I woke up really early today so I was an hour early than usual, I left Niall a note on his night stand saying that I had to go to work early but truthfully, I'm just gonna drop by at the precinct because it has been awhile since I paid a visit, I was gonna check out on their investigations and findings, hopefully they have something new to share with me. I patted Irish's head before I left the room and go to the lift so I can exit the building.

It was a windy morning, the sun wasn't peeking out and it looks like as if it's 4:00pm, it was a good idea to wear a jumper today. Dublin was once again very lively just like everyday, people here don't seem to stop doing what they're doing and they also seem like they don't sleep at all, if I was just a tourist here, I would really love to stay for maybe a year just because of how everything works here. The wind was blowing my hair and now I realised how it was a bad idea to let my hair down instead of tying it up.

It didn't took awhile until I reached the precinct, most of the cops already know me here so they politely greeted me and I greeted them as well, I headed to the office of the cops handling my case and I couldn't wait to get there to see their improvements.

Once I have gotten inside their office, they were alarmed and immediately stood before I even had the chance to greet them a "good morning".

"Ms. Orlando! We have finally found a suspect" one of the cops told me, I always forget their names since I wasn't really good with it, I feel bad for forgetting about it.

The two cops told me how they found the thieves, apparently there was another private camera for the location where the crime happened and saw the that it was non other than those two phenomenon thieves in Ireland that always targets people with luggages. The cop did made a point when he said that who even covers their faces with a mask nowadays just to rob? It was a nice point because usually, thieves only wear shades, especially that it's night and dark, why would they bother to cover their faces.

They asked me to stay put at the office while they fetch the two thieves, I sat on one of the chairs and browsed my eyes through their desks to see one of the folders with my name on it, I was tempted to open it but I didn't want to be responsible if any files are lost.

The cops came in with two men that looks like on their 30's as they struggle to get out of the cops' grip on them. They were asked to sit down in front of me and I gave the both of them a deathly glare, they seem to look nervous because of the sweat forming on their foreheads.

The rest of the clarification passed only to find out that they were really the thieves that stole everything that I was with when I got off here in Ireland but something happened that even made our case more complicated when one of the thieves said.

"We have reformatted the phone that we have stole but one day, a lady called us saying how she was tracking us the whole time, we were afraid that it might be Ms. Orlando but we didn't knew who she was, she only said that she was coming to get the things from us" those words caught all of our interest. One of the cops hesitated on drinking his coffee when he heard those words as well, we told them to continue telling the story and they have resumed.

"A week later, a lady came to our place and offered us a cheque worth a million in exchange for the stolen things, we decided to take her deal and gave everything to her and-"

"What does the lady look like?" One of the cops interrupted, I already had a feeling that it must be someone associated to Mr. Minami.

"We couldn't see her face because she was wearing a weird looking mask at that time, we didn't bother to ask her to take it off but she did had green highlights at the end of her brunette hair" because of those adjectives, I already knew who the person is. "She used a screen name and told us that her name was Riley Minami" it was no doubt that it was her. "The cheque she gave us has the same surname she has"

"May we see the cheque?" The cop asked and they gladly nodded but they couldn't reach it since they were handcuffed so the cop stood up and got it inside his jeans' pocket, he managed to get the wallet from him and take the cheque out. "Seems to me that this cheque came from England" the cop announced, he asked permission if they could investigate on the cheque and the thieves nodded, I was glad they were being obedient and honest.

I started to think that if the lady had green highlights at the end of her brunette hair, there was no doubt that it's Sheryl, which can mean that Sheryl flew here in Ireland and which can also mean that she still might be here in Ireland, she wouldn't just fly to England once again just to retrieve the stuff. It was also obvious how she named herself Riley, it made sense because when you take off the last syllable of Sheryl, it becomes Ryl which made her think of Riley, it was a technique she used to name me, she took the last syllable of Victoria and Sarane which lead to me to be named as Ianna Rain. It was really Sheryl but why would she use the surname Minami? Wouldn't it be a risk? Mr. Minami probably won't let her use that surname but why did he let her do that? If I were a man who earns money because of having a business from an agency of assassins, I wouldn't even dare get my name out there, especially if it's dangerous that it can lead to him being imprisoned and worse is that he'll lost the main thing he gets his money from, so why would he do that?

"It says here, Yu Minami... Inspector Payne, let's go and ask about the man behind this cheque" the cop nodded and I remembered that he was Inspector Payne. They have now told me that they will find the account of the man's name so they can track down the lady which is only Sheryl, before I head out I called for the thieves to ask one thing.

"Do you have any idea where the lady is?" I asked and they just scoffed at my question, I felt a little irritated because of those rude actions.

"If we knew where she is, we would have told it, right?"

