"Elaya… Elaya," Ava whispered, gently touching Elaya's hand.
Elaya slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze first scanned the room, then settled on Ava.
"What time is it, Ava?" Elaya asked slowly, her lips barely moving.
Elaya's eyes were swollen, as if she had cried the whole night.
"It's… 8 a.m." Her voice trembled.
"Why were you crying?" ava sighed softly, shrugging her shoulders "Am I dead?"
Elaya immediately pouted, her eyes filling again.
"Shut… up…" she whispered, turning her back to Elaya.
Elaya slowly sat up on the bed.
"Come here."
Elaya looked at her, then slowly moved closer. Her head rested on ava lap. Ava gently brushed elaya's hair away from her face.
"My dear… don't cry. You think I'd leave you this easily?" ava said softly.
"I still have to make you a potato first."
She kissed elaya's fingers.
Ava chuckled and sighed.
"I miss Kavia too… a lot," she said softly. "But you can't torture yourself like this."
Her eyes moved to Elaya's face as Elaya silently mouthed, true.
"You think we can catch him?" Elaya's asked quietly, lifting her head from ava's lap, ava's eyes pleading.
"Let's leave this case."
Elaya pressed her lips together, her head slowly resting back.
"We need to work," she said. "For Kavia… for those seventy-five girls."
Her hand rested on Ava's cheek. Ava sighed and forced a small smile.
Two hours later, Elaya finally got up. She wore a black leather jacket, black shirt, black boots, and tied her hair into a neat ponytail. Ava wore a red top, red sweater, and a red skirt.
"Should I switch the flower position?" Ava asked finally, releasing the worry she had been holding inside for so long.
Elaya looked at her.
"That can't happen. Every day you roam from place to place, gathering information, building contacts with camera agencies. When we already know the blood sucker might be roaming freely, you risk your life—and I just sit at a flower stand doing nothing?"
Elaya rested her hands on her waist, smiled, then stepped closer and held Ava's shoulders firmly.
Ava was left speechless. She only nodded and handed the lens box to Elaya.
Elaya picked up the lens and wore it.
"I love you, okay?" she smiled.
"I love you too, my Elaya," Ava replied, hugging her.
"I need to tell you something," Ava said, then explained about the tattoo she had seen on Czar.
Elaya frowned and raised her one eyebrow
"It means to be prisoner of her eyes"
"Maybe I read wrong" ava sighed
"Does he smoke?" elaya asked in an isntant
"I think… yes," Ava replied.
"If he spins the lighter the same way… maybe it's him," Elaya said.
Ava sighed.
"But why would he do that if he knows now that I'm also 'fake police'—and real for him? Maybe he knows I'm a detective, and maybe he doesn't know who you really are. He seems clever… I sensed it."
"You're right, but maybe he will by mistake" Elaya said softly. "Just be careful."
She closed her eyes briefly, as if her mind was overloaded. Ava nodded.
"You too," Ava added. "Czar has been moving a lot near our flower stand… and that guy you're suspicious of—be careful. If he tries to get closer…"
She held Elaya's arm.
Elaya smiled and placed her hand over Ava's.
"Don't worry, my dear," she reassured her.
Females around nineteen or twenty were buying flowers of different colors. Elaya handled them with a smile, as if she was living. Even when it was just for the case, she was still living—but some part of her was suffocated by one thought: what about Kavia?
Elaya's notebook lay beside her, through which she communicated with people. Her flower stand gathered a good number of customers day by day. Still, she wanted to somehow catch that blood sucker—but how?
Maybe if he had seen her grey eyes on her first day here, then maybe he would come looking for her.
A man came—yes, it was him.
"Good afternoon, Elaya," he said, bowing slightly, his smile wide. Elaya also bowed her head a little.
"Thanks for helping me," Elaya wrote on the notebook and handed the page to him.
He chuckled. "No worries." His eyes moved over the flowers.
"Your livelihood is based on this flower stand?" he asked, his eyes as if searching for the truth no matter what.
Elaya nodded and looked down.
"I want flowers from this whole stand," Emris said.
Elaya looked at him in confusion. From a distance, Czar's agents were watching everything.
Emris handed her a cheque. Elaya hesitated.
"Any problem?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.
Elaya gestured with her hands: no.
"I'll send someone to collect these flowers," he said. Then he leaned closer and whispered, "Can I have a chance to walk with you?"
Suspicion crossed Elaya's mind, but her face held a smile. She nodded slowly. When he offered his hand, she hesitated, looking at it, then at Emris.
"Oh—I'm sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head and looking down.
As they walked, Emris cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders.
"Um… I'm Karen," he said in a calm tone.
Elaya signed in hand language: Ican't talk.
Elaya was about to write in her notebook—
Emris smirked inwardly.
Are you lying… or— his thoughts echoed.
Emris stopped her—
"I can understand sign language," he said with a smile. "Don't worry."
"Would you mind if we kept seeing each other… like—" he paused, "every day?"
Then he hummed lightly. "Or Sundays?"
Elaya nodded.
"Can I have your number?" Emris asked as they stopped walking and reached Elaya's flower stand.
Elaya slowly shook her head—no.
Emris smiled and lip-synced, Okay.
"See you soon," he lip-synced again, smiling as he walked away.
Elaya's expression turned neutral.
No one is trustworthy here, her thoughts whispered.
"What's happening there?" Czar asked on the call.
The man standing far from Elaya's stand replied, "Sir, that man left."
"Be careful. We need information about her," Czar said. His legs were stretched over the table, his tongue rolling inside his mouth as he sighed and cut the call.
"Elaya Siddiqie," he muttered sarcastically.
His eyes moved to the cigarette in his pocket. He lit it, thoughts echoing in his mind.
"I need to catch him before he gets caught."