Chapter 2

Patricia entered the building, nodding and waving at the people she passed. Despite her efforts to put on a fake smile, she couldn't help but notice the baffled looks on their faces. "Maybe I need to work on my acting skills," she thought to herself.

As she walked through the halls, she could feel her guard slowly coming down. There were only two people in the building who she felt comfortable being herself around - Agent John and...

With a determined look on her face, she pushed open the door to her colleague's office. Inside, she found her typing away at her computer, her reading glasses perched low on her nose. She seemed completely engrossed in whatever she was doing.

As she watched her colleague work, Patricia couldn't help but reminisce about how they had met. She smiled at the memory, feeling a warmth spread throughout her body. "Ah, the good old days," she thought to herself, still smiling.

Flashback Begins,

Eleven-year-old Patricia sat at the end of the cafeteria, her table near the kitchen where the slamming door disturbed her every time the kitchen staff entered or exited. It was like being in the middle of a noisy construction site. She sighed heavily as the door opened with a loud thud, hitting the wall. Any normal person would flinch at the sound, but she sat rigidly sipping her chicken soup.

She wished she could sit somewhere else, but all the tables and chairs were taken by the other agents, who were too egoistical to talk to her. They felt that conversing with her was like talking to a little child. All the agents were over twenty while she was just eleven. Working with her felt like their pride was being hurt, so they gave her the cold shoulder.

Did it bother her? No.

She did not care if they talked to her or not. She was not even interested in talking to anyone.

Then a lady who looked like she was in her twenties and possessed an exotic look walked towards Patricia. She had long, wavy hair that was as brown as chocolate. Her skin was caramel-colored and looked bronzed under the sunlight. She had hazel eyes that were big and expressive. She was tall and voluptuous. She placed her tray on the table and asked, “Er... Can I sit here?”

Patricia raised her head, assessing the woman, and shrugged. “If you like,” she said in a mild tone.

“Thank you,” the lady smiled at her. “I'm Chloe.” She introduced herself, stretching her hands towards Patricia. Patricia ignored it and continued sipping her soup.

The situation felt awkward for Chloe, and she slowly withdrew her hand, dropping it back on the table. “I heard your name is Patricia, Agent Pat. The newest and youngest Agent.”

Patricia dropped the spoon on the table with a thud. “Are you here to mock me like your people do? Bring my self-esteem down? Just so you know, no matter what you say, it won't affect me because I'm strong and special, not like every other eleven-year-old kid. If you're here for this, please stand up.” Her voice sounded harsh while speaking with Chloe.

Chloe just smiled. “I'm not here for that,” she told her. “I'm just here to make friends with you.”

“Friends?” Patricia scoffed. “Why do you want to be friends with an eleven-year-old girl? Why?”

“I did not see you as one. I see you as a diligent agent who is willing to put her life at risk just to save other people's lives. That is what I see, a fighter, not a child,” Chloe said, commending her bravery. This brought a smile to Patricia's face; it was the first compliment she had received from someone other than Agent John.

“Well, I can be friends with anybody I like,” Chloe said, scooping shrimps into her mouth. “Let's start again. I'm Chloe, a recording officer, not an agent. I don't have the heart to be on the battlefield, so I really do commend your bravery.” Chloe gushed at Patricia, admiring the eleven-year-old black-haired girl with hair as dark as midnight.

Flashback Ends

Before and after, Patricia thought to herself, she had truly transformed. A lot of things about her had changed, but not her attitude - she was still the same sweet lady he had always known.

Chloe was now married, and she couldn't remember the name of her husband despite her telling him multiple times. It wasn't my fault, he thought.

Patricia couldn't help but notice that she was getting fatter, but she knew better than to comment on it. Pregnant women and their hormones, she mused.

As she had mentioned before, a lot had changed - she was six months pregnant, which meant she still had three months left to stop behaving like an emotional mess.

"Hey Patricia, what brings you here?" Chloe asked, her eyes fixed on the computer screen.

Approaching her desk, Patricia replied, "Just checking in on you."

She raised her head to look at Patricia before bursting into laughter. "That's strange, I don't remember inviting you over. So, what's up? Did you come here to avoid Sir John?"

"No, why would I do that? I just wanted to see how you're doing. How's it doing?" Patricia asked, glancing at her protruding stomach.

Her expression turned stern. "My unborn child is not a thing, he is a boy, and he's doing well," she said, rubbing her stomach with a smile on her face.

Patricia smiled back genuinely. She and Agent John were the only people she felt comfortable with, as they were the only ones who knew how she was feeling.

"Did you have an ultrasound?" Patricia asked.

"Yes," she replied, nodding her head. "I saw the baby's heartbeat. It was so beautiful."

"Wow, that's great. Only three more months and that little demon will be out of your stomach...ow!" Patricia exclaimed, rubbing her forehead in pain.

