Chapter 1.
Five or Six years ago…
A man with glasses was eating his hamburger at the hotel restaurant in Cuba. He seemed joyful and relaxed since he was on a vacation. However, he became a bit nervous when a police cruisers' sirens ran outside of the hotel.
"Disculpe. Pero, ¿qué diablo los policías hacen aquí?" The man asked the waiter nearby.
"Un hombre fue disparado al muerte y ahora los policías están buscando por las turistas quienes viajan solos."
Just like someone up there wants to prove what the waiter said, a group of policeman walked right into the main hall asking people for their passport. And one of the police officers was entering into the restaurant.
'Speaking of the devil.' The man thought to himself and cloaked his pistol with his button down shirt. He was about to leave, but the police officer was faster.
"¿Está solo, señor?" The police officer asked.
"Wha…?" The man pretended that he didn't speak Spanish.
"¿Usted está solo, señor?" The police officer asked again with suspicion.
"I'm sorry but I don't speak the language." He made a most frustrated look and spoke in English to trick the police officer. Then something caught his eyes.
There was a group of police officers trying to question a blonde woman. When their eyes met, the man thought her eyes were pretty. He winked at her only to receive a confused look. The man tossed two twenty dollar bills on his table and walked to the woman and the police officers with a smile. "It's alright, man! She's my wife."
"That is true?" One of the police officers questioned her in English. They seemed to realize that they don't speak Spanish.
"Yes… That's my husband." She seemed reluctant but followed along to their play. Then she added another sentence, making their play more convincing. "Is it okay for us to go back to our room? I forgot to pack something from my suitcase that takes cares for a 'lady's problem'."
The police officers blushed. "Oh! Uh… of course! Sorry to bother you, señora. And… good day." With an apology, they hurried out leaving the couple behind.
When the man took the woman to his hotel room, they finally introduced themselves.
"Thank you for the help back there."
"Well, I think I had a wonderful partner to play along, don't you think?" The man grinned, thinking about the lie she made.
The woman chuckled. "Probably."
"I'm Alfred. Alfred F. Jones." Alfred gave his hand with a huge smile.
The woman shook his hand. "Alice Kirkland."
Their eyes met. An unspoken thing shared between them. A silence seemed like forever or just few seconds. To them, it didn't matter at all.
"Well, Alice. Do you know what I think?"
Alice raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I think you gotta have a dinner with me tonight."
Alice scoffed. "I'd like that." Then she pointed her finger at Alfred. "But only if you're going to speak English properly. It's 'got to', Alfred. Not 'gotta'."
Alfred laughed and leaned on the wall. "Hmm, why dontcha be the grammar hero and fix me on that on our dinner."
Alfred leaned on the wall and charmly winked. "Hmm, then why dontcha be the grammar hero and fix me on that on our dinner tonight?"
"I think I'll need a whole night to fix that." Alice grinned with an equal charm.
Five or Six years later…
I was about to finish setting up the table for our dinner. Then I glanced the clock on the wall. It was almost twenty-one hundred.
I could tell that Alfred just arrived home from the loud music blowing out of his car's speakers. Few seconds later I heard the door opened and saw Alfred entering the house. Despite of the music I heard was as booming out loud as usual, Alfred looked exhausted.
"Ally, I'm home." Alfred greeted tiredly.
"Perfect timing. You came just in time for dinner."
Alfred slightly groaned. "I'll just put my jacket to the closet and BRB."
I usually would try to correct him but in this occasion, I ignored his grammatic crime. "Oh, you can just leave—."
Stomp— Stomp— Stomp—.
"…Your jacket." Before I could finish my sentence, Alfred stomped to upstairs to our room. I sighed and finished setting up the table for our dinner.
The table was filled with delicious looking dishes. However, the length of the table that made a big space between our chairs seemed to be symbolizing the space between us.
During our dinner impassive and formal conversations like 'how was your work?', 'It was okay', and 'Did you do anything interesting?' went awkwardly between us. It's been a while since the last time we actually enjoyed our conversations. Alfred was loud, careless, and obnoxious git but I always secretly enjoyed his company as much as I was annoyed. However, these days, I couldn't find that cheerful git anymore.
"Honey, couldya pass me the salt?"
