Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

71. Teamwork

Haresa

Team-ups between a hero and a villain weren't uncommon.

But a team-up between Sheldon and me? I didn't think it would be possible.

Sheldon was riffling through the drawers on the left side of the room while I flipped through every binder on the desks.

I swear Sheldon was hissing every curse that existed under the sun as he conducted his search while one of his knees bounced uncontrollably.

I had finished searching my side of the room and began to look at his side of the room. There weren't any other rooms in the building meant for keeping records from what I remembered from going over the floor plan. I couldn't even go over the map again since I left my phone at home to avoid looking at it too often. I didn't need to think about anything else but the mission tonight.

Sheldon pushed a drawer closed but it bounced back into the open position. Sheldon didn't seem to notice a folder still hanging out of it and I was about to push it back into place before noticing it was empty.

I looked at Sheldon and saw he had a wad of paper in his hand. He must've sensed my stare as his eyes met mine and he hid it from my sight.

"What was that?" I asked him

He couldn't look me in the eye. "Paper."

"I can see it was obviously paper," I did my best not to let anger seep into my tone. "What was on the paper?"

"Uh—"

I heard footsteps enter the hallway and covered Sheldon's mouth before he could speak. He seemed confused initially but I pointed to my ear and his eyes widened in recognition.

We needed to hide somewhere.

Sheldon seemed to have the same idea by grabbing my wrist and dragging me to the nearest hiding place which happened to be a cramped broom closet. He kept his other hand on the knob to prevent it from turning in case anyone attempted to come into the closet but his other hand was still clamped on my wrist.

I didn't dare move an inch as multiple brooms jutted out in awkward directions, not to mention a half-full mop bucket. I was conscious of how close I was to Sheldon as my face was right next to his. If he looked in my direction, our lips would probably touch.

I blinked the thought away and took a deep breath. Sheldon luckily didn't notice my reaction. He was still staring intensely at the door and I could hear someone walk into the room mumbling about a last-minute rental.

With each micro-vibration that the person made, I noticed the broom on the other side of the closet, slowly sliding toward the ground. On impulse, I lurched forward and caught the broom which caused Sheldon to jerk back as his hand was still attached to me. The act caused me to be pressed up right against Sheldon with my hand on his side. My knees were bents slightly and my head was pressed against his shoulder uncomfortably. He was now leaning backwards, one foot barely keeping him steady. His breath quickened slightly, probably due to shock, and his eyes looked down slightly to meet mine.

"Broom," I whispered as I looked away.

He seemed to have understood as he slowly straightened his back. He hesitated for a moment before gently letting go of my wrist and continued to guard the door.

My hand tightened around his side and I could hear my heart pounding at this point.

He just went on a date with Rudra earlier today, there was no way I could explain all this to Rudra without seeming like the bad guy.

Finally, I could hear the person leave the room and Sheldon seemed to have noticed it as well. I put down the broom before I pointed at the door, eager to be let out of the closet. He raised one finger of the hand that was clamped to the doorknob to signal to wait. He probably wanted to make sure they were gone before we went back into the room.

The situation came to an end as Sheldon slowly opened the door which caused all the brooms to fall out.

He let out a sigh and I got out of the closet as soon as I could with my hand over my chest.

That was way too close for comfort.

"Now, that's done and over with, I'll be taking my leave," Sheldon patted his pockets and paused.

He continued to pat the pockets and eventually started turning them inside out as I watched his expression slowly turned into one of panic.

My face still felt red from the earlier interaction but it didn't stop me from confidently showing off the document in my hand.

"You're looking for this, right?" I asked.

He became statue still as his eyes landed on the papers and I gripped the paper tighter in case he tried to steal them back.

"The only way you're getting to have these documents is either to form a team with me or to give up on the investigation completely."