The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

"ELLE!" 

Erick yelled as he rushed towards her direction.

The woman whom Erick called Elle halted on her steps and turned to the direction of that voice. In no time, Erick reached her spot and pulled her against his body, hugging her tightly.

"Oh my! Oh my! Who is this very handsome guy?!" The girl beside them gasped in surprise as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her.

The girl in his arms didn't protest nor push Erick away. Instead, her body acted on its own as she hugged him back. When Erick felt that soft arms wrapping his body as if he found what he had lost for these past two years.

The girl who was witnessing this scene didn't know whether to cry or laugh. She was utterly shocked because of her friend's boldness.

'Oh my?! What happened to the earth?! She is hugging a complete stranger? I am not dreaming right?!'

After no one knows how long, Erick released the petite girl from that very tight hug. With tears-burned eyes, Erick watched the girl before him intently.

The girl subconsciously raised her hand to wipe his tears using her bare hands. Then after a few seconds, she spoke up.

"Mr. De...Handsome, don't cry. I am not dead...yet." the woman mumbled as she glanced at him meaningfully.

Erick's eyes widened after hearing that familiar voice.

'There's no mistake. She's Elle!'

"ALIYAH ROSS!!! What the hell are you doing? Flirting with a complete stranger! Get away from him quickly! Come here! You didn't know he might be a stalker or a… handsome pervert!"

When Ali heard that nagging voice, she became clear-headed right away and she realized her mistake.

'Dang! My mistake. I am not supposed to do this! I should have controlled myself more or else everything will be ruined.' Ali thought as she scolded herself inwardly.

Meanwhile, Erick moved his gaze back and forth between the two ladies. His brows were drawn together in a frown.

'Who is Aliyah Ross? Why is she calling Elle a different name?'

Then he gave Aliyah a questioning gaze as if asking her to explain. She was about to say something when a sudden commotion happened. They heard the sound of gunshots resonating inside the venue followed by people's panicking shout.

A few seconds later, the crowd was running towards their direction. They were rushing to go out of the convention center.

Erick was distracted. He was not able to take action quickly. The panicking crowd ran in between them bumping them harshly thus separating the two of them. When he looked at her previous spot, she was already gone.

"Elle!" He shouted again and called her.

Erick continued shouting Elle's name as he searched for her in the crowd. But to his disappointment, he lost her in the crowd.

Suddenly, Erick felt a hand grabbing his elbow. He turned around only to see Bryan.

"Erick… what's wrong? You seem like you have seen a ghost." Bryan mumbled as he assessed Erick's expression.

"No. She is not a ghost. She's real!" Erick said as a response.

Bryan looked at him confusedly.

'Eh… what is he talking about?'

Though he wanted to ask him further this was not the proper time to do that.

"Let's go back. There is a sniper inside. The guards and security personnel are chasing after him right now!" Bryan said as he pulled Erick back inside the convention center.

Erick took one last glance at the direction where the girl who looked like Elle vanished in his sight. 

'I'll find you. I need to confirm that Elle is alive.' Erick promised to himself before he followed Bryan.

Meanwhile, the girl whom Erick was trying to find was now outside the convention center together with the panicking crowd.

"Oh my gosh! Ali! A lot of absurd things are happening today!" 

"Hmm. Sandy, you can let go of my hand now." 

Sandy shot her a glare. "How dare you?! You even let a complete stranger hug you. Your friend is just holding your hand and now you are asking me to let go of your hand! Are you favoring a stranger over your friend?!"

Aliyah just let out a soft chuckle and said, "I didn't mean that. It's just that… you are gripping me too tightly."

Then Sandy's gaze fell on their hands. Indeed, she was gripping her too tightly because of nervousness. When she heard the gunshot and saw the people running towards their direction Sandy immediately grabbed Aliyah's hand and dragged her out of that place.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Sandy apologized as she released her hand from her grasp.

She gazed up only to see the sullen expression of her friend.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you cry? Are you hurting somewhere? Did you bring your medicine with you?" Sandy bombarded her with questions as she became worried about her.

Without waiting for her response, Sandy grabbed Aliyah's bag and searched for her medicine right away.