"It's in the middle of the table. And it's 'could you'." I corrected him.
"In the middle?" Alfred ignored that grammar part.
"Yes, between you and I." Somehow I felt that salt wasn't the only thing standing in the middle of us.
Alfred groaned but resigned to get up from his chair to grab the salt.
I reminded the separate session that I had with Dr. Bonnefoy. And bloody yes. I'm not calling that bloody frog by his first name.
"There's this huge space between us and it just keeps filling up. With everything that we don't say to each other." I glanced at my ring with emptiness before I asked. "What is that called?"
"C'est appelé, marriage. However my question is: what is it that you don't say to each other?" Dr. Frog's eyes became focused.
"Ummm…" I avoided my eye contact. Great. This frog thinks I'm cheating on him. "I'm— I'm not lying to him or anything. I know I love my husband." Even myself wasn't so sure about this when I said this.
"Oh~? Then what seems to be the problem. Madame Jones."
Dammit. I knew the answer. Scratch that. I perfectly knew the answer. But I can't tell this to anyone. I sighed again then sipped my tea before I answered the question.
"It's just… we all have our secrets, don't we?"
I jumped on to my couch with a bottle of coke. Tonight Alice and I are going to the barbecue party at our friend Kiku's house. Plus since it's a barbecue party, I didn't have to eat Alice's cooking. Ahh… how I love my weekend without my wife's food. I loved her but I just couldn't stand her cookings. Never told her about that though.
I grabbed the remote with my feet and tossed it over to my hand. I turned our wide screen TV on and turned the channels for the football. Then I heard a pair of high heels walking down the stairs.
"Alfred, I have to go for work." Alice stood there with her long trench coat on.
"Huh? Whaddaya mean, Ally? We have a barbecue party at Kiku's tonight! It's gonna be so unheroic if you ditch it!" I protested.
"Something happened at my workplace. Don't worry. I'll make it to the party. And it's 'What do you mean', Alfred. Please use English correctly!"
"Grammar Nazi…" I muttered annoyingly.
Alice turned her face to me with a glare. Uh oh. She must have heard that.
"What in the bloody hell did you—."
Before she could finish, thankfully my phone buzzed: it was an email. I slid it open and read through the man's face, name, height, age, location, and whatever the other details are.
"Aw, man! This blows! I think I gotta go too! My boss just called me for a meeting."
"Then I'll see you at Kiku's house after we finish our emergencies, all right?"
"Kay." I nodded.
"It's not— hah… never mind. See you at Kiku's house." Then Alice went to the garage.
"Dammit." I turned the TV off and went up stairs to prepare for the unexpected schedule. There was no doubt that our marriage had a problem. We just didn't know how to fix them. For some reason, it triggered me to remind my session.
"Hon hon hon~. Now let's talk about you monsieur Jones. I didn't know you would come alone. Is there something you want from me?" Francis winked.
Uh… Is this guy a couple therapist for sure? "Not sure really."
"Oh? Then what brings you here, if I may ask."
I hesitated. I didn't know how to ask this question. "Ya know… it's been awhile since Alice and I ever had…" I made a hand gesture of it. Every time I tried, it was either Alice was already sleeping or refusing to do it. Last week, I even masterbated during shower.
Francis grinned mischievously. "Hon hon hon hon~ so you do want something from me. With a handsome man like you, it's always a pleasure to make a little secre—."
"NO!" I crossed my arm against my chest. 'What the friggin' F! Jeez, no wonder Alice hates him so much.' I thought to myself with a shiever.
Francis looked like he just lost all the money from the lottery. I've never seen anyone who looked so disappointed like him. "So was the time with your wife was the reason you're here, monsieur Jones?"
"No." There was more than sex I wanted from my wife. "I'm here because I want to fix our relationship."
But after that, the whole session felt like a great waste of time.
I thanked the uber driver and wore the red glasses on my face. Then I left the car holding a briefcase and a purse on my hand, when the uber driver took me to the destination. It was one of the five star hotels in the New York. I walked to the counter in the main lobby.
A man with was sitting on one of the armchairs in the lobby. He was reading a newspaper while drinking a vodka. He must be one of the henchmen that he hired. I approached to him. "My name is Adele Salt. And I believe Mr. Xavier is expecting for me."
