LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 47
Keira had filed an indefinite leave of absence from work as she spent most of her time at the Military Base waiting for any progress of the search and rescue operation for her missing husband.
Field Marshal Chan let out a long deep sigh as he watched his daughter running around back and forth between the different divisions at the Military Base for any news regarding the search.
It broke his heart to see Keira’s despaired state. She was barely taking care of herself. Her face looked pale and haggard. Dark circles started to form under her eyes. She looked so careworn.
“My darling child, why don’t you go home first and rest? I will call you if we have any updates…” said Field Marshal Chan as he hugged her and gently patted her back.
“No Dad, I will stay here! I want to be the first to know where he is…” said Keira in a fatigued but firm tone of voice.
Chin was working together with the Military to advise them in matters related to Mr. Big, which was very critical for the success of the search and rescue operation. Her biggest concern was the possibility of Zach having already been ki||ed and his body tossed into the sea. She knew that Leon, Mr. Big’s real identity, would never leave any loose ends or liabilities. And Zach was surely a liability.
According to Chin’s knowledge on how Mr. Big usually operated, he would always devise some sort of contingency plans in case things deviated from their original plan. So he had surely use one of these plans to escape. But the question was whether or not he had brought Zach along with him… Chin was not sure… Unless Zach could still be of any use to him, he would definitely have already been eliminated.
Keira could not accept that. She could just sense, deep in her heart, that Zach was still alive. He may have been held hostage by Mr. Big, but she was sure that he was still alive.
The Military had joined forces with several government agencies and had created a special task force team to comb the vast ocean to look high and low for Zach’s body. Tracking down Mr. Big’s location was also one of their highest priorities.
“Dad, I would like to take the Special Force Qualification Course. I don’t want to just wait around here like a damsel in distress and do nothing except wait for updates. I will join the search operation myself to retrieve my husband back as soon as you track Leon’s exact location,” Keira declared firmly.
She was resolute. She was going to join the special task force team. And in order to do that without being a burden to the other members of the team, she would have to go through the Military Special Forces training.
She would search the whole wide world just to find him. Zach was alive… She could sense it. No… she knew it.
Keira convinced herself that Leon had just abducted Zach to put him to good use. Any kinds of use. But she couldn’t help but feel pain, as if her heart was punctured a million times over by tiny pins, at the thought of Zach suffering or being tortured by the infamously ruthless king of the underworld…
‘As long as he is alive… Please, just keep him breathing…’ Keira prayed silently.
Field Marshal Chan let out a long, deep and audible sigh as he looked at the cold and unrelenting look on his daughter’s face.
He knew her well. She had always been a stubborn girl, but this time she was even more adamant. And no matter what he would say, he knew that she had made her decision and she would never waver.
He looked away as a single tear squeezed out of his eyes upon seeing how brave and strong his daughter was.
………
*At Yang Hospital…*
Torin had undergone surgery to treat the complications from his gunshot wound and had been staying in the hospital for two days now. He smiled when he saw Lyra sleeping by his side on a chair with her head on the bed.
He gently caressed her cheek as he cleared the loose strands of hair that were covering her face. Lyra moved and opened her eyes.
“You’re awake… Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?” She asked him smiling. Torin had already been awake from the surgery a little while ago but had gone back to sleep as soon as the doctor gave him another anaesthetic to ease his pain.
“Hmm, I wanna eat you?” Torin answered jokingly but weakly.
Lyra unconsciously hit his shoulder. “Ouch!” Torin complained while acting hurt that made Lyra raised an eyebrow at him.
“I believe your wound was on the side of your stomach and not on the shoulder!” Lyra scolded. Torin smiled sweetly at her and said, “But the nerves are connected, so it hurts…”
Lyra pursed her lips and complained, “How can you still joke around after what happened to you? They had to remove one of your kidneys, Torin!”
She was so relieved to see that he was still able to joke around, but also miffed because she had been on tenterhooks waiting for him to come out of his surgery. Even now she could still feel a knot in her stomach at the thought that she could have lost him. There had been complications stemming from his gunshot wound, but fortunately the surgery had been a success, even though they had to remove one of his kidneys.
“Hmm, come here and stop sulking… Aren’t you happy that I saved Bro’s life? By the way where is he? Hmm I’m so excited to ask him for a big favor since he owed me his life now. What do you think should I ask first? Well, I plan to ask for your hand first, of course.” Torin said. His voice was still weak and hoarse but his eyes twinkled excitedly.
Then his forehead creased when he noticed Lyra’s sullen face as she just sat there silently without saying anything. Her eyes began to redden and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Torin asked. He was alarmed by Lyra’s reaction.
“What happened, Lyra? Is Bro alright? Did anything happen to him?” he asked, hoping to hear a different answer from Lyra…
Lyra’s pursed lips opened and with a stuttering voice she said, “Bro had gone missing. No one knows if he’s alive or dead…”
“What…?” Torin whispered in disbelief. He couldn’t digest any of the words that Lyra had just said.
