The Assignment

Chapter 8: Advised (Part 2)

Haden's POV

When I woke up, the smell of bacon and burnt toast hit my nose, making me wrinkle it. Then, I smiled; maybe Emmaline was making me breakfast. I got up at the prospect of seeing her beautiful face.

As I was making my way through the unfamiliar house, I remembered where I was. I was sleeping on the sofa of the tiny cottage that I was brought to yesterday, along with my Assigned partner, Kia. I sighed. But I decided to go anyway, since I was extremely hungry.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted with a warm plate of toast, jam, and bacon. "Here," Kia said, shoving the plate at me. I internally groaned; I could see when a woman was grumpy.

Before I met Emmaline, I'll admit that I spent my time with other girls. None of the had a lasting impression on me like she did. I had what was once called 'flavor of the month' relationships with girls, like a player sort of. But when Emmaline came around, she was the one who changed it all.

Due to my past experiences, I knew plenty about women and their ways. I came to the conclusion that someone was approaching her time of the month. Em would tell me all about how horrible it was, and I'd listen because it made her feel better. I knew loads about that stuff now, more than I'd like to admit.

All throughout breakfast, Kia was looking at me like had done something wrong. I had only really known her one day, and already she was coming at me for something. Her features were etched with anger, and it was unsettling me.

I decided to go out on a limb. "Did I.. Do something?" I asked hesitantly. Trying to start a conversation with a girl with a mood is like trying to navigate through a minefield. Treacherous waters were approaching.

She started ranting the instant those words came out of my mouth. "First off, you left the bathroom a mess after your shower or whatever. Second, I'm just not in a good mood today, and I realized that Emmaline might be with my cousin, Chris. Do you remember his surname by any chance?"

"Really? I dunno, all I remember was he had a smug little look on his face when he looked at my girl. It made me angry, and I guess that the rage consumed me enough for me to forget the details of their little ceremony. It's a valid reason to be forgetful."

"Yeah, I guess. When are we going to start looking into finding her?"

"Today, definetly. What time is it?" I asked.

"It's almost noon,"she replied nonchalantly. "I woke up around eleven myself. A sleep on that bed is truly invigorating, I'm telling you."

I nodded, resuming my silence and my attention to my meal. The bacon was great, but the toast was charred. It was a good thing it was just the scrape-off kind. I hated anything burnt.

After I finished eating and had rinsed my plate in the sink, I poured myself some coffee from the pot. I filled the white mug only about half full; Cream and sugar weren't really my thing in the mornings. Weird, I know.

"Kia, do we have any visits or anything today? I'd been wondering." Ture to my word, I had. I was hoping that the answer was no so that I could focus on finding Emmaline. Maybe put on a movie or two, I'm sure that they had plenty.

"Not that I know of," she replied. "Let's just take it easy today, maybe look around here for some kind of computer to look up the records. I think that we can get in, I might know how. Being a tech nerd has its perks, after all." She laughed quietly.

I smiled and laughed along. "I suppose so."

After searching the house three times, we couldn't find a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone that we could use. It was part of their program, I guess, to keep the couples separated from the outside world. Wouldn't want us interacting with old friends or, heaven forbid, our family. Out of this whole situation, this annoyed me the most.