim of losing my life and having your stalker whose identity is still a mystery standing in front of you doesn’t exactly give off a pleasant feeling.

“Babe.” He called, making me look at him. “It’s you tell me where it’s hurting or I’ll be forced to strip you myself, which I don’t mind of course.”

I recoiled. “Fine.” I grumbled. “James has done nothing to me. It was my own clumsy ass mistake. I fell down and hit my nose.” I pointed at my nose, which now was glowing red like the one belonging to a clown. “And I twisted my right ankle…”

He pulled up my leggings’ sleeve, letting out an angry growl. I glanced down to see that my ankle had swollen up a bit. It looked bruised up. How the hell does it look so beat up already?

Jack took out a conforming bandage, wrapping it gently around my ankle. Where did he even get that from? “I swear if you didn’t stop me, I would have killed tan boy beyond recognition.” He said between angry breaths.

“Preferably, I wish if you didn’t kill him. I still have some questions that I would like to ask him.” I really wanted to know if everything about James was fake, because he was someone that I really trusted. Jack snapped his eyes back at me and glowered. “What is there to ask about? He fucking wanted to kill you! And he still will unless I kill him, painfully.” He seethed; eyes flashed with anger.

I scowled a little. “Look, I’m not like you guys. I don’t want anyone to be killed whether they wanted to turn me into minced meat or not!”

“And that moral side of you is cute, but this is reality.” He pointed at James. “Whether you like it, that man is dead meat. I’ll not let anyone live who may be a threat to my baby’s life.” He said dangerously low.

“And I’m telling you not to.” I said, annoyed.

We stared hard into each other’s eyes (well; I stared at his sunglasses; I guess) not giving in.

“Is it bad that I’m getting hard from this?” Jack asked.

I groaned as I leaned back. “Jack.” I said, annoyed. Can this man be serious even for once?

“Okay, okay. Fine.” He said, standing up after banding me up. Grumbling something unintelligible under his breath as he threw James’ unconscious body over his shoulder like a potato sack.

“W-Where are you taking him?” I asked, alarmed. Is he still going to kill him?

“Chill your sweet ass down. No harm will befall on him. I am just going to take him to this company’s storage room, tie him up in a chair sla-shake him awake and then I’ll come back to pick you.” He explained, irritated.

“You were about to say that you’ll slap him awake, weren’t you?” I stated, glaring at him.

“No.” He said firmly. “I’ll be back in then minutes, so you better don’t move.” He said in a warning tone.

I scoffed. “Yeah, I am totally going somewhere with this leg.” I rolled with my eyes.

He scowled at me, and I flinched. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, baby girl. I’m in a bad mood right now. It takes everything in me to not twist his neck right now; so, unless you want me to slip up, you better listen to me and don’t move.”

I shut my lips tight, not moving an inch, just like he said. “Good girl, I’ll be back in ten.” He said and went up the stairs, leaving me sitting here alone.

…

Huddled in a ball, I was nibbling at my thumb in thought. It has been 20 minutes already but there was no sight of Jack to be seen, but it was enough time for me to sort out my thoughts and feelings.

‘James killed Yolanda. James was a killer hired by Blur. James does killing as a job and…’ My mind flashed back to the moment where James was about to kill me. He was really going to kill me. Great, now you’re feeling depressed, April. I thought, scratching my head tiredly. I glanced at my phone to check the time; it was 12 am. I have been here since 9 pm.

I could feel the exhaustion hitting my body; making me yawn.

‘Damn, where is he?’

I was getting sleepy when Jack finally came down the stairs.

“You said that it would take you ten minutes.” I grumbled tiredly.

He chuckled. “I’m sorry, beatin-waking him up took longer than expected.” He said.

I glared at him. “You were going to say beating, weren’t you?”

“Nope~.” He sang while reaching out his hand for me to grab. I stared at it apprehensively, not wanting to grab the hand of someone who just tortured someone, whether or not it’s gloved. I evaded it and with difficulty I could stand up by myself; biting on my bottom lip, trying to stifle the painful groans as I walked limply.