"Well obviously, but anyone can lie about it!" I couldn't help but raise my voice at them, I really needed to know where Sheryl is, I know she's still in Ireland, she took the things to save me from failing her mission that was tasked for me. The other inspector calmed me and they have been sent behind the bars once again. They asked me to come back on the weekend and there I took my leave.

While I was heading out, I heard someone behind me call for my name, the voice is unfamiliar and I was scared to look back because everyone one of the cops know me as Ianna, so I ran until I get to the exit but the person still keeps on calling my name, it was a masculine voice and I was fearing that it might be someone I have encountered back then. I got out of the precinct but I needed some time to breathe.

"Victoria!" He kept on calling, I looked back to see that it was the douche of a Liam. I immediately walked away once I saw his face but I heard his footsteps running towards me. "Hey, what are you doing at the precinct?"

"None of your business, I suppose that I should ask you the same thing" I continued to walk but I didn't bother to face or have eye contact with him.

"None of your business as well... But if you'd like to know, my uncle works at the precinct" I stopped on my tracks and my heart began palpitating, Liam is a dangerous person, I shouldn't be associating with him anymore.

"Wh-who there?" I didn't even fixed my grammar anymore because I can even barely utter a single word.

"Inspector Payne, he's my uncle and if you don't believe it, my whole name is actually Liam James Payne by the way" Liam took out something from his coat to reveal a wallet and opened the wallet to show me an identification card. It was an ID from a university. "I aspire to be like my uncle, I study criminology in England but since it was my break, I'm taking my time off here in Ireland just to visit my uncle and my close friend Harry" I gulped the saliva forming on my throat, my breathing got uneven and my hands were fiddling and sweating like crazy, I suddenly got scared of Liam. I continued to walk but you can sense how tensed I am, I hope Liam doesn't find anything suspicious.

Fortunately, Liam was an idiot criminology student, he didn't noticed my weird actions nor my stuttering voice but I was thankful for that and I am not complaining about it. And we may have unexpectedly got along as we walk along, Liam isn't really a bad maniac, he has a good personality behind that arrogant attitude, he was full of facts and I only wanted to listen to his endless speeches, I didn't shared my information about me being a criminology student as well but I did told him that I had a friend who studies the same course. Since his uncle was a former criminology student, he has then learned a lot from his uncle which made him aspire to be like him. Liam said that his parents had a decent job but he really wanted to become like his uncle, I liked the fact how he was so passionate about being a cop, I wish him the best in the future but seeing him with poor investigating skills, I really do wish him the best.

We started talking about some personal information, Liam was the same age as Niall and Zayn, Liam also told me that Harry was his high school best friend and told me loads of facts about Harry. He told me how Harry skipped grades because of how smart he was for his age which made Harry an upperclassman, they became friends when Harry became a part of the student council when Liam was just a freshman, Harry was one year ahead of Liam's grade back then and because of that, Harry was able to graduate college taking the course culinary arts at an early age.

Louis on the other hand was Harry's childhood best friend, he admitted that he couldn't reach the level of what Louis and Harry's friendship is now, Liam met Louis when Harry introduced him to Louis, they didn't quite get along well, firstly because Louis was quite jealous of the thought that someone else was taking his best friend away but they did managed to get along as the time passed but they still had a little bad blood between them. He told me the history of the "Cup of Cafe" while we were walking, he told me that Louis wanted to start a business in Ireland because every single place in England seems to have a popular music shop now and he wanted to be that "one phenomenon local music shop" so he came up with the idea of moving to Ireland al of a sudden, Harry being so attached to Louis, he also wanted to have that "one phenomenon local coffee shop" which made them decide to live in Ireland and grow their business, they plan on leaving Ireland and go back to England to start a family once their businesses have grown which made me realise why neither Louis and Harry had any girlfriends because they were focused on their businesses.

"How about Niall?" I asked out of the blue, Liam raised his brow at me but just told me the story. While Louis was searching for his first employee for his music shop, he wanted to have someone who knows how to play guitar since it was the most played and popular instrument, then one day, he came across a boy who sings beautifully and plays the guitar gracefully and at ease, Louis was amazed by the boy's performance that not only was he the only one listening to the boy's performance, but also a lot of people were crowded at him. Louis didn't hesitate to recruit and convince the boy and as for Louis' luck, the boy agreed with no complications. That boy, which is Niall, was the first employee Louis had, so they grew really close since then until they recruited other members.

"When Marian's talent in singing has't been revealed yet, Niall was always the main vocals, but then something happened to him" I grew interest to the next things Liam is gonna say.

We were still walking, as our conversations got deep, I realised we started to walk slower than usual. The wind became stronger that it almost ripped my hair off my head, the sun still was hiding behind the clouds and everything seems to be blown by the strong breeze.

