A death wish or a coffee date - Masterminds #1, Chapter 10
Did everyone think Jack was Nya's secret boyfriend? Yes. Did it annoy the hell out of Heila? Yes. Jack couldn't help but have a little fun out of this awkward situation...
Jack had received this text message from Heila (code-named ‘PC’ for ‘Prince Charming’ in his contact list) the day before:
“Nya has probably told you about it already but I got injured during our last ‘night hunt’ so you’ll be on your own for a while. I’ll keep you posted. Happy killings.”
Of course, K. had told him about it. She’d been crying on the phone when she did.
He’d deleted the message right away, which he always did in case K. decided to go through his phone. Not like she ever did, but they did hang out a lot and he wouldn’t want to risk it. As much as he enjoyed joking around, putting on that mischievous air, he was serious about keeping his promise.
Besides, what was that quote?
Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer…
Would he go as far as consider Heila his enemy? Not quite but he couldn’t help being jealous of K.’s affections for her. He knew that as long as she was around, K. would never be his.
“Jack? You here?”
Speaking of Chaos…
K. suddenly appeared from behind the bookshelf by the Children’s Books section, where he was working. Her long ink-black hair hung around her shoulders like a veil.
“K.? What’cha doing here?”
She dropped her bag on the floor and threw herself on one of the bean bags next to him.
“My lecture finished earlier than expected so I’m free for the rest of the day. Is your shift ending soon?” She sighed. “I can’t believe that it’s become more boring now that Ash isn’t around anymore. I have to wait around here at Portal every day until you’re done with work.”
Jack couldn’t help but chuckle. He’d been on his knees this whole time, putting books back on the shelf in front of him, so when he turned around to look at her, her eyes were at the same level as his.
Thanks to his sunglasses, he could see her face distinctly, without any trace of any aura distracting the view.
“If you want me to finish faster, you’ve gotta help.”
“Bring it on.”
He handed her some of the books that were scattered on the floor.
“Kids always make a mess of this place so we just need to put them back where they belong. In alphabetical order.”
He heard her laughing as she looked through the books.
“What’s so funny?”
She shook her head.
“Back when Ash and I had just moved into the penthouse, Jake would bring us here sometimes to tell us stories from similar books.”
“D’you miss Moon Boy that much?”
“Maybe, I guess. It feels weird right now. Ray left the penthouse last year to live with his boyfriend and now Ash is studying abroad… I’m the only one left.”
“I’m still here.”
She smiled.
“Of course, I know that. It’s just that they’re both like brothers—”
“Looks like someone’s slacking here.”
They both jumped at Jake’s voice coming from behind them.
Jack stood up straight and faced his boss and mentor.
Jake was staring back at him, his arms crossed over his chest… except that he had a huge grin on his face. Sure enough, he was teasing him. This was something he’d been doing every time he’d catch K. being around him when he worked.
He went on. “Now’s not the time for flirting, Jack. Get back to work.”
Even if both of them were close and on good terms, Jack couldn’t help but look away in embarrassment. His sunglasses weren’t big enough to hide how red his face had become.
“I wasn’t—”
But K. cut him off.
“Jake, give him a break, you know it’s not like that.”
She also knew he was only teasing them but she seemed to enjoy going along with his imaginary script.
Jake held his chin between his fingers and frowned.
What a terrible actor.
“Are you sure about that? I see you come to Portal every time he’s around. Not great for business, to be honest. You keep distracting him.”
Then, he saw them.
Jake wasn’t alone.
“Come on—”
K. caught his gaze and turned around. As soon as she saw them too, she went silent.
Jake turned around at his guests.
Heila and Dany had been watching them all this time.
“Sorry for this unexpected detour,” Jake said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dany said, clearly amused. “It’s rare to see you acting like a boss and running a place like this.”
On the other hand, Heila seemed to have missed the joke. She had her serious face on as she stared right back at Jack.
He felt a chill running down his spine as he felt the same murderous intent she’d give off when they went after criminals at night. He then noticed her bandaged wrists.
Still the same, even when wounded, uh.
“Hey Jack, it’s been a while,” Dany said.
Jack finally broke free of Heila’s deadly stare. “Likewise.”
Keep your enemies closer… Sometimes he wondered whether Heila had had the same thought when she had accepted to work with him in secret. He knew that Heila used to tell Moon Boy and K. that he was a bad influence and that they shouldn’t get close to him.
