"But... you'll have to do something in return."

*****

Ethan looked at Courtney, smiling slightly.

"I'll do anything." He said.

Courtney looked at August and whispered something to him. Ethan didn't hear anything.

"$500? Do you have $500?"

"Why?"

"Don't ask me ANY questions! You either have it or you don't."

"I-I do have it."

"When do I get it?" She asked, smirking.

"Uhhh." He thought. "Tonight, tomorrow, whenever you want!"

"Tomorrow then. Tomorrow morning, 7am." She paused and looked at the CIA agent. "August, what's the street the apartments are on?

"Crawford Avenue." August smiled.

"Tomorrow, 7am. Crawford Avenue. You must be there at 7am SHARP. If you aren't there, I may have to kill you."

Ethan's eyes widened.

"I'm joking. I wouldn't hurt a fly." She said, acting as innocent as possible.

At the apartment, it was the last night of staying in the place for a while. They would be leaving to help Ethan on his mission. August kept staring at Courtney every so often.

"August?" She said, looking at him.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea to help him with this... plan? I mean, do you even trust him? Is he even who he seems?"

"Courts, I'm not sure if I trust him or not. He seems, you know, nice."

"He tried to kill me!"

"I know, I know. He does know that you're an assassin, right?"

Courtney stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"I never told him. He doesn't need to know that, does he?"

"Not really, no."

She stayed quiet.

"I mean, you did give him a hint of being an assassin."

"I didn't mean to! You know what I'm like! I always say something stupid."

"I know that. Just because you say something doesn't mean it's stupid."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, I'm telling the truth. It's not stupid. You just say things that can kind of give them a clue."

"That's stupid then!"

"No! It's not! Nothing you say is stupid, alright? Stop being hard on yourself. Let's just hope he doesn't understand what you said."

Meanwhile, Ethan was at home, thinking about what Courtney had said earlier.

"If you aren't there, I may have to kill you."

Wasn't that a bit... weird? Why would she kill him? Was it her job to kill someone if they weren't there? Would she really do that? He found it unlikely. Maybe she just accidentally said it to terrify him? Yeah, that's what he thought. He sighed and looked at the clock.

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

What did he think of Courtney? Sure, she was a nice person but her moods could change easily. If anything, he liked her a lot... as a friend. He knew about August liking her. He also knew about Courtney liking him.

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

Ethan knew how protective August was over Courtney. If only they both knew about each other's feelings. He was curious on how they both developed feelings for each other. It can't just come out of nowhere, right? Well, sometimes it can. You just have to pick the right person. That's probably how it was for August. It probably just came out of nowhere. Maybe it was like that for Courtney. That was unlikely.

Ethan knew that August had found Courtney before she had found him. Getting used to each other was probably the hard part. They had known each other for two years. He remembered a phrase they had both said to him.

"I began developing feelings for her since we were always working together."

"For two years, I have been hiding feelings for him."

That's when he figured it out. Courtney must've fell for August sometime after they met, most likely on the day they met otherwise it wouldn't be two years. August must've fell for Courtney some time after this as they were always working together. Maybe they had gotten so used to each other that they moved into together as roommates. Yeah, that made sense. When was their first mission? What made them like each other? The unanswered questions came back.

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

He looked over at Julia. She was sleeping. She must be a deep sleeper. How did she not feel his body climb into the bed? More unanswered questions. He yawned, obviously tired. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep. He began thinking about tomorrow morning. He really didn't have $500. How could he explain it to the spy?

"If you aren't there, I may have to kill you."

Would she actually KILL him? The thought of being dead ran through his head. Was Courtney actually an assassin?

'Hmm...' He thought. "She seem

nice but her moods change easily. She could be an assassin but it seems unlikely.'

He didn't know that Courtney was an assassin. He had no idea why she was employed. The same with August. He had no idea why he was employed. He dozed off, shutting off the thoughts in his head.