Author note:

Thank you for the reviews! I am sO hyped for this arc to be over. I had a little mind-block, unsure how to write one of the later chapters. But trust me, it really did come to me in a dream. We got over that hurdle so I am pumping through the start of the next little arc and you guys had better be ready for it.

Anyway, moving on! Enjoy the chapter. It's a little uneventful (lol) but I promise things will start kicking up again. Elliot just needs to figure some shit out and Gwen needs to be a strong independent woman for a little while longer.


Chapter 8

Baby Steps.

/ - Gwen POV - /

The latest text from her anonymous comrade warned her about entering the room behind the kitchen. So here she was, trusting a stranger who had obtained her number through unknown means. Perched on a tree across the road from the back door to the noodle shop, she had the perfect view of people who entered and exited the room.

Tapping into the noodle store's camera feeds had earned her a nice surveillance for the door that led to the kitchen. All she had to do was wait. She knew that if this turned out to be a miss, she would have wasted a whole day scouting out the place. But something deep down told her she was in the right place.

Her phone vibrated and Gwen sighed. Another text.

However, instead of stopping after a couple vibrations, it continued to ring. Gwen hastily removed it from her pocket and stared at the screen in bewilderment. The person was calling her.

She picked up but didn't say anything, waiting to hear the voice.

"Watch carefully."

The voice was a robotic imitation of a human voice. Someone had a voice-altering machine at their disposal, she mused drily. They always seemed cliché to her, but it definitely did the trick. She could barely distinguish it as a male voice.

Despite her hesitance, she obeyed and turned to look at the building she had been watching. Sure enough, the door slipped open and a man in a suit walked out. He had a cigarette in his hand and was texting someone something. Gwen moved her binoculars to her eyes and had to suppress a gasp. It was the same man whose image was in her brown folder, back at the hotel room.

She couldn't lip read, a lack that she was a little sore about at that moment. But she knew he was talking to someone who was still inside the building. Waiting rewarded her, and another figure stepped out to join the first man.

Another suppressed gasp.

That fucking guy who had blocked her from the convenience store. He had been following her.

A buzzing from her phone reminded Gwen that she was still on the phone with the stranger.

"They know you're following them. They also know where your hotel is. You have about two hours to get your shit and get out of there. Unless you plan on taking on six fully trained and armed men, I'd suggest you pack quickly."

There was a click as the hanger hung up, leaving Gwen to mull over her choices. She couldn't move now, they would see her.

That asshole. He knew they knew before he called me and yet he waited until I could see them before he told me what they knew. Why?

"Because he wanted me to believe that he knew what he was doing." She muttered to herself. The person was smart, she had to admit that. They seemed to be a couple steps in front of her.

Gwen snapped a photo of the men and sent them to Tyrell. She had to keep up the pretence that she was doing her work, after all.

When the two men finally headed back inside, Gwen waited another ten minutes before slipping off the branch and hurrying back to her hotel. She wouldn't take everything, only the stuff that would lead them back to her. She had to make it seem as if she hadn't seen them coming. Packing only a small bag with her personal belongings and the folder, Gwen left the room. She kept her unused toothbrushes in the room and messed around with the sheets so that they would think she had just left for an errand.

Perhaps she would check back another day to see what they had gone through. If there was a method to their actions, Gwen would be able to figure out what they were after, and what they thought she was after.

A buzz to her phone let her know that the stranger had sent her another message. It was getting a little comforting, Gwen thought. This country was foreign to her, and the people and streets were strange and new. Having someone guide her was soothing her fears a little. But a larger part of her was getting frustrated with how little she knew of what was going on. Having this stranger feed her information was like being spoon-fed her mission.

The message was an address this time. An AirBnB not too far from here. The person let her know that they had booked it for her already.

Fucking spoon feeding me.

Sighing, she headed toward the location. She had to find a way to figure out who the person was.

/ - Elliot POV - /

He stared at the message on his phone screen. How had she rewired her phone so that she was able to send him messages? He had specifically made it so that she would only be able to receive his calls and texts.

This girl.

'Why don't you tell me about yourself?'

Was it a trick question? Why would she ask this to someone who didn't know her? There she went again, surprising him. Elliot was starting to find it hard to breathe. He fumbled for his fix.

After Gwen had hid it a number of days ago, it took him several panic attacks and turning his apartment upside down before he found it. She had hidden it in one of the socks in his sock drawer, the clever girl.

As soon as the high hit him, Elliot felt a calm wash over him. If she wanted to play this way, he would entertain her. Besides, no matter how this went, he was still the one in control. He knew who she was and she had no idea who he was. He could portray whatever person he wanted to her and she wouldn't know any better.

'What would you like to know?'

Yes. A line he had rehearsed often but never got the chance to execute. It was the perfect rebuttal to being asked to reveal information about oneself. You just had to reflect it back on the asker.

'Are you enjoying making me feel helpless?'

