Year 2016: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
That night was, as usual, a freezing night. And the chillness slithered down my spine as always, making me shiver. I was keeping myself discreet on top of a roof. My target hadn’t shown up. But she would soon, any minute.
Every strain of my muscle was at ease. I didn’t even check the perimeters. No ambush was necessary. And I wasn’t going to arrest some petty smugglers or going on a full assault with Vengers either. Those scenarios were how my typical night time like this would turn out. They weren’t my top concern in this particular evening.
In fact, I was doing literally nothing on the rooftop, except endless waiting.
Occasionally, the breath of the mild wind swayed my dark hair, rubbing my almost striking face as tender as the pillow on my bed. And I was there, perching on the edge of the ochre roof tiles, though precarious, but had always offered me enough sense of security. And I was, like what had already been a routine of mine, excited, which had always filled me with astonishment.
Astonished how the feelings still could be fresh and new every time I perched on this roof, astonished how impossible my longing to see someone never faded, and was amplified everyday instead.
I lay down on the irregular roof tiles, waiting for my target to show up, lips pressed into a blissful curved line that was always without my voluntary means.
I took a final glance at the spectacularly dark sky, with a waning crescent moon, and the stars keeping it company. I felt like they were smiling at me. Still, they certainly failed to impress me under this circumstance, as I darted my eyes at the window across the street, the window that had never been that outstanding to me, more beautiful than the glorious twinkling fireflies above.
And undoubtedly, it was the always almost flawless figure that made me feel that way, which was certainly an understatement of mine. The yellow curtains had been drawn to the side of the window, as usual, so that I could have my perfect view on her seraphic face.
She didn't realize I was there, looking...okay...maybe...spying on her. This peculiar behaviour of mine only happened once a month. Or maybe twice. I didn’t really keep the count. And I didn’t really comprehend why I did it. It just made me feel easier to move on with life, and sleep better at night, though most of the time I wasn't sleeping every time darkness crept up to veil the glorious sun.
And sometimes, I wondered how she would react if she knew that a maniac was staring at her just across a street, though I had undue confidence that she wouldn't get the chance to spot me, as my agility and swiftness was really far out of the capability of her bare vision to spot.
So, if she knew that a maniac was actually spying on her—the curtains couldn't be drawn to the side of the window anymore—maybe, just a wild speculation, with the exception of knowing that the fanatic was me perhaps she would be pleased, or alternatively, displeased.
I had no idea though. And I didn’t really intend to find out.
She inched to her single bed exhaustedly and rested herself because of the long day perhaps. Her long auburn hair was tousled, though still attractive, no matter how messy it appeared. And I was pretty much certain that she had dyed her hair to the perfect auburn three weeks ago, May 3rd, the night that I perched on this roof and discerned out the difference quicker than the time for me to spot an elephant in the middle of the road.
Her hand reached for the thick bottle green book on the bed, as usual, flicked it open and started reading. And I had to admit, this kind of mundane routine before bed was definitely unendurable for me—and somehow had appeared tolerable when it was connected to her.
Gratefully, it always lasted about five to ten minutes, and then she would lean against her desk to check her smart phone for facebook, instagram or messages—I wasn't very sure—and eventually went to bed. The light was shut off, and I couldn't see her angel-like face anymore. How tedious it seemed, and how impossibly contented I was?
"How long do you want to stay up there?" a familiar voice shouted, interrupting my perfect moment.
I recognized it at once, because there was one, and only one, voice knew where the hell I would be at this hour, which had, too, impossibly lasted for as long as I began being clandestine about my brief MIA. Somehow, my best friend managed to find out. I believed there was a downside to when you had a friend who knew your entire predictable schedule, because whenever you wanted to hide things from them it became virtually impossible.
I peered below to see the feature that was in my anticipation, always, Haziq.
