“Protocols…” Reiner muttered as his mind raced to figure out a solution.
“The mission can’t be delayed for long. I’ll give you 24 hours to figure out what you want to do. Remember, we always follow our protocols,” King stated while stressing on every word.
Reiner glanced down a moment as he took in a deep breath. It was clear to King that Reiner was trying to figure something out and he was curious to see what his son would come up with in this situation. After a short moment of silence, Reiner lifted his eyes and King could see the determination in them.
“I’ll take on this mission,” Reiner said without hesitation.
“You?” King asked, clearly surprised.
“Yes,” Reiner replied seriously.
“Really?” King inquired.
“Yes,” Reiner replied immediately.
“Well, I have to say that I did not expect this,” King said followed by a smirk.
“Can I have till end of Monday to complete this mission?” Reiner asked as his eyes focused on his father.
“You need some time to say goodbye? Sure, I would have assigned an agent to it on Monday morning anyways. I don’t want to bother our assassins on a weekend even if it is an overly simple S-rank mission,” King replied after a few seconds of thinking.
“Thank you,” Reiner thanked his father with some relief in his voice.
“Your professionalism is high appreciated, Knight,” King said as he stared straight at Reiner.
“Thank you, King,” Reiner thanked him again without missing the formal use of his code name.
Reiner watched as his father closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. It was evident that the conversation was over as far as King was concerned. His father did not reopen his eyes and he didn’t say anything else. Reiner took his leave without saying another word. His eyes were on his watch as he noted the time. He didn’t have much time to say his goodbyes.
…
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Kat said as she squinted her eyes at my face.
“Of course, I’m in a good mood. It’s your birthday celebration,” I replied with a bright smile.
“I don’t mean that…” Kat said suggestively.
Well, I guess I was over the moon happy with how my relationship with Reiner had progressed. It wasn’t like I wanted to keep it from Kat, but I haven’t gotten around to tell her about Reiner yet and it was a little complicated since I’ve already introduced him to her as my boss. That technically was very true; he’s still my boss and he’s not my boyfriend. However, we are going on a date together this weekend and whenever I thought about that my heart would skip a beat and my tummy would feel funny.
“You’re smiling again. Pray, tell me the good news!” Kat demanded enthusiastically.
“Well…do you remember the guy who we ran into in front of the bar before?” I asked while feeling a little shy.
“You mean your boss?” Kat asked with widened eyes.
She seemed to be catching on very fast to these kinds of things. It was probably her hidden talent or something along those lines.
“Yes, that’s right. He’s my boss and…we’re going on a date tomorrow…” I confessed timidly.
Kat’s eyes widened even further, and her mouth formed an O-shape. I had guessed that she would be a little surprised and excited but not to this extent.
“Oh my…you have to tell me all about this! You’re dating your boss?! Wow…and he’s like so hot!” Kat cried out in amazement.
I smiled a little at her before chuckling. Her reactions were so funny, but she was right, Reiner is very hot.
After chatting for a few hours, Kat was almost dead drunk, and it wasn’t because of the strawberry shortcake that I bought. It was late at night and after checking my phone, I found out that Reiner had not replied to my text. It wasn’t like I was worried about him or anything. At least, that was what I was trying to tell myself for the past few hours. Kat slurred some words that I couldn’t comprehend so all I could do in response was stroke her back and pat her shoulder. She doesn’t seem like a heavy girl, I guess if I tried hard enough, I could half carry and half drag her to her bed.
Just as I was draping one of Kat’s arms around my shoulder, my phone started ringing. I knew without having to see the screen that Reiner was the one calling. Mouthing a soft apology to Kat, I put her arm back down as I reached for my phone to answer it.
“Natalia, where are you?” Reiner asked casually.
“I sent you a text already. I’m at Kat’s place now. She’s sort of very drunk…” I reported with a small laugh.
“I see. Did you drink?” Reiner asked and I could hear some concern in his voice.
“Yes…a little. Oh, but I’m not drunk at all, honestly,” I replied.
I had good reasons not to get dead drunk tonight and the number one reason at the top of my list was because Reiner is supposed to take me on a date tomorrow. We’ll be spending the weekend together just as he had suggested, and I surely did not need a hangover for that. Because of that, I drank with extreme care and moderation.
“Good. I’ll pick you up from Kat’s place tomorrow. I might be a little late, though,” Reiner said calmly.
“Sure. I don’t mind waking up late tomorrow…” I said lazily.
I felt very tired and sleeping in a little probably won’t hurt. It was the weekend anyways and we had all the time in the world to ourselves during the weekend.
“11AM? Is that too late?” Reiner asked.
“Not at all. I’ll look forward to seeing you,” I replied sweetly.
“Don’t wake up late,” Reiner teased.
I held in my sigh. I knew that he knew that I wasn’t a morning person. I wondered if the date spot that Reiner had in mind was far away.
“No problem at all. I’ll be waiting for you here. 11AM it is…” I replied excitedly.
–To be continued…