No more tears - Leon Kennedy

Chapter 16

"𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

★ ---------------------- ★

As the car stopped, I glanced curiously through the window.

"Wow... What are we celebrating?" I asked, slightly intrigued as Leon grabbed his jacket from the back seat, preferring to remain silent instead of answering my question.

Certain he was hiding something, I quickly opened the door and stood in front of the bar's entrance, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu when I saw the façade.

"I'll let you go in, I have something to take care of first," Leon suggested as I nodded, hurrying to turn the handle as a rush of warm air, smelling mainly of good cocktails, filled my nostrils.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, savoring this particular atmosphere I had missed so much before taking the few steps necessary to enter. From afar, I saw Chris and another person next to him and quickly made my way to their table, a smile plastered on my face, betraying my obvious joy at seeing an old friend.

"Hey Lucy, it's been a while. How are you doing?" Chris asked as I shook his hand.

"Great! I'm so happy to see you again..."

After settling in and having Leon introduce us to the captain's second-in-command, Piers, we couldn't help but talk about the mission during which we had crossed paths in China.

Noticing that Piers was glancing nervously between us and the bar door, I decided to dig into the matter, my sixth sense telling me there was something. 

"Chris, by the way! What's the name of your recruit? Why didn't you tell me it was a girl?" I asked as Piers immediately looked away from the table, looking oddly guilty at the mention of the girl.

"I think she'll have no trouble introducing herself," he announced as he turned towards the bar door, which had just opened.

Then entered the person I had just mentioned entered, and I let out a strange giggle when I saw how Piers stood up to signal her that we were here. She was a young girl, about in her twenties, with medium-length brown hair and bangs. Her complexion was slightly tan, her eyes unusually light compared to the rest of her features, and she wore a long cream-colored skirt paired with a basic white T-shirt.

Noticing the exchanged glances between her and Piers, I couldn't help but throw multiple looks at Leon, wondering if he had planned all this from the start. And as the waiter came to take our orders, I vaguely chatted with Chris and Leon about the comforting atmosphere of the bar.

"I'm surprised you don't remember this bar, Lucy... This is where we used to drink with Clive," Chris admitted while I smiled sadly, a bit ashamed that my memory failed me on this point.

"I didn't know he had left..."

As the recruit sat at our table and smiled nervously at Chris, who was putting on his usual warm act, I allowed myself to spy on the others' reactions, determined to find out what story I wasn't being told.

"Thank you for inviting me." she finally said, in a very small voice as I tried to suppress my smile, finding her slightly too cute to be a recruit of Chris. 

"Here's the recruit I was telling you about last time, Lucy," Chris explained as I turned completely in her direction, giving her the brightest smile possible.

"Indeed, you did mention her to me..."

I ended up turning and extending my hand in a cordial gesture.