The man folded his newspaper and put his drink down. "This way, Ms. Salt." Then the man led me to an elevator and pushed the button of the top floor.
On our way to the room we didn't share even a word. However, when we got to the door, the henchman blocked me before opening the door. "I have to search you before letting you in."
I nodded. Then the henchman searched my pockets and my coat for any weapon. Then he requested for my purse so I let him. After the security guard verified that I'm unarmed, he gave my purse back.
"Please excuse me, Ms. Salt." With an apology, the security guard opened the door.
The hotel room was very luxurious, if it weren't for the mission, I would have enjoyed my time here with the beautiful scenery of the city outside with maybe a cup of tea. However, today isn't the day for that. I scanned the room and the people once again. The first things I saw were the four henchmen sitting standing on the each corner of the room. They all seemed to be armed with pistols.
Among those men, there was a tall man in white tuxedo with a scar on his cheek was standing by the table with a cigar on his mouth. His existence matched perfectly with the hotel room. The dangerous aura that he made the hotel room more luxurious but deadly. He blew a smoke out of his mouth then approached to me, reaching his hand out for a handshake.
"Good evening, Ms. Salt. My name is Leonardo Xavier."
I nodded and shook his hand.
I turned off booming one of my favorite music from the truck's speaker as I arrived to a factory. Then I stretched tiredly and checked myself with the back mirror. I was wearing a truck driver's uniform with a worker vest with a picture ID hanging on my chest. I looked convincing.
I turned the ignition off then got out off the car with a cap and a clipboard on my hand. A security guard was waiting for me.
"Hey, man! I'm here to deliver water bottles for your water cooler to prevent y'all from unheroic thirst."
"IDs and badge, please." The security guard sighed. I could see the distrust in his eyes. I ignored it by smiling it off and acting more enthusiastic.
"There you go!" I handed him the papers and showed my badge. The security guard took it and scanned them on his device then nodded.
"Alright. You know what to do. Use the given wagon to—."
" Use the given wagon to carry the water bottles to the each floor and put the rest in the office. Yep! I gotcha right there." I grinned. The security guard just shook his head.
I walked over to the truck and lifted the boxes water bottles. There were total four. I just lifted them up all at once. The security eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "Whoa! How the heck did you…?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? Isn't it a piece of cake to just lift them like this?" I cocked my head.
"I—it's even hard to carry one of those goddamn boxes! Other delivery guys always asked me to help those shit but h—how did you—?"
I grinned. Then started to show off my strength by jumping while carrying these boxes. Now the security guard's jaw was about to fall to the ground. I gave him a wink and put the boxes onto the wagon.
"See ya, dude!" I pushed the wagon and whistled away from the clearly frustrated security guard.
"Wait!"
I raised my eyebrow and slightly turned around. "What's up?"
"Why don't you work in our factory? We could you some muscles like you. Maybe I could tell my boss about how strong you are then he would hire you! We'll definitely pay you well." The security guard tried to smile. There were cold sweat all over his face.
"Oh, a security guard could ask his boss that?" I questioned him. I already figured out that he let his guard down. What an idiot. I grinned to myself.
"W—well, I mean, I could try asking him about—." It was just pathetic to see him trying to fix his mistake.
"Nah, I'm good, man." I waved my hand with a smile. "My job already pays me super well."
My answer made him looked like he just lost all the money from the lottery. "You sure? We can absolutely pay you like, at least double of what you're getting now."
"Trust me." I grinned once again. This time I didn't bother to hide. Then I walked away.
Translation
"Disculpe. Pero, ¿qué diablo los policías hacen aquí?" — Excuse me. But what the hell are the police doing here?
"Un hombre fue disparado al muerte y ahora los policías están buscando por las turistas quienes viajan solos." — A man was shot to death and now the police are looking for the tourists who're traveling alone.
"¿Está solo, señor?", "¿Usted está solo, señor?" — Are you alone, sir?
"C'est appelé" — It's called
(A/N)
So that was the Chapter 1 of the Jones ;) hope u all liked it and pls tell me.
Follow, Favorite, and Reviews are always obviously very appreciated.
The next update will be around May 10th. Yes. The story will be updated every 10 days unless something happens to change the schedule.
Till then! ;)