Stray Scars (Book 2)

Chapter 31

Pov: Chu Scarlett

"Why do I feel like he'll immediately figure us out?" I asked nervously as Changbin sat next to me on his office couch.

"At least try to fake confidence," he complained though he also seemed worried.

Lieutenant Lavigne was on his way to Black Galaxy and the wait only made Changbin and I more anxious. We had kind of put our prides aside for now because we needed to get things to work. The more we argued, the more we'd risk rescuing Isabelle.

Luca opened the door and bowed a bit as he gestured towards the office. That's when the lieutenant's towering figure entered through the massive door and thanked him. His tall stature made the room look small, somehow, and we both stood up, ready to greet him. The sight of him grew an involuntary smile on my face, pushing me to cover my lips.

Not like I missed him or anything..

He looked the exact same. A pack of muscles, an exuding aura of authority, and a forever receding hairline. He stopped right in front of me, never acknowledging my 'husband' as he opened his arms wide, his proud grin mirroring the one I failed to hide.

"As if I'd hug you, old man," I scoffed, but his grin only widened.

"Glad that part of you hasn't changed," he said in French, but yanked me up by my arm anyway. He firmly patted my back twice, then pulled away, his hand still holding my shoulder. "Now tell me what's happening so I can get you out of this situation."

Changbin coughed as a reminder of his existence, and I smiled, reverting my attention to him. I'd found out that he hadn't had enough time to study English as much as every agent was supposed to, but he sure had improved a lot these few months. "You didn't say hello to my husband yet," I said in English, trying to create a middle ground before they'd find another reason to hate each other.

The lieutenant's amusement faded into a scowl as he scrutinized Changbin under his gaze, giving him a look of disapproval. Changbin himself didn't bother putting up an angelic face. He stared back at the lieutenant with authority of his own. I stood by, almost visualizing electric shocks shooting at each other through their glares.

"I'd like to talk to you in private," the lieutenant spit out, but I jumped in.

"If you have something to say, you could say it in front of me too, no?"

"Stay out of this, Scarlett."

He was serious this time. I couldn't disobey his orders when he suddenly became so hostile.

Changbin gave me one last smile that said he'd be okay, and returned his attention to the lieutenant. "It's alright, Scar. I've wanted to talk to him for a while now too."

What a caring husband you are, Changbin. What would I do without you.

'Scar' sounded so weird coming out of his mouth.. However, the lieutenant seemed to have calmed down while I nodded and left the room, bitterly wondering what they would talk about.

Sike.

I listened in on everything.

The lieutenant kept asking him questions that could easily make him slip up if he wasn't too careful. He even asked about trivial things like what my allergies were, or what my favorite number was, and Changbin escaped them by blaming his 'horrible English'. The lieutenant caught on, so he asked for an interpreter to join them.

Once the language barrier was broken by agent Monroe's helpful presence, Changbin did pretty well considering how calm and clever he was throughout the whole absurdity. With any questions he did not know the answers to, or believed could actually be traps, he cut the lieutenant off, telling him that he hadn't lived with me long enough to find out. When the lieutenant gave him information about me that he wasn't aware of, he acted surprised and interested to learn new things about his precious wife. I wasn't even allowed to get angry about the lieutenant sharing my information because Changbin was supposedly my trusted husband.