6

Just when I thought I was about to die, my head was pushed down, so close that I almost hit the steering wheel, the bullet pierced through the glass and into the chair behind me.

Then I heard a gunshot, a bullet straight through the man’s head, I raised my head fully to see Alfred standing beside me.

Lord knows how happy I was to see him again, “You’re alive” I gasped.

Beck crawled into the back seat and I pushed towards the seat on my right.

“I thought I was dead too but they missed my heart by five inches” he smiled, I don’t know if that was meant to be a joke but with the way he smiled, I could tell he didn’t fear death as much as I do.

I had the family doctor Robin waiting for us back at the house, we had lost most of our men at the shootout leaving the surviving ones injured.

I stormed into my room pissed off once we got to the house, “How dare they do that at my Grandfather’s burial.

This was why I pushed for a quiet event with barely any guest, to avoid this but that big mouth man ruined it all.

I suddenly paused from pacing back and forth, realizing he was missing when the shootout started, there was no trace of him or his family anywhere.

If this is how he wants to play then I am ready for him, next time he won’t have it that easy.

After being locked up in my room for almost a day, I finally stepped out in the night, Alfred had just stepped into the house, from his evening patrol.

He froze when he saw me, “I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow morning”

The sound of my stomach grumbling answered him instead, I had been cooked up like I was a prisoner that I barely had anything to eat.

It made him nod.

He walked into the kitchen, rummaged through the cupboard for a sign, it was Sunday which meant the groceries had finished for the week, we had to wait until Monday morning for the steward to be back and restock the house again.

“Ah” he grunts.

He seemed to have found something as he turned on the glass, it was already too late to order take-out and I wasn’t in the mood for a full-five meal course.

“Perhaps I can fix you something” he said taking off his shirt, I could see blood stains on his shirt.

“You are bleeding” I informed him, he looked down at his stained shirt then let out a sigh.

I left him in the kitchen as I made my way to the first-aid box in the storage room.

“Come, sit” I ordered as he walked towards me.

I took the scissors and cut off the work he had so carelessly done, I could see why he was bleeding, this was the work of someone who was in a haste.

He didn’t head the instructions of the doctor.

“Is it always going to be like this?” I asked but he was quiet, maybe he didn’t understand what I meant.

“Will you always be risking your life for me” All my life in the US, I never needed anyone to protect me because nobody knew who I was. I was safe to walk on the streets but also smart enough to check my surroundings at each given time.

“That’s what I was paid for” he replied.

He had saved my life twice which made me feel responsible for him, I felt like I owed him my life.

“It must have been good money for you to risk your life each time” I added raising my head to me, he looked at me with sadness in his eyes, the kind I had never seen.

“Do you have a family?”

“No” he shook his head.

“Not even siblings”

“No”

I paused, I could understand if he was taking his job diligently because he needed to feed his family but that wasn’t the case.

He lets out a fake smile, we have been together enough to know that he wasn’t a man of many words and that his lips curled up when he smiled fully and not downwards. “You don’t need to feel bad for me, it would have sad if they had abandoned me willingly but they didn’t”

“And that brings you joy” I inquired.

“It’s better than knowing they were alive and didn’t want me. They died in a accident and I was the only one who survived”

Getting to know Alfred, I realized that we had more things in common, our parents both died in a ghastly accident and we were the only survivor, and also we were the only child.

“I guess you can say that”

I don’t want to bore him with the misfortune of my family, I am certain he knew about that, it must have been one of the things he investigated before accepting the job.

I was done with patching him as I arranged the box and cleaned the things I had used. “Grandfather really picked a good one”

“And I promise to do my best”

“You are already doing that” I answered with a smile.

The smell of something burning caught my attention, “the noodles” I reminded him. He rushed towards the pot, opened it and then lowered his head.

Turning off the gas, he grabbed it and turned towards me, the noodles were already burnt and black. I could barely see anything.

We had been so occupied by our conversation that we completely forgot about it.

“Well” he murmured.

I began laughing before he could think of words to say, perhaps this was just what I needed to let myself loose after my second near death experience, I laughed so hard that I fell off the chair, he couldn’t help but laugh with me.