Our Arranged Love Story

Chapter -21-

"A strong marriage rarely has two strong people at the same time. It is a husband and wife who take turns being strong for each other in the moments when the other feels weak."- Ashley Willis

Hatchan, a heavy built man whose most prominent features were his protruding lips and pointy, spiky white hair, stood perched behind a corner with a camera in hand stalking out the assigned target.

'Nyuuu~' he sighed. He did not want to do this. It was not right. Hatchan did not agree with some of the things his company did but his boss was a dangerous man.

He looked to the apartment entrance, picked up his binoculars and saw the target walking in but Hatchan was confused since she was always escorted at this time at night by her husband. He grabbed a book and made a note, checking his watch.

He then felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to be met by a fist to the face and his head hit the wall, pounding in severe agony. His vision was distort and he collapsed. Just when he was about to lose consciousness, the last thing he saw was a pair of sandaled feet.

Hatchan awoke in a strange room and shied away from the bright light. The pain in his head went away a bit. He heard the click of a gun frighteningly close to his ears and immediately tensed up and his pupils shrank in fear. His eyes moved to the side and came in contact with a huge barrel of a gun and the wielder regarded him with the most menacing look he could muster up but if you looked close, you could catch the slight but obvious wobble of his legs.

Hatchi screamed and tried to scramble away but he was secured with rope to a chair. Hands and legs were banded so tightly, he couldn't move a muscle.

Chopper and Brook were seated at the table and Usopp told the young doctor to inform the rest of the group that their guest was now wide awake. Hactchan saw Chopper leave the room and his eyes fell on a skeleton-like old man sipping away at some kind of beverage.

'Yohohoho,' "A pleasant day to you, sir. Care for some tea?"

"Who are you people? Where is this place? What do you want from me?"

His mouth stitched up when the gun pressed against the side of his skull and a chill crept up his spine.

"Be quiet. We would like to know the same thing too. Who are you? And what business do you have with our captain's wife? Speak or else I'll-"

Usopp was rendered silent when the door slammed open and in came Luffy, hat shielding his eyes and behind him, the rest of the guys piled in; Franky, Chopper, Zoro, Sanji and Robin with his bag, camera and journals which contained all the information he had documented for weeks on Monkey D. Nami. Everything down to her schedules and routines and Hatchan began sweating bullets for he had been caught red-handed. The tension in the room was suffocating. All eyes were on him. The figure he recognized was that of the target's husband and Hatchan knew that he had stepped into an ants' nest.

Luffy observed him under the shadow of his strawhat. Just tonight, Nami said that for a while it felt like someone was following her, watching her every move but brushed it off saying that it was not a big deal. He had only wished that she would have told him sooner because when he checked after sensing a presence himself, he came upon this prick.

"Mr. Hatchan, is it?" Robin began.

"Hai?"

"We found some interesting things in your possession concerning a close friend of ours. Too detailed to be a stalker. Who do you work for?"

Hatchan gulped hard. "What things? Are you sure that they're mine? Maybe you have the wrong person."

He was scared but his boss would not forgive him if he sold him out. If he was clever enough, maybe he could easily get out of this situation.