3
A successful marriage involves falling in love many times; always with the same person.
Mignon McLaughlin
Z
Pinks and oranges filled the sky above us as the sun dipped towards the ocean. The last rays were hitting the ice blue water causing the waves and ripples to be blindingly bright. The thin fabric of my dress swirled around my legs as the wind swept around me from off the sparkling Mediterranean. It carried with it the smell of salt and the soothing sounds of the waves breaking on the wet sand. It whipped my hair and made goose bumps travel up my arms from the cold caress. I didn't really mind the cold, though. I was thoroughly distracted by Han's full lips capturing my own in kiss that was probably inappropriate in front of a preacher.
Eventually, when we were both about to suffocate from lack of air, we pulled away. My mouth curled up in a smile as Han rested his forehead on mine. I opened my eyes to see him smiling too.
"Buena suerte." The preacher whispered quietly. I heard him close his Bible and walk away, but I was too focused on Han to care.
"Happy, Mrs. Seoul-Oh?" Han teased quietly. Amusement colored his voice. I laughed as I opened my eyes and moved my face away from his.
"Does that mean I should change the name on my fake i.d. to Leia?" I joked with a grin as I tried to let go of his hands and pull away. Not having that, he pulled on my arms sending falling against his chest. I chuckled as I reached up to grab his shoulders and steady myself. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.
"I never should have brought that up." He muttered with an eye roll.
"I already know you're a secret dork." I told with a laugh. He snorted and I shoved him playfully.
Before I knew what was happening, my lips were on his again. I pushed myself up on my toes, arching into him to steady myself, letting my hands wander up to the back of his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist where they stayed for a minute before he changed his mind and let his hands wander across my back, over my hips, and all over my body, pulling me closer to him.
This day was perfect. Just me, him, and the priest on a secluded stretch of Spanish beach next to the Mediterranean. There was nothing to take away from our moment: no bitchy bridesmaids, no church full of judgey wedding guest, no family feuds. Everything about it was simple.
I hadn't even really bothered with a wedding dress. I wore a short dress in a filmy white, flowy fabric with a sweet heart neckline. The only piece of jewelry I wore was a chain holding my engagement ring around my neck. My hair was left naturally wavy and pulled up into a simple pony tail with an orchid pinned at the band. I'm pretty sure the only make up I had put on was mascara and lipstick. Han had worn khakis and a white button up
There was nothing more beautiful than seeing him waiting for me with the priest. I was going to remember the way he looked at me when he saw me for the first time until the day I died. It made everything feel real; it finally hit me that this was forever. For the first time, I saw us growing old together, and that made me love him even more.
"Come on. We gotta go." He cut his eyes towards the growing storm cloud down the beach. Lightening flashed up in the cloud.
"We have enough time to watch the sunset." I insisted as I grabbed his hand and turned him towards where the sun was dipping down.
"This is typical; me looking at the rain, and you looking at the sunsshine." Han joked.
"We balance each other out." I answered with a smile.
As I stood next to him watching the sky, I kept absentmindedly playing with my wedding band with my thumb. It was a simple silver band that was almost narrow enough to be a wire. Han didn't have a band at all; he had a very expensive watch with the date engraved on the back plate. He had never liked wearing rings.
The top of the sun had just disappeared when a louder crack of thunder sounded above us and fat raindrops started to fall with the wind. I watched him look up at the darkening sky above us before turning to give me a pointed look. I shrugged.
"You knew what you were getting into when you chose to watch the sun with me." He snorted and shook his head.
"The preacher tried told me we might as well write our own vows because we were butchering the original. That would have fit in yours perfectly." He joked as he started pulling me down the beach towards our beach house.
"That would have been awful. You're laconic and I'm emotionally retarded." I exclaimed as I started jogging.
He started to chuckle.
"What so funny? We're about to get wet." I reminded as I pointed back to threatening cloud.
"I love you." He answered. I bounced onto my toes and pecked his cheek.
"I love you back."
Z
"Han, no!" I shrieked before I dissolved into laughter when he wrapped his arms around my waist and gently tipped me back into bed. I spun around in his arms and lightly smacked his chest with both of my fists. He grunted and tightened his hold.
Outside our windows, a bright flash of lightening lit up the trees bend double by the wind. The soothing sound of rain against the roof quickened to a driving, angry pace. Thunder rumbled as even more intense amount of lightening split the sky in bright, forked streaks. A loud clap of thunder that signified something being struck startled me and I moved closer into Han. He seemed to take that as a sign I was staying bed and pulled the pillow under his head so he could get more comfortable.
"Don't you want cupcakes, Han?" I asked him breathlessly as I tried to wiggle free. He loosened his grip on me and I propped myself up on my elbow so I could look at him.
He hadn't said a word about the fact that I was now his wife since we left the beach, but his full lips had been turned up at the corners at the corners all night in that sexy almost smirk he always had. It looked even more attractive now with his hair mussed up from me tugging on it in an attempt to get him to let me up.
