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Winter dragged Karina out of the airport, vanished into the maelstrom of sounds and faces as if she was just another anonymous person in a hurry.
Moving with a serenity that belied her fear, she pushed Karina's unconscious body into the backseat of a black SUV parked at the curb.
As the car pulled out of the airport, Winter half-amused, half-bemused, looked into the rearview mirror.
"She actually believed I was a fan," she murmured to herself.
Karina sat slumped over the back seat of the car, her mumbling almost helpless under the sedative. She thrashed her head back, whispering drowsily, "You're welcome... for the autograph."
Winter groaned, tightening her grip on the steering wheel.
"This job just gets weirder and weirder."
Winter lurched into her apartment, her supposed sanctum, but tonight it felt like anything but.
With Karina slung over her shoulder, she trod over the doorstep, mumbling a low curse as she nearly fell.
Just as she reached the couch, her boot hit something squishy. She tripped, sending herself and Karina tumbling to the floor in a mess of tangled limbs.
Just before she heard a soft "mew," Winter felt a tiny furry body brush against her face.
But when she looked up, she saw that mischief-maker cat, Banana, was already settled in on Karina's chest, licking her face with gleeful abandon.
"Banana, not now!" Winter hissed, shooing the cat away, but the damage was done.
Karina's lids fluttered, her brows knitting as her lips curved into a sleepy smile.
"Hmm..." she mumbled, looking up at Winter with blurred, yet somehow delighted eyes.
"This... a fan surprise thing?"
Winter's world froze. She was completely off guard.
"You're not serious?"
Karina's eyes swept around the small, cluttered apartment of a dead end of opinions made by clothes and papers amid the chaos in one of the corners. She straightened herself out, trying to cough the fog out from the head, glancing about with eyes.
"Wow, this is really such a cutie house."
To this, Winter let out a grimace. This was going to be her night.
