Gained Approval | Chamber & Viper

Fourteen

With excitement being suppressed to avoid getting teased by the latter, Sabine pursed her lips, holding in the smile as soon as her eyes met the tubs of paint that her and Chamber got. A sigh left his lips, a breath of air after carrying tubs of paint the whole day.

For a second, Chamber grabbed another tub; one that she barely recognized - primer. Heck, she doesn't even remember grabbing that one earlier at the department store.

The taller prepared himself, rolling the sleeves of his polo shirt right below his elbows. Chamber's veins appeared to be more prominent every time he held something, steering Sabine further away from their objective.

The moment she realized she was distracted and his eyes on her with such interest, smirking to himself, Sabine cleared her throat and quickly looked away, hiding what felt like blush on her cheeks.

Damn it.

"Before we paint the whole wall, we need to apply the primer first, mademoiselle." Chamber spoke, breaking the silence between them while grabbing two rolling pins, handing one over to Sabine.

Knowing that her eyes would land on the veins, he purposely flexed, letting his polo shirt tightly hug his physique more than before. Sabine kept her eyes on the wall, coating it all over with his help after deciding which side they were going to take; with hers being the left side and bottom part of the wall while his was the right side and top part. Being taller than her was an advantage to him and undeniably an attractive asset.

Once they were done with the primer, they both started to paint the walls with the shade of green Sabine chose from the tubs that Chamber bought after letting her pick from them. Satisfaction later came, seeing how it looked halfway through.

While painting, Chamber glanced at Sabine and smiled to himself, chuckling at the fact that she unintentionally splashed green paint on her cheeks, spreading thinly across the bridge of her nose. The middle-aged lady raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he found funny.

"What?" Sabine lowered the paint brush, carefully for it to not stain or splatter any pain on the clothes.

"You have paint on your face, mademoiselle."

"Where?" Out of embarrassment, Sabine gently touched her face with her other hand, completely forgetting that they were stained with green paint; slightly making it worse. Though, it only made Chamber laugh more. "Chamber, it's not funny." Sabine tried her best to surpress the smile that threatened to show on her face while wiping the green paint off of her face with one of the washcloths placed on the covered couch.

"It really is, mademoiselle. I apologize, but it is." Sabine couldn't help but watch him laugh; noticing how his eyes would slightly turn into thin lines, shaping into two crescent-like moons while his nose scrunched and two gentle lines on each cheeks right underneath his eyes, lifting his glasses a bit. He had straight, white teeth. Perfect ones. Though, only a few of his front teeth showed whenever he laughed.

At that moment, Chamber seemed relaxed.

Is this really him? Or is it just a mask? Despite seeming relaxed, Sabine thought to herself; seeing how her and Chamver had a few things in common. Faking smiles and laughter with people they've talked to for more than a day just to get through. People around their age tend to do the same things.

Once the laughter had died down, they both continued to paint, ignoring the fact that Sabine had accidentally splashed more paint on herself - both face and clothes.

It's surprising that she has a bit of a clumsy side.

Only a quarter of the wall needed more paint in which Chamber gladly helped the doctor with, smiling at the facial expression she had whenever she had to focus.

Despite her hating it, he thought it was adorable.

A stressful sigh was released from his lips as the sounds of continuous clicking on his keyboard echoed inside his room - panning from one video tape to another that he had recorded in the earlier events.

Being the eye and watcher of the protocol, he knew the responsibilities and disappointment of his fellow radiants if he didn't succeed in his job.

The pattern of his breathing changed upon the realization that there was a possibility of his friend betraying them. Maybe it was just a guess or a coincidence. Or it could've been a strong gut feeling, but he couldn't help being suspicious of Chamber. Seeing how secretive and assertive their gunman had been, there was no doubt that such a thought would've crossed his mind by now.

Cypher clasped his hands together, fingers intertwined while resting his chin on his thumbs, lightly tapping the heel of feet to the floor in a pattern. Thinking of a way to get through such an obstacle right now.; how he was going to figure things out and conduct safety on the protocol.

"Hm... ah!" An idea came to mind and quickly got his fingers stuck to the keyboard, typing in codes to unlock past records of the Valorant Protocol members.

Names appeared in an alphabetical order along with protocol names and pictures for identification.

To his surprise, there was nothing. Nothing at all.

What? There's no way Chamber doesn't have any past reports.

It was as if Chamber didn't exist other than the very first night a specific mission was given to him - protect Sabine at all costs.

Usually, as soon as the members joined the protocol, each of their past doings were recorded and reviewed both by Cypher and Sova.

Things must've happened when eyes weren't kept on where they were supposed to be. Something or someone must've erased everything.

"Uh, hey, Brimstone. If you can give me a call back for a second, I would like to have a meeting. Bring Sage with you as well. I have something to show you."