Axky chuckled to himself. Everything he did in his life was sudden, he never gave a preamble to anyone, not even to himself. He wasn't the sort of calculating, scheming, plotting kind of guy. His work was that of a freelance ethical hacker, where he made millions of dollars every month. He lived a lazy life where he liked to work fast and relax later. His assignments were usually over and done with much before their due date, just so he could lounge about in his pool for the rest of the time.

Similar to the rest of his personality, love happened fast for him too. He'd met a lot of girls, but Paula had caught his eye. He fell in love quickly, and was eager to move on to the better things about being in love, getting married.

And so he proposed to the girl he'd fallen in love with and she had almost killed them all by crashing into a traffic pole.

"WHAT?" yelled Brielle from the backseat appalled. "You are proposing now?"

"Well yes. It's quite romantic wouldn't you agree?" asked Axky turning to look at her. Brielle opened her mouth to tell him she heartily disagreed but he cut her off.

"Anyway, Paula ignore Niagara Falls at the backseat." said Axky turning back to face Paula. "What do you say to coming away with me to be my wife?"

"Axky, we just met a few hours ago, and marriage is a big step." said Paula as she recovered from his proposal. She swerved the rickety car back onto a pitch road without slowing down. All three of them jumped as the car jerked at the sudden height. There was very little traffic on the road, as they were still in the outskirts of the town, and Paula took full advantage of it. The speedometer of the old broken down car seemed never to have recorded such high numbers.

"I believe in love at first sight," whispered Axky leaning towards Paula's ear as she blushed a deep red. Brielle groaned from the backseat, irritated by their lovey-dovey banter. She thought it was a terrible time to be in amorous pursuits, when Jack was so hurt and barely hanging on to dear life.

Oh who am I kidding? thought Brielle. Axky's looking at her the way I look at Jack. He's whipped. Come on, Brielle. You don't have to be jealous, your own proposal was way more romantic than this name-calling jerk's.

"Axky, I ---" protested Paula as she nervously stepped harder on the accelerator. The car blazed past two stop signs. A pair of policemen whistled at them signalling them to stop. Brielle watched wide eyed as they got on their bikes to follow them.

"Paula the police are after us, we're speeding---" said Brielle panicking. Axky sighed resignedly, it would be a while before he could hear Paula's decision whether or not to marry him.

"They won't catch us. Don't worry." said Paula as the car speed reached 200 km/hr and Brielle could barely differentiate the trees from the sky as they whizzed past.

"That was so sexy." commented Axky as he looked in awe as the policemen were left behind in a storm of dust. Paula blushed a deep scarlet. "Do you think I'm sexy?"

There was a short pause as Paula refused to relax her foothold on the accelerator. Brielle's head was spinning, and her teeth were chattering, the poor vehicle had probably never been used at such high speeds before. Come to think of it, how did Axky get the car to us in the first place if he couldn't drive?

Brielle's thoughts were derailed by Paula's answer to Axky's question.

"I do think you are." she said blushing like a tomato. Only she was redder. "Sexy. Um I mean, I really like you, you're chivalrous and you're loyal---"

"I think I'm gonna be sick." said Brielle clutching her stomach and lying down on the backseat.

Axky chuckled as he took Paula's free hand into his own. "So do you want to get to know me a bit better? Go on a couple of dates before you say yes? We can go straight to the more -than- friends- almost- lovers part."

"I'd like that." said Paula softly. "I really would."

"Great." said Axky leaning over and pecking her on the cheek. Paula almost crashed into a lamp post and Brielle shrieked her displeasure.

"AXKY STOP MOLESTING HER WHEN SHE'S DRIVING!!!"

***

"He's lost a lot of blood." said Brielle her voice cracking.

"Almost there." said Paula as she took a sharp turn into a crowded street. Peddlers and pedestrians scattered as she refused to slow down. The car finally skidded to a halt in front of a busy blue walled hospital.

"We're here." said Paula her breaths heavy and ragged. Rash driving sure takes a lot of energy.

Brielle sprang out and helped Axky carry Jack. The three of them laid in the emergency waiting room.

"You girls stay here." Paula and Brielle nodded as he ran off.

"We need a doctor pronto." said Axky urgently to the receptionist.

"Certainly sir, but the emergency ward is full at the moment, if you could wait a few minutes for the nurses---" started the lady behind the counter.

"We don't have time. A bullet is lodged in his body! He's been bleeding non stop. Send us a doctor right now or I'll destroy this hospital's online account system." said Axky, his voice rising several octaves. Paula and Brielle rushed up to him.

"Um honey? That's not even a threat." said Paula calmly placing a hand on his shoulder. "Brielle why don't you do the talking?"

"Y-Yes." stammered Brielle. Just then a group of four nurses hurried up towards Jack who was lying unconscious on the waiting room chairs. They carefully lifted him onto a wheeled bed.

Brielle stood frozen on her spot as she watched how limp Jack's body had become---how close he was to dea---

"I demand to know how this young man got into such a horrible condition?" yelled a red haired woman as she ran towards Jack.

"We can't tell you." said Axky bravely. He couldn't afford to tell her about the Kormin brothers and the Jones. It would mean giving away their current position, and it was not a risk Axky was not willing to take.

"What do you mean you can't tell me what happened?" bellowed the irate woman. A white coat covered her tall form as she strode towards them angrily. Brielle, Paula and Axky couldn't help but cower behind Jack's hospital bed.

"S-sorry, it's a bit of a messy situation--- rather a long story---" started Brielle trying to calm her down.

"Quiet. I don't have the time right now." snapped the woman as she checked Jack's heartbeat with her stethoscope. Brielle instantly shut her mouth. She squinted to read the short-tempered woman's name tag. '' read her hospital ID.

