"Okay Dave, this is getting creepy. I think..."

"Ashley, I don't like it when people talk while I am driving, so could you please stay quiet till we get to our destination?"

"At this point, I doubt there is going to be any destination." Ashley took a look at the mass of trees that kept running past as Dave drove towards their so-called destination.

It was already past an hour that they left his company and they had already spent about fifteen minutes dashing past the secluded road that was filled with vast trees on both sides of the road. Ashley wasn't so sure what to think anymore. Dave was not saying anything either, he was too concentrated on the stony road ahead, you would think his whole existence depended on it.

"We are here," Dave soon announced to Ashley's delight.

As she opened her wide-shaped eyes which she closed to say a little prayer, the delight turned sour without getting the chance to be celebrated.

Mouth agape with utter perplexity, Ashley slowly tilted her head towards the smiling man. "Are you freaking kidding me right now?"

"Does it look like I am?"

"Yes, it does." Gasping immediately, she looked ahead to take another unbelieving look at the scenery ahead. "You... This is a goddamn cemetery for God's sake. You are going to kill me, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Then I'll cut you into pieces and cook you till your meat is soft." Dave gave a hearty chuckle at the scared expression her face instantly gave in response. "Calm down Ashley, you can trust me when I say being here is not to hurt you but to help."

Relaxing the tension in her soul a little, Ashley sat back, her lips smeared into each other as she struggled to form a reasonable statement. After some seconds of silence and a goofy smile from Dave, she finally asked, "So, what exactly are we doing here?"

"We are here to kill your anger."

"Uh?"

He held up a finger and stretched his body toward the back seat. While he searched for something, Ashley wondered what his deal was but she couldn't help but have a racing mind that reacted to the little expose of his lower abdomen. Before she could be caught sneaking, Ashley quickly faced the other side.

But a gentle pat on her shoulder brought her to face him and with a little confusion etched on her face, she asked, "What's with the paper?"

Stretching the paper, he replied, "Just have it. I will explain."

Ashley reluctantly collected the material, her hand grabbing the pen he extended to her as well. When she peeled her eyes off the whiteness of the paper, she met Dave's eyes and raised a brow as she waited for his explanation.

"So, you just got divorced."

"No shit, Sherlock Holmes."

Dave smiled, it was a soft smile. "I am guessing you are still hurt. And I am guessing that you are not the reason the divorce happened. If you were, you wouldn't still be wearing that air of misery around you." The accuracy of his talk made Ashley frown and wonder where he was going with his words. "You must also be angry. It is in your eyes and also in the way you speak. It is that anger we need to get rid of. It is the first and most important step if this plan of mine is going to work."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"You are going to pen down every emotion you are feeling right now. Don't think too much, just picture the last few weeks and capture how you feel about it and put it in writing."

"Just like that?"

Dave gave a short nod. "Just like that."

Her eyes flickering to the paper again, she asked, "After I do that what happens?"

"Just write down your emotions first."

"This is rather silly, don't you think?"

"Just do as I say, Ashley. Stop questioning everything I say or do. I am not here to get to you but to help you. So..." he gestured to the paper in her hands.

"Okay." It was just so useless to try to be snarky in the slightest way with him.

"I'll give you some space. When you are done, meet me inside the cemetery."

There were a lot of things wrong with his last statement but she ignored it and nodded in understanding.

~

Thirty minutes.

It took her thirty minutes to accomplish the task. Fifteen was spent on reliving the emotions that gushed through her when she found her husband ploughing into her mother and the rest, well, she used it to furiously attack the paper in her hand.

Feeling a bit relieved after the little emotional exercise, Ashley took one last look at the cursive writing and her eyes skimmed through the tale she had written.

Soon, she found herself walking towards Dave who stood many metres away from the car, arms crossed as he watched the empty scene ahead. Still finding the graveyard a bit creepy, Ashley was glad he did not bring her there at night.

"I am done," she announced as quietly as possible. She had no desire to piss off any resting soul or ghost. She already had something haunting her life.

His hair flying in accordance with the cool breeze that never ceased, Dave turned, a short tug on his lips. "Good. Give it to me."

After he collected the inked paper. Ashley stood beside him. And the question she had in her inner mind was answered when Dave failed to take a single peep at the contents of the paper. Instead, his hands went to work, folding the paper until it was moulded into a plane.

With increasing interest, Ashley watched.

"Here hold this."

He handed her the paper plane, Ashley seeing bits and bits of her confession. Then, with no warning, Dave whiffed out a gun to Ashley's dismay.