He grinned and said, “Stop joking Lyra. It’s not funny, okay? I’m sorry… I will not joke like that again, so please call Bro now and tell him that I want to see him, so he can pay me the debt that he owes me now…”
Lyra must be just pulling a prank on him now, because he loved to tease and play tricks on her…
However, Torin’s face paled when Lyra burst out in tears…”Torin, Bro is still missing!!!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“So, she has been training really hard?” Jeru probed as he watched Keira practice the hand-to-hand combat with a trainer. She was deeply committed. She was not only training herself to fight – she was training herself to win.
Lieutenant Jiang sighed as he murmured, “Yes, she’s very determined. I heard from the janitor that there are a lot of photos of Leon and Draco hanging on the wall inside her room, and she would use them as practice targets for knife-throwing as well as for the firearms training at the $h00ting range…”
“Wait, are you back for good, General Liu?” asked Lieutenant Jiang as he turned his head to face Jeru.
Jeru chuckled and said, “Of course not… But I will stay until we find Zach. I will help Keira find him.” Lieutenant Jiang nodded and Jeru shifted his gaze back at Keira.
He stood with his arms over his chest and creased his forehead at the sight of Keira focusing on her training and not even noticing that he had been observing her…’Lucky bastard! You had better be alive…’ he thought silently. He couldn’t help but feel envious of Zach, who was very lucky to have Keira in his life. She was a woman who would do anything for the man she loved. She would never give up on Zach and would give everything of herself just to find him…
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ringing of his phone and his eyebrows knitted together when he saw that it was Thea.
“Yes?” he answered the call.
“Hey… I’m sorry… It would be a bit awkward if I called Keira to ask for news on Zach. Do you mind if I ask you instead? I also want to help… I mean I can be a big help. You can use me as a bait to lure Leon out…” Thea murmured on the other line of the phone.
“Where are you now? Let’s meet and talk in person…” Jeru said in a serious tone that made Thea bite her lip. She was already at her office.
Ever since the incident, Thea and Jeru hadn’t seen each other. Thea was kept hidden in a safe house on the outskirts of the City out of fear of potential retribution and dangers by Leon. She was just released yesterday and the first thing she did was to report for work.
Leon’s face as well as Draco’s were all over the media, whereas Chin’s and Thea’s identity as the key witnesses to all of Leon’s crimes had been kept tightly under wraps. Leon was one of the most wanted criminals in the world, but Thea was sure that catching him would not be an easy feat due to his wide and vast connections overseas.
After work, Thea waited for Jeru who had just arrived to pick her up.
“Where are we going?” Thea asked when they were inside the car.
“You have to stay and live with me until Leon is captured,” Jeru stated casually.
“What?!” Thea burst out.
“Chin had already prepared all of your things and had them moved to my house. Don’t worry, you’ll be well protected there…” Jeru explained. Thea couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “But… why your house?!” she asked in horror.
How could she possibly stay in the same house with Jeru? The passionate night that they shared together was still vividly imprinted in her memory. She couldn’t even bear to look straight at him due to embarrassment, let alone living under the same room with him.
She heard Jeru sigh as he stopped the car at the roadside.
Then he looked at Thea as he explained, “Field Marshal Chan had entrusted you to me, because you so badly wanted to go out of the safe house to continue working. Do you really think they would just allow you to leave like that? You are no longer safe Thea, so if you don’t want to stay with me then resign from work and go back to the safe house.”
“But staying there would ki|| me as there’s nothing much to do there…” Thea said, softly trailing her words off, while keeping her head slightly bowed, looking at her hands. She knew Jeru was staring at her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to raise her gaze and meet his eyes.
Jeru raised a brow, still staring at her, as he said, “Then stay at my house! Do you think I like to follow you around? Zach went missing because he chose to save us! So at least be safe until he returns… My house is heavily guarded so Leon’s man would not be able to touch you there. From now on, wherever you go and wh@??ver you do, you will report to me. A security team will follow you around. Don’t worry, they’ll be wearing civilian clothes so as not to attract attention to themselves. You will meet them tomorrow. Chin will stay at the Military Base with Keira… and you will stay with me…”
Thea couldn’t complain at all and just remained quiet. Jeru who presumed that she had agreed to what he said started the engine and drove away to head back to his place. He had recently moved out of his family’s house to a newly built house which he had personally designed himself. It was true that the new house was well guarded, because he had made sure to install the best security system there is and Field Marshal Chan had also posted a few highly trained soldiers there to watch over them. .
He would sneak a glance at Thea every once in a while and he couldn’t help but smile. She looked so meek and shy, unlike before, when she would often throw him a haughty look and talk to him in an arrogant manner.
“By the way, you still have a debt to pay to me… Until I think of a way on how you could repay me, you would still be indebted to me. So I expect that you would heed all my words and behave well…” Jeru said with a grin.
Thea answered him by letting a deep and long sigh. She felt like she would have a long and excruciating time ahead…