Hot and Cold

IT'S BEEN SIX HOURS since we've rescued Leo and Chua. Both of them are still unconscious. Anne did not leave Leo's side. She was with him in the other room. Meanwhile, Gloria joined me here in this room with Chua.

"You should change, you know. I know you're not comfortable." Gloria said upon munching her favorite chips and crisps. She had ordered buckets of meals from one of the famous fast-food chains. "I can still manage." She shrugged off and took a gigantic bite.

She's a messy eater. Gloria doesn't even mind, even if she stained her clothes, for as long as she's well satiated. "You're the one who should change." She stuck her tongue. 'Good thing, she's back to her usual childish self.'

"I don't care. At least, I don't need to pretend just for my boyfriend to notice me." An eyebrow rose. 'She's trying to pull my trigger.' I turned to her and smirked, "At least, I have one." She snorted. "As if I'm jealous." She took another sip of her Oreo milk tea.

I was about to excuse myself when Chua's hand moved. "Hey there, babe." I gently greeted him. He slowly opened his eyes. "Where am I?"

I brushed his hair. "DV Medical Center." confusion spread to his face. 'I choose to confine him here. I don't want him to be suspicious about the organization.' I softly kissed his hand. "Do you want some water?" He nodded. I pour the water into a glass and hand it to him.

After finishing his drink, silence enveloped us. I glanced in Gloria's direction. She quickly understood what I'm trying to say, so she grabbed all her food and took it outside. As soon as the door closes, I face Chua.

"Do you want something? How do you feel?" Chua turned his gaze away from me. "I.." he paused, "I just want to rest. I want to be alone, please?" My heart dropped. 'I can't understand, was he shocked? Maybe, confuse?'

"But, who will—" 'attend your needs?' He cut me off. "I'll call my friends. I want to be alone, please, Hime." He looked at me sincerely. I sighed, 'maybe he wants to think.' I forced a smile "Okay." I left the room with a shattered heart and a mind full of questions.

As the door closes, I can't help but groan. "Is he mad?" I muttered. Another voice answered me. "I think, he is." My eyes wander. "You can't see me, Hime." Now I know who that person is.

Good thing that there's no other person here. I walked towards the emergency exit.

"Knight.." The head guardian speaks from my earpiece. "How?" He lightly chuckled. "Of course, I can access all the gadgets you have." I can hear his smirk from the other end. This earpiece is from Anne's invention. "I'm not the head guardian for nothing, Dela Vega."

"Okay, what do you want?"

"Oh, so straightforward."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I'm trying so hard not to grit my teeth. "Can't you just spill it?" I heard him cleared his throat. "Simple, I want to have full access to your loving Hydra." my brows furrowed into a line. 'Is he kidding me?'

'He successfully hacked this audio transmitter, now he's telling me he wants full access?' It made my head throb which I massaged in return. "I want a go signal from the founder. I don't just beat around the bush."

"So, that's what you want in exchange?" He made some annoying thinking sounds. "I don't think so, but that's one." I brushed my hair in frustration. 'Look what I've got myself into.'

"How can I entrust you the whole Hydra, if I don't even know you well?" I heard him sighed.

"We've met already."

"I don't care if we are, I don't even know your name."

Knight laughed like a lunatic. "You made my day, Dela Vega." My face morphed from confusion, disgust to confusion as he continuously laughed. 'I can imagine myself making faces, now.'

"I don't want to spoil the fun. But, you'll know me better, well, soon." The line died and was replaced by a deafening sound. "Fuck!"

'Inhale, exhale. The ten-second rule. Your image, Hime. You're a fine woman with class. I opened my eyes and smiled.'

I fished out my phone and dialed Gloria's number. "Where are you?" I heard munching sounds. "Anne's" I hung up.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, I didn't like him from the start," Anne said as she chews her crisps. "Me too, he's a gentleman wannabe." Gloria second the motion. "I don't know, guys. He's Chua, maybe he's just shocked?" I spoke in Chua's defend. 'Typical good guys, they condemn violence.'

