John hadn’t said anything when we met up. He just continued driving quietly. “I’m sorry.” Nothing. “I didn’t know how it happened.” “I’m not...mad. I’m busy. We’re already late.” I couldn’t argue with him; he was right. He sighs in frustration. “What happened?” I should tell him, right? “I had a flashback.” “Flashback? do you remember what it was?” “Umm...a conversation between me and a girl named Nancy.” Nancy.Nancy.Nancy. I kept repeating her name in my head to see if anything would pop up. Nothing. The way I talked to her in the memory sounds like we were friends. “Shit, I thought your brain was too fucked up to remember anything. I mean, that’s great. That drug didn’t fry your brain completely.”

“Yeah...great. What season are we in?” I changed the subject. “Winter.” He responded without making any comment.

“Your punches are weak. Try harder.” we spend one hour of me learning the basics of how to punch. “I’M trying.” Elliot was right. He’s not going easy on me. He keeps dodging and dodging. “Move your arm. Higher.” he took my fist, twisted it, then pushed my inkle with his foot making me lose my balance. “AGH!” I groaned in pain. “I told you to react quickly.” No matter how tired I was, I couldn’t stop. I don’t want to stop. I will keep fighting until HE gets down. I slowly got on my feet. He swings his fist. I blocked it with my arm. He did the same with the other hand. I ducked. “Good. Let’s do that again.”

While we were on our way to Elliot’s mansion. A random question came to my mind. “Is Elliot fully French?” “Wow. That’s out of the blue. To answer your question: he’s half French, half American. His mom was a Korean American, and his dad was French. And yes, he doesn’t look Korean because he took his looks from his dad.” “Um...I wasn’t asking about his looks, but thanks for the clear faction. What do you mean ‘was’ What happened to them?” “They died in a car accident when he was eighteen. They owned multiple hotels here in Paris; After the accident, Boss took over. After his nineteen birthday, he moved to the U.S. to continue his studies there.” “And the S.O.?” I wasn’t expecting to be this curious about Elliot’s life. “His dad used to be the Boss there; he was the one who built it.” he cleared his throat as if it was hard for him to tell the story. “His sister got kidnapped when he was in his early forties. She got tortured and a lot of unthinkable things. Sadly she died from all the injuries she suffered. From that day, he hunted the ones who were responsible for her death. Killed them one by one. Then decided to create a secret organization that takes care of this sort of crime. He trained his son until he became the owner of S.O.” I wasn’t expecting his life to be this...dark. “What about you?” I asked. “What about me?” “How long have you known Elliot?” “Three years. I’m his partner and bodyguard. Until you came, now I have to keep an eye on you.”

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We reached the white chateau. I won’t say much about lunch except it was delicious. “Oh, I forgot to tell you something.” He announced. I raised my eyebrow. He swallowed the last bite before he leaned back on his chair. “Look at your wrist.” “What?” “Look at it. Behind.” he pointed at my right hand. I put my fork down, then started unbuttoning my wrist cuff, moving it down. I noticed three numbers written on my wrist: 050. It was inked on my skin. Tattooed. How did I not see this while I was taking a shower or when I was changing my clothes. “What...is this?” “Number zero fifty. It means you are the fiftieth member of the Secret Organization.”