Intuition

Chapter Eight

The Countdown

He had to suppress a yawn. He was tired, no, exhausted.

He had already showered at 'work'; this apartment might have gathered some dust throughout the months, but it was still rather convenient to take small breaks.

It was easier to live a double life when he had two separate 'home' units, though he considered his shared apartment his 'home' and the other one his 'work place', as terrible as it sounded.

He would be home for dinner (because he'd feel awful all day if he wouldn't see her until tomorrow evening), but he'd have to go out tonight again. All night, too.

Then, some patrols in the morning, a brief period of time to sleep in the afternoon, then some more dates and then he would go out to pick up new girls.

He'd be back at eleven o'clock in the evening, or so he hoped.

With a bit of luck, Kairi would still be awake at that time, too.

He opened the door in the middle of his calculations when a strange kind of strangled sniffle froze him to the spot, his hand still on the doorknob and the other one still clutched around the key of the apartment, one foot over the doorway, the other one still in the hallway of the building.

"Kairi?"

She didn't respond, and he couldn't hear anything else coming from the living room.

He cautiously closed the door and entered the living room as quiet as he could.

"Kairi?" he tried again, glancing around to look for her.

She'd been working at the kitchen table; there were books piled up, files with papers spread across the table, markers and colored tabs everywhere.

Even so, she was on the opposite end of the room, on the couch, hiding under a blanket.

That, or there was a dead body in his apartment, which he highly doubted as he could see her breathe.

"Hey," he said gently, sitting down on his knees next to her as he lifted the blanket off her face. "You okay?"

She was not okay, and he could've guessed that much.

She had her arms folded over her eyes, but the corners of her lips were pointing down, her bottom lip trembling and there were tear tracks glistening on her cheeks.

He had never seen her cry up until that point and even though it seemed to be the aftermath of whatever had made her cry, he hated it instantly.

She should never have to cry.

"Oh, babe," he sighed, pulling her up against him. "What happened?"

She broke out in sobs as a reply, pressing her face against his shoulder as she held onto him for dear life.

He let her, locking his jaw as he stroke her back.

No, he absolutely hated this. She, of all people, should not be hurt.

As her figure shook under the violent breathy gasps throughout the sobs, every tremble seemed to tear him down.

His heart constricted and he had to swallow against a lump in his throat and he felt so helpless with the amount of grief she had apparently accumulated inside of her that he could feel his own eyes water.

He hadn't cried in years. Years.

In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had cried.

Yet, all it took for his gaze to blur with saltiness were her tears.

It broke his heart.

He wanted to punch someone in the face, punish whoever was responsible for this.

She started to calm down after a few minutes. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I ruined your shirt," she added as she tried to dry his sleeve with hers.

"That's okay," he said with a shrug as the shirt was the least of his concerns, studying her face cautiously. "Kairi, what happened?"

She took a deep breath and averted her gaze to the window.

He suspected it was because she would cry again if she met his gaze. "For my research, I… I need to read a lot of literature and court rulings, you know, nothing new. It's just that… Some of them… are not that much fun… to read…"

"What kind of court rulings did you read?" he said as she rubbed her hands over her knees, a bit astounded at the amount of impact those rulings had on her. If someone had beaten her up on the street, her response would make a lot more sense.

Weren't court rulings just pages with boring judge talk, anyway?

He had been to a trial of one of his former colleagues to make sure they wouldn't blab, but it had been extremely boring to him.

He couldn't understand how that could have possibly upset her.

She shook her head. "There have been a couple of definition changes in the field and the court rulings those changes are based on were all kinds of… sex offenses."

"I see," he said quietly, feeling rather alarmed.

He wasn't that well informed considering her studies in general, but that topic in particular, well, he knew all the ins and outs. Quite… literally.

It wasn't something he wanted her to get involved in, not even like this.

He started to see why she had been so upset and why she had needed to 'hide' herself from the world for a moment.

His own head was starting to throb painfully as he thought of ways to evade this subject and at the same time comfort her.

She glanced up at him. "The fact reports were especially hard to get through," she said, mimicking the volume of his voice. "I think it's awful someone can even think of doing such things to someone else."

He reached out to brush his hand over her cheek. "You really shouldn't take those things personally," he offered as she moved forward to wrap her arms around his neck again.

"I know," she said as he moved his hand from her face to her back again. "It's just… they're real. It has happened for real. Somewhere, in this country, there have been sick people doing all kinds of… sick things to other human beings and it makes me feel… sick to read about them."

He pressed a kiss against her forehead. "It's not your fault they have happened."

