Anastasia

Chapter (44): Interrogation

*At Law School*

Jimmy stood up from his seat and quickly placed his belongings in his shoulder bag and adjusted his glasses. A few minutes ago, Adrienne called him, informing him that she was waiting downstairs, outside the building. They were going to interrogate one of the oldest strippers who worked for Lina long enough to know the dirt in the business.

He walked outside his small office and turned around, shoving the key in the hole as he twisted it to close and lock the door. He turned his head around, eyes staring at the floor briefly, and then he jumped in surprise when he saw Hanna in front of him.

"Hanna! Hi!" He spoke louder than usual which startled Hanna a little in her spot.

"Hey, Jimmy." She collected herself after the startle and flashed him a gentle smile. "Could you help me with something? We have this... case and umm..." She waved her hand around and opened her folder, staring down at the information written, while he stared at her softly as she kept rambling about her case. A soft dreamy smile appeared on his face when he heard the chuckle of frustration coming out of her lips during her explanation. "So would you help me?"

He blinked a few times to stop his trance when he noticed that she finally raised her eyes and stared at him with a shy pleading smile.

"Uh," He rubbed his temple. "I-I can't at the moment." He gulped and maintained his stance. "There's something I gotta do."

She frowned a little. "Oh, I could help you if you want." She closed her folder and pressed it against her chest.

He shook his head quickly. "It's something... personal!" He accidently raised his voice again, but this time Hanna wasn't startled. She had a quizzical look on her face.

She hugged the folder tighter against her chest. "Personal like a relationship maybe?" She forced a smile and chuckled nervously.

Jimmy froze in his place and didn't know how to answer. Adrienne was strict about keeping their behind the scenes business a secret from everyone, especially Hanna, but now Hanna asked him a question that he wanted to reply negatively to it, yet he needed to play along to complete his mission impossible with the older sister.

"... yeah." He replied softly and forced a weak smile on his face. "A girlfriend."

His brown eyes shone as he stared deeply into Hanna's, fighting the urge to tell her everything and express how he feels about her. She stared back at him, biting her lower lip as she nodded to his answer. Both their eyes locked for a while in silence, and they didn't realize that until Jimmy's phone rang loudly unsettling them, forcing the gaze to be broken.

He nervously fished out his phone from his pocket, but from his sweaty palms, the phone slipped from his hand and fell on the ground.

"Ah, shit." He said as he bent down to grab it, but Hanna was quicker as she grabbed the phone first, but her eyes caught the caller's ID, causing her to frown curiously.

"Why's Adrienne calling you?"

"Uh..." He gulped as he reached over to retrieve the phone from her but with a quick move, she pulled her hand away from him.

"Jimmy." She said strictly and he got more nervous. "Why is my sister calling you? What're you hiding? She's usually not interested in my friends, so what's going on here?"

"Uhhh..." He held the bag's strap tightly this time and stared at Hanna. "It's, uh, a top secret mission."

She sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "A top secret mission?"

"Yes." He took a deep breath and collected himself. "A top secret mission."

"Really? A top secret miss-" She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed again. "You know what, answer her." She gave him the ringing phone and he stared at her anxiously before he answered.