"Can I have a sandwich with that cupcake?" He asked cockily.
"You'll get exactly what I bring you." I told him cheekily as I flicked his nose and untangled myself.
He shook his head with a snort as he watched me pull on my robe and fix my hair in the mirror. I opened my mouth to make another sarcastic comment at him, but I was cut off when my phone rang. I snatched it off the dresser, and frowned at the unknown number.
"Who's calling us now?" He asked as he propped himself up on his elbows.
"No idea. I'll be back." I waved over my shoulder as I flipped my phone open. "Hello?"
"Miss Delgado?" A very clipped, official sounding voice came over the line.
"Yes? Who's this?" My eyebrows knitted together as I ran through the list of people who could possibly be calling me past midnight on my wedding night.
The man paused and I heard papers shuffling.
Great. The architect's having issues in Cancun. I thought as I reached for the big box of cupcakes.
"Miss Delgado, I'm Major Denton with U.S. Army." The man's voice sounded even more grave than before, if that was possible. My grip on a cupcake tightened until it crumpled.
"Is something wrong?" I could already feel the panic rising. I knew the answer; I'd already had this conversation once before.
"I am sorry to inform you that your sister, Hanna Rodriguez, was killed early yesterday morning." He droned. There was a touch of sorrow and pity to his voice, but the overall statement was so clinical I felt sick.
"What were the circumstances? She was in Germany; that's not exactly a war zone." I snapped as the tears filled my eyes.
Hana was my best friend and the closest thing to a sister I had ever had. She was my brother's fiancée. After he was killed, she had decided that she wanted to travel and had ended up with Japan as her next assignment. She was the person that pulled Han out of the burning car. Afterwards, she took him to a condemned hospital where we were both treated by an old Japanese doctor with army friends and huge grudge against Kamata.
We had remained in touch and got even closer than we were when she was dating my brother. She was the first person Han and I told about our engagement. We had been planning to visit her in a few months when she had some leave.
"I realize how hard this is for you to hear." The man continued. He sounded completely exhausted; I wondered how many calls he had made that night.
"It's even harder not knowing." I countered. It sounded meaner than I meant for it to.
"She was part of a convoy moving satellite parts. It was attacked, and every single person was killed." The man admitted slowly. A part deep within me stirred. I'd taken out people that did things like this before; I could do it again.
"Do you know who is responsible?" I asked eagerly as the tears began to fall.
"No." He spoke sternly.
"Surely you have a lead, or know of a similar attack?" I pressed further.
"Miss Delgado, I assure you that even if I did know, that information would be classified." He sounded strangely appalled at my curiosity; or maybe he was just ready to hang up so he could be done and go to bed.
"Of course, sir." I finished politely.
"I am sorry for your loss." For the first time, he sounded really, truly sincere and that made the tears come out.
"I'm sorry for yours as well." I returned from around the lump in my throat.
"God bless." He ended as he hung up quickly.
Hot tears poured down my face as the news really sunk in. I tried to wipe them away and only succeeded in smearing cupcake icing all over my cheeks. Any attempts to get it off only made it worse and got it in my hair. Frustrated, I just sat in the floor and cried into my hands.
A few minutes later, I felt Han beside me. Trying to save a little face, I straightened up a little and started to trying to scrape the tears and icing away. Wordlessly, he dropped to his knees beside me and started to help. The gentle brush of his fingers on my cheek felt better than I really wanted to admit.
"I forgot your sandwich." I finally murmured. He kissed my forehead.
"What's going on?" He asked soothingly.
"Hanna' s gone." I sobbed. I tried to hold it all in, but it wasn't working. He scooted closer and put my head on his naked shoulder. For a minute I tried to resist, but then I gave up and buried my face in his neck. "She was moving something and her convoy was attacked."
His breath caught in his throat. He had been attached to Hanna too. I'm pretty sure at one point she had told him that a connection to her wasn't optional because she was practically his sister and she could have easily left him in the street.
"Han I feel like she was the only blood family I had left besides Sean, even though she wasn't." I sobbed into his neck. He scooped me up off the floor and deposited me in his lap. From this new position, he could hold me tighter.
He stayed like that, holding me and stroking my hair. He didn't offer fake words of comfort or try to tell me everything was fine. He just let me cry into his neck.
Several times I tried to pull myself together and make it stop, but the tears would flow again. Finally I gave up on pulling myself together, let it go, and cried myself to sleep
Z
There was a memorial set up where the soldiers died in Berlin; it was just pile of flowers, flags, and candles against a building that was a little damaged. There was a giant hole through the wall that someone said was made by a car.
The road nearby was charred with debris scattered everywhere and orange spray paint cutting the black to mark the final resting place of the overturned military vehicles. The way in and out was blocked with a police barricade and personnel from all different organizations were swarming over every inch of the damage. I could tell by looking at it that they were professionals and didn't leave a trace.
It didn't take long for my stomach to twist at the morbid sight of the carnage.
