Alonso’s P.O.V.

Ruby Condos

I walked out of the building in exhaustion. Just like always, Justice seems so needy. I wonder how he will be once I finish all of this invitee stuff? Sadly, he is not the only one who may feel some way, but my deal with my invitees was never permanent in the first place.

For now, I just need to take a shower and rest. I looked around the parking lot. Where did I park? My eyes widened as I saw the woman from earlier running across the parking lot. Behind her was a man who seemed all too focused on catching her. I sighed to myself.

I am doing more than I thought today.

“Hey!” I called.

Kari stopped running and looked at me. The man caught up to her and grabbed her wrist.

“Ma'am, it is best to return to the hotel. I called your husband, and he is on his way.”

"I do not know what you are talking about."

She started to pull her arm away, but cringed as he bent her wrist back.

I ran over to them. Before I could say or do anything, she swept kicked the man down, and raised her fist at him. I took her fist, causing her to look at me.

“Kari, that kick knocked the wind out of him, see.”

We looked at the man wheezing back in the air he lost. My eyes examined her to see that the bottom of her dress was ripped. In her eyes was fear. And she seems slightly disheveled.

What was that man doing before this? I looked at the man standing on all fours and taking in large gulps of air. I walked over to him and stood before him. His head rose to look at me.

“What were you doing to her?” I asked.

“Me, what about her? She attacked me. She is lucky I did not call the police.”

“You attacked me first. I did not try to hurt you until you bent my wrist.” Kari said.

I shook my head and placed my boot on his shoulder.

“You think you have a solid case? She was defending herself against a guy with no will.”

“No will? Cut the shit.” He said in annoyance.

“I am no further from a witness. One who saw everything you did. From what it looks like, my wife was grabbed by a random man on the street and had other intentions. So beating the shit out of you would not be wrong, right? How do you think the police will see this? A man protecting his wife from someone like you.” His eyes widened.

"But there is no way you two are married, Doctor Pareja. Six months ago, you were dating Claire Stone, the engineer. Plus, that woman had a hotel room all to herself. It does not make sense-"

"So I can not get married after that? Plus, my wife and I fought. It's normal, dumbass."

"Would that not be too fast?"

"A lot can happen in six months." He shook his head at me.

"No, look at her, she matches the description from the radio. The missing-"

"I am not her. You took a description of what you heard and interpreted the person to be me." Kari said before walking in the opposite direction.

There was no doubt that, from everything I know about her already, she was the person they spoke of on the radio. So I was not wrong when I thought about her tonight after hearing that advertisement. And I am supposed to help her, right? With the ship, she will be getting from Claire. I sighed. What did I get myself into?

I looked ahead at the woman, who was walking away. I shook my head before I caught up to her and took her hand gently. She looked at me.

"We are further away from him. We do not need to put on an act." She said,

I moved my face closer to hers.

"Are you okay? He did not do anything else, right?" She looked away from me. "Or was he the one to rip your dress?" She shook her head.

"I am fine.”

“Your dress-”

“I accidentally ripped my dress myself. He came after."

Shy, perhaps that is her personality.

"Okay." I let go of her hand and looked around for my car. I spotted it and looked at her. "Come"

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To Claire's house."

The two of us walked to my car. The drive to Claire's house was silent, but the energy around her felt heavy.

"Are you sure you are okay? You can press charges on him if you want." She shook her head.

“Please, just take me to Claire or just anywhere away from here.”

Looking at her face, I could see shame and embarrassment. There was no doubt she was questioning everything she was doing. But for a woman to be dressing the way she is and in such a hurry, she is doing all of this for a reason.

Damn

“I should have been more prepared. If I had been more prepared, then none of this would have happened.” She said in defeat.

When we stopped at a stoplight.

She is overwhelmed.

I completely understand now what she would like to hear.

“Do not give up now because of a few minor setbacks.” She looked at me. “You already got this far. Don’t let that stop you from achieving your goal.”

She paused and looked as be in thought before she nodded.

“Thank you...”

“Alonso,” I responded, answering the question of my name. She gave me a small smile.

“Thank you, Alonso. You have helped me more than enough. I wish I had a way to repay you. If you need money for gas-,” she said as she started to dig into her bag. I stopped her.

I chuckled before driving again. "Instead, tell me about that planet you're going to, tell me about it."

Claire’s P.O.V.

Thirty Minutes Later

Claire’s Home

I walked downstairs in annoyance as I heard a knock at my door. Who the hell is here in the middle of the night?!

I looked out the peephole of my door to see Alonso and Kari, who had Alonso's jacket on. I sighed and opened it. There must be a reason those two are here. I looked at the two. My eyes froze as I saw Kari’s ripped dress.

“Kari”

“Do you have that suit available?” Alonso asked.

I nodded and moved to the side to let them in. What happened to her? Did Kari get hurt? My eyes continued to examine her. I see a forming bruise on Kari's wrist. Her hair seems a little disheveled.

The two sat on the couch. I went into the guest room and left the door open to hear their conversation.

“Are you really okay, Kari?” Alonso asked.

“Yeah, I am just a little tired.”

“Are you sure? “

"I am. You are making me worried," Kari said.

They sound closer to each other than before.

I muted the rest of what I was hearing and opened the closet. I scanned around for what would be best for Kari.

"That planet you spoke of. Are there really opportunities for everyone?" Alonso asked.

"From what I heard, there is."

I stopped.

Was Alonso thinking of leaving the planet with her?