Chapter 143 - Misunderstandings Pt. 3

"Testing you? No I think is a very clear invitation, though I can test you in other ways...." 

His voice became huskier with every word and was full of innuendo. Which was completely how she expected him to respond, he liked to tease her any chance he got. It was not a bad quality in general, she was the type to enjoy banter and consensual flirting. Of course, if it was another man she would have ignored him or found some way for him to leave her alone. These comments were just a package deal with Xi Long and because it was him. she didn't have much problem accepting it. 

If this was a normal conversation she would feel pleasant hearing such words and respond with some sort of counter. Unfortunately she was in no mood to entertain him and while she didn't want to be mean about it, her voice was oozing the coldness she felt. 

"Stop, enough joking. I will ask again are you testing me?"

Even as she spoke she could not hold back her enunciation, it was controlled and stern. With how many times they spoke it would not take a genius to figure out she was not happy.

There was a pause in their conversation and silence filled in the gap.  At this moment she knew that he had figured it out and was probably trying to guess why she was acting differently. There weren't any direct clues from the words she said but the biggest hint was how instigative her words were. When she questioned him saying "are you testing me," that was a huge giveaway to indicate he was responsible for her terrible mood. 

"No, I am not. What's wrong?" 

His voice had dropped all previous playfulness and adopted the same reserved tone as hers. From how he was acting she was inclined to believe that he really did not know what was going on but that wasn't anything better. One would absolve him from him from direct blame while the other would mean he was ignorant while such things were occurring. 

Looking at Neo's screen while she spoke, she made sure to follow the timing of the attacks and correlate them with his speaking. If at any point they stopped during this conversation then the suspicion would be back on Xi Long. Since that would mean he was in the room or able to communicate with the mystery attacker to pause their actions. 

"When we first met, I believe there was a certain understanding between us no?"

"Understanding? Kitten you're going to have be more clear, there are many 'understandings' between us."

"Understandings as in unspoken agreements between us. Since the beginning, I didn't even bother to hide how I am. Even if I wanted to, the situations we were in did not allow me to lest I risked dying over some breakfast. However, it was plainly obvious to both of us that I was - am not a regular white collar worker."

"Yes and that is fine but why are you talking about that right now?"

"I know that whatever we have, this 'relationship' has been built very quickly. However, I only allowed this to happen thinking that we had an understanding and -"

"We do."

"...let me finish. I appreciated that you did not question my origins nor ask me any questions when I would show something different. Whether that be my fighting skills or my habits of checking food for poison. All you needed to know is that we aren't enemies and I am no risk to you. If I was, none of what happened between us would have happened. However, that trust I had in you is wavering right now."

"What do you mean..? Stop speaking in vague terms, if its a past grievance you should bring it up now. I thought things were fine between us last night and we had some developments. What happened over night that I have suddenly 'broke your trust?' What exactly is it that's making you doubt me right now."

His voice became harsher as she could hear the emotion in his voice. Putting him in this position and having this conversation did not bring her any sort of joy. If she had gotten an accusation like this after having a pleasant night, even she would be as upset as him. Especially if it came from someone he seemingly cared about. However, this situation was too serious for her to be lenient. 

Her mind although calm in this moment, teetered back and forth debating on how to proceed. Part of her wanted to be nicer and part of her told her to remain cold. It was never easy to be harsh against someone you liked and at this time, she really enjoyed what they have. Their relationship was also not so stable that it could not crumble after this call nor was she confident in it surviving. 

She would not keep contact with anyone who threatened the successfulness of her mission and he had no reason to be with someone he did not know. However, just because of that it did not mean he was allowed to research her. That elusiveness being the deal breaker for him or his close aids meant that they had no future.  If the relationship were to break at this moment, she knew in her heart that it was the right decision. 

"In this city, the amount of times I have shown my face in publicly can be counted on one hand. I live a very boring life and I also don't meet up with people every other day. So you can imagine my surprise when a code was created in this city with my exact parameters to track my movements. This is constitutes as a grievance no? Hence why I asked are you testing me."

"....you think I did this."

There wasn't a questioning tone in his voice, rather it was affirmative. He knew that that was exactly how she thought and was the reasoning behind her call. There was a short pause before he answered again.

"I did not do this, I can prove to you I have not left this office. I admit, I did a preliminary search on you in the beginning but I am pretty sure you know that. There was no way my men would not have found out anything if you did not block it. Since then, I can swear to you I have not done another search on you. To go as far as creating a code too, that is not my style."

Judging by his reaction he was not offended but only upset that he was facing this accusation. With that sentence and feeling his sincerity though the phone, her emotions calmed down immensely. If he did not do it then it and did not order it, the only other responsible person for this would be his best friend. 

"I believe you.....but that doesn't change the situation. Even if it wasn't you, it was someone around you. I have only shown my face to two people and I don't have to spell it out for you who that other person is. When we went for dinner, I only removed my mask trusting you. Do you know how big of a sacrifice that is for me? Now because of that, I have a code written up the next day with all my parameters embedded into it. Maybe if they were just doing a search on the internet to find a glimpse of me but creating a tracker is way out of line. Especially since it includes my facial features and random skills that make it obviously me."

"Kitten...if I wanted to know something about you I would ask you directly. I have my own secrets to hide and I appreciate that you do not ask me to explain any of them. Whatever respect you have given me I have given you equally. Coding something, secretly doing some research out of the blue is not my style. In fact....I hope that one day we can trust each other enough to share the stories openly - I'm in no rush though. We can go at our own pace and I know that trust takes time to build."

This was probably the first time he had been so clear with her regarding his views on the relationship. He usually said a line or two but mainly spoke through his actions. The actions being a possessive lover who had a sweet tongue. She did not expect him to think that far and attach such deep emotions to her already, it was both comforting and alarming. They had only met for two weeks so where would these emotions come from?

'Unless I'm reading too far into this....' Her spiralling thoughts stopped as soon as he started speaking again. 

"With being said, I obviously had no clue that Xi Long was doing this. We had a talk yesterday but it seems I was not clear enough. I apologize on his behalf and this won't happen again. I promise."