75: I’ll Be Waiting

I’ll Be Waiting

Evening in an empty building...0

A tall man with blonde hair in a grey suit stood tall before a man wearing a hoodie who sat on a chair. With his clear blue eyes, he scrutinized the man on the chair who was afraid to meet his piercing glare.

"Tell me… Why did you not tell me about her new job?" 

Christopher's voice was rough and low, a sign that he was obviously tensed about what he just saw earlier that day. It had been five years since the last time that he saw her face to face and she still looked beautiful just like always and it took him a lot of willpower not to put his arms around her when she smiled at him. But she would never like that… especially since she didn't recognize him.

Recalling the image of Katherine in his mind, she wasn't supposed to look so put up. She was supposed to be living a humble life and have a new identity — far away from what she was before she bombed Shadow's base. Now, what was she doing in that high-end restaurant in expensive clothes?

He shot a look at the man he hired to check on her every few months. "You had one job… and you still screwed up."

"I… I didn't think that it was something important. When it was time to check on her that one time, she didn't go home to her apartment for days. I thought she just went somewhere else to rest but I found out that she got kicked out because she wasn't able to pay her rent. And just like her previous jobs, she switched again. It took me a few days to find out where she was working and nothing seemed suspicious…"

There was no trace of amusement in his face. "And who gave you the authority to judge whether something was suspicious or not? You didn't think to report it to me as soon as you found out?"

"Boss… I was going to but you were on a two-week mission. I was about to call you as soon as you landed."

He ran a hand on his face, he was pissed. "Keep watching her. Stay away and don't ever get caught. The man around her isn't someone you can cross."

"Understood." The man handed over a brown envelope to Chris and said, "This was taken this afternoon."

Chris picked up the envelope and took out the pictures. He checked all of them and stared at one picture where Katherine stood with Damien outside of The Gentlemen's Club and a memory flashed in his mind when Katherine posed as 'Tiffany Stone' in one mission in that very same Burlesque Club.

He knew what he did was unforgivable but even though he was sorry, he didn't think he wanted to ask for forgiveness because he believed Katherine should move on and have a new life rather than waste it for a vendetta that would only cost her her life.

Chris saved her from that massacre; he was determined to keep her alive and let her die of old age no matter what.

Taking out an envelope from the inside pocket of his suit, he tossed it to the man. "Get out."

The man looked inside and found a wad of cash before he turned and headed out of the place.

"Don't make mistakes this time. You know what happens to people who disappoint me." Chris sat in the armchair and closed his eyes, reminiscing the beautiful memories that he had with Katherine.

"Mr. Curtis, the doctor is in the other room." A woman came to inform him and his eyes shot open — his face was hard when he stood up and a dark expression loomed on his face as he walked forward.

Entering the room, he closed the door behind him and glanced over the table on the side where a brushed steel Jericho 941 handgun laid.

"Dr. Cheng…" He said as he walked over the table and picked up the gun. "It's been a while since the last time we met."

Dr. Cheng who was sitting stiffly on a chair didn't dare to speak, move, or even look at Chris.

"Did you ever think you would see me again?" Chris glanced at the doctor from his back who already knew why he was brought there. "I bet you didn't see this day would come…"

After Dr. Cheng turned in his resignation, he had been in hiding. He even paid a hefty sum for someone to help him erase traces of him – he was afraid that Chris was going to find him. But now that he was sitting across him, he almost peed his pants, it was now clearer to him that he could never hide from this man.

"Tell me… Why… is Katherine no longer under your care?" Chris turned to face Dr. Cheng with a stoic expression on his face. 

"I-It's not my fault. Patients have a variety of reasons why they would choose a different doctor. S-she probably thought that–"

"Well if you had only acted your part well, she wouldn't even have any reasons to find another doctor, did she?" 

Dr. Cheng instantly shut his mouth. How could he argue with that? He didn't think that he would even slip up because he had been acting as natural as he could.

"I couldn't blame you though… You are a doctor and not an actor. Am I right, Dr. Cheng?" Chris bent down so that he could look at the doctor in his eyes as the latter refused to look up to him. Tilting his head, he added, "But… I hired you… and you are taking my money, so it's only right that you provide me the service that I paid for. Am I not right? Yet you were doing a sh*tty job, Dr. Cheng."

"Please…" Dr. Cheng started to cry. The man in front of him was talking to him so coolly yet the air around him was nowhere near cool. He was used to facing patients and family members who relied on him for treatment and it was the first time that he ever encountered someone like Chris — someone who wasn't afraid to kill.

Clicking his tongue, Chris got up and sighed. "Why don't you tell me about the last session that she had? Tell me everything."

Dr. Cheng swallowed. "S-S-She was with a man…" He recalled that day to Chris, thinking that it might save him if he did.

After listening to the doctor, Chris cocked the gun in his hand. "Well… It's unfortunate that you have come to your end."

"P-Please… don't kill me." Dr. Cheng fell to his knees at the same time that liquid trickled down his pants and wet the floor. "I will do everything… please!" He cried.

"The thing is, Dr. Cheng… No one else has to know about this. If I let you lose, someone might stumble upon you and know what I have been doing. I can't let that happen." Chris pointed the gun to the doctor's head who closed his eyes as soon as he felt the barrel on his forehead. "You know too much," he said before he pulled the trigger.

"Clean this up," he ordered the man behind him.

When he got out of the room, a phone was handed to him in which he answered, "Chris."

The person on the other line spoke for a while before he had the chance to respond. "Got it. I'll fly in two hours."

When the phone call ended, he leaned on the wall and imagined Katherine. He had planned to keep watch on her while he was in the country but the phone call that he received informed him that he was assigned a month-long mission in another country — and month-long missions could extend for a few more weeks or even another month.

For five years, he had kept himself away from Katherine as much as he could but just a few seconds of seeing her in front of him, he was about to crumble. This was what he hated about himself – a cold assassin-slash-agent whose weakness was a woman named Katherine — someone he could never have.

Pushing himself away from the wall, he walked out of the building with two people trailing behind him. He was determined to protect Katherine away from the world that she once knew but he could only do that under Parker's radar. If the old man even as much as caught a whiff that Katherine was still alive, he will surely send a team to cancel her – amnesia or not.

After contemplating, Chris was afraid that it will be a matter of time that Katherine might gain her memories back now that it was difficult for him to get anywhere near her because of Damien Park. 

He thought to himself, 'I'll be back, Katherine… And if that day comes that you still want your revenge after remembering everything, I'll be waiting.'

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