Nightfall asked herself if it was possible to die from boredom.

She had been sitting in her car for the last three hours, in front of a building full of cheap apartments, in charge of surveilling that suspicious lieutenant who interrogated Yor Briar at the hospital. For the past two weeks, following him had been her only mission.

It wasn 't easy to follow an SSS officer. Of course, she was scared of getting caught, but when she reminded herself that she was doing this to protect her beloved mentor, she felt brave and motivated. As always, when it came to Twilight, she took her job very seriously, no matter how dangerous or dull it was.

Nightfall used all of her skills and all sorts of disguises to shadow the man.

And in reality, following him was 'quite boring.

All that lieutenant did was work. He interrogated people, followed clues, did paperwork, work many extra hours and then went home to an empty apartment.

After two weeks of the same routine, Nightfall was convinced she had been right all along 'Twilight had been paranoid about the man and that lieutenant was probably being polite to Yor Briar by pretending they had met before.

It was the last day of that surveilling mission, and she was ready to go home. It was late and her target was already in his apartment, so she could call it a day. She tried turning on her car, but it didn 't work. Annoyed with herself, she realized she 'd forgotten to put gas in the vehicle.

'Great! '

she thought angry, as she got out, ready to walk to a gas station she 'd pass nearby.

Luckily, it didn 't take her long to go get the gas and come back.

She was tired, hungry, and annoyed. She hadn 't seen Twilight for two whole weeks, and she was growing desperate to see him. Thank God today was the last day she had to follow that boring man. As she filled the gas tank, she felt happy to be returning to her regular job at the hospital, where she could see Twilight all day, every day.

Sometimes this job could be so '

strange

. A lot of times, it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time 'sheer luck. And Nightfall was about to get really lucky.

She got back in her car and as soon as she turned it on, she saw the lieutenant leaving his apartment. It was very late, and Nightfall thought he hadn 't done this before. So, she followed him at a safe distance, like Twilight taught her.

They drove for quite a while until they reached a fancy upper crust neighborhood, and he stopped at a huge house that almost looked like a palace.

The lieutenant parked outside and walked to the entrance, where other men talked to him and let him in right away.

Nightfall knew whose house was this. She had seen it countless times while studying Twilight 's most important mission (Strix), so she knew exactly where they were 'this was Donovan Desmond 's house.

What was the lieutenant doing here at this hour?

No matter what kind of disguise she used, Nightfall knew the guards at the entrance wouldn 't let her in. But she couldn 't just leave like that. She had to find out what was going on.

So, she studied the large property for a while and only got out of the car when she was sure which part of the mansion had a weak spot in surveillance. Then, she climbed the fence and got inside the property.

It was reckless, she knew. If she got caught, not only she would get herself in trouble, but also, she would jeopardize Twilight 's mission. Nightfall knew the right thing to do was to leave, but she had a hunch. And her mentor had taught her well 'follow your instincts.

So, she did.

And in the end, it paid off.

She got lucky once more in the same night. There was an open window and a light in one of the rooms form the first floor. It looked like a rich person 's study or a library. Nightfall could hear voices and she was able to take a quick peek to find out who was in the room. The person she saw almost made her gasp.

It was Donovan Desmond, talking to someone she hadn 't met before, but had seen plenty of times, again in photographs from Operation Strix. But even if she had never seen the pictures, she would recognize those hateful crimson eyes anywhere.

It was Yuri Briar.

'So, what do you plan to do about it? ' Yuri asked Desmond.

'What we always planned. Take them down. ' Desmond answered.

'And can we do that? ' Yuri scuffed.

'Looks like we don 't have a choice, do we? ' the older man countered. 'Come on, Yuri. You knew this from the beginning. These are the real bad guys. '

Yuri didn 't reply.

'Don 't worry, we 'll plan carefully to minimize risks, ' Desmond offered. 'We won 't let them attack first. '

Nightfall listened this conversation without any context.

What the hell were they talking about?

***

The next morning, Nightfall was having problems keeping her usual stone face. She couldn 't help smiling.

Not only she was back at the hospital, and she would be able to see her beloved Twilight, but she also had a treasure of information. What she knew would change

everything

.

At last, Twilight would see her as his equal, someone he could always rely on. Maybe today was a good day to confess her feelings to him.

Maybe '

The only bad thing about this information was that it would probably extend the duration of Operation Strix. Probably indefinitely. She hated the idea of Twilight having to spend one more single day with that woman, but maybe that could change too. Maybe it was time to take the gloves off regarding that issue. She had to think of something smart to get Yor Briar out of the way.

Maybe if another man were to woo her away from Twilight '

Or if she discovered Twilight didn 't want her anymore '

Nightfall needed to think of something quickly, especially now that Operation Strix was about to get really complicated.

Calm down and think

, she told herself.

Even if Twilight had feelings for that woman, that didn 't mean Yor Briar had feelings for him. But even in the very unlikely case she did, Twilight wouldn't act on these feelings. The man was a professional, right? He would never dare to touch that woman, he was way too in control of his emotions, she knew that.

Nightfall decided to go straight to Twilight 's office, without stopping at hers to leave her coat and gloves. She was too anxious see him.

Twilight arrived at his office at the same time as her, looking as handsome as ever.

A smile almost escaped her lips when she saw he was wearing a scarf. It wasn 't really that cold anymore, definitely not cold enough to wear a scarf, but for her it was endearing 'it was a scarf she had knitted herself and had given to him as present last Christmas.

This was the best day of her life.

Seeing that scarf around his neck was a good sign. After telling him the information she had gathered, she was going to confess her feelings.

Nightfall entered his office and closed the door behind her, a tiny smile painted on her face, but he didn 't notice it.

He looked '

different

.

The usual tension in his face was not there. His blue eyes were full of emotion and looked so far away. Where was the coldness she was used to? He was

transfixed

.

Her heart started beating fast, as if telling her something was terribly wrong.

He sat on his office chair and the first thing he did was look at the family picture he kept on top of his desk for appearances.

Nightfall 's smile faded immediately.

But that wasn 't all.

He took off the scarf that she had lovingly knitted as if it was something bothersome. And Nightfall thought '

If it was too hot for him, then why the hell is he wearing it? '

She got her answer as soon as she saw his neck.

He had a love bite.

Nightfall didn 't know if she wanted to scuff, cry, or just plain hit him.

'I trust your fake wife is recovering well, ' she said not taking her eyes off his neck.

Aware of her looks, Twilight tried to cover his neck arranging the collar of his shirt, unsuccessfully. He was blushing.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably before answering her. 'Yes, my wife is doing better. She 's going back to work on Monday. '

Nightfall nodded, angry, but stone faced.

'Did you find out anything about the lieutenant? ' He asked changing the subject.

Nightfall took a second to respond. She knew what her information would mean for Twilight and Operation Strix. It was basically a pass to be with Yor Briar for a very, very long time.

'I found nothing. '

'Well, that 's great. I guess that means you were right about him being nice to Yor, ' he concluded.

Nightfall looked at him for what it seemed a long time before Twilight asked:

'Anything else? '

'Can I have my gun back? ' she replied.

'Yes, of course, ' Twilight opened a drawer, took Nightfall 's gun and handed it to her. 'Thank you for letting me borrow it. '

She didn 't answer. She just grabbed the gun and carefully put it in her pocket.

After that, she turned around and left.

She had plenty of work to do.