I woke up in a room that was almost dark, and I also felt the softness of where I was lying down. What happened? I stood up immediately, remembering what happened last night. I touched myself, “Wait, is that a dream? Aren’t the things that happened last night real? Why does it feel real? Wait, what’s not real there? Is it being with Jaxon or the gunshots? I was interrupted in my thoughts when the door opened. Jaxon came in, and what he was holding in his hand caught my eye. “How are you feeling now?” Wait, why is he asking, and I just noticed that I’m not in my room, or in the room on our site. “Why are we here?” I asked him, “and what happened to your hand? Why do you have a bandage?” His expression didn’t change, as if he expected that to be my reaction. “We took you to the nearest hospital.” I paused and furrowed my brows as I looked at him, “You mean, last night, what happened last night.” I didn’t finish what I was going to say because I felt tears falling one after the ot

“Sir, everything is ready. We have gathered fifty-eight women for the auction tonight, and all the equipment is with Team B.” He handed me a paper containing a list of the guests we are expecting at the auction. “We have to lay low for the time being, as the police are eagerly looking for us. But in two weeks, we are expecting another batch of women for the next auction in Vietnam.” I nodded while reading what was on the paper. I’ve been too busy hiding, so I’ve been overwhelmed with orders. I heard Alpha was looking for us, and he’s on a new mission, but until now, I still don’t know who he is. Damn it, that man is something else. He’s so careful with his identity, we don’t even know if he’s a man or a woman. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. I’ve been looking for him for a long time, and now we’re almost at a dead end. At first, I didn’t care about him, he’s just like the agents trying to find us, they all end up six feet under. But him, I don’t know, he’s stressing me

“Yes, I just have to do it because she’s really jealous, she throws plates when she gets jealous, sometimes even a knife,” He paused, as if contemplating. “Sometimes she’d sic her Doberman on me, sometimes she’d chase me with boiling water, that’s why I don’t like it when she gets jealous.” They were just staring at us, so I pinched my friend for what he said, it wasn’t like that before, he’s exaggerating now. “Wow, if I were you, I wouldn’t want her to get jealous either,” Clint and Amy are still in shock, while Alex is giving me a disapproving look, I forgot he doesn’t know about us, Jc and I started doing this way back in college so he hasn’t experienced it yet. “Yes, can I join you guys?” I asked them, and they quickly made space next to my friend so I could sit beside him. “Thank you, such a gentlemen.” “Seriously? You’re really Jc’s girlfriend? Wow, sis, you’re so beautiful, I didn’t know he was hiding someone like you, I mean, Jc.” Amy was curious and she even got closer to

“Had you heard the hot news, girls?” We were currently at a conference, just the three of us, Jc, Amy, and me. Jaxon should have been with us, but he said he had an emergency at home and needed to leave. I’m still annoyed because he didn’t tell me himself. It was our coworker in our department who told me, and I was looking for him when I heard the news. Is it so hard to text or chat with me? He just got back two weeks ago, and he didn’t even explain where he went and why he was gone for so long, and now this? “What’s that?” we whispered to each other because the conference was about to start. This is an international conference, held in Rizal, with forty-eight participants from different parts of the world. “Tell us, but keep it down, okay? Don’t be too loud, dear,” Amy whispered back, which made me laugh. The president included us because we’re the ones usually involved in this, so we know the process and what needs to be done before, during, and after the meeting. Since I starte

“Go ahead and eat that, you look like you haven’t eaten in a week,” I said as I handed it to him while serving. I cooked adobo, menudo, and pork sinigang. I wanted to cook shrimp, but he’s allergic to it, he might even die, poor me, I’ll be a widow right away. “Thank you, I missed your cooking, it’s been a long time since you cooked like this,” he said while scooping some sinigang. I took some fish sauce and squeezed some chili into it, then placed it in front of him. I also poured water into our glasses before sitting down. “Thank you for cooking today,” he said, I just rolled my eyes and he started eating. “You barely eat, you look like a zombie, anyone who sees you will say that, so finish all of that, I’ll kick you if there’s anything left, don’t try me, I’m telling you,” I threatened him, he just nodded but was also busy eating, so I started scooping some food onto my plate, as he had already put rice on it. He hardly spoke, it looked like he was really hungry, and maybe it’s