~~~

Meena sat cross-legged on the king-sized bed in the suite and turned on the TV, flipping through channels as she sipped her coffee. Annoyed that she couldn't find anything good to watch, she settled on a news channel that was showing the weather for the next week to drown out the sound of the shower running while she finished off her hot life juice.

Shortly after, Niko came out of the steamy bathroom. Meena turned the TV's volume down a bit and sheepishly avoided looking at him as she confessed, "Um, by the way, you paid for this room. I don't have much money on me right now and you slept for a whole day and a half so I hope you don't mind." She reached into the pocket of her shorts and held out his fancy wallet as she turned to him finally. "Here's your carrrRRRRDDDD?!" She immediately dropped the wallet and empty coffee cup and covered her eyes with her hands.

Niko tensed up and looked around the room for intruders, grabbing the table lamp as a weapon.

Meena peeked just a bit through her fingers to see him holding the lamp up with one hand ready to hit something, and barely gripping his wet towel around his waist with the other hand.

"What?! What is it?!" he asked, slowly making his way around the suite as he investigated while readying his lamp for impact.

"Where are your clothes?!" Meena almost screeched at him.

Niko froze in place and turned to her, looking down at his towel, then up to Meena's flushed face in hiding. "OH," he said simply. He awkwardly set the lamp back down on the table and wrapped the towel tighter self-consciously. "They were... dirty and torn. From my escape attempt in the garage."

Meena thought back to when he wriggled on the ground, bound with ropes. She pressed her lips together to hold in the laughter that tried to burst out. "I'll... get you some new ones," she managed to say without giggling. She quickly stood up from the bed and scurried into the bathroom, shielding her eyes from his half-naked body. Luckily, he left his clothes on the bathroom floor. Typical spoiled rich man. She rolled her eyes and went through all of the tags in the suit and took note of his sizes. When she got to his boxers, she nudged them with her foot until the tag was in view, her face scrunched in disgust. Then, being sure to keep her own undergarments beneath, she shifted her pajamas into a new suit with Niko's sizes. She took the oversized clothing off and laid it on the bathroom counter. Then she shifted into a cropped black tank and jeans with a nice leather jacket on top for herself.

Meena left the bathroom and put a hand up to cup her eyes. "I left you a new suit in the bathroom," she told him without looking at him.

"I was just going to buy one, but…" Niko raised an eyebrow. "How?" he asked skeptically.

Meena waved his question off, trying to ignore the jealousy that flared up. This man would actually just buy a new suit because his current one got a little dirty. Sometimes Meena was on the run for a week or more before she could wash her one single outfit. But sure, Niko probably never wore the same thing twice. "It's a clothes changing power, nothing special. Go get dressed. Quickly," she answered tersely.

Niko pulled the wet towel up further and mumbled, "Nothing special? That's pretty cool..." as he shut the bathroom door behind him.

Meena breathed a sigh of relief and shifted some boots on. As much as she wanted to stay in this super nice hotel suite forever, she would be found soon enough. Chronos Corp. was never more than a week on her heels. And something in the back of her mind told her that Niko wasn't safe either. Her ears perked as she heard the TV mention Chronos and she quickly fumbled with the remote to turn up the volume of the news channel.

Big words scrolled across the bottom of the screen continuously as the reporters spoke: CHRONOS CORP AND RUSSIA AGREEMENT. "...the Russian government signed a contract just yesterday. After rumors that the spread of Chronos Corp. would be temporarily halted, everyone is somewhat surprised by this new development!" one reporter with impeccably gelled hair read.

The pretty female reporter sitting next to him nodded in agreement. "It is quite a surprise. In the past few months there have been several terrorist attacks, not to mention the overall increase in crime throughout the world. But Chronos Corp. is still going strong and still remains the most important company to date. We've been assured that these terrorist attacks are being taken seriously by the company and will still be investigated thoroughly. We plan to keep viewers updated on this investigation as soon as we are informed."

"In other news..." Meena muted the TV. At some point, Niko had exited the bathroom and stared at the television, stunned mid-step. Meena turned to him. She wasn't sure what to say. His face was a tornado of emotions. She bit her lip nervously.

"You said I slept for a whole day?" he asked finally. Meena nodded. Niko shook his head. "I don't understand. I specifically said that we won't be expanding any further. Why did this contract get signed?"

Meena really didn't want to be the one to tell him this, but since she was the only one with him, she was kind of forced to. "Listen, Niko-"

"Nikolas."

"Listen, Niko. Clearly you weren't kidnapped just for a ransom or something. Those guys were told to keep you there for a certain amount of time, then who knows what they were told to do after. But mysteriously this contract gets signed while you're away and there's no news on your disappearance... whatsoever?" Meena lifted an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to get the picture.

Niko shook his head. "There wouldn't be news of my disappearance at any given time, unless I died. It's bad for the company and bad for our stocks. But I see your point about the contract. Those henchmen must have been hired by the Russian officials."

Meena's eye twitched. She stared at the incredibly handsome man with black hair, piercing gray eyes, sharp jawline, and straight nose. His voice had a slight accent to it on some words and women probably thought he was dreamy in a manly kind of way. At that moment, however, Meena thought that he was incredibly... stupid. "Do you... really own Chronos?" she asked him, her eye still twitching.

Niko stood up straight and stuck his nose in the air arrogantly, pulling his suit jacket down. "Of course. Why?"

Meena ran a hand through her damp, dark brown hair, obviously frustrated. "Do you have any idea what Chronos Corp. does?"

"I make all the decisions involving my company. My brother and myself have run it well for the past year," he answered defensively.

This man clearly had no idea what Chronos Corp. really did. And if he didn't know, then who at Chronos was calling the shots?