Insecure

  I casually walked on the asphalt paving in the opposite direction of where Isabelle was... Albeit slowly, while waiting for her to catch up.

"Hi" I said with a smile when she arrived at where I was.

"Hi..." Isabelle paused and replied with a raised brow.

"I'm new in the area... So, uhh... I'm trying to acquaint myself with my new neighbors" I intentionally replied awkwardly with a smile.

"Ooh, where do you live?" She asked with a smile.

"That hut over there..." I said and pointed at my fancy duplex.

"... Yeah, it sure is a hut" She chuckled in amusement and commented.

And... That wasn't the reply I was expecting.

  What happened to 'How can you call that a hut?' or 'Your a funny guy'. I mean, my house is a fancy duplex, how could she agree to it being a hut? Damn, I'm out of lines.

"Just joking, it's pretty nice and comfortable... Just the way I like it" She chuckled and said, when she saw my expression.

Phew.

"So, what's the name?" I asked and stretched my palm for a handshake.

"Isabelle..." She said with a cute smile and took my palm in hers.

  Her palm felt so smooth and soft that if I were to have my eyes closed, I would've mistaken it for something else. 

  I raised her palm to my lips and pecked a jade ring adorned on her middle finger. At that moment a taxi pulled over beside us, and a girl who was dressed in a black crop top with an unbuttoned white padded leather jacket, and a black tactical pants with multiple pockets, stepped out classically with her white laced boot.

"Isabelle! It's been like forever since I last saw you" The girl ran up to Isabelle without sparing me a glance.

"Claire! What delayed you?" Isabelle asked as she hugged her friend heartily, while I stared at her friend who had gray hair and gray eyes, with wide eyes.

"It was some pervert who kept pestering in plane and even after we got off, can you imagine that?" Claire explained with a grim expression.

"You could've called the cops" Isabelle said with a frown.

"Of course I did, I hope he rots in ja..." Claire was saying when she glanced at me, and her words instantly got stuck in her throat.

"Do you guys know each other?" Isabelle asked in surprise, when she saw her friend and I stunned at seeing each other.

"High school lovers..." I replied quickly.

"Ptui... Who would want to be in love with you" Claire spat out and said with a grim expression.

"We broke up though, that's why she's feeling insecure" I replied calmly.

"What do you mean by that?!!" Claire voiced out in anger.

"Actually, I think you are... If you weren't then you wouldn't be heating up right now" Isabelle commented softly.

"W-what?..." Claire asked in embarrassment.

"It's okay to feel insecure, I felt the same back then... When you framed me for cheating with Sarah, so you could go out with 'classical Michael'" I said with a pained smile.

"Shut up! Stop spitting bullshit!!" Claire screamed out in anger.

I noticed that Claire didn't want to tell her friend about me, so I wanted to take full advantage of the situation.

"Seeing you reminds of the pains you caused me back then, so I'll be on my way... See you later Isabelle" I waved at Isabelle with red eyes, and slowly walked away with my head down.

  Claire had her jaw dropped on seeing my pained expression, and was too stunned to say anything more. If she wasn't the victim, then she would've believed me 99% out of 100%

"Wait... Do you play Gray Zone?" Isabelle called out to me.

"I did" I turned and replied, while avoiding Claire's gaze, to make my performance perfect.

"Did? What happened?" Isabelle asked curiously.

"My pod exploded while I was in it, because I forgot to unplug the charger... So..." I said and shrugged.

"I'm sorry about that. I'll see you later then, bye" Isabelle said with a disappointed smile.

"Yeah..." I replied, and walked back to my duplex.

"Is that his house?" Claire asked curiously.

"Yeah... He's new in the neighborhood" Isabelle replied softly, "Get her bags, let's go" Isabelle ordered her bodyguards, and said to Claire.

-

"Hell yeah baby!!" I screamed out in excitement, the moment stepped into my house and closed the door behind me.

  I quickly ran upstairs to my room and retrieved the smartphone the CIA gave me. Then dialed a number which was already saved in the phone's contact as 'Mission Report'. 

  I didn't have to wait long as the call went through almost instantly, "Mission report?" I heard from the other side.

"I've come in contact with the targets daughter and have established a bond with the help of a variable" I replied calmly.

I was trying to sound like a badass.

"Seriously? That was faster than I expected. Do you need anything to strengthen this 'bond'?" The voice asked in surprise.

"I need a pod.... With a disassembling manual" I replied calmly again.

"How fast do you need it?" The voice asked.

"As fast as possible" I replied.

*Horn*

  I heard a loud horn from outside, and walked to the balcony to see what it was. And when i looked down at the source of the horn, I saw a black van pull over in front of my house, and two guys stepped down and began offloading a gaming pod from it's boot.

"How do you rate my service?" The voice asked with a chuckle.

"I love it..." I exclaimed in surprise.

  The two men off-loaded the pod and made their way into my house with it, then quickly set-up the gaming pod in room, and left as fast as they came after handing me a small booklet.

  I asked for a disassembling manual because I wanted to experiment on something. I wasn't sure if I entered the pod that it wouldn't explode like the previous one, so I wanted to be cautious and also satisfy my curiosity about something... The function of the scentless gas which we inhaled through the oxygen pipe while gaming.

  I quickly scanned through the manual and was about to get to work, when I realized I had no equipment to disassemble the pod. 'F*ck!' I muttered in annoyance to myself.

  There was one more way I could check it out, which was actually better than disassembling pod now that I came to think of it.

  I opened the pod and took out the oxygen mask in it, and because it's pipe was long, thin and flexible, I closed the pod's lid on the the oxygen pipe, and activated the pod with the oxygen mask strapped to my face.

  And the moment the scentless gas permeated the oxygen mask, I fell unconscious on the floor, beside the pod.