"Coming," I replied, bent forward, hurtling down to the deserted street and landed on the side road, safe and sound. Height? Roughly eight yards and was already overly insignificant for me. I could leap for thirty yards without injuring myself though, and I wasn't jesting, because of a superb technology in a silver bracelet that adhered around my wrist, contradicting my black shirt and blue jeans which felt like stone-age. This bracelet could generate invisible shield which made of charged particles, absorbing blow, sudden impact and massive amount of firepower from guns and even missiles. Basically, it made me look like superheroes from movies.
I glanced up, examining his tanned skin, and his dashing face. "So, what's going on?"
"Nothing. It's a peaceful night. No Vengers. No Smugglers." His lips crooked sardonically, and his curly hair stuck on his head almost faultlessly, some fell before his forehead, waving as he turned his head around. "I just can't leave you stranded alone outside." I nodded. "Anyway, did I interrupt anything?"
I was sure there was nothing to interrupt except my alone time spent spying my crush. "No... of course, just like usual."
"You're beyond redemption." Then he began to saunter away even faster, beckoning to me. "Come on."
I followed his paces. Haziq’s fate was quite similar as mine. And the fact that we both used to be Malaysians made our friendships forge faster. We were both vagrants. We didn’t have anyone when we were little. More like outcasts from our own country, though I had doubted whether if our country even knew about us. So that made us men without nation I’d guessed. We had only an organized structure that raised us without offering the freedom of choice to choose our lives. They issued order that we had to follow. No matter what.
"Eh, by the way, when do you plan to talk to her?" he spoke suddenly and caught me off guard.
My dithering dark irises fixated on him as casual as they could be. "Well, mind over your own matters."
"Hey, you have been spying on her every night, almost, like a pervert, and I'm starting to worry that you really are a pervert," he retorted, rather irritated by my secrecy.
“Not every night,” I clarified. It had lasted for two years though. I wondered why he would think that I felt like talking to her despite of knowing that I had been keeping it to myself, and doing the spying thing, for the entire two years.
“I don’t care, but this behaviour of yours really makes me think that you’re deranged,” he scorned.
"I'm not deranged," I said, cheeks heated up slightly, because all my conscious thoughts had admitted that I was.
He shook his head, then he suddenly shifted his focus. “Those Vengers that you caught last night all by yourself. You did a great job. Remind me again why they don’t want to put you in the first-class, but make you guard the entrance instead, handling the trivial matters. It is such a waste.”
“I’m content,” I said, squeezing a smile brighter than the crescent moon above. First-class soldiers were rare. They had less than twenty of them. And I always thought that I was privileged as my mentors were both first- class. “Besides, they have plenty of talents around to handle their vital matters. One man doesn’t really make a difference.”
“Ugh... whatever... there are just more and more of them these days.” He suddenly stopped and made an abrupt turn to look at me. “In case you’re wondering what happened to those Vengers that you caught, they were interrogated in HQ by Hank.”
I was suddenly flummoxed, and most of all, curious. “I thought they were merely low ranks who follow order. And they can’t possibly spill anything because they know nothing.” As I tried to explain their futility to try to grill information out of minions, I was secretly mapping the possible outcomes in my head. And none of them had isolated an optimistic prospect. It was like they were searching for a star, but they asked a blacksmith to find it instead of an astronomer.
“Something big happened,” Haziq elucidated. “Hank just came back from HQ. And he wants to see us. He says it’s urgent. Apparently, the low ranks did tell him something.”
I just stared at the ground with my brooding eyes. The way that Haziq put it made things sound severe. And it was hard to believe that Vengers would offer any information to us. They were just some mindless brawns who intended to loot everything they could from TOP, like an unorganized body of criminals. And I wondered what they had said to pique Hank’s interest.
“And about your MIA thing, look, I'm concerned that you might be having some kind of mental disorder. That's why I asked. Not because I think you’re mad," he said, giving all his attention to my peculiarity again, and well, eyes were concerned as he said. He continued after pausing shortly. "As your friend, let me give you some advice, just talk to her, just tell her your feelings for the entire two years. Trust me, you don’t want to stay like this...in this uncertainty."
