HEALER

E3:Disruption

Julian slept for thirty minutes in his hotel room but he could not continue after that. He sat up for another ten minutes as he thought about what he could do to catch some fun. He had already told Gabriel that he wanted no girls and this made it harder. He would need to find something to do or he might die of boredom.

He dipped his hand into his pocket and emptied its content. He had a black card (a card with unlimited money), a folded map of the United States, and finally, a card belonging to a business. It was that of a local coffee shop. He remembered receiving that from a girl he didn’t know at all. Since he was bored, he decided to go there instead of sitting in the hotel room.

He had to leave without telling Gabriel because he might try to stop him if he told Gabriel about it. All Julian wanted to do was to have fun. It was nothing more, nothing less. Even though Julian had no ulterior motives in going to see Mia, he felt as if he was doing the wrong thing. Her presence seemed intriguing and he couldn’t help but see more of it. Thus, Julian snuck out of the hotel room and off he went to Mia’s coffee shop.

On getting there, Julian could see her making a call from the transparent covering. She looked so concentrated and once more, Julian was in awe. Seeing how relaxed yet excited she looked, he couldn’t help but admire her. When she turned and their eyes met, Julian gasped. She looked shocked as well. Nervous, Julian turned away to leave but Mia ended her call pretty soon and ran after him.

“Why are you leaving?” Mia called. “Please come in. I will treat you as promised.”

Right there, Julian nodded and followed her. She seemed to have more confidence in herself and as they walked, she admired her backside shape. She looked sexy and also confident in the way she looked.

“What do you want?” Mia asked, unsure of what else to say. She was so happy that she disappointed William who thought Julian would never have interest in her.

“Let me have the menu,” Julian replied. Mia, with a smile on her face, handed it over and he went through. All that was listed sounded delicious on paper but he didn’t expect much. From the average cafes he visited in Italy, he knew their coffees were more delicious on paper than the actual thing.

“I could help you make a selection too, if you don’t mind,” Mia smiled. Julian began to feel uncomfortable due to her countless smiles. It looked like flirting to him and in Italy, he would have told her simply for them to get a room. However, Julian would never try that with Mia. She was worth more than a one night stand to him.

“Don’t bother,” Julian replied. “I will go with selection two and snacks from selection five.”

“Great choice!” Mia replied and began to get on with his order. She was supposed to start a little chit-chat as the host but for the first time in her life, words failed her. Even here, Julian had a domineering presence that would make anyone intimidated.

“What is your name? I forgot to ask the other time,” Julian finally began the discussion, lessening the burden on Mia.

“Mia!” she replied once again with a smile. “You look like a foreigner from the first glance. Are you an American?”

“Nah,” Julian smiled for the first time since he got there. “I am from Italy. Even there, people tell me I look like a foreigner. I don’t think I look Italian at all.”

“Looks like that…” Mia said after glancing at him again. Now, he looked really American. She only remembered that she didn’t go through his personal files meticulously enough.

“I am a half caste. My…” Julian began to give information that only few people knew about him.

“No, let me take a guess!” Mia exclaimed naturally. “Since you look more American than Italian, your father is the American man who married your mother in Italy.”

“Not bad,” Julian smiled even though Mia was incorrect. “How about you tell me what situation brought them together?”

“Let’s start from this,” Mia began to get into it. “Have you ever been here since you were born?”

“Once, for an auction,” Julian replied confidently.

“That means you have lived in Italy all your life!” Mia exclaimed before continuing. “I’d say your father went to Italy because loan sharks were after him. There, he met your mother who helped him settle and then, they had s*x and you came into existence in your mother’s womb. Your mom’s family rejects her marrying a foreigner but in the end, love wins. You were born and Italy became your new home.”

“Are you done?” Julian asked, battling with serious laughter.

“I am,” Mia said confidently as if she had gotten the answer right.

“You said gibberish, girl,” Julian told her. “First, my mother was American with my father being Italian. I guess my mother’s genes were stronger than my father’s own.”

“It’s only right if you put it that way,” Mia replied. She began to remember parts of Julian’s personal information now.

“My father was a great man…” Julian replied. “He is late now but his name is still one to be never forgotten in various places in Italy.”

“Does he give charity and special donations?” Mia asked in trickery. She needed a lot of background information to write her report that night. She picked up her phone and secretly turned on her sound recorder so she wouldn’t need to go through the hassle.

“He was a…” Julian stopped talking and eyed Mia suspiciously. Throughout his life, he had never spoken so much about his family background. This was the first time and it was suspicious to see how he had been comfortable around her.

Mia moved a little further from him. The coffee was ready and that was the right momentum. Picking up the cup, she placed it in front of him and got the snacks.

“You should speak. Why did you stop?” Mia asked carefully.

Julian’s suspicion didn’t end there. He picked up Mia’s phone carefully and while he did that, Mia’s heart beat harder than ever. Julian only checked the phone’s model and dropped it. Mia almost gasped out of relief.

“You don’t look poor but it seems you are poor,” Julian commented. “This phone was manufactured here in America like I heard but you are still using the older version. This looks like the version from seven years ago. There have been seven different upgrades too.”

“I bought it only two years ago,” Mia replied smoothly.

“So you are really poor in reality. You could have bought an upgraded version then,” Julian shook his head. Mia seemed to have caught his attention and he felt like buying her an upgraded version too.

“I won’t dispute that. What did you come here for? Another auction?” Mia asked slowly. She served the snacks carefully before him.

“It’s different this time,” Julian replied slowly. “I didn’t come for an auction.”

“Then, a trip to look around,” Mia muttered.

“I haven’t got the time for such actually!” Julian told her firmly. “I came here to make things right. The details are none of your business.”

“You could choose not to tell me actually,” Mia replied but in actual sense, she was disappointed. In her mission, Julian’s motive was very important. However, she was not too distraught. She had done different missions involving men and she was going to get what she wanted even if she had to use her body.

“It’s not for a woman like you to know,” Julian smiled. He picked up the coffee and drank. Mia’s eyes turned out of curiosity on hearing this.

“Would you have told me if I was a man?” Mia asked curiously.

“Probably,” Julian replied. “Women are naturally weak. They are like pets, not strong ones like guard dogs. They seek protection and make wrong decisions all the time.”

“In your view, a woman is lesser than a man,” Mia said quietly, clenching her fists angrily without letting Julian see.

“Not exactly!” Julian replied without knowing he was stepping on Mia’s feet. “I believe women are weaker and dumber. It’s not my belief. It’s real too.”

Mia had lived her life in anger to the same fact that Julian was stroking. One of the reasons she joined the international crimes unit was to prove that a woman could do what a man could do. Now, she was mad at Julian. She knew she must not lose her temper while on the mission but she could barely control herself.

“Get out!” Mia told him quickly. She would never regret this decision.