I could hear a sigh from behind me and before I could register, a pair of muscular arms lifted me up, carrying me bridal style. I yelped and became flustered.

“W-What the hell are you doing!? Put me down!” I demanded as I struggled against his hold, but he seemed unfazed by it. It felt like I was fighting a brick wall.

“I don’t know what you were trying to accomplish with your zombie walk, but if we went at your pace, then we will still be here until sunrise. So, unless you want your colleagues to get hysterical again, you better stop struggling.”

Embarrassed that he was right, I couldn’t make a retort and just stayed quiet. No sound was being made, and we exchanged no words as we were waltzing through the hall; only Jack’s footsteps could be heard. It felt awkward, and I didn’t know where to look at, so I just kept glancing back and forth.

Did the trip to the storage room always feel this long? I glanced at my stalker’s face, which was covered up, not showing any features.

‘I wonder what he is thinking.’ I thought, genuinely wondering what went through his brain right now, although I can wonder the same thing about James.

“We have to talk about the way you dress at night when you go out.” Jack said out of nowhere, breaking the silence.

“What?” I asked, confused. “What’s wrong with the way I dress? This is just a lazy get up.” I said, as I furrowed my eyebrows.

“You’re looking too sexy.” He said serious looking down on me.

My jaw went slack. He got to be kidding me. How am I sexy with a messy bun, a normal brown hoodie and a legging? I guess my converse shoes look sexy, but that would be it.

“You’re joking, right?” I still asked in disbelieve.

“I’m not.” He said. “How can you wear this skintight legging where the line between fabric and skin is paper thin? I can basically feel your skin.” He said while he was kneading my thighs with his hand. I yelped.

He chuckled low.

“I wonder how high I can go with my hand. I guess pretty high cause I could easily carry you with one arm and use the other hand to do whatever I want.” He said in a low, seductive voice. I could feel his hand slowly go up my thighs, making my body heat up. In a pointless attempt, I quickly tried to cover up my thighs with my baggy hoodie.

“Stop it.” I said, shooting him a glare, but my voice came out more like a squeak.

“And that messy bun of yours…” He groans. “That hairstyle makes your nape visible. Do you know how much I want to kiss it right now?” His voice sounded husky and laced with sexual tension.

“I will hit you, Jack. I’m not joking.” The words came out of me in an attempt to look strong, but my flared-up face betrayed me.

“You’re adorable.” He breathed, staring at me. Feeling uncomfortable, I looked down shyly.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see that we were finally approaching the storage room. Relieved, I let out a sigh. Thank god, I don’t know if I could handle him anymore.

Jack opened the door, revealing James tied up in a chair. But what really caught my eyes were the newly made bruises I saw on his face. They looked awful; his face was pretty much unrecognizable. I glared angrily at Jack. He definitely beat him up. He saw me glaring at him and just shrugged.

“I didn’t know that he would bruise that easily from shaking him awake.” He said, acting obtuse. This man is unbelievable!

James saw us and smirked. “Well, if it isn’t the stalker and his stalkee to what do I ow the visit.”

“I see that you still have the energy to talk.” Jack sneered.

I patted Jack’s chest, catching his attention. “Put me down.” I said. Me saying that just made him tighten his hold on me, not wanting to let go.

“I have to talk to him, and I can’t do that while being in your arms.” I said.

He sighed heavily, went to the stack of chairs and pulled one chair out. He then gently sat me down and quietly stood behind me, keeping his eyes on James.

‘Okay then.’ I started to fucose on the matter at hand.

I was again staring at who I thought was my friend. “James…” I said sadly.

“Sugar plumps.” James said.

I could hear a low growl from the back.

“Maybe it’s better if you stop calling me that for now.” I said cautiously, glancing back at Jack.

“I’m guessing that your stalker was the reason for the no physical contact.” He said, nodding towards Jack.

“Yeah…” I said. “Why did you kill them? And why did you try to kill… me?” I asked.

He snorted. “It’s my job April, my actual job and I thoroughly enjoy it.” He said, grinning as he licked his lips.

I looked at him, appalled.