However, Jake had defended him ‘til the end and she had given in… reluctantly. Heila ended up turning a blind eye to their friendship… as long as she didn’t have to witness it with her own two eyes.
Was it so bad to be the Mastermind of Death? Or was it because of his… questionable upbringing? And the murder of his parents?
It seemed that Jake could feel some of the tension in the room, so he tried to lighten the mood. And he did so by uttering one of the worst ideas he’d ever had.
“Since we’re all here, how about we let the kids join us for coffee?” He put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Nya’s right, you deserve a break today.”
Jack had a bad feeling about this. “Oh, it’s fine, you guys can go ahead, I’ll just put the rest of these books away…”
“It’s fine,” Dany said. He placed his hand around Heila’s waist and looked at her. “We’re just going to check out a map in a publicly available book anyway.”
Heila sighed. “True, well… sure, why not…”
Of course, Jack knew exactly what book they were talking about. Thanks to his pact with Heila, he knew that they were looking into the underground sewage system to catch the serial killer that’s been the rage lately. And the same one that had almost killed Heila.
Although they had to keep up appearances of being almost strangers to each other, it wasn’t the reason why Heila was so reluctant to have him around.
Jake led the way to the cafe and took their orders. Dany took the book they had mentioned from him and picked a table. Heila sat down next to him.
Jack smirked as he took the seat right in front of her, leading K. to sit in front of Dany.
Heila raised an eyebrow as if to say, don’t try anything funny.
Too late.
Earlier, he’d asked Jake to bring a slice of tiramisu cake for K. and him.
Even if K. kept denying it, both Jake and Dany were persuaded that they were secretly in a relationship. Their theory was that she was too shy to admit it… and that she didn’t want to anger Heila, who obviously wouldn’t approve at all.
“Are you sure you don’t want another slice, Jack?” Jake asked with a smirk as he sat down with the rest of them. “Nya might tell you she just wants to eat half of that, but don’t believe her, she’ll end up leaving you with nothing.”
“No, I’m fine, I had a big lunch earlier.”
With that said, he casually placed his arm around K.’s chair. He leaned closer to her as she had her first bite. This was a habit of his: instinctively K. picked up another mouthful of tiramisu in her spoon and fed it to him.
It wasn’t anything romantic to them—though he wished it were—as they’d always used to share their food this way, even with Moon Boy sometimes.
But he knew how it looked from the outside.
It had an immediate effect. Heila’s eyes widened and her hands turned into fists on the table, but Dany quickly held them in his, as if to calm her down.
Jake took a sip of his latte to hide his smile.
Meanwhile, K. seemed to be oblivious to everything as she continued eating her tiramisu.
Eventually, Jack let her have the entire slice.
“Jack, you should ask her out already. What’s taking so long?”
Of course, Jake couldn’t help himself.
K.’s face reddened, not so much because of what he had just said, but mostly because this was all happening right in front of Heila.
“What are you talking about? Jack and I aren’t like that.”
Dany laughed.
“You say that every time but actions speak louder than words.”
“So cliché, brother. But so very true,” Jake added.
As Jack expected, Heila abruptly stood up.
“That’s enough.” She avoided his mischievous gaze as she waved the borrowed book in her hand. “Thanks for this, Jake. I assume you’re going to allow us to rent it out from your library?”
“Of course, like any other customer, you get to rent a book every two weeks. If you’re late in returning it, remember the penalty fee.”
“Seriously?” Dany said, grinning. “Not even an exception for your future sister-in-law?”
“Well for family, a fee isn’t necessarily monetary. You know that inviting me and Judy over for dinner is enough to pay it back. I can’t resist free food and not having to mess with the kitchen at home.”
“Great, then we’ll be on our way,” Heila said.
They all finished their drinks and walked out of the cafe.
Heila turned around. “Nya, do you want to catch a ride with us?”
“I was actually here to wait for Jack’s shift to end. We have somewhere to go. I’ll be back home later for dinner.”
For a moment, Jack thought Heila was going to hit him. He was done for good…
Instead, she only nodded and said, “Alright, suit yourself.”
One point for the Mastermind of Death. Zero for Prince Charming.
To be continued…
D. K. Waye