“Easy for you to say.”
“She did ask about you, last week, when Rong and I bumped into her in a Japanese restaurant. We had a casual talking that’s all. She’s our high school friend after all.”
“What did she ask?”
“Nothing special, just how you are doing these days.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“You’re busy with your dad’s business,” he smirked, with the side of his cheeks crinkled up. Once his cheeks dropped into the usual stern position, he continued, “Just talk to her. I know it won’t be difficult for you. You’re with TSDA after all.”
"Maybe…when I quit my job in TSDA…I will tell her," I explained, and even my voice was incredulous of the probability to let TSDA leave me alone utterly.
I quickened my paces as we resumed walking.
He caught up with me, throwing me his despondent gaze with his pair of black eyes. "I never mean to make you feel hopeless but...you ought to have known the brutality of the world we live in. TSDA isn't something we could stand up and fight against."
And I had enough of logical sense to decipher his wary words and depressing fact. My mouth was silenced for a minute. "I know," was all I able to speak of. And even I felt the dejection my voice held.
Then he gave out a sigh, so loudly that I knew it was meant for me, and he scurried away. The hush that fell over us never lasted long, as he bogusly cheerful voice spoke again before I was able to crack the silence.
"It isn't wrong to be yourself, to do what your heart wants." he advised as we stopped in front of a decrepit warehouse.
Darkness tinged the front gate with a tad of eeriness, which I was already used to. “It’s more complicated than you think, Haziq. TSDA has eyes on everything.” And I didn’t want to drag my crush into this shithole with me.
I yanked the front gate open for him gingerly while eyes roaming around to make sure we were alone. We entered the warehouse that would make everybody despised it due to the appearance, but certainly not the secret basement below the approximately three acres ground with this obsolete warehouse as its entry.
This was how we stayed unobtrusive as TSDA operatives.
With another rushed push I closed the gate shut. Only the sole moonlight that was leaking through the dusty windows high above the wall forced away the darkness. Haziq was already ten paces away.
I rushed to him as he halted in front of the usual brick wall. He habitually pushed one of the old bricks slightly and it flashed a blue light at us, scanning his hand for several times until finally it indicated 'allow access' after identifying his print and the two whole figures before the brick wall.
The brick wall slid open inaudibly, revealing an elevator. We walked in together before the elevator descended hastily and steadily. This elevator was the only path to traverse from the surface to the basement. And there were seven basements all around the world, in Malaysia, New Zealand, Alaska, Columbia, Sweden, Somalia and somewhere in North-East Russia. To be precise, the seven basements were linked together with underground trains, all roughly five miles below the earth surface.
There was an artificial shield covering the spherical basement to prevent the earth crust crushing it while moving. And they had virtually sucked everything out, leaving a vacuum condition with the basement as its central. And I had of course thought that was a joke but neither of us dared to step out of the basement to prove them wrong. So it was too a mystery to most of us.
Besides, the seven basements weren't just underground stations for TSDA. They were entrances to another unknown civilization for TOP dwellers, for us. And they lived beneath us, right in the bottom of the oceans.
TSDA, TOP Security and Defence Agency, was obligated to guard the seven entrances to TOP, and to avoid anyone else accessing either intentionally or unintentionally to TOP. And the same rule applied for TOP dwellers like us. To put it simpler, TSDA would always have a deciding vote.
The identities of the TSDA operatives were highly classified and no one would recognize him or her as one of the TSDA members. Some of them masqueraded as the dwellers of TOP, highly chosen from the three Realms in the bottom of the oceans. None of them mentioned that some of the TSDA members were, in fact, genuine TOP dwellers. And those who came from underwater civilization didn't even bother if we had divulged anything to our own people because literally, none of them would believe this mad crap. So, if you have seen any UFOs flying around your house, don't doubt! They come from underwater, not outer space.
Though there was still scanty of chances that some of them really came from interstellar, which I wasn't very sure of, just like how unsure I was to believe I was actually in the bottom of the ocean at the age of nine…
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