He snickered. “You may look at me like that, but he’s just the same. The only difference is that he kills for fun, isn’t that right Chess Player?” He said, smirking at Jack.

“Shut it before I pull out your tongue, Oiran.” Jack sneered.

Chess Player? Oiran? What’s with that?

“Am I missing something?” I said, raising an eyebrow questionably.

James shook his head, smiling. “Nothing that you should be worried about, yet.” He said. “Also, the reason that I was going to kill you was because of the killer code: Don’t leave any witnesses.”

“But I thought we were friends.” I said, feeling my tears well up again. I was tired and when I’m tired, I get emotional.

“You thought wrong then; like I said, we know how to act. I was just using you so that I can have some alibi and maybe use you.” He scoffed. Hearing those words, I could feel my heart breaking into pieces. I am so stupid, and Cherry was totally right about him, and I didn’t want to heed her warning.

With a downcast face, my tears fell.

“That’s it!” Jack exclaimed as he took out his knife stomping over to James. You could see that James was trembling, not that you could blame him. Jack was few heads taller and bigger than him.

“Why? Did I upset your toy?” James said, smirking evilly, taunting Jack even further. Jack grabbed his throat. “Let’s see if you’re still able to talk like that after I cut off your tongue.” Jack said menacingly.

James’ eyes widen in sheer dread.

“Stop it, Jack!” I yelled, but it fell on deafening ears as he just kept going. I knew I had to do something, so I pushed myself off the chair and limped quickly towards them.

“Agh!” but to futile I just tripped over my own feet causing me to fall on top of them; taking them down with me on the ground.

I tried to regain my consciousness back when I suddenly felt a pair of enormous hands grabbing me by the shoulder, pulling me up effortlessly. “I swear to God.” Jack said as he was carrying me back to the chair. “Can you just behave for once?” He said.

“Well, if I did that then you would have killed James.” I retorted.

“That was the intention.” He exasperated.

He stared at me for a good minute and then crossed his arms. “Do you love him?” He asked.

I shot my head up. “No! What? No! I could never.”

“Then why would you care if he misses a tongue?” He sneered.

“Well, that’s because compared to James, I at least really cared about him as a friend and even though he tried to kill me, that still doesn’t change the memories that I made with him.” I glanced back at James, who was still on the ground. For a second, I saw guilt flashing through his eyes, but he quickly composed himself.

Two fists suddenly slammed into my armchair, causing me to shriek in fright. Jack’s face came dangerously close to mine. “You know what I am hearing?” He said in a low, heated tone. “A fucking love confession.” He spat out.

I got pissed off. “Where in that sentence did I confess? I said that I cared about him as a friend. Do you even understand English, my friend?”

He scoffed. “I understand it perfectly. You said that you cared about him. That’s enough conformation that you like him.”

Okay, I’m done. He is fucking delusional, and I will not deal with that. “Can you stop being so fucking bipolar?” I retaliated angrily.

“Oh, really?” He said in an ominous tone. “I’ll show you bipolar. James, who you oh-so cared about, will only be remnants of your memory when I’m done with him, and this time you wouldn’t be able to intervene.”

I looked in James’ direction quickly with a panicked expression, but only met an empty chair with no James in it. I quickly glanced around, and he was nowhere to be seen.

‘He escaped…?’

Finding the situation ridiculous, I started the holler in laughter. Jack, who was flabbergasted, must have thought that I had lost it.

“What the fuck? Do you find it that funny that I’ll kill him?” He muttered, confused.

“Try if you think you can.” I said, still laughing like crazy.

“Do you think I won’t?” He said dangerously low. “I’ll show you-” He swiftly turned around, only to be met by the same thing that I saw.

“The fuck?” He said in confused anger, looking around the storage room, then slammed the door open to the hallways and looked around, agitated.

“Bloody hell!” He roared angrily, realizing what had overcome him.

And I still was laughing my brains off. Tears kept falling like waterfalls from my eyes, and the cramp in my stomach was intensified as I kept on laughing.

“Is it that funny?” Jack asked angrily.

I nodded like a maniac. “Yes.”