LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 52
Zach woke up from the sound of blaring alarm. Then he heard footsteps. He quickly got up to see what was going on.
It looked like everyone on their deck was in panic.
“What’s going on?” asked Riley. “The ship is on fire,” answered Cobra.
Zach moved towards the cell door and looked from behind the metal bars.
His eyes widened when he saw a familiar figure running towards him…
“Keira? What are you doing here?” Zach murmured. He saw Keira give that mischievous smile that he had missed so much and winked at him as she unlocked his cell door and slipped inside his cell.
“How did you…?” Zach muttered, still in disbelief, but then he saw a lot of soldiers and policemen scatter around the area, taking all of Leon’s men and freeing each and every man from the human cages to take with them.
He was startled when he felt Keira abruptly hug him, burying and rubbing her face on his chest, as if there were no tomorrow. He quickly hugged her back tightly, burying his face in her hair.
“I was so worried about you. I always knew you are alive… I’m so grateful right now,” he heard Keira murmur.
“I missed you so much…” Zach kept mumbling those words, still burying his face in her hair to savor her sweet scent. He was so overwhelmed by emotions seeing Keira was right there in front of him, that tears began to shine in his eyes.
He then felt Keira gently push him away from her as she smiled and held his hand to go out of his cell. “Let’s get out of here,” he heard her whisper.
He felt her grip on his hand as Keira led him towards the upper deck of the ship so they could disembark the Ghost ship and make their way to the military ship that was already positioned directly beside the Ghost ship. Everything happened so fast and the next thing he knew was that they were already onboard of the military ship.
Inside the military ship Keira led him to one of the cabins where he could rest. Zach creased his forehead and asked, “What happened to Leon? Is he caught? I must go back and make sure that bastard is caught.”
He could not afford to let that evil bastard escape again for the second time. He must make sure that Leon was caught.
He saw Keira nod at him and smile before he heard her speak, “Don’t think about him anymore. Jeru and Torin already have him.”
“Torin is alright?” Zach quickly asked and felt relieved as he saw Keira nod and smile. “Oh, thank God! That brute was trying to play a hero on me. I’m sure he will never let me hear the end of it. I may end up having to give him a really big favor,” Zach said with a big grin as he followed Keira inside a cabin.
“Don’t think about anything else and just relax. They will take care of everything from now on. Please just stay here with me…” He heard her speak as soon as they were inside the cabin.
Zach felt Keira wrap her arms around his waist tensely and he could immediately tell that she was crying heavily as he could feel how his shirt became wet from her tears, around the chest area, in no time at all. Zach smiled. How he missed having her soft and warm body so close to his like this.
He gently caressed Keira’s hair and stroke her back as he sighed and said, “Oh my sweet darling, please stop crying. I’m safe now and I’m here by your side. I will no longer leave you. I promise… I missed you really badly.”
Then he gently pushed Keira back to look closely at her face as he wiped the tears off her face. He then cupped her face with his hands and said with a grin, “How come my wife is still so pretty even when she’s crying like this? But I prefer to see you smile and not cry like this. You are prettier when you smile.”
He saw her keep on sobbing while forcing herself to speak in between her sobs with pouty lips, “It’s your fault! It’s your fault that I’m crying like this… You made me worry so much. Don’t you know how hard it was for me?”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry for making you worry. I promise this won’t happen again. Keira, I love you… I love you so much…” Zach murmured as he put his forehead against hers. He then finally closed the gap between their faces by kissing her passionately and yearningly. He was reveling in her sweetness with relish.
He wanted to feel her body and drown himself in her warmth. He deepened the kiss as he ran his hands over her back, trailing her curves and pressed her closer to him. But it was still not enough. He wanted her even closer and tighter in his embrace.
He felt Keira’s arms encircling him around his neck and she answered his kisses with the same intensity and passion as his. They tangled themselves in each other’s arms. Zach was holding onto her so tightly, he felt her gasping for air. But it seemed like they didn’t care. They were just too hungry for each other’s touches and kisses.
“I missed you… I missed you so much…” Zach murmured when he left her lips to shower Keira’s face with his gentle kisses and then trailed them down her neck.
Zach hoped that this was real and not a dream. But if it was just a dream, he would be more than happy to stay in that dream. If a dream was the only way for him to be with his wife, then he would rather not wake up. If this was just a dream, please just let him sleep…
He wanted to stay in her embrace. He wanted to feel her kiss and her touch. He wanted to immerse himself in her softness and lose himself in her sweetness.
Because that was all he needed to survive….
To Zach’s horror, Keira’s face had started to fade.
“What’s going on?” He mumbled as he tried to hug Keira tightly. But then her body had also started to vanish, until he could no longer feel it.
“No… No… No!” He shouted as he tried to get a hold of her, but he couldn’t. She had completely disappeared from his sight. ‘No! This couldn’t be a dream!’ He was thrown into a panic as he kept mumbling, “No, please no… please…”
Then he heard Riley’s voice calling him.
