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CH. 2 PART 3: INSIST
The weekend rolled around quickly. Yiuna sat on the sofa, watching Gianni place roses in a vase. He felt her curious eyes.
"The flowers are from the garden outside. I was engaged to a woman a few years back, and she would tend to it," he said.
"Was?" she asked.
"She was afflicted with a virus that deteriorated her health until her body could no longer bear the strain. In a short period of time, she became impaired by its effects on her nervous system. It affected everything from her thinking and memory down to her ability to move. She passed away a few years ago."
Yiuna stared through the window at the garden. The late morning sun brought out the beauty of the rose bushes, as the flowers bloomed a lovely shade of champagne pink in her memory. The same flowers were in the vase.
Gianni looked up from the roses at her. He was fortunate enough to have found out her real name due to her history of experimentation, and decided to test whether the rumors at his facility would confirm his suspicions of her.
"I would like to prevent the same fate from happening to you, miss...?"
"Luna," she replied, using her alias.
His suspicions were confirmed. Intuition told him she had to be the rumored spy. He figured it must have been a stroke of fate to have British intelligence come straight to his door. With all the woman knew at this point from staying with him, he figured there was no way she would leave him alone. She had seen too much already, and he had to turn the chance into a stroke of luck for both of them. I just brought the worst kind of trouble home...or, the best opportunity, if this woman doesn't sell me out first. Nonetheless, you're still Her Majesty's spy, the last person someone like me wants to get into trouble with. He doubted he could make the blonde-haired agent believe that he was not loyal to the cartel, much less tell her that he was working to reverse-engineer the beta right under the boss's nose to create a cure.
He trimmed the bloom in his hand, removing its thorns and cutting its stem shorter. Practicalities aside, he couldn't bear the idea of addressing the beautiful enigma by her alias. He felt an urge within him to know her more deeply, and not only out of necessity. He was almost saddened that he knew absolutely nothing about her. Addressing her with a fake name felt out of place.
"Why don't I call you something else," he said, holding up the rose. "After a flower in the garden."
"A flower..." Her voice trailed. He walked up to her slowly.
"Rosa?" she asked, incredulous. "I have a name, you know – "
He placed the rose in her hair before she could object, tucking it behind her ear to insist that she take the name she had uttered. The name he preferred. He took a step back. What am I supposed to do with you? he thought, gazing at her lush lips, which had parted softly in confusion. The same blush pink of the flower had spread alluringly across her cheeks. He was undeniably charmed. That flower suits you. In his adoration, he couldn't help but feel a sense of duty towards the woman. He felt the weight of his responsibility, realizing just how paramount his work towards a cure was to assure she wouldn't wither.
Gianni recalled the crackdown on a mafia-controlled facility in China by British intelligence some years back. If the international cartel knew that one of their test subjects was an agent from MI6, it could lead to a potential repeat of the Shanghai incident. A London spy had divulged information on production research and methodology for the Chinese beta, which had lead to a lab infiltration before the beta's launch. A handful of test subjects in destitution were lucky enough to be saved. The subsequent quarantine of the beta had significantly stalled the Shanghai mafia's Boost-dealing activities. While experimentees had been saved, their recovery was imperfect due to lack of a proper cure. It was why Gianni knew he had to work with the cartel. Creating a cure meant involving himself with their poison in order to have direct access to their formula. And he knew he could not risk getting in trouble with the woman in his home by showing her his work. He'd be incriminated for sure. In the end, if I am to put my plan into action, I might end up needing you more than you need me. He would be betting everything on himself in the next month to finish reverse-engineering the latest beta. He had long been working on a solution, but had no surety that he could follow through unless he knew for certain that any cure he made would not become ineffective with the subsequent rollout of new betas. With a London spy under his roof, the medic was now certain he could use his remaining time to covertly put a cure into production. He could face gruesome consequences at his betrayal, but there was no risk he was more willing to take. Driven by the sincerity of his intention to save, he was willing to bet everything on his plan. His guilt was another motivator, but not nearly as strong. It would be a mission in itself to make a cure production-ready in Candy's short timeframe, and he could very well guess the punishment for showing up empty-handed on the day of his given deadline. The woman was unaware of just how grave a decision he had made. The test subjects will be saved, he thought. But as for me...