"What on earth are you holding a gun for?"

"Calm down..."

"Don't freaking tell me to calm down when you have a gun in your hand and when I am freaking here with you in a fucking graveyard!"

"Jeez woman, have some respect for the dead." There was just this thing about his smiling persona that made her insides melt. Dave continued, his hands gesticulating in a way that soothed her. "Calm down, we are using this baby to murder your written anger."

"Uh?"

"We," he reached for the plane on her palm which had been so close to getting squished during her freak-out drama, "are going to fly this plane and shoot it down. Ashley, we are going to kill this anger of yours right here in this cemetery."

She could swear that he was nuts. But then, his ridiculous talk sort of made sense.

"I... I don't even know how to properly use a gun. I have had a few lessons, but it wasn't my thing."

"That's why I am here, darling." His accent dragged the statement in a way that delighted her whole system. Smirking, Dave proceeded to send the paper flying. As the latter floated in the air without any disturbance, Ashley watched and the words she wrote there started coming to her.

Without warning, Dave's hand grabbed hers, the gun rested in her palm, his other hand grabbed her other hand and he had her in a position that screamed, I am ready to shoot anything down.

"Carefully, put your hand on the trigger... good. Now we have to get your line of sight right."

As if it was not enough that he was whispering into her ears in a suggestive manner, he went on to trail his hands across hers, carefully and with intention.

As his hands helped her achieve a suitable line of sight, his breath fanned her exposed neck causing Ashley to lose herself a bit.

The feeling it gave her was new, or maybe different was a better word. Whichever it was, Ashley liked it and she wanted more of it.

"Get ready to shoot anytime soon." But before wanting more of that stomach-stirring moment, she was in the process of killing her anger. "Don't worry, there's a silencer attached, so we won't be making any noise. When I say go, you press that trigger, okay?"

Ashley nodded in affirmative.

"Go."

That was all she needed. She attacked the paper with all she got. Emotions overflowing, Ashley could hear her screams as the paper disappeared bit by bit in mid-air.

Even after the paper had been completely ruined, Ashley kept hollering, cursing angrily. Even after the bullets had finished, she kept shooting at the empty space. Her ears were blocked and she did not hear Dave telling her to stop.

Her eyes were blurred from tears, her mind was shut as it focused on one thing.... The fact that her mother and ex-husband were audacious enough to hurt her the way they did.

The one thing that brought her out of her trance was the rush that came when Dave's lips met hers after he twirled her to face him. Her anger was forgotten in an instant. Ashley responded without thinking, her legs propping her higher to receive more of the gentle, yet intense mouth lock. Perhaps it was because she did not expect it, she was aware of the entirety of that situation.

The way he caressed the roots of her hair as he tilted his head to gently tug at her lips, the way her hands went on to settle on his shoulders, the way their lower bodies quickly pulled toward each other... She was aware of it all.

And when the kiss came to an end, Ashley did not miss the shudder in her soul.

"God knows I have wanted to do that ever since setting my eyes on you."

Ashley replied to his raspy confession with her heavy breathing. Not sure whether to smile or cry or maybe continue the initiated kiss, she just stood there, her arms around Dave's neck, their eyes occasionally darting away from each other at intervals.

After minutes passed, a calmer Ashley decided to answer the one question that led both of them to that point. "Last time you asked what my story was." Dave blinked furiously within a second as her eyes flickered to his. "Well, it is a really funny yet sad one."

"Hit me. I am sure I can take it."

Ashley chuckled. "On a fateful day, I came back from work, happy and all. I had just bagged a big contract and all I wanted to do was share the good news with my husband but," she just had to chuckle again, "I was in for a shock. On entering my room, the sight that greeted me was my so-called husband ploughing a woman on my own bed. And that woman? She was my mother."

"Your mother?"

Ashley smirked. Didn't he say he could take the hit?

"My freaking mother."

"I... Why? How?"

"I don't know how it all played out. I don't..." Her shoulders shrugged while her forehead wore a crease. "I don't get why..."

"Hey," Dave went on to cup both sides of her face, "I have an idea. It is sure to make you feel a lot better."

Hoping it was another kiss, she asked, "What's that?" Dave did not reply to her, instead, he smiled, grabbed her hand, and walked her toward the car. "Dave, what is this idea of yours? I hope it doesn't involve guns."

"Nope." He stopped to face her, a mischievous smile on his face. "But it does involve your ex-husband."