Fearless

chapter 16

"Ian must be waiting for you by now." Jack realized, setting aside his long-empty cup.

"Yeah, right..." I glanced at the clock, and it was eleven o'clock. "We'd talked so much." I got up, tossed the paper cups out of the coffee and said goodbye to Jack. What interesting and versatile people surround me! If you look closely at your surroundings, you'll find a lot of awesome people.

The stairs creaked gently, the metal latticework reflecting the cool glow of the dim light fixture on the ceiling. The gray walls radiated coolness and a sense of something forced, unfriendly. Ian's bunker was much cozier. I went down to the right floor and made my way to my boyfriend's room. The hallway was long and poorly lit. Most of the guys were already asleep, Liam's muffled laughter coming from the first floor, and someone was playing billiards. I felt a little warmer, as if the cold metal clouds had gradually dissipated. I went to the door and knocked softly. Ian didn't answer right away, but it took him a minute to open the door, and he looked a little sad. I went into the room, locked the door, and glanced at him questioningly.

"Honey, is something wrong? You look upset." I whispered, running my index finger down his cheek.

"No, nothing's wrong. I mean, not really..." He hesitated, searching for the right answer. "You like spending time with Jack so much. More than you do with me, I think." I frowned and shook my head. I think it's time for me to stop spending so much time with Jack.

"It's not. I love spending time with you. Jack's an interesting person to talk to, but nothing more. At least, he's not more than just a friend to me." Ian nervously ran a hand through his hair and turned away to the window. I could tell from his tense face that some sad thought was tormenting him.

"You know, I just want to let you know, you can always leave. You're not bound by vows. I love you, but I want your happiness more than I want mine. Please tell me if you want to be together with Jack. I've seen the way he looks at you. I don't know how you feel about him. At least you ran off with him alone once, and you didn't even warn me. I don't want you to be with me just because I helped you get Monica out or something." Ian's pent-up thoughts poured out, hurting our souls. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed how much my inattention hurt him. Instead of a thousand words, I came up behind him and hugged him tightly, hugging him as hard as I could.

"You know, Ian, I love you so much. The only thing I want is to be together with you, or at least to do everything in my power to make you happy. Tell me, please, will you be happy with me?" I asked, pressing my cheek against his broad back.

"Yes, moonlight, yes, damn it." Ian turned around and hugged me back, resting his head on mine. "I love you, damn. I don't have any fucking right to limit your social circle. It's just that we've been spending so little time together lately..."

"And you're jealous."

"And I'm jealous." He agreed.

"But I have to admit, I'd be jealous of you, too, if you were spending a lot of time with some girls..." Ian grinned and kissed my forehead. Serenity and balance and peace were restored. It felt so good to feel close to someone you love so madly! Of course, when you feel his love in return.

If you compare your feelings of peace with different people, you get some gibberish. With someone you feel beautiful, with someone you feel smiling, someone makes you cry, someone makes you get off your ass from the couch and go to the gym. And only next to the person you love and are warmly loved you do feel happy, beautiful, free, protected and priceless at the same time! For some that person might be a girlfriend, for some it might be a beloved mother, brother or wife. For me, that person was Ian.

Clouds were darkly covering the entire sky when we heard the alarm coming from our cameras. The guys ran out into the hallway, Sam already sitting in the control center.

"What the hell is going on?" Matt exclaimed.

"I think there's someone roaming the courtyard." Sam answered in a voice trembling with tension.

"We'll see what happens next." We all stared at the monitors, tracing the stranger's every move with our eyes. He was dressed like an ordinary man, dark pants and a casual sweater. However, everything about him made me inwardly suspicious. Dressed discreetly, but, in my opinion, too much? Too monotonous and neat clothes for a bum who wandered into someone else's territory.

"Oh, I don't like this dude." Chuck muttered. "He's kind of slimy."

"And he looks around suspiciously. Fast, like he's looking for something." I agreed. The stranger wandered around the station for about ten minutes, not arousing much suspicion. Back and forth. And back. And back and forth again. Suddenly, out of the blue, he pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"I can't ... inside... boarded up... all quiet..." came from the cameras. The sound was constantly hissing and cutting off.

"Oh, we should have bought proper microphones, I told y'all!" Liam exclaimed in frustration.

"Relax, bro, we'll see what happens next." Kai answered tensely.

"I think it's obvious that this is a plant, no one can deny it." Ian said calmly. There was silence in the room. Everyone knew that Ian was right. The man has been saying something into the tube for a long time before he left. After making sure he is gone from our territory, we left Sam on guard duty and sat down on the floor to discuss a plan of action. In the end it was decided to hide in the bunkers for 2 weeks and see what would happen above us. Departure was scheduled for 4 a.m.