The next afternoon, the agent sat pondering at the dinner table, leaning her head on her hand. Her temples ached, and the lack of sleep may have given her distrust of the medic an unnecessary edge. The Queen's spy felt it was strange that Castello didn't just accept her alias as her name. Perhaps she was just overthinking, but her exhaustion didn't help, nor did the effects of the newly retriggered virus. Her back pain came in pulses, taxing her with additional sharp pangs whenever she moved her torso. And apparently, she moved her torso a lot more than she thought. Yiuna broke out of her daze as she sensed Gianni's footsteps drawing near. She turned cold eyes towards the sound.
With a meek smile, he half-raised his hands in surrender, sensing her unrest. You really don't trust me, do you? Your guard is never down. Or rather, you seem cold in general, not accepting help, he thought.
"You seem tense," he said, staring at the slight darkness beneath her eyes. "And you've been neglecting yourself."
"What were you trying to do?" she asked. You're getting too close to me.
"Giving you a massage. You could do with better circulation, especially in your condition." He reached his hands out once more to start massaging her back. Let me help you. Doing this would help your body accept the anesthetic. It's my own selfishness too. When I see you like this, I'm reminded of my sins.
"Unnecessary." She winced as she turned her waist to push him away, taking a sharp breath in. How could I not be tense, with you giving me this much attention, she thought. He looked at her dubiously.
"That pain is no surprise considering your disregard for your own health."
"Damn medic..." she muttered, turning away. She was done fighting an insistent man whose blatant willingness to help continued to astonish her. The fatiguing effect of the antivirus had already diminished her energy to resist.
"That's not a 'no'..." he said, taking her lack of response as an invite.
It wasn't until Yiuna felt steady hands moving down her back that she realized just how much physical contact the act required. He's so close. She was glad he couldn't see her face. Feeling the warm pressure of his hands was so unnerving that she almost pushed him away. Yet her body couldn't help but give in as he slowly broke down the painful tightness in her back. Her breath deepened beneath his soothing palms. She unraveled as his calm energy penetrated her body. It was more enjoyable than she wanted to admit. The woman sighed despite herself, breath hitching as she caught herself in embarrassment. He smiled in satisfaction.
✧
As the days passed, Yiuna kept tabs on the work in his lab to see his progress. Knowing how closely related he was to illegal Boost activities, it was surprising to suddenly find code that seemed to start reverse engineering the virus. It was as if the terminal on Gianni's monitor was intentionally left open. Not only does his work show a different focus from yesterday, it seems to be able to reverse engineer the beta I found on file. Yiuna projected the details of yesterday's system match on her screen from her device. It was hard for her to believe it was anything other than a partial antivirus. The programming for the nanoparticles in the cure appeared to make some of the virus's nanoparticles self-destruct. She didn't understand his sudden shift to a focus for a cure. If Gianni wasn't loyal to the cartel, his betrayal would end him if he was found out. If he was truly betraying the cartel, he was intent on helping those who needed hope. She clutched her hand over her heart. Aren't you supposed to be the one hurting them? What is this...
As she searched further, files on the cure's research flashed before her, going back to a few years ago. It must be horrible isolation, keeping all of this to yourself, she thought. The man had lived a life that was not too unlike her own with regards to its loneliness. The nature of Yiuna's job had meant she had to keep all details of her work and personally identifying information a secret from those she knew. To take on any alias as a spy, the agent had to keep her distance from her old relationships. There was simply too much risk that she be exposed by those not well-versed in her line of work. Her job necessitated her abandon, and the agent wasn't keen on letting anyone get close to her regardless. Despite her isolation, she felt a small degree of comfort in knowing Gianni was experiencing similar. She wondered if he felt relief at her presence as she admittedly did in his.