“General, wake up! General! Wake up, man! For goodness sake, wake up!” The sound of Riley’s voice shouting at him loudly kept ringing in his ears, but he did not want to listen.
He was still busy looking around for Keira as he kept calling out her name, and nothing else seemed to matter to him at that moment.
Then Zach felt something hard hit his face. He instantly opened his eyes to see that it was a book. He removed the book from his face and slowly sat himself up.
“d@mn General! Were you having a nightmare? You were talking in your sleep! No, you were shouting! I thought you weren’t able to wake up. You looked like you couldn’t breathe!” Riley burst out at him. He looked so worried.
He tried to wake Zach who seemed to be having a bad dream. He called him numerous times but it didn’t seem to help. So he had no choice but to grab one of his books and threw it at Zach.
“A dream… A nightmare?” Zach exclaimed, looking at Riley with a sullen face.
“What? Yeah, a nightmare. A bad dream! You should thank me, I woke you up from it,” Riley said, with a grin on his face, feeling proud that he had done his new friend a favor.
“By the way, I heard you were mumbling a name. Kei..? Was it Keia? Or maybe Keira? Something like that?” He asked out of curiosity.
Zach’s face darkened at Riley’s words and he snapped at him, “Why did you have to wake me up!? Next time don’t bother to wake me up! I don’t mind having a good dream!”
“A good dream? But you looked like someone who would die in his sleep… Wait, don’t tell me you were dreaming about a woman?” Asked Riley with widened eyes.
He was about to mention the name again, but then he heard Zach release a frustrated sigh as he narrowed his eyes and said, “Go to sleep, Riley. Don’t bother me anymore.”
Riley scratched his head and mused, ‘Ugh, what was that? Did he want to die in his sleep? Was he dreaming about his woman?’
He saw Zach laid himself down on his bed again, as if he was in a hurry to go back to sleep.
‘What a weird General!’ Riley commented silently as he also went back to his bed to sleep.
Zach tossed and turned and ended up laying on his side with his back on Riley and his sight on Cobra, who was sleeping heavily. He sighed and crouched.
The tournament would start soon. He hoped to sort everything out soon for his escape, even though it was hard.
‘I miss you so much…’ He whispered silently.
Zach let out a long sigh before he closed his eyes once more. He missed Keira so much and he hoped that she would visit him in his dream every night, just like this.
He did not mind that it was only a dream, as long as he could be with her. That was his only way to survive.
…..
It was already late at night, but Keira couldn’t sleep at all. She glanced at May and Lana but the two were already deeply asleep.
“They must be so tired,” she murmured with a gentle smile on her face. The two had been working so hard these past few days, in order to catch up with her.
She decided to walk outside to get some fresh air, and her feet brought her to the Meteor Den. She smiled as she reminisced about her time with Zach on that same spot.
Then she looked up to the sky and waited for a falling star. But there were still none. She had not been lucky enough to see one in the past few nights.
“Endure a little more, my General… I will come to you soon. Please wait for me,” Keira whispered as tears began to roll down her cheeks, yet again.
Then she calmed herself down as she shook her head, trying her best to stop the tears from continuously falling down her eyes.
“Gosh, I h@?? that I’ve become such a crybaby. But I can’t help it! I’m so worried! Geez, I should whip you for making me worried like this!” She protested as she wiped the tears that were still flowing out of her eyes.
This was the same place where Zach had taken the initiative to kiss her for the very first time a few years ago. She giggled in between her tears when she remembered how shy but happy she was at that time. She recalled being so happy that her heart would burst out.
Then scenes of the times they had spent together suddenly flashed before her eyes, and it caused her to smile, laugh, and cry like a crazy person.
She pouted her lips and complained, “I worked really hard to chase you, my General. So I won’t let you go that easily…”
“I knew you would be here…” Keira was startled when she saw Drey walking towards her and sat beside her.
“Why are you still awake? You should be sleeping. Remember, it’s very important for the mission that you take good care of your body and your health, so you must rest early,” Drey said.
Then he added, “What do you think General Lim is doing right now?”
Keira smiled, looked directly at Drey and said, “He is now trying really hard to survive, because he knows that I would get really mad if he didn’t.”
Drey chuckled and said, “Yeah, so you must survive too. So, go to sleep, now!”
Keira laughed at Drey’s stern tone of voice. She quickly stood up and gave him a salute before leaving, “Sir, yes, Sir!”
Drey gazed at Keira’s back as she ran back towards her dorm and exhaled loudly. “The two of you must survive and be together soon,” he murmured full of sympathy.
_____
“The tournament has already been confirmed. I don’t see the point of you getting involved anymore,” Jeru stated when they were on their way back home.
“But how will you even be able to enter the ship with the tracking devices? They will find out at the scanning process. You need someone who can wear those tracking devices without getting caught. So having me to be that person is the best option,” Thea said matter-of-factly.
She was indeed the best candidate for those tracking devices. She was the only person who could go inside Leon’s ship without all the hassle of getting checked.
“We’ve already planned everything. Keira and the rest would enter the ship with a disguise,” Jeru explained about the plan to Thea.