"Hey, calm down. I'm alright." 

"You don't look fine for me." Sandy spat back at her.

"Here, take this! Your doctor advised you to take this medicine as soon as you feel the pain. Did you forget that?" Sandy was acting like a concerned mother, insisting her child to take the medicine.

Aliyah just sighed helplessly, watching her very persistent friend.

"I swear I am fine. I am a little bit shocked about what had just happened there." 

'I just didn't expect to bump into him this soon.' Aliyah added to her thoughts.

She tried her best to convince her friend to believe her. Finally, Sandy calmed down and felt relieved when she saw her sincerity in her eyes. She was telling the truth. She seemed okay now. 

"Hmm alright. Let's go to our car. Josh is already there, waiting for us. This place is still dangerous. We should leave now! We still have many articles to write today." Sandy suggested to her.

Aliyah looked at her with disbelief.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sandy said as she raised her brows at her.

"Are you really a reporter? A situation like this is a big scope. We should shoot this live-action!"

"Are you insane? Do you want to stay here and get shot by the killer there? Or do you want to see that handsome pervert once again?" Sandy gave her a suspicious look.

Cough! Cough!

Aliyah choked on Sandy's last question. 

'Did she see through me? But wait... [email protected]! Does she really think of him as a pervert?! I want to hit her head and knock some senses out of her.'

"So?" Sandy probed as she waited for her response.

Aliyah let out a forced laugh as she denied her accusation. "You are just overthinking. Why are you getting so worked up?"

"Because I am jealous! It's so unfair! Why it has to be you, not me? I am more huggable than you. Hmmph!"

Aliyah: "..."

Aliyah was at a loss for words after hearing that.

"But kidding aside, do you know him?" Sandy asked her again.

Aliyah paused for a moment before she answered her.

"N-No. I think he just mistook me for someone."

"Oh, is that so? Then why did you cling onto him too?" Now, she sounded really suspicious.

'[email protected]! This girl has a lot of questions. I just want to keep her mouth shut!'

Aliyah took a deep breath and said, "Well… What can I do? I was starstruck at that time. I was bewitched by his heavenly beauty."

Sandy was flabbergasted by her remarks. It did not take long when she burst into a peal of laughter.

"Starstruck my @ss! [email protected] Ali! I couldn't believe that you have that word inside your vocabulary! It's a miracle! Hahaha… we had seen a lot of handsome and good looking men but I've never seen you take a second look at them, even once. You totally ignored them!"

"And just a while ago, you looked like a statue of liberty who froze in your spot when that handsome pervert guy suddenly hugged you!"

Aliyah frowned in annoyance and exclaimed, "Can you stop calling him a pervert!"

"Hahahaha… see! You are even defending him now. Tsk Tsk Tsk." Sandy shook her head as she continued to tease her friend.

She continued interrogating her.

"And what's with you, touching his face? Oh… Mr. Handsome, don't cry. I am not dead yet." Sandy exaggeratedly reenacted her action just a while ago and mimicked her words in an overacting manner.

"Of course, people cry if someone dies. What's wrong with my sentence?! I am just trying to console a charming man who is shedding tears in front of me!"

'[email protected]! I want to bury this girl alive and cut her tongue off!'

Swoosh!

In order for Aliyah to prevent herself from doing that, she snatched her bag out of Sandy's grasp and marched out, leaving her alone in that place. She went ahead without looking back as she went to the parking lot.

"Hey, Ali! You, heartless woman! Wait for me!" Sandy yelled as she quickly chased after her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, inside the RC Convention Center where the shooting incident happened, the security personnel and the members of Team Alpha Cinco were able to secure Senator Mondragon's safety together with his other colleagues.

Fortunately, no civilian got injured during the incident however the culprit had escaped. They guarded the Senator and the rest and transferred them immediately to a safe place.

On the other hand, Erick went to the CCTV control room to check the footage. He confirmed that the culprit was a man. But they failed to have a clear shot of his face. He was wearing a cap and a mask.

One thing was bothering Erick. It seemed that the true motive of the guy was to create a commotion and just frightened the people. If he was just an amateur then he would not be able to escape easily. But since he was an expert then how come no one got hurt?