the man in the shadows

While Leonard tried to hide his fear, he stared directly back at Bairon. Bairon slowly stretched his arm towards Leonard and Leonard accepted the handshake.

"Let's put our differences aside as today's a special day." He said and gave a short smile and they broke the handshake.

"Besides, we wouldn't want to trouble this little miss." He said and gave hazel a cocky smile.

"I guess I might meet you on the dance floor." He said before walking majestically away. Leonard heaved and sat down opposite hazel still stunned by her appearance today.

"There's a big shot I'm trying to bring into the company." Leonard said and crossed his fingers tightly on the table. He stood up and ushered hazel his hand and she held it. She stood up and they both began to walk.

"You planning on telling me who he was?" Hazel questioned out of the blues and Leonard chuckled lightly.

"Bairon, highly respected for his influence over all the information firms in the whole of New York, except one." Leonard said as they slowly walked.

"Your company?" Hazel asked and Leonard looked at her.

"How'd you know?" He asked and she giggled. He scoffed and proceeded.

"Because of this, he's sought different means to pull me down, some of which worked and the others were easily nullified. Thanks to miss Wonder's influence, my company has been able to dodge quite a few of his attacks." He said while she gave a listening ear.

While they discussed, they walked past a group of people. Hazel's instincts kicked and she looked back. She kept looking back until they made a left turn.

"Leon__." Her graceful voice called and he looked at her with utter satisfaction.

"Avoid the western region of this hall." She said without looking at him while they walked.

"Why's that?" Leonard asked and looked around to confirm where the western region was.

"That's likely where who I'm looking for would be." He said holding a disappointed look but she said nothing.

They slowly walked and in no time, they met miss Wonder in a red dress but shorter than Hazel's. Leonard stopped as soon as he saw her as she'd not seen him at the time. She soon turned and saw them. A smile crept on her face and she abandoned what she was doing and walked to them. She began to admire Hazel's dress as soon as she'd gotten to them.

"Hmm... At least Leo knows quality dresses." She teased and immediately fixed her gaze on Leonard.

"We had a deal." She said and Leonard rolled his eyes.

"I got the invitation too. Turns out I was an 'important person'." Leonard said laying emphasis.

"You still owe me." She said and placed her arm on her waist.

"You didn't ask who I later tagged with?" She said and rolled her eyes but Leonard didn't seem to care.

"I'm here with none other than Bairon." She gave an elegant smile upon mentioning his name.

"If that's where your happiness lies, I'd say you eloped with him." He said and she laughed.

"Oh no no, he's a business partner." She defended and walked to Leonard. She leaned close to him.

"You are mine." She whispered into his ear and walked away. Leonard and hazel stood on the spot for a while. By the time Leonard turned back, she was already with Bairon who was holding her to himself.

Leonard and hazel proceeded to the western region of the hall engaging themselves in interesting discussions. He soon met a few influencers like himself and he walked to talk to them while hazel distanced herself. Hazel stood watching beautiful scenarios play out like the ballet dance that was going on in the middle of the hall and the other eye catching entertainments. While all these were going on, she could still notice the eyes of admirers aiming at her. Even while Leonard was a few metres Infront of her, some daring men still found their way to hit on her but were quickly disappointed thinking she was mute.

A man in dark suit walked in between the friendly union and her. She felt the murderous intent from him and she was soon alerted that Leonard was in danger. She sped to the other side of the gathering without being seen, pulling Leonard back by his suit saving his throat one inch from being slit open by a pocket knife. Leonard quickly realized the situation and capitalized. Grabbing the man by the collar of his suit, Leonard easily sent him down and the knife fell out of his hand giving Leonard an open chance to rain him hard blows.

There was chaos in the crowd and everyone began running helter skelter unsure of what the current situation was while the security tried to get everyone in order. Hazel stood watching the scene play out and her gaze caught someone in a hoodie standing on the stage unmoved by the current chaos.

She sped towards the figure and before she arrived, it had disappeared. She didn't stop, instead sped onwards. She leaped slightly and gracefully shattered the bulletproof vertical window accompanied with an elegant landing. She kept running, chasing every scent related to the figure. As she ran everything became blurry showing how fast she was going and with a stop, Everything in front of her was blown away leaving an obvious scar on the ground. The steps she'd taken could be seen marked with golden flames surrounding them. She kept panting while looking around hoping to catch something but she was disappointed. When she'd caught her breath, she sped back to the banquet.

The panic was already coming to a halt and she was able to quickly locate Leonard. Luckily there were no cameras in the vicinities she'd used her powers so she was rest assured nobody saw her. She walked hastily to Leonard who was surrounded by miss wonder's bodyguards. Recognizing her, hazel was quickly let in and she walked to Leonard. He was seated resting on both of his knuckles. He sat up as soon as he saw hazel.

"Thanks once again." He acknowledged while she sat down beside him. He slowly placed his palm passionately on hers and she looked at him.

"Do you know that I never got your name?" His soft but cold voice said and she smiled.

"Hazel." She said sluggishly and stared deeply into his eyes. Leonard shifted closer and leaned his head on the chair.

"Your eyes, they're unusually purple." He said in a rather silent voice. He raised his hand and slowly placed it on her neck while moving closer to her.

"Haze__." He said and shut his eyes before falling lifelessly on her chest. She rubbed his back with her palm slowly and softly.

"Sorry, I can't." She muttered