[2023 Wattys Shortlist, 2023 Amby Awards winner, Featured 3 times in Wattpad Picks lists]
Kaleth has worked as an agent of Luxarx for years. What the average person might see as an exciting, dangerous job has become the routine, and the only thing...
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Nira couldn't remember the last time she'd slept for over eight hours, but this morning she woke with the alarm clock on the bedside table telling her it was nine o'clock. She must have really been tired to have slept for...well, she couldn't remember when she had gone to bed, but it must have been at least twelve hours, probably more.
Once she and Nef had eaten something, they started searching for hidden cameras, and after nearly three hours, Nira came to the conclusion that they were either so well hidden that they would never find them, or that there weren't any. Nef claimed that his eyesight was too great to miss something as obvious as a camera lens, no matter how hidden it was, so the obvious answer was that there weren't any cameras at all, but that made no sense to her. Nira kept her skepticism to herself and also didn't bother pointing out that since Nef wore glasses, his eyesight couldn't have been that great. It was a good opportunity to tease him, but now wasn't the right time for it.
Next, they started brainstorming ideas on how to open the locked door of the apartment. Though there wasn't much brainstorming. They each had one idea and argued about which was better.
Nira wanted to call room service—what kind of apartment building had room service, anyway?—and knock out the person who would bring them what they had ordered with a pan from the kitchen.
Nef claimed he could unlock the door with his special skills.
"I wasn't even aware you knew how to pick locks," Nira said, not hiding the disbelief in her voice at all. "I'm pretty sure that if you were good at it, you'd brag about it at least once."
Nef pretended to look offended and put a hand over his heart dramatically. "You injure me, Your Majesty."
Nira sighed tiredly. This was the third time today he had called her that. Even back in Irithara, she had barely ever been called that. Thankfully, Nef stopped laughing soon and continued talking, actually adding something relevant.
"Al taught me how to do it. And I even have the right tools for it," he said, pulling two thin, black hairpins out of the hair just above his right ear.
"Are you serious?" Nira asked, unsure whether she should laugh at him or be amazed. How had she never noticed that? She touched his hair a lot—mostly because he didn't like it when she deliberately messed it up, and he was cute when he pouted. Maybe she had always assumed she touched his glasses since they were metal, just like the hairpins.
"I always come prepared," he said, winking at her and straightening the pins, so they formed slightly wavy rods. Nira scowled at him.
"No, you don't. You barely even remember to bring your ID with you when you want to buy beer." How many times had she watched him try to convince a cashier that he was over eighteen? It had been good fun at the beginning, but now she usually just pretended she was the one buying the alcohol, so she could use her own ID.
"Fine, so I always come prepared for opening locks," Nef amended with a scoff, and Nira snorted.
"When was the last time you had our apartment keys on you?"
