Can You Feel It?

04.

KAYA

Men were so easy to manipulate.

I couldn't believe how easily things had worked out for me so far. In fact, I was suspicious of how smoothly things were going. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but Erex had simply walked himself into a trap I hadn't even begun setting. He set the stage himself and decorated it with a need to prove himself.

Men and their egos. Their pesky pride.

Or perhaps his mama raised him right.

That's what it seemed like when he apologised to me earnestly time and again. But to think that good people and good men exist was a hard concept to acknowledge in my world.

My eyes lifted, spotting him in the distance. He bit a chunk off an energy bar, one hand flipping pages of a file while his Caribbean blue eyes scanned the pages with hyper-focus.

Until suddenly they rose and met my eyes straight away like he'd been aware of my gaze. He tipped his head in a form of acknowledgement and I looked away without responding.

People in general did not like to be dismissed.

But factor in the fact that the gender is male and apparently your superior, well then it irks them even more.

My dismissals and acts of feeling entirely disinterested weren't fake. They were probably the only parts of my actual black-cat like unfeeling personality that I could show without any consequences right now.

Every move I made was calculated. And every nudge in this flirtatious game that I gave to Erex that would seem natural was well-thought out.

And Erex Castillo liked challenges.

Imagine a woman who seemed in control disregarding him in a skillfully playful way and voila. It may not have been as much a matter of pride for him but earning my forgiveness was like a mission for him now, a push and pull that I'd be fueling so his interest in me would spike. I could've, of course, forgiven him but then that would have been plain foolish of me.

An opportunity like this wouldn't present itself to me again. Initially, I'd thought I'd have to act like a total sunshine character and pester Erex until he'd open up. Not too forward, of course but subtly inserting myself into his life thanks to my not-so-naturally sunny deposition.

My looks wouldn't have been enough to intrigue him but after the confrontation at Emilie's where I showed my other brainy skillset and now that I was also his well-qualified co-worker? I could only presume that he was mildly interested in figuring me out if only to put himself at ease.

I cracked my knuckles, twisting my neck after so many hours of staring at the digital pictures and entering data from the files into the databases.

I hadn't come across any information that would be useful for Marcello so far but it was my first day after all.

I exhaled and then stood up, deciding I needed to pay a visit to the ladies washroom here

Waving and smiling at Zeke and Finn as I passed them, I made sure to look at the pixie-like blond woman who hadn't seemed too welcoming of me. Callie gave me a small smile but i knew she didn't like me much at the moment.

She felt threatened.

There weren't too many women here anyways and I didn't blame Callie for the way she was guarded against me as both an Agent and a woman. She obviously had eyes for Finn and didn't make much of a secret about that and when it comes to looks, I was no doubt prettier.

I was well-versed in jealousy and hatred from fellow females because the fact was that my beauty was my curse but it was also what gave me my value. And I wasn't about to act like I was ashamed of the thing that was my sole reason for surviving till today.