"I can imagine what it must've felt like, though," she said with a very soft sniffle. "The victim statement broke me. I… I couldn't read past that. It was awful."

"Kairi," he sighed, feeling his stomach drop like a brick inside his body as he imagined for a moment what it would be like if his women got to tell their stories to his girlfriend. He should probably punch himself in the face, after all. "I'm sorry."

She whimpered. "I don't want to read them again. But I'll have to. Eventually."

"How about this," he suggested as he pulled away to look at her, smiling at her. "Read other, more boring ones when I'm out and read these upsetting ones when I'm here with you. It's easier to keep an emotional distance if there's someone else around, isn't it?"

She nodded, smiling back just a little bit and he reached out to dry her cheeks. "Sorry you had to go through that by yourself," he added as she kept quiet.

She buried her face in his sweater again. "You'll have to go out again tonight, right?" she asked rather muffled as she was talking through the fabric of his sweater.

"Yeah," he said regretfully. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay," she muttered, smiling up at him, her eyes starting to smile along again. "Just a while longer, right?"

"Just a while longer," he said, pulling her a little closer as he firmly closed his eyes.

Just another year. He had survived one.

Twelve more months to go.

He stared at his private phone, the white light illuminating his face as he was standing outside at three o'clock in the morning on the crappy little balcony that was attached to the apartment.

It was a cloudy night, so there weren't many stars out and the moon was mostly covered, but he wasn't really looking anyway.

She was smiling back at him with the radiant smile he was missing so much and he sighed as he leaned over the railing, gazing back at the picture.

She had sounded so sad on the phone when he had called her a couple of hours before.

He missed her, too.

It was awful enough that he barely saw her at home, it was even worse now that he had to go abroad to reach his quota.

If it wasn't for his father, who hadn't really liked it that he was meeting all of the requirements so far, he would still be at home with her.

His father had demanded he went abroad to spread their influence, whatever the hell that might mean.

He felt numb. It was harder to do his job properly because of it.

All had depended on his ability to 'charm', yet even he himself thought he had lost it somewhere along the way.

It would've been too much for anyone to take and it proved to be too much for him to take, too.

Even so, he knew he could be persuasive and that should have to do.

Just a couple of more months. Just eight more…

It was too abstract, he could barely wrap his mind around a number that great, though he had survived for a lot more than that.

He needed something a little closer to home, quite literally.

Just a week until he'd be back with her.

He closed his eyes as he locked his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. "Just a week," he muttered against the cold wind. "Just seven days."

Trying to cheer himself up, he thought about the hidden package in his suitcase.

After all, though it seemed like an eternity, the moment there would be an end to those eight months of slavery.

He'd be a free, normal guy, his past only tightly locked in his memory.

There was no other way to celebrate that than to bind himself down again, was there? How ironic, though the idea was enough to cheer him up in this awful, empty mood he was in.

He smiled, his eyes still closed as a couple of minor worries started to plague him.

He let them do so because they made the major ones much more bearable.

Would she like it?

Was it too small?

Was it already too expensive?

He was sure it was just perfect, though.

He had seen a whole bunch of them (he had to admit it was kinda weird to be looking at those things by himself) and this was the only one he was able to imagine her wearing it around her finger, to begin with.

Would she say yes?

Eight to go.

These moments were rare, but they always gave him more energy to hold on, just a little while longer.

He was leaning back on the new couch she had insisted on buying a couple of months ago (and though he had protested, he could barely form a thought of protest in his mind at the comfort of the damned thing) and she was seated in between his legs, her head resting against his chest as she was reading more material for her thesis.

He was too tired to really do anything else, so he took satisfaction in just resting a hand on her stomach as he folded his other arm behind his head, closing his eyes as he listened to the rain outside.

"You know," she suddenly said. "I used to think the criminality rates in our area were pretty much under control, but they really aren't, after all."

"There's always burglars going around," he said with a faint shrug as he nuzzled his face in her hair. "Surprisingly they always stop by Sora's. I told him to stop leaving his window open."

She giggled a little at the tickling sensation. "No, stop! I didn't mean theft, I meant illegal prostitution activities and substance abuse."

"Oh," he said, a bit alarmed, his eyes flying open at once. "Really?"

She nodded as her gaze returned to the screen. "Yeah, it's been reaching peaks for years now. The mayor plans on shutting down a couple of brothels… as if that helps."

"You don't think that'll help?" he said, a bit cautiously. He didn't think so either, but he had hoped she'd believe it like the rest of the city seemed to do.

