We got up as early as 5.00 am and prepped ourselves for the next hideout. The entire floor was empty except for a couple of midnight owls lounging the common room. We gathered at a small round table next to the emergency exit, as I quietly sipped my cup of tea while Nick browsed for last minute flights.

I wasn't really sure where we were heading to next and I was beginning to feel exhausted by it but I withhold my grumble as I entrusted Nick who had carefully planned this out for me. He didn't share me that much, all I knew was his contact would fetch us by 6.00 am and take us to the next destination. But I also yearned to know his next plans after he successfully returned me to my grandad.

"Nick," I called out while he was busy scrolling his iPhone. "Once you completed your mission, after you safely deliver me to my hometown, what's next for you?"

"I don't know," he sighed, eyes still fixed on the screen. "I guess I'm free to do whatever I want. Maybe I'll move into countries that would allow me to resume my social work."

"But what about us?" I asked.

"What about it?"

"So, there's no future for us?" I asked hopefully.

"No, there isn't" he said abruptly. "I could fuck you for a night or two with no strings attached but that's it."

Randomly, I abruptly reached out for his hand and inserted a key ring (as an interim substitute for a proposal ring) around his left ring finger. "Nick, will you marry me?"

"What?" he moved his tired eyes away from the screen and looked at me incredulously.

I shifted from my seat and knelt in front of him holding his both hands. "Look, I know this might not be the right time–"

"Yeah. It's half past five," he chimed in agitatedly but I hushed him.

"I'm not perfect but I want your perfection to complete me for the rest of my life," I began my speech as he patiently listened. "I want to wake you up with breakfast in bed, bringing you coffee with a kiss on your head. Then I'll take the kids to school. I still want to have kids with you, four of them with no sleep. I want my bittersweet memories to be shared with you."

Nick's thoughtful ponder faded away, then he suddenly responded to my proposal by chucking the key ring away. "Did you just quote James Arthur's song as your proposal speech?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "Bloody hell! That's a €8.00 key ring!"

"That's the problem. You're not being genuine and you're being cheap," Nick complained.

"I'm sorry but the key ring was all I had. I'll get you a proper one when we arrive at Heathrow," I explained as he detached his hand from mine.

"First of all, I'm still not over with you and Abs. Secondly, I have no time for this shit. And your proposal is sloppy, lacks originality and is not meaningful. You just created a speech so that you could get away with words that don't belong to you and expected me to fall for it. I could have done it better without having to quote from anyone."

"But you didn't," I debated. "I admit my proposal was something hasty and not well thought out the way you would have done it. But at least I made the move, you never even bother to propose to me."

"Sorry, sister. I'm just not in the mood for this," Nick moved away from me. "Please save your stupidity elsewhere. Now is not the time."

"You're such a vain, I bet nobody would want to marry you," I hissed in dejection.

"Shh!" Nick suddenly jumped off from his chair to cover my mouth. Seeing the alarm in his face, I sensed that something unsettling behind me as he immediately released my mouth and pressed his index finger against his lips.

I slowly turned towards the direction where Nick was looking and caught Hussaini's men approached into the entrance and roamed around the reception area. To our disappointment, somebody had left the reception door unlocked, allowing these unauthorised men to enter.

I returned my glance to Nick. At first I was calm, knowing that Nick was there to protect me, but when I saw his panicked face, my heart beat leaped in fear. It was clear that the consternation he anticipated had finally come to face us when those men showed up by the entrance. Nick ordered me to crawl under the table and I followed him through the exit door which led us to a passageway towards the back of the building. Unfortunately, our movements were easily noticed when the exit door swung open, attracting both of them to look.

"There they are!" one of them shouted when they spotted us and rushed towards the exit door. Nick quickly pushed himself up before pulling my hand, as we automatically leaped for a sprint.