"If you call my child a demon again, I will do more than throw a stapler at you," Chloe warned, glaring at her.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. That child is an angel, and he will be just as beautiful as you - not like his father," she joked.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "What are you implying now?"

"That your husband is ugly and you should have married Mr. Tractor," Patricia said with a laugh.

"Ew...that fat, bulgy old man? Totally ew!" she shivered in disgust. Patricia laughed, remembering how the man had flirted with Chloe before she got married. On the day of her wedding, the man had broken down in tears, but she didn't feel any pity for him.

"Well, he's perfect for you," Patricia teased, and Chloe threw a pen at her, which she dodged quickly.

"I hate you, Pat," Chloe huffed. "I thought his name was Mr. Tra--I can't remember his name."

"Well, the name 'Tractor' fits him," Patricia shrugged with a grin.

"Yeah, it does. Anyways, you should go see Sir John. He's not going to scold you for disrespecting Agent Cole--" she started to say, but was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

"It's my love!" she exclaimed excitedly, picking up the phone. "Hey Captain Underpants!" Patricia shook her head. That was probably one of the many silly names she had given her husband.

Taking this as her cue to leave, Patricia stepped out of the office and made her way straight to Agent John's office.

~

As the door creaked open, Pat's heart pounded as she stepped inside the room. Grayish-blue eyes met hers, and she couldn't quite read the emotion on his face. He was good at hiding his feelings.

"Hey," Pat waved nervously, "Congratulations on your promotion, you look good."

He didn't respond, just kept looking at her. Pat's discomfort grew.

She moved toward him and playfully poked his chest, only to receive a punch on her arm. "Ouch!" she exclaimed.

"That's how those people feel when you disrespect them," he fumed. "Four teams, Pat, four. You were kicked out of four teams."

Chloe had lied. Pat shouldn't have come here.

"It was actually three," Pat corrected him, sheepishly smiling.

"Oh well, it's four. Agent Cole requested that you should be removed from his team," he informed her, coming down from the table. Pat shifted back, wary.

"Damn that man, I'm so going to deal with him," Pat muttered to herself.

"What's your deal with your leader?! Your first leader, you pushed him into a pool of water filled with crabs," he reminded her. Pat stifled a laugh at the memory of Agent Beth's unfortunate accident.

"Your second leader, you hanged him upside down on a tree, he almost died," he continued, putting emphasis on the word "died." "You beat that one to a coma-"

"He totally deserved it. He tried forcing himself on me," Pat clarified, making him see she wasn't at fault for beating him.

"And your last leader, you shot him in the leg, Pat, in the leg. Why can't you just tolerate them? Now the organization wants to sack you since no team wants you."

"What?! That's unfair! They are the ones who appoint jerks as leaders. If I did not disobey Cole's orders, those people would have died. I had no choice. I can't just gamble with their lives waiting for the so-called backup," Pat explained, feeling frustrated.

"You are a great agent, but sometimes we just have to play by the rules," he said, trying to reason with her.

Patricia scoffed, " Even if the rules are stupid ?"

"Yes, Pat, even if the rules are stupid. Sometimes you have to play by the rules if you want to survive."

"If I play by the rules, I wouldn't have figured out that there is a mole in the organization or the unknown person who gave us the information of where the victims were kept is working with the bad guys. Apparently, the person we arrested is not the boss. The person is still out there. They wanted us to come," Pat revealed information that she had kept hidden from the other agents. She didn't trust anyone, and she couldn't disclose it until she figured out who the mole was.

He inhaled and exhaled as he took in the information. "How sure are you?" he asked.

"Very sure. While waiting for them to come, I went through his office and discovered something I did not share with them. Then everything clicked. It was very easy to kill the guards. They were acting like they were not trained, but they were. They wanted to die to protect something, to keep the agency off their back. When I confronted the man about it, he just laughed, not saying anything useful except these words: 'Sometimes things happen to make people believe that they have won.' Instantly, I understood. I did not have the chance to question him further. We need to talk to him before they kill him unless we will not be able to figure out what is going on."

He let out a deep sigh and plopped down into the chair. "We can't talk to him. If we wants to speak with him, we'll need to state his reasons. And since you said there's a mole, we can't trust anyone. And you, you're off every case in the organization until you prove you deserve to stay. The only thing I can do is send guards to protect him until you are given the rights to meddle in the organization's affairs."

She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling frustrated. How was she going to find the people who killed her parents? She didn't tell him that she had found something that linked the attack to the mafia. If she did, he wouldn't let her investigate. He believed that seeking revenge would taint her soul.

"How am I going to do that?" She asked.

"Well," he replied, "I've convinced them that you are a good agent. And thankfully, someone backed me up by saying that most of the cases were solved by her. So the authorities have decided to give you another chance to investigate this company, Marc's Lux, by seducing the CEO."

She blinked. "Easy peasy... wait, what?!"