'What… is going on?'
Anya, who was waving her hand at her son and Jason's daughter, looked at Krystle's hand tugging at her and saw Jason's back before he left in his car.
She focused on the most important thing that she held back due to Zane. She squinted her eyes at Krystle, "And what is going on with you? Why are you pretending like everything is fine?"
Krystle's facade of happy-go-lucky fell instantly. She looked at her friend who was celebrating with her yesterday. "Annie…" She hugged Anya.
Her friend was excited about her new house and busy with her new life. Krystle tried hard to keep her despair to herself but failed.
She confessed, "He rejected me." Krystle sighed, fighting hard against her tears. "He wants no strings attached and I want more." Her hands tightened around Anya, "I don't want to continue this anymore." Her voice was laced with the despair she was going through.
Anya never saw her friend being so desolate. Not even when she got out of her first relationship. She gently rubbed her back, "Let's get a coffee. We will speak on the way." She spoke in a voice used to calm the babies.
They grabbed coffee through the driveway and Krystle briefed everything to Anya who patiently heard without interjecting.
Anya didn't feel like Linus would reject her friend outrightly when she had heard Krystle speak about him. Seeing their compatibility, Anya expected them to date for a few months or years, so this situation never crossed her mind.
She tried to recall Linus in the morning. She wasn't sure if Linus was disappointed by Krystle's wish to date or for rejecting Krystle.
"What's your plan?" She didn't voice her opinion directly.
Krystle shrugged. Her life wouldn't stop because of a rejection. She will consider it was a short vacation of happiness that ended abruptly, "Nothing. Life is too long. The ocean is full of fishes." She tried to make it sound light, without liking the melancholy in the car.
Anya shook her head in resignation, seeing her friend trying to cease the topic. She stepped on the brakes at a signal and faced her, "Won't you give it another try?"
Krystle was instantly offended. Her eyes widened and her back straightened. She looked at Anya in displeasure for even thinking of it. "No way. I am not desperate for a man in my life." In reality, she was afraid of being rejected again.
Anya smacked her friend. Although she wasn't much experienced in relationships to give advice, she had learned a lot of things from Alvin.
If Alvin had accepted her rejections, they wouldn't have been together. Thus sometimes there is still a chance if we try our best.
"Alvin always tells me to do what I like, so I don't have any regrets. I don't know Linus but you know him. You have been with him for the past two weeks.
Are you sure you aren't going to regret giving up or receiving a valid explanation?"
Krystle wasn't convinced by Linus's reason. If she did, she wouldn't have felt so bad about it. So she thought that they might need to sit and talk.
Then again, Anya sighed. Alvin had a chance because she gave him that. She wasn't sure if her friend had a chance to follow her heart.
"Woah…. You are taking Alvin's name to persuade me." Krystle was truly surprised to know Alvin speaks all that other than intimidating people.
Anya squinted her eyes and Krystle let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know, Annie. I don't know if all his actions were genuine as I felt. I don't know if I truly understood him. I don't know whether what happened between us was real or just my mind playing a game with me. I don't even know why he doesn't want to be in a relationship…"
She paused at the realization. Linus didn't just reject her, he didn't want to commit to anybody. But why?
Krystle started considering the situation differently, "Do you think he must have had a bad experience in a relationship? Or does he love somebody else? And considered me as a replacement? He must be getting over somebody. Does he want to stay single forever? He probably doesn't like me…"
When it's about relationships and socializing, Krystle is always level-headed and handles smoothly.
Thus seeing Krystle confused about her relationship, Anya realized advising, judging, or commenting on other's life and relationship is easier but having a friend who truly wishes for your best is a blessing.
Because a friend could make your life beautiful with proper advice and support or push you towards the wrong path.
Anya drove the car, hearing all the possibilities for Linus's rejection.
She suddenly felt bad for Alvin after seeing how rejection makes the sensible person go insane.
—————
At the Chief Justice's private residence,
Jason didn't waste time and straight went to find the old man. Due to his identity, nobody stopped him and Jason reached the living hall where the old man was reading some files.
"Chief Jason, what a surprise!!" The old man's voice was amiable until his eyes landed on Jason's deathly cold gaze.
"Have you kept people behind Officer Owen?" Jason didn't greet and went straight down to the business. Sooner or later, Anya was going to notice the people following.
Chief Justice's eyes narrowed at Jason. He closed the file and looked at Jason. He didn't lie, "I have." He wanted to know how far Jason would take the matter.
Jason clenched his teeth and looked away. He spotted and identified those men accurately as he had seen those somewhere around the Chief Justice's residence, office, or court.
"Chief Justice, don't even think of hurting Zane or anybody else to bring Officer Owen back. Let her live her life." Jason said through his teeth, holding himself back from snarling at the old man.
The Chief Justice was a smart man. Jason had thought the old man would be sensible to understand that offending Anya was going to be deadlier than having wanted criminals roam on the streets freely.
She doesn't only know the secrets of the administration, Jason knows how smoothly she can put the whole country at risk with her hacking skills. He wouldn't take her politeness and kindness for granted.
If she could blame the entire law and order for letting Bernard go, she would go against the whole administration for hurting Zane or her parents, or Alvin.
The Chief Justice looked at Jason for a good few seconds. He agrees Anya was an outstanding officer and he was honoring her with an award. That doesn't mean there is nobody else in the country to do the missions.
"Chief Jason, don't be too prideful for your officers." He was displeased how Jason was getting attached to his juniors. "There are plenty of officers to do the job." The Chief Justice scoffed. He grabbed the file he was looking at and threw it on the coffee table.
Jason grabbed the file thinking Chief Justice was choosing an Ace member to fill the space. However, the file didn't contain a list of any candidates. Yet Jason's expression hardened looking at the content of the file.
"Anya..!?" He looked at Chief Justice who glared at him and left.
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