The memorial didn't make me any less sick. I kept seeing pictures of Hanna posing with her friends or smiling in her uniform. She looked happy in every single one of them—something that didn't shock me considering how much she had loved Berlin; it was by far her favorite place on the globe.
Han slipped his arm around my shoulder from behind.
This was the closest I would get to going to her funeral because she was being buried next to my brother at home. I hadn't gone to his funeral either; I just couldn't take it. I made it through half of my dad's before the Yakuza had shown up. I wondered if refusing to see them off made me a bad daughter and sister.
"Dude, I heard they lit everything on fire and just let them burn to death." A young soldier commented to his friend as they walked by. Han tightened his grip on my shoulders, but change the fact that all of a sudden, there was no air. I couldn't watch the endless stream of people staring at the aftermath, couldn't handle knowing that somewhere in the US the coffin going into the ground, couldn't handle knowing that Hanna was really gone, and I definitely couldn't handle thinking about her dying painfully like that. I jerked around out of Han's grip and started walking away. A few minutes later I heard his boots hitting the ground behind me, so I slowed down to let him catch up.
"Ellie." He whispered as he moved my hair off my neck to cool me off. I leaned into his touch and let him wrap me in his arms again.
"I need to steal something." I muttered breathlessly. His face changed from confused and concerned to a weary amusemed. He hugged me tighter and bent down to my ear, pulling off the baseball hat I had been using to hide my face in the process.
"Three days from now I'm going to pick up some cars from my partner." His lips brushed my ear.
"Can we make that tonight?" I asked seriously.
He paused for a minute, letting his hand absentmindedly stroke my hair as he weighed the decision.
"I'll make the call."
Z
Han's partner was a fat old Spaniard who liked to pretend he was a big time gangster; basically the just past middle aged version of DK. He didn't need the money from it; he was old real estate money with a family name that went back centuries. He just did it simply because he was bored and looking for excitement in his old age.
Their business consisted of stealing cars and either selling them off or occasionally using them for parts. Most of the cars were shipped overseas somewhere where they ended up in the showroom of a luxury used car lot to be snatched up by some guy in the middle of his midlife crisis. I had always thought it was a sad end to an old beauty, but Han wasn't quite as sentimental as I was.
"Ready?" I asked him as I sped down the Autobahn in an inconspicuous black Mercedes.
He smirked at me from the passenger's seat before flipping his bangs out of the way. His eyes lit up with anticipation. The corners of my mouth unconsciously pulled up when I turned my eyes back on the road. It wasn't a real smile, but it was getting there.
"This exit." Han called as he read directions off his phone.
A red SUV went by us like it was going in reverse. I cut over in front of it and pulled off the Autobahn. He directed me over a few streets before we reached a nicely landscaped house in a neighborhood of half mansions. When he gestured that we were there, I pulled over and killed the engine.
"A 2006 Aston Martin V10 Vanquish is sitting in the garage." He told me as he pocketed his cell phone.
"Let's go." I replied eagerly as I opened my door and gestured for Han to follow.
The cool night air bit into the exposed skin of my neck and hands, but I barely noticed at all. My heart was pounding in my ears and the adrenaline was taking the pain away. It felt better to be out here than I remembered. It had been a while since I'd been out here with Han. Work had kind of gotten in the way.
Han jogged past me so he could get to the garage door first. While he tried it to make sure it was locked, I went ahead and pulled out my lock picks. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked tight. Within a minute, I had it picked at we were inside, staring at the beautiful white Aston.
"I've missed this." I told him as I ran my hand down the front quarter panel to the hood where the latch was.
"I've missed watching this." He replied with a smile.
A tossed him a flirty glance over my shoulder as I started to work. While I was getting the doors opened, he gently slid up the garage door. We worked quickly and silently; at that point, we didn't even need to speak to know what the other was thinking. He was sitting in the passenger seat and I was about to turn over the engine when his phone started ringing obnoxiously.
He grabbed for it quickly and got it silenced before he glanced at the caller ID.
"It's Dom." He said quickly before he flipped it open.
"Dom?" My good mood soared. Dom's phone calls meant a job. A job meant a distraction; a break from the monotony I'd forced myself into.
Han's face scrunched in confusion as he listened to what was going on. He said a few things back and forth with Dom that I didn't really pay attention to. Finally, he hung up and turned to face me. Right on cue, my phone rang in my pocket.
"Let's get out of here. He can tell me." I suggested as I turned over the engine. I pulled out of the drive way as I pulled my phone out.
"Hello." I answered as I stopped alongside the Mercedes. Han got out and signaled for me drive. The second he shut his door I was speeding down the street, back towards the Autobahn.
"Ellie." Dom's deep voice came over the line.
"Dom. It's been a while." I replied as started pushing the Aston as hard as it would go. It responded and shot forward smoothly like a jet.
"It has." He was slow to answer, like he was stopping to think about everything he said. "I know things didn't go the way we wanted last time, but you're still family. "
He paused and let me take that in.
"We've got a job."
