𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚 | ✎

𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐯

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𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱
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𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨...

Math.

Fucking. Math.

I fucking hate math.

My heavy breath and muffled cheers is the only thing I hear in my ears as I stare at the problem before me.

I was doing so well up until the last part of this obstacle course.

It was the final challenge of the competition the agency was hosting for all the agents in training and I made to the finals.

The person I was competing against?

Hayes Kingsely.

He and I had rarely interacted before this competition. I'd seen him around the agency but we never talked. I knew he was one of the best in the agency. He knew I was one of the best. But I didn't really care up until this point.

I was determined to win this competition. Cole told me the agency hosted a similar competition for the agents when he and my parents were training. He'd said that my mom had made it all the way to the end and won. She was competing against my dad, and apparently when my mom won, that was the moment he said he fell in love with her.

It's cheesy as fuck, but when Cole told me the story it made me tear up.

I wanted to win this for my parents. I wanted them to be proud of me. I wanted to live up to my dad's expectations of me. Maybe winning this will give me some form of validation or whatever since they can't be here to give it to me themselves.

But as I stare at the division problem before me, tears of frustration threaten to leave me eyes.

I hear heavy footsteps getting louder and panting behind me. I don't have to turn around to know that Hayes has caught up to me and is analyzing the problem.

7840 ÷ 980

The fact that I have to do this without a calculator is ridiculous. I can't even remember the last time I had to do long division.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Tell Phoenix I said that's she's so strong, I love her with all my heart and that she's going to be a fucking awesome agent some day..."

The words echo in my head as frustration consumes me.

"I bet you wish you paid attention in math class huh, Caddel..." Hayes mocks as he takes the white board provided for us sitting on the table and starts writing on it. He purposely shifts his body so I can't see what he's writing.

"Your an asshole." I glare even though his back is turned to me, but I hope he can feel the heat of it.

I shift my gaze to the problem again, hoping staring at it will just give me the answer.

"Done!" Hayes shouts. He shows his board to the man standing by, waiting to tell us if we're correct or not. The man nods his head and anger fills my gut.

I take a shot in the dark, "Eight!" I pray that my lucky number will get me anywhere. To my shock, the man nods his head at me. Hayes is staring at me with his mouth agape. I take advantage of his frozen state and start sprinting towards the finish line where everyone is waiting.

I hear him shout a curse before fast footsteps start chasing me. I don't turn my head to see how far behind or close he is. I just concentrate on this finish line two hundred meters in front of me.