Anne hissed, her eyes bulging. "Bitch, he's just embarrassed that a woman like you was the one who saved him." Gloria nodded in agreement. "Men and their ego, then, they're saying that we're the difficult ones," she added.

I slapped Anne's hand. She's about to grab a bottle of tequila. "Leo's still unconscious." She raised her eyebrow. "So? The more reason to get wasted." She poured Gloria a drink.

"Cheers to the men who played the damsel in distress!" Anne shouted. "Whoo!" Gloria joined her too. We are here on the top floor. We've got a special spot here. Well, we always secure a spot. We preferred rooftops rather than typical rooms.

'I know this is prohibited. But, I'm the owner, so they should shut the hell up. Despite Chua's sudden mood changes. I'm glad that they're already safe and the bitches are back.'

Some people call us, trio, or Triumvirate. Another one compares us to the Bermuda Triangle. We were labeled as the deadliest traps. Mess with us and you'll regret the very reason why you still live.

FiIVE DAYS PASSED, everything was back to normal, as normal it could. Lucio made it and now he's in charge of DV Empire. On the other hand, the bitches and I were focused on the Coven. There are still missions that we need to accomplish, but, some of them were tasked to other elites.

Leo was in better condition, somehow. He and Anne are not on good terms. The former was still in a daze. He can't even talk to us. We assumed that it was all because of the injected drugs (made by the Coven society). We successfully killed the heads, because if we won't, they'll surely kill us, first.

So far so good, not until Gloria has detected something odd. "Those who got killed were all just pawns." She looked at us, one by one. "The ones we killed were just the ministers. That's how loyal they are, they are willing to sacrifice themselves as bait." Gloria flashed another set of pictures.

"Look, there are no cars around. Only a few, come on! For approximately two-hundred people? Ten cheap cars?" She has a point. "The security was easily penetrated. No guards..."

'So, it was bait after all.' I massaged my temple as it starts to throb. "No, it's not their bait," Anne muttered. "The Coven just wanted to observe how we fight, how we behave, how we move and learn our weaknesses. Now, they have already confirmed what those weaknesses are." Gloria nodded in agreement.

"But, we can't let them rule!" My eyebrows furrowed. "We are not the founders of this organization for nothing." Gloria protest. 'That's right, I maybe conceptualize all of these. But, Anne and Gloria both helped me to establish this organization. We have already learned from the times we've stumbled. This is just another bumpy humps.'

"Of course, if they think they've known us well... Then.." We looked at each other and as if on cue, all of us smirked. "Here's the plan.."

"LEO.." He met my gaze and looked at me seriously. "Spill, I know you've got something to say." Leo exhales sharply. "I can't look at her, after all those scenes.." a lone tear escaped from his eyes.

"What really happened?" He sighed in exasperation. "I was about to get a sample from one of their upcoming products when someone grab me from behind and took me to some dark place." I crossed my arms and straighten up my back. "Then, why did you deactivate your coms?"

"I've turned them off, they stripped all of my clothes and checked for any devices." I patiently waited for his next words. "I was just able to activate a special one when they took the video." I handed him a glass of water. "Anne's worried about you."

He sighed, again. "I know, but, I've sinned." I let out a chuckle. "We all sinned, Leo." He eyed me sharply. "I felt.. sudden arousal. When they.." I stood up. "Have you seen all the tests, Leo?" He nodded.

"You were drugged." Once again, he averted his gaze. "Those drugs are ten times stronger than Cloud 9." He looks bewildered. 'Looks like, he had realized something.'

"Yes, Leo. Those witches are the persons behind your cousin's wild behavior." I saw how his jaw clenched. His hands balled into fists.

"But don't forget that," he eyed me curiously. "Yelle was already diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Her emotions were just hyped, that's why." He argued. "Still.."

"I need to talk to Anne."

"Don't you dare!"

He looks confused as I gave him a subtle warning but he shook his head and ignored it. "I have a plan..." He took off the pierced needles and dextrose.

'But before that,' I pressed my earpiece "Gloria, destroy all those bugs." I know she's about to protest when… "Now!" I lost the connections, good! "Now, where are we?"

"I want you to play along. Act like you're under the witches' spell."