The next evening came quickly. Yiuna had just come out of the shower, filling the room with an allure the researcher could not help but be drawn to. He had not been in the company of a woman for some time, and he cherished her presence. He was about to start making dinner only to find his patient had beaten him to the kitchen, chopping vegetables on a board.
"You don't need to push yourself," he said, grabbing the scarf hanging on her chair before coming towards her. In the absence of his late lover, he had become decent at cooking, and planned to make something for the both of them.
"Don't mock me," she said flatly, eyes still on the board. The woman felt rather disgusted with herself. Idling was foreign to her and she needed something to do.
"You're quite stubborn," he said. He wrapped the scarf around her shoulders. "You'll get cold otherwise."
Yiuna's heart started pounding as his hands lingered on her shoulders for a little too long. She couldn't quite bring herself to push him away.
"Let me cook for us," she said quietly. She lowered her head. "You seem busy."
Gianni was touched by her gesture. Yiuna wanted to see the cure she had seen him work on come to completion. She was his only secret witness. With all he had done for her, she wanted to believe the man had good intentions. He didn't know it, but she was cheering for his success.
"Thank you," he said, leaving for his lab. The agent wound the scarf more tightly around herself. Ever since I met you, it's been warmer.
Over the next few days, the agent could feel the researcher becoming increasingly stressed, and arguably more tense than she was from the virus. He would toil the day locked up in his makeshift lab, coming in and out at the odd hours of night. He mused over his luck at having found the spy as a light in the lab's darkness that day. He was lucky to have such a woman in his home, but a lasting haven with her seemed like a faraway dream. He was too guilt-ridden to want to entertain thoughts of pursuing her further. He didn't want to acknowledge any budding feelings for a woman he didn't deserve. He broke out of his daze. The woman was at his door, about to leave.
"Where are you going?" he asked. He realized just how dire the consequences could be for letting her leave the vicinity of his home. The cartel's presence had increased on the streets as he walked to work each day. The mafia was on high alert due to the facility's most recent intruder, and he knew from workplace rumors that the cartel was already searching for her. He could feel their presence when he was buying groceries at the stalls. If she was found out, she might face a "disposal" crueler than any punishment a test subject might face for straying.
"Taking a stroll. I'm feeling fine now."
"Stay here. Your condition can suddenly worsen," he said, recalling his lover's sudden death. "Besides, who knows what the cartel will do if they find their own test subject loose on the streets?" He knew his work was valuable enough to her to make her want to stay at his home, but any contact the woman had with the outside could mean trouble for both of them.
"You don't need to worry about me, you've done enough. I can get us food," she said. Yiuna had no qualms moving around with her alias. Her Go-Card was pre-programmed by MI6 to encrypt her real identity in any transaction.
"That won't be necessary. If you need anything, I can get it for you. Otherwise, just bear it for now." He stood up and walked towards her.
"I'll just avoid them," she said. And they're nothing I can't handle. "So long as I'm feeling alright, that should be enough. Don't think so lowly of me."
"You're not aware of just how alert the mafia is now. I can't risk having you run right into trouble." He did hold an appreciation for her strong will, but he had to hold her back this round. He couldn't bear to let the flower he tended to leave the castle of his protection, and he'd be damned if she disappeared, or worse, before he could enact his plan.
"I'll just go on my own." She opened the door. "You're making a big deal out of nothing."
"Stay here. Please." He wrapped his arms tightly around her slender body to keep her from leaving. In that moment, he had stolen her breath. The woman hesitated before tearing herself away in silent acquiescence. She hoped he didn't feel the rapid beating of her heart. Regardless of his approval, Yiuna knew she had plenty of chances to leave when he wasn't around.
As another week passed, a cadence had formed in their lives. The days passed rather quietly as Gianni toiled away at his work, leaving Yiuna in her space. The distance between them had never changed, but as the days passed, they were drawn just a little closer to each other. The researcher would administer the anesthetic to her every few days. He looked forward to coming back home to the woman preparing dinner. He wished he could extend his time with her, but knew their days together were numbered.