That had him momentarily speechless. She had picked up on one of his agendas almost immediately. It was as if this girl's initial opinion of every person was that they would use her and then kick her to the curb when they were done.

He actually had no idea how to reply to her query. A part of him wanted to tell her the truth, to say yes, yes he loved every moment of being in control. But no, that would just take them to the same place they were at in real life. Elliot had to play it safe.

His fingers shook.

Oh, but you just can't lie to her, can you? Even after how much she's lied to you.

'No. I just want to help.'

Her reply was instantaneous. 'Why don't you meet me in person then?'

She was brave. Her brashness sent a thrill down his spine as he savoured an action he himself would never be able to do. This girl… She was almost his opposite in every way, and yet he felt as if he understood her, had understood her for a long time.

'What's the fun in that?' His heart was racing and he couldn't tell if his head was spinning because of the morphine or because he had sent such a flirtatious text. He couldn't remember the last time it had felt this exhilarating to talk to someone. She was putting him on an even bigger high.

He tried to convince himself that he was only pretending to be like this to get her to trust him. He was doing this so he could break her to pieces and find out what she was keeping from him.

Gwen didn't reply for a while and Elliot could feel his panic start to set in. Had he gone too far?

"Oh no… no, no, no." He kept whining to himself. Elliot was now curled up in a ball on his bed, staring at the phone screen that lay next to him.

Why isn't she replying?

A buzz shocked him into sitting up and he picked up the phone with shaking hands.

'That's fucked. You're having fun while keeping me in the dark.'

Her words had him hesitating. Had he chosen the wrong approach. She probably thought he was psychotic now. Well… was he?

'I guess we all have our pastimes. What do you even do for a living anyway? Stalk girls and make them feel uncomfortable?'

Elliot breathed out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding in. She was dangling him over a cliff even despite him being the one in the know. What a dangerous woman.

'No, it's just you.' He knew this would make her antsy. It was singling her out. Was she as messed up as he was? Would she feel special upon receiving that message? Even in a fucked-up way, she might feel adored to know he was only watching her.

Holy. You're a fucking psycho and a creep. Way to go.

'Just me huh? How cute. Are you going to ask me out on a date next?'

"Date." Elliot played around with the word, repeating it softly to himself. It danced around in his head, blocking his rational thoughts. If there were any to start with. The morphine was definitely what was making him so focused on something so trivial, he decided. Definitely the morphine.

He picked up his phone to type his reply.

/ - Gwen POV - /

The bath was warm, but not too hot. Just the way she liked it. She'd never been a fan of over-humid atmospheres.

As she sunk into the water, she sighed deeply. What a rollercoaster this trip was turning into. She'd been here for a full two days already and she had only just begun to get a lead into the man. In fact, she blushed as she thought, she was making more progress with the stranger through the phone than she was with her mission.

Their back and forth had led to some flirtatious comments, and she found herself not holding back. Perhaps the fact that she didn't know this person meant she had no fear in expressing herself. There was a tiny notion of excitement relating to the anonymity.

She'd always been into thrilling events, and a secret romance with a stranger in China didn't seem too bad to her. She could always just leave it all behind when she went back to the U.S.

Just like you left everything behind there when you came here.

Gwen had always been a runner. At any sight of discomfort that couldn't be solved easily, she was gone quicker than anybody else. It was a large factor to her relationship, or lack thereof, with Elliot. If she'd kept in touch when she went to live with her dad, and then later during the time she had moved back, perhaps they wouldn't be on such rocky terms.

Elliot was definitely awkward. He never knew how to start a conversation with her, and was more comfortable sharing her presence in silence. She had come to terms with the fact that they'd just be friends a long time ago. There was no way there was anything romantic there. Even if she had feelings for him, which she wasn't going to admit any time soon, she knew that he was not a suitable partner.

Gwen was already irrational as it were. With someone as erratic and messed up as Elliot, she knew the years left on her life wouldn't amount to much. She'd either die saving him from himself or through stress alone.

Yes, just friends was definitely better.

"But… You're not even friends right now. You don't know him anymore." She voiced her thoughts out loud as if saying them would re-affirm it. She knew a small part of her wasn't convinced. This aggressive, distraught Elliot wasn't the Elliot she knew. He had to still be that awkward, broken guy she'd met so long ago. Somewhere, there was the Elliot she had grown fond of.

Maybe she brought out the worst in him. After all, the way she'd treated him on their recent encounters hadn't been forgiving in the slightest. She'd known, been told that he'd lost his memories. And yet it was as if she had held that against him.

At the graveyard, she'd been angry. Furious even. It was heartbreaking for her to realise that those precious memories, those days where he'd help her mend her broken soul, they'd been extinguished from him.

Was she the only one to hold onto what they'd shared?

Gwen didn't have time for this. God, even halfway across the planet the guy tormented her. She'd deal with that when she got back to the States. For now, a mysterious stranger and a shitty mission were what had to captivate her full attention.

Yeah, she'd focus from now on.

End Chapter 8.