Knight Syndrome

Ameena

She almost got caught trying to hide her secret from her roommates at dawn.

They woke up earlier than usual much to Ameena's dismay.

She froze for a second before racing into damage control drill, something she had practised thousands of times alone.

"No, wrong door ", a girl said but they all heard only the voice because the face was completely hidden behind a stack of books,

"Sorry", the others groaned and went back to bed ignoring Ameena who was hurriedly loading all her thick rustic notebooks onto her shelf.

To normal eyes, those notebooks might look like a collector's possessions but she knew better what those pages contained. Quick tip, don't read them unless you want a secret organization tracking you down and wiping you from the earth without a trace including Google search.

At night sometimes, when she's half-awake and alert as she always is,  devious shadows seem to dance in the room but her roommates are always fast asleep as if they are dead until thunder breaks above they won't budge.

Secret organization, yes you read it right, Ameena is a trainee at Mirage, a group of bad guys.

When people think of a secret society they usually imagine them to be society's saviors. You know, the ones that hide in the basement, do not appear on TV or viral videos and never take credit. But Mirage was not that. Mirage likes to flaunt the spoils of a victory. The organization's goal is not to help society but to make a profit and Ameena would like to be the rainmaker.

But alas, on her first day on the job she was told that she was recruited solely because she went to college, and loved organizing "events" unlike "typical" college students who are at a violent age to venture into unknown places in the name of fun. Thus, she took her place in  "The Desk Group" i.e. a team of nearly-retired employees who work on tax ledgers for target accounts. Evidently, she had a lot of wisdom to gain before she took on any real responsibility, and these men had seen it all, so who better to learn from?

"You work very hard. Too much of good is bad. Remember that!" Chakri, her roommate used to say.

"No cute guys in your department? I thought event management had all the cool people."

Ameena almost laughed at the irony of the idea.

On the subject of cute guys, she did spot one in her History of Literature class during roll call.

He didn't seem to be into the dating market neither was Ameena, but that didn't stop her from enjoying his innocent presence like all the others.

She would never approach him. Never. Especially if he was as sweet as he looks. Throughout the class, she was occupied with the thoughts of living a normal life.

"All right people, the assignment's due next week, be sure to hand in your papers before that."

Ameena's sense of alertness did not help. Anytime anyone comes within reaching distance, it feels like they're going to assault her. That's how she felt now when she noticed the presence of a human near her.

"Hello," he joined his hands, a gesture of formal hello. It was that cute guy. "Can I talk to you for a bit? I'm Ren."