"You seem to be in a good mood, miss Cloie." James smiled upon seeing the young girl skipping happily.

"Of course!" She stopped, spinning around to face him. "It feels like forever since grandmother let me outside again!"

The two of them were spending another free day in 09 street. Months have passed since the event of Cloie's meeting with Doug and it was almost hard to believe the incident that happened a few nights ago.

James had a gun pointed to shoot at the Twilight for the sake of protecting her. It was completely nerve-wracking, to say the least.

"Well that can't be helped. Your studies are important after all." James chuckled and continued to follow behind her. "Priorities, miss Cloie, priorities."

"Yes, yes. No need to remind me." Cloie huffed.

Ever since their little outings had been found out, James had been more strict about their schedule. Doug was still allowed to visit her and take her out, but he had to return her before midnight because their" late night dates" - as he called them - were starting to affect her morning lessons.

Cloie was getting scolded and punished by her tutors for falling asleep and spacing out during her lessons. Any more complaints and they would eventually have to tell her grandmother about it. In order to not arouse any suspicion, they had to live as normally as possible. Doug agreed to the conditions, of course, and disappeared with her into the night while James distracted the guards.

"What's this, James?" Cloie stopped in front of a run-down shop. The paint on the door was beginning to peel off and the glass of the display was a little dusty.

"It looks like a bookstore but..." James peeked inside, frowning. "I'm not sure if this place is even in business anymore."

Despite being told that, Cloie pushed the front door open anyway and walked inside with a smile.

"I'm coming in!" She announced her arrival excitedly as she glanced at the counter.

An eldery woman woke up from her nap and fixed her glasses to get a good look at her customer. She welcomed them and apologized for the dust, being a bit too old to be able to move around as much as she used to and clean the shop. Cloie insisted that she didn't mind it at all and began looking around for a book worthy of her time.

James sighed while he watched her skipping through the shelves. From the amount sitting in piles around the store, he assumed that it would take a while for her to buy something. So he took this time to relax a bit as she browsed the contents and just follow her around.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Ergastulum, Doug spent his day killing target after target. He had two jobs to finish within the week and he was working harder than ever. His change of behavior aroused the suspicion from his fellow mercenaries and they hadn't stopped teasing him about it.

"It's not about Cloie!" He had insisted to them, teeth gritted in frustration as Hausen's smug grin and suggestive eyebrow wiggle continue to irritate the embarrassed twenty-year-old. "I'm just really busy, okay?! And WIPE THAT FUCKING GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, DAMN IT!!!"

Lancelot and Arthur both gave each other a knowing look - Doug was obviously lying. But there was no way in hell he was going to tell them the real reason why he's been accepting job after job. In fact, Doug was even in denial himself about it.

"ARGH! Focus!" He scolded himself, his feet landing gracefully on someone's face as he sliced the throat of the one in front of him.

Cloie had several books purchased after an hour had passed. They were mostly about Twilights and basic first aid so James assumed that it had something to do with Doug. He said nothing and offered to carry her books as they walked out of the store.

"I wonder where we can go next." She glanced around the street. "Maybe we can buy a present for... him."

It was hard to miss the way she smiled when she said it, her thoughts undeniably obvious that it was full of the Twilight spoken of. James chuckled under his breath and shook his head. She was hopelessly and deeply in love. Ridiculous.

"Ah, youth. How nice it must be to-"

"Please don't finish that sentence, James." Cloie cut him off with a light glare, to which the butler merely returned with a playful smirk.

BANG! BANGBANG! BANG!

The sound of gunshots alerted everyone of a fight nearby. James instinctively grabbed Cloie and hid her behind him. His eyes darted around, trying to find the source, when suddenly he spots a familiar head of dreadlocks tumbling into the open street.

"DOUG?!" Cloie gasped in horror, eyes widened after seeing the amount of blood on his hoodie.

"Cloie?!" Doug looked over at the direction of her voice and stared dumbfounded. "What the hell are you-?"

"LOOK OUT!!!" She screamed, pointing at something behind him.

Doug immediately rolled out of the way as a barrage of bullets nearly hit him. He got up on his feet and threw the daggers he was hiding underneath his hoodie. A loud cry of pain echoed from the alley he came from and Cloie could tell from the voice alone that it was a big opponent.

"GET OUT OF HERE! IT'S DANGEROUS!" Doug shouted.

"NO SHIT!" James yelled back and picked up Cloie, sprinting away at full speed before the normal, daily, chaotic events of Ergastulum could have a chance to kill one of them.

When they arrived at the estate, Cloie spent the rest of the day worrying about Doug's well-being. She decided to read some of the books she bought about Twilights and basic first aid, in case he needed some medical attention.

"Cloie?" James knocked on the door before opening it. "Your boyfriend is here to see you."

"He is?" She raised an eyebrow at him, turning to the window and seeing a hooded figure waiting a distance away from the mansion. "Thank you for letting me know. Also, he is not my boyfriend!"

"I beg to differ," he smiled and followed her out.

Doug was waiting in the shadows where no one can see him. He looked down at his jacket and frowned at the red splotches of blood soaked with it. His last job was a bit challenging since his target was in a group, and he didn't have time to go change afterwards. But then again, Cloie would be used to seeing him with blood all over him by now.

"Psst! Over here!" Cloie whisper-yelled from their secret meeting spot.

Doug looked around to make sure no one was watching, then he jogged over to the fence to meet her. Cloie looked relieved for some reason and he wasn't sure why. Her worrying can be caused by a million different reasons and he was probably half of them.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Cloie sighed, pressing her forehead against the iron wall separating them. "I thought you got stabbed or something."

Doug looked down at his jacket and chuckled. "Well it's not my blood. As usual." He smirked. "I'm too fast for them to hit, babe."

"Oh shut up! You NEARLY-"

"Shh!"

"Sorry." She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one heard her, then she glared at him. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! Do you know how worried I was?!"

"You're always worried," he pointed out, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. "it was worth it though, I guess."

Cloie was confused after he handed her a small silver ring. Was he proposing? What's this for?

"Umm..."

"It's a promise ring, dumbass." He rolled his eyes after seeing her puzzled expression. "You wear the damn thing on your ring finger or something. It's supposed to be a sign of commitment to a serious relationship or whatever Galahad said."

Wait.

Was she hearing things right?

"Serious... relationship?" Cloie blinked. "Y-You mean you-"

"Yeah, I like you. A lot." Doug looked away with pink tinted cheeks. "And I don't take no for an answer... so wear the damn ring."