It was a tournament aimed for the uber rich. So entering the premise disguised as a spectator should be reasonably easy, as long as you could pay the exorbitant entrance fee. However, the thing would get trickier if they were to enter with a tracking device planted on them. According to their sources, Leon had upgraded his security system so any kinds of concealed devices would be easily detected.
No one was allowed to enter with anything other than the clothes they would be having on their body and cash money. Mobile phones or any kinds of gadgets, and any other things that were not intended for a mere spectator of the tournament, such as weapons, were strictly prohibited. It was even said that Leon’s men had been ordered to ki|| anyone on the spot should they find anything suspicious on the person.
“See, you will all enter with nothing but yourself? That would be too dangerous! I’m telling you, I’m the best host for those tracking devices! I’m the only suitable candidate. You can put all kinds of tracking devices on me and see if they still can detect it,” Thea said, trying to convince Jeru that this was the most sensible option.
“But it’s too dangerous… If they found out you had a tracking device on you, they might ki|| you.” murmured Jeru. He was hesitant to put Thea in an uncertain situation.
Thea laughed scornfully and rebuked, “Trust me they won’t ki|| me. Once they verify that I’m Leon’s woman, they will not even dare to touch me. Even if they somehow find anything suspicious on me, they wouldn’t ki|| me on the spot as they had been ordered to. They would just remove those from me.”
Jeru knew that Thea was right. Having her as the host of the devices was indeed the most logical thing to do in this situation. Everyone else had proposed that plan already. But he was against it. He somehow detested the idea of Thea going back to Leon again. He felt that it would be too unfair for her. She had finally managed to escape that evil bastard’s grasp, but now they wanted to use her, and let her be held captive by her very own sadistic torturer once more.
Thea noticed Jeru’s sulky face and she smiled. Somehow, their awkward days together had turned out to be quite funny and memorable. Surprisingly, they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company, even if they argued about the simplest things most of the time.
“It’s really fine… Besides are you not confident enough that you can bring me back? I trust you and your team, so after saving Zach, just make sure that you bring Leon down and his stupid ship along with him,” Thea said light-heartedly. Then she heard Jeru respond with only a sigh.
“Oh, we are almost at your house. By the way, do you have any particular requests for our dinner tonight? If you don’t, then I will just cook what Janus asked me to make,” said Thea nonchalantly.
Jeru’s face crumpled. Janus was his Lieutenant and his right hand man when he was still in his active General duty. How dare that bastard to even think of requesting her to cook him his meals? He looked at Thea and said firmly, “You don’t have to cook for the men. They can buy their own food.”
Thea laughed and said, “I’m cooking anyway. Why let them buy their own food when I can cook enough for all of us? Besides, I like it. They all love my cooking and it makes me happy.”
Jeru twitched his mouth and thought irritably, ‘I love your cooking too. Isn’t that enough?’ It looked like he would have to give those boys some scolding later.
The two arrived at his place. Jeru parked his car inside the garage and went out of the car. He creased his forehead seeing Thea was not out of the car yet, so he opened the car door on his side again, peered in at Thea and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The seatbelt seems stuck. I can’t take it off,” Thea murmured as she was trying to remove her seat belt. “Let me see,” Jeru said before he bent down a knee on the driver seat and moved his upper body forward towards the passenger seat to check on her seat belt.
Thea gasped when Jeru was almost near her. She felt a bit awkward and held her breath. “Weird, what’s wrong with this seat?” Jeru whispered as he tried to unbuckle it.
Then he suddenly looked up to face Thea. Her face was very close to his and it had caught him off guard. He whispered while still staring at Thea’s eyes, “I think we need to cut it…”
Thea opened her lips to say something but nothing came out of her mouth, so she just nodded. Jeru, on the other hand, felt something had magnetically pulled him closer towards her as he stared at her open lips.
Things happened very fast and the next thing she felt was Jeru’s lips pressing against hers. Her eyes widened when she felt him deepen the kiss. She tried to move but her body felt numb.
‘What’s happening?’ she shouted inwardly. But she unconsciously closed her eyes and let Jeru’s lips take over. His tongue gently slipped inside her mouth, probing, searching deeper within.
“Sir, is everything alright?” Thea was startled at Janus voice and her reflex reacted quickly as she abruptly pushed Jeru away from her.
“Ouch!!!” Jeru yelped when his head hit the car ceiling and the side of his body bumped into the steering wheel. Thea, on the other hand, had miraculously removed the seat belt and slipped out of the car.
“Oh Janus, it’s just the seat belt… I’ll head inside first,” she stammered as she hurriedly walked towards the house. Janus squinted his eyes, looking suspiciously at her.
Then he turned his head towards Jeru who was now massaging his nape. “What happened, Sir?”
Jeru looked at him and scoffed, “Don’t request Thea to cook a particular meal for you guys anymore. She’s already tired from work, so let her rest when she’s home!”
Then Jeru walked towards the house, but paused briefly to throw his car keys at Janus and said, “Can you check on that weird seat belt in the passenger seat?”
Janus was left confused and could only scratch his head…