"Why? What happened to him?" I asked Liam.

"Well, Louis just told me about it and eventually, it kind of scarred Niall which made him stop singing, but I believe it's just his bitch of an ex girlfriend's fault" I frowned and my face probably looks scrunched because I'm clueless of what Liam is talking about, like the topic we're talking about isn't even connected, Liam looked me with a goofy grin on his face. "It's something personal, you should probably ask Niall about it" I looked down and continued to walk, wondering what could have happened to him, because what he says and what Liam says doesn't really connect.

"Niall and I grew a little close too when Louis introduced me to him, we tease each other a lot"

"He doesn't even know your name!"

"That's why the first instinct that I did yesterday was to tease him with you, and I actually have no in the slightest idea why he reacted like that, like gloomy and sad and agonising face" Liam didn't even bother to listen to the thing I just said and continued to talk about what happened yesterday instead. "Since that time he broke up with his gf, I always teased him with girls, Heck, I even teased him with Divina once! He just always rolls his eyes and go back to do his business, but yesterday was different, as if he felt like I was belittling him"

"Because you did, and not only him, I also felt like that"

"But then I realised" when Liam said those words, I realised how he wasn't really fond of listening to other people, he just wants to keep on talking and talking. He stopped on his tracks and so did I, as if he was thinking deeply. "Maybe I stepped on a land mine" I tilted my head to the side, even Liam is weird and talks metaphorically just like everyone else. "Maybe he likes you" my jaw dropped and my cheeks were burning, were my ears deceiving me? Did Liam just literally said that? Was he dead serious or joking? How could he say that? I kicked him on his legs and he bent down to caress his leg.

"Stop fooling!"

"I'm not fooling! I'm serious, because he wouldn't have reacted like that if he does fancy you because it sounded like I was belittling him that he couldn't get a girl like you, especially a girl he likes"

"Stop it!" I walked away from Liam while holding my cheeks, they're probably red as a tomato right now.

"That's the same thing I told him when I teased him with Divina!"

"That's different! Divina's bisexual"

"And so did to Marian and Alice and other of the ex maids in Harry's cafe, all I got was the same reaction" While I was walking, I noticed at Liam was already beside me again and then he bent down to look at my face. "And you seem to be so affected that it started to make you blush, could I conclude that the feeling's mutual?" I gasped and kicked him once again.

"Shut up! I hate boys and there's now way I'd... You know" my voice began to soften. Liam repeated a lot of "tsk". I was standing with such an awkward stance, my hands were on my chest, trying to feel the pump of my heart, my head was looking down, and my feet were tapping the ground. I felt Liam's hand on my shoulder, I immediately looked at him with a smile on his face.

"Until next time!" Liam said then ran from me. I turned to look back and found myself in front of the coffee shop, I waved a hand at Liam as he goes away and he did the same. I stood there for awhile and thought about what Liam said, it's really impossible and hard to believe but just for awhile, I wanted to believe that maybe Niall and I have a chance of being together, maybe he has a little, tiny bit of crush on me, maybe he'll ask me out someday and gosh! I couldn't help but squeal while covering my face and stomping the ground, I don't care if anyone finds me here looking like I'm mental. I guess this is what high school girls feel when my high school self didn't felt.

As I was about to open the door of the cafe, I saw from the corner of my eye a familiar figure walking on the opposite side of the sidewalk, I turned so I can get a better view and maybe catch a glimpse of him before I go to work. There's Niall with Irish alongside, he was looking at my direction and he probably may have seen me with Liam earlier. I was standing frozen in front of him, I don't even know what I should do, I hate these side effects of having a crush. I did my best to lift my arms and wave a hand at him, I was feeling nervous and everything only for Niall to smile at me and go up the stairs. I felt so hurt, he could've at least waved a hand at me too but all he did was smile. I pouted my lips and went inside the cafe without greeting anyone, what Liam said was really impossible, after all... If he does like me, he wouldn't like me afterwards if he knew who I really am. Now that I grew feelings for Niall, I'm also scared of that one thing to happen if he ever finds out that I'm an assassin.

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A/N hello everyone 😔, lately, I've grown conscious with my writing, I don't even know if this looks like a presentable work or just a joke on a professional authors' eyes. I don't know if my writing style is bad or am I going too fast or slow regards with the flow of the story. So please, any criticism is open, please let me know my mistakes, I want to know and I want to do something with regards to my writings' flaws. Don't worry about the grammar and punctuation, it will be edited, I want to know your opinions about the flow of the story, I just can't put myself at ease because I just read my book again and... I don't even know 😔. Anyway, have a nice day everyone.

All the love, "K"