She shook her head, glancing up at him. "Nah, I've looked at the statistics. Most of the prostitutes are underage, completely addicted, though their backgrounds are fairly normal? I think we're dealing with either very ambitious pimps or loverboys here. Closing brothels is not the remedy for that, they'll just start new ones or distribute to the ones still open."

He tried to keep his breathing low so his heart rate wouldn't go up. Crap. He didn't like the fact that she was well-informed on the subject. It made him feel uneasy. "Could be," he said evasively. "But how would you put a stop to that, then?"

She remained silent for a little while, gazing blindly at the window. Then, she nodded slowly, more to herself. "Yeah, there'd be no other way but dig up the entire organization, I think. They hardly operate on their own, they need someone else to secure their privacy, so to speak. Some others to back them up if necessary."

"That sounds plausible," he said, keeping his voice steady. "But doesn't that go too far for just your thesis?"

"Yeah," she sighed, much to his relief. "Though I do think I can sum up a couple of possibilities to turn in some of those organizations, I can't do more research in how those possibilities would work out. I simply don't have the time… but maybe if I can postpone my graduation a bit longer—"

"Kairi," he said, a little firm this time. She was getting off track and getting dangerously close at the same time. "I'd rather you wouldn't."

She turned to him again, a questioning look in her eyes. "Why not?" she said indignantly. "If I could help at least a couple of those poor girls, heck, even if I could help one, that would—"

The thought of her working her way underground terrified him to no end. "Kairi," he said, sitting up a bit to cup her face. "Listen to me. Please stay out of their business and let the professionals handle it. Please."

"But—"

"It's too dangerous," he said, his voice trembling a little now; his control was breaking as he started to panic a little. If he couldn't stop her…—no, he had to. He wasn't working his butt off to get above ground to have her lower down at the same time. There was no way, he wouldn't have it. "You won't be able to get out if you get in too deep."

"I'll be careful," she said soothingly.

"What about them?" he said, feeling like a severe hypocrite. "Those girls been warned before, don't you think? They said they'd be careful too. Besides, those guys play by different rules and they do not hesitate in using violence."

She frowned a little but kept quiet as she rested her right hand on top of his. "I know," she sighed. "I know that."

"Please," he pleaded. "You're already doing those… girls a huge favor by giving the authorities a theoretic framework for trying to catch the ones responsible, please don't get further involved."

"I just want to help," she murmured, averting her gaze. "After everything I've read... I really just want to help them out."

"And you are," he said as convincingly as he could as he gently pulled her face towards his to rest his forehead against hers.

Please don't get involved.

Please don't find out, it's too early.

She smiled a little. "Fine. I won't go out there to do some fieldwork," she promised as she leaned in to press a light kiss on his lips. "I'll just finish up writing my thesis and see what they do with it."

"Good," he said, though, in all honesty, he was a bit concerned about the aftermath of her thesis. If it was as good as it started to sound like, his father's business was in huge danger and he'd rather be out of there before it was too late. "How much do you still have to do?"

Her smile broadened. "It'll take a couple of months, probably. I mean, I'm pretty much done with writing, but I still need to talk to my tutor, they have to read it first after all to give feedback, I need to incorporate that, repeat the whole thing over and over, you know the drill."

"Oh," he said, hugely relieved as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her into a hug. "You're practically done, then."

"Almost," she corrected him, grinning. "But you are almost done, too, right? Before you can graduate?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said as he pressed a soft kiss on top of her head. "Just four months left."

"I'm excited," she said with a very soft giggle. "I don't know what to do with myself if you'll be here every day after a regular day of work. We'd almost be normal!"

He laughed, hugging her even tighter. "We'll get there, one day."

Just four months to go.

Now he just had to make sure he got the hell out of business before Kairi's thesis was ready, too.

The stakes were raising and he still had some time to go.

Everything was on the line now.

Four more months.

Welcome back!

Man, I really didn't think I was going to manage October, haha. Guess I did, after all. The story was written down way earlier but I'm just not happy with it.

This chapter drained me, but I managed my deadline! That's something!

Ah, maybe a little bit of insight information would do here. As you may or may not know, I'm studying for my degree Tax Law. Even though it's a completely different field of expertise, I'm quite fond of the Law section of my studies. I even followed extra courses considering criminal law and procedural law and such. I can tell you from experience that those court rulings Kairi has been reading in this chapter can be rough. The worst crimes arrive at court, too, which means that all the gruesome and awful details are described as well. It takes a lot to stomach that and I would like to remind you that there have been judges who have been traumatized by the cases that they had to decide in. It's saddening that some humans can perform acts that rule out their humanity at a certain point.

Anyway, that's enough for me today. I'll see you in November (hopefully) for the finale of this story.

Lots of love,

Your author