The joys of loving you

The same men in black jackets

Charlie’s heart beats raise in excitement as the plane starts to descend to the world’s most populous city that is etched in ancient history. The city of Xaintea is beautiful as it is cold as it attempts to integrate ancient architecture and infrastructure into the modern era of skyscrapers and fast cars. She squeezed Mon’s hands as they looked at each other in with wide grins across their faces.

To Mon emotions are raised as she visits her hometown where her parents grew up prior to migrating overseas, it is like returning to her roots. Charlie is emotionally reliving the best holiday she had with her best friend before life pulled them in their separate ways. She promised herself, this trip will be much more fun! She won’t hold Mon back from doing the daring stuff due to her wimpy-ness as last time.

Catching a cab was an easy experience but one challenged by language barriers. Luckily, the cab drivers at the airport is experienced in handling foreigners and their hotel is a well-known one. Once they settled down into their three star hotel, they reviewed their itinerary and decided to take a walk around the city to find dinner.

Tomorrow they have a date to climb the city’s most famous attraction, the greatest wall that have been built in previous dynasties to preserve and protect the city inhabitants from foreign invasion. This infrastructure is an amazing sight, situated on the highest natural ridges surrounding the city and history records have shown that no foreign army was able to break through or scale the high walls of the fortress.

Charlie remembered last time, due to her fear of heights and low resilience to the cold she wimped out and stopped climbing at the first stopping point. Poor Mon had to keep climbing by herself, which was not a fun experience. This time she will not let her best friend down again! Charlie will set aside her fear of heights and persist with the climb.

Fully immersed in the city’s night lights they walked with their arms linked and eyes wandering at different restaurants. Despite being covered from head to toes with their warm puffy coats, beanies and boots, the girls still felt the city’s cold wind steep to their necks.

As they were about to enter a restaurant which offered intriguing lamb hot pot, loud screeches from wheels stopped them in their tracks.

Bang! Bang!

The screeches were followed by two loud bangs and sounds of doors slamming. Charlie looked around to find people shivering in fear. She instantly saw the source of the commotion. It was an oddly familiar scene. There were men in black wind breakers holding three older men down onto the ground, in the middle of the path.

The men are dressed in formal suits and looked quite reputable in contrast to their extravagant sports cars. One was resisting and screaming loudly while the other two are were shivering in fear.

From the number of cars surrounding the red sports car, it looked like there was a car chase. The guys from the red sports car must have tried to run but were cornered by the men from the black cars. Looking at the pot bellies of the three compared the fit men in black jackets, it made sense why they couldn’t escape.

The three men were dragged into the black cars while one of the black wind breaker guys drove the red sports car. Within a few minutes the street was cleared and only a few black tire marks were left.

Bewildered, Charlie could not believe her eyes, just within a few weeks she has witnessed two different kidnappings by the same group. The crazy thing was that they are in a different country altogether. Should they alert the authorities?

Charlie described to Mon the beautiful man she met in the club the other night and how he had the men in the same designed black jackets following him up the stairs just before the incident. Mon recognised a sleazy look at faintly flashed over her friend’s face and chuckled to herself. Charlie seems to understand the reason behind Mon’s chuckle causing her face to flush bright red in embarrassment.

It seemed strange to them that they would bump into the same group doing similarly things halfway across the world. They speculated this this group must operate internationally either to fight crime or conduct crime. At this point they are not sure which side the ground stands on. But, what does it have to do with them?

The girls discussed this over dinner and despite their own reservations they decided the best course of action is to keep it to themselves. It is not wise to get involved in anything can become dangerous and risk their lives. They should put their heads down and enjoy their holiday.

Anyways, who will believe two young girls who could not speak the local language and have no proof of anything? Plus, the people around them might have already notified the authorities. Why make a big deal if the locals didn’t react to this? Who knows, maybe this is a normal occurrence, after all they grew up in a sheltered area.

After dinner they walked around for a bit, enjoying the city’s nightlife in subzero degrees. Young men and women walking hand in hand filled the city, giving it’s a vibrant atmosphere.

Charlie breathe in the cold night air happily as she watches Mon’s brilliant smile and the wisps of condensation they breathe out. It is such a beautiful and harmonious night that is etched in Charlie’s memories.

They explored the night market and went from one stall to the next. Charlie loves the barbeque lamb skewers she bought from one stall. Then she smelt the most alluring smoky smell in the distance. Dragging Mon along they come to a queue in front of a stall selling barbeque squid on a stick.

Jumping up and down in excitement, Charlie’s mouth salivated with the memory of the squid sticks she had in the last life. This time she must buy at least eight sticks to satisfy her cravings!

Unfortunately, Charlie’s gluttony was curtailed as the stall had imposed a limit on the number of sticks, they can purchase due the long line. Between the two of them, the girls purchased four sticks and its delicious taste did not disappoint. Tomorrow night, they promised themselves that they will return to this store and clean it out!