"Ray, the Chief is on call. He says your number is busy.

"

One of the men called Ray.

"Alright. I'll call you later,

" Ray disconnected the call before he took the phone from one of his men.

"Yes, Sir,

" he said

"Ray, can you explain what just happened? I'm getting reports from everywhere that this mission was a waste? Didn't you say there will be those people in those places? I trusted you and got all the permissions only to have this happen? How do you explain this?

"

"The Terrorists had vacated the premise before we got here. The possible explanation is that someone leaked the plan, and they left,

" Ray answered.

"Oh, are you putting the blame on others? They all got to know the location 20 minutes before reaching the location. Are you really saying that in Twenty minutes, all the locations were vacated?

" the Chief asked.

"That's not what I'm saying. It is not easy to clear all these places so thoroughly in Twenty minutes,

" Ray answered.

"Oh? So you're saying the plan was leaked way before that? Who else did you tell about this other than me?

"

"I didn't tell anyone.

"

"Are you blaming me for leaking it then? Since what you're saying means only you and I knew?!

"

"I am not blaming you, sir. Not this is the only explanation I have. Or maybe they did succeed in twenty minutes since these were only their temporary bases, most probably. It's much faster to clear places like this. Sigh, I know it was a failure, no matter what the reason may be. I am ready for any punishment.

"

"Alright. Come back. We will discuss everything else later.

"

The call was disconnected.

Ray returned the phone before he sighed deeply.

"This is a mess. I wonder how I'll get out of it,

" he muttered as he looked towards the building.

Ryder was walking back to the hall, talking to himself,

"Those guys left the places. I thought with this; I would be able to give some damage to those guys to keep them busy for a while. Instead of that, I'm the one who got a surprise.

"

"If I knew that this was going to happen, I would have told him to act much more carefully. Now the Uprising guys also know that someone knew about their locations. They will try to find out about me.

"

" Even though Ray won't open his mouth, they wouldn't let him live in peace. I need to act. I'm sure his boss was the mole. He is the Uprising agent too. I can't let him take control of the situation.

" Ryder stepped inside the hall.

He walked near Alice and sat down.

"You are late. You missed so much. The team is separated. They're all in different places now.

"

As soon as Ryder returned, Alice started updating him on the things that he had missed in the movie.

"Oh, sorry for being late. Let's watch,

" Ryder replied as he sat comfortably by placing his hand on the armrest. Alice happened to have her hand there as well, making his hand rest right above hers.

Even though Ryder realized what had happened, he didn't take his hand off since he didn't find it to be a big deal. They were close enough anyway.

Alice, on the other hand, was more surprised. She could feel Ryder's warm hand resting on the back of her hand.

She felt something strange as if she was liking it, but she pretended as if she didn't find it a big deal either as she kept her focus on the movie.

Ten minutes passed like this before she finally did something she never thought she would do. She didn't know where she got the courage from, but she did something unexpected.

She turned her hand upside down so that her palm was touching Ryder's palm.

Ryder was surprised. He thought that she wanted to free her hand, so he was about to remove his hand, but something else happened.

Before he could remove his hand, Alice inserted her fingers in the gap between his fingers. Their fingers intertwined.

Ryder grew even more stunned, but he didn't take his hand off. He let it remain there and kept their fingers intertwined.

He looked at Alice's face, which focused more on the movie as if she hadn't done anything. Ryder shook his head as he started relaxing. He could feel the softness of Alice's hand as he watched the movie. Her fingers were slim yet soft.

"I like you,

" Alice said suddenly.

Cough! Cough!

Ryder suddenly coughed as he sat straight after hearing her words.

"Sorry. I thought I heard something. Did you really say something, or was I hallucinating?

" He asked her.

"I said, I like you,

" Alice repeated her words. She still didn't look at him.

"Oh, I like you too,

" Ryder replied, smiling.

"Not like that. You know we have been sharing a house for a long time. You aren't my relative. We aren't family either, in reality. Still, you took care of me all these years without ever complaining,

" Alice muttered in a barely audible voice.

"I like you not as someone I grew up with, but as someone I want to grow old with.

"

"I-

" Ryder was about to say something, but Alice didn't let him finish.

"You don't need to say anything. Let's just watch the movie. I'm happy I got to say what I always wanted to,

" Alice answered as she sighed.

"You don't need to answer now. Take your time.

"

"I never really thought a girl would propose to me like that, and that too, you,

" Ryder muttered as he rested his back on the seat. Their hands were still intertwined.

"I don't want time to think, but I think you should,

" he continued before he stopped talking.

"What do you mean?

" Alice asked, confused.

" What you feel might be confusing gratitude. You're grateful that I helped you. You're grateful that I took care of you even though we weren't actually related. My grandfather didn't adopt your mother and only took care of her education. So you aren't my family either. Still, I took care of you. That might be the only reason you think that way,

" Ryder answered.

"I know how it can be confused. But you should think carefully before thinking like that,

" he continued.

"I know how things can be confused. That's why I had been thinking about this for a long time. I probably wouldn't even have the courage to tell you if I hadn't been kidnapped twice. I don't know what might happen the next moment. I don't want to die without even having a chance to tell you,

" Alice answered, shaking her head.

Ryder took a deep breath. His mind was already blank since he hadn't expected that today would go like this.

It was all unexpected. First, there was unexpected news that the raid was a failure, and just when he was thinking about how to deal with that, he received the confession of Alice.

"It's fine. You don't need to answer. I know I have been asking you for a lot. You don't have to like me back. I'm fine with the way things are going. Spending my days like this are already a bliss for me,

" Alice said as he smiled.

"Yeah. For me as well,

" Ryder muttered.

"Every day with you has been amazing. Especially eating your amazing cooking. I want to have the rest of my life eating that amazing cooking as well.

"

"Does that mean you...

"

"I wish things were as simple. I don't know how I can even explain how my life is going up and down right now.

"

A look of comprehension was on Ryder's face as he thought about Esmi. She was in his life as well, but he also liked Alice. He couldn't tell anyone about Esmi for apparent reasons, but he couldn't reject Alice without telling her about this either.

He could accept her confession because he wanted to, but he thought that doing this without telling her the truth was not fair to her. He didn't know what to do.

He was finding himself between a rock and a hard place. He didn't want to lose Alice, but he couldn't keep her in the dark either.

" Do you not like me?

" Alice asked.

"I like you. It's not that,

" Ryder answered without hesitation.

"Not like that. I mean Like! In a romantic sense,

" Alice said.

"I meant the same as well. Didn't I tell you? There can be no guy who doesn't like you,

" Ryder answered softly.

"Then it's final. I don't care about any problems you might have,

" Alice said with a tinge of happiness in her voice. She didn't even think that the problem he was talking about was having another girlfriend as well.

She placed her hand on his shoulder as she held his hand tightly.

'Just what the hell happened today?' Ryder thought blankly, still not understanding what the situation had developed to. Was Alice his girlfriend now?