"Why didn't you bring him here sooner?" demanded Hilary, anger raging in her pale grey eyes. Her red hair fell all over her face. "He's on the verge of dying, he's barely breathing, his pulse is almost gone and it looks like he's been this way a good three hours or so. Why on earth did it take so long to get him to a hospital?"

So we could protect him from falling into any further danger. Oh the irony. If guilt was sufficient to kill a person, Brielle, Axky and Paula thought they were all going to die.

"He has lost too much blood already. I estimate a 20% chance of survival. We will have to operate right away." declared the female Doctor. "The bullet is still lodged on his shoulder. Nurse Bailey, please remove the patient's clothing."

Jack lay unconscious on a movable single bed, surrounded by a doctor and four nurses who immediately got to work.

"Wait," interjected Brielle running up to them, suddenly remembering Jack's request. "I need to check his pocket."

The doctor looked a bit confused but nodded her consent. Brielle thanked her as she dug her hands into his left pant pocket to find a soft silk scarf. It was the very pink scarf that she had dropped when she had been kidnapped. He had found it and held on to it. She felt her eyes brim with tears.

She shook her head and checked his other pocket. Here she found a tiny camera, transmitter and recorder. She had no idea what all this was for, but she knew Jack probably had a good reason for carrying them. She covertly took them and hid them in her jeans.

"Done?" asked the doctor. Brielle nodded as she backed away, and the bed was pushed into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

Axky placed a hand over her shoulder, as she avoided his gaze. She didn't want him to see her crying and vulnerable. She was everything he had called her: Pouting Prissy, WaterWorks and Niagara Falls.

"Everything will be alright." said Paula unexpectedly pulling Brielle in for a hug. She finally let the tears fall and cried her heart out.

Axky sat in the waiting room, looking pretty torn up himself. Come on old guy. Hang in there. You make it through and maybe we could have a double wedding. Imagine our kids growing up together.

Brielle clutched the pink scarf close to her chest, praying that Jack would be alright. Her fingers grasped around something hard, there was something wrapped inside.

It was her engagement ring, the precious stone smeared with blood, but still beautiful as ever. She put it on herself. She really wanted to wear it for the rest of her life.

Damn it Jack. Just pull through okay?

***

It was only after the success of Jack's surgery that Brielle remembered the things she had found in Jack's pocket.

"Yes!" exclaimed Axky as Brielle handed him the camera and recorder. "We finally have the evidence we need."

"Evidence?" repeated Paula and Brielle in surprise.

"Yes. Don't tell me you didn't know." said Axky looking appalled. "The only reason Jack went into that place alone was to collect evidence. We can now send the Kormins and the Jones to jail."

"That's great." said Brielle smiling happily for the first time in what felt like years. 'Can I see it? Or hear, the recordings and stuff?"

"Sure." said Axky as he gave her an earphone to share in the waiting room. Paula had disappeared to get them something to eat. Brielle was ravenous with hunger and relief that Jack was going to be okay.

The video started in Axky's phone and Brielle recalled the incidents when she was trapped in the cellar. She saw the smirk on Zachary's face, the hatred in the Kormin's eyes and she heard once again, the words that had slipped out of Jack's mouth regarding her. How could she have forgotten?

"Here." said Zachary, and Brielle heard the flapping of papers. "All you have to do is sign here. Or you'll never see your darling Brielle again."

"Why do you keep coming back to Brielle?" asked Jack in a steely uncaring voice. "She means nothing to me. "

"Nothing?" repeated Zachary.

"None." said Jack in an indifferent tone. "She is of no importance to me. I was only putting up with her because I knew she would lead me to you. Now that I found you, we can settle this once and for all. What happens to Brielle is not something that matters to me."

She means nothing to me.

With every passing moment of the footage, Brielle realised just how big an idiot she was. Axky's eyes widened as he heard what Jack had said. How could Jack do this to the woman he loved?

"Brielle, he didn't mean it---" he said. But she wasn't listening. Paula turned up just then with a plate of delicious looking hamburgers. Brielle stood up quickly, pushing the earphones out of her hair.

"I'm not hungry." she said coldly and disappeared.

***

Jack awoke to a stinging sensation on his shoulder and right thigh. He felt as though someone had pricked him with infinite needles. He was probably in some hospital, because the pain was only one tenth of what he had been feeling before he lost consciousness. He didn't dislike the agony though, it told him he was still alive.

Something was tickling his chin, something soft and sweet smelling. He lifted his heavy lids with difficulty as he tried to locate the source of his ticklish sensation. A young woman was fast asleep on a chair, her head resting on the bed.

"Brielle," he breathed. His voice was barely audible, as he strained himself to speak. Every cell in his body hurt. But seeing her here, so close to him, unhurt and alive, made his spirits soar. Instinctively he sat up, immediately regretting his decision as his chest clenched. He slumped back down on the bed again unable to move without wincing in pain.

The brunette beside him stirred slightly as she finally awoke from her slumber.

"J-Jack" she stuttered as she sat up straight and saw that he was awake."You're okay." She beamed at him.

"Yes," he said hoarsely, his voice much louder now, simply by seeing her smile.

"I'll get the nurse," she said standing up. "You need---"

"Did you check my pockets?" he asked hopefully as he looked at the hospital gown he was wearing.

Brielle furrowed her eyebrows. She seemed to be in some sort of mental turmoil. Jack resolved to keep her happy for the rest of her life, come what may, she had been through enough.

"Yes. I did." said Brielle coldly. "Here it is."

She took the ring out of her handbag and gave it to him. Before he could ask her why she was returning it, she had already stormed out of the room.

P.S.