My Ex Double Life

The rain was pouring intensely that night when Ava heard a loud knock on her door. She rested her book right next to her cup of tea on the coffee table and got up from her rocking chair.

Ava hurriedly put on her robe as the knock got louder and more aggressive. She then rushed to her front door and peeped into the spy hole. At that moment, tears fell from her eyes as her hands trembled to get the door open.

"Rake, what are you doing here?" Ava softly said, yet there was anger in her tone.

She stood at the opened door, staring at a man that had left her broken for so many years, and finally, when she came to accept the fact that he was never coming back, here he is, standing in front of her house soaking wet in the rain.

"I need your help. Your house will be the last place that they will ever think about looking for me at, so please help me." Rake said with his hand pressed against his side.

"Who's they? What have you gotten yourself into, Rake?" Ava worriedly asked.

But when she looked at his side, and her eyes caught a red liquid dripping on the ground, Ava decided to keep the questions for later.

"Come in." She softly said as she folded her arms and stepped to the side.

Rake gave her a soft smile before walking into the house. Ava then took a deep breath and shut the door.

"Wow, this place still looks the same." Rake mumbled as he stared around the living room.

"You don't get to do that!" Ava coldly said with wet eyes.

Rake did not reply as he stared at Ava's angry expression since he knew that whatever he said would only make the matter worse.

"Is that a bullet wound?" Ava asked out of concern as she stared at Rake's side.

"It's just a wound. I will be fine." Rake said.

Ava frowned at Rake's remark. She could not believe how clueless and heartless he could be.

"That's good then! Because not everyone is fine after badly getting wounded." Ava stated.

"Ava, listen. I am..." Rake tried to say, but his words got cut short.

"No, you listen here! You don't get to walk back into my life after years have passed and pretend as if nothing had happened between us."

"I understand that. But there's so much that you don't know."

Ava was in a state of rage at this point. She did not want to pretend as though she was fine and happy in the way she had been doing with her friends and family over the years. All Ava wanted to do was yell out all the rage and hurt she felt inside her heart.

"Haha! What could that be then? Was it so important for you to leave me on the day of our engagement party and vanish without a trace!" Ava screamed.

"Yes, it was." Rake said as he stared at the ring on Ava's finger.

The living room was quiet for a while, and only the melody of the rushing rain could get heard throughout the house.

"I will get the First Aid kit." Ava mumbled while fighting back her tears.

Without looking back, she walked out of the living room and headed upstairs to her room.

"I am sorry, Ava. But my life is too dangerous for you to be a part of. I was naïve back then to think I could keep you with all the danger surrounding my life. It's best that you hate me then to get hurt because of me." Rake mumbled as he removed the bloody shirt from his body.

Ava angrily opened her drawer and took out the first aid kit. She turned around to leave the room, but then dropped to her knees and bitterly sobbed.

"How can he still have this much effect on me? It's been so many years already. I should be over him by now. But why isn't it so?" Ava mumbled with an aching heart.

After some minutes had passed, Rake got worried that Ava was not down with the kit yet. Therefore, he went upstairs to check on her.

When Rake arrived at Ava's room door and overheard her soft cry, he rested his hand against the wooden frame and listened as his heart hurt.

"Ava, are you okay?" Rake called when he could not hear her sobbing anymore.

"No, I'm not." Ava harshly said.

"Can I come in?"

"If you want to do so."

Rake pushed the door open and entered the room. At that moment, he saw Ava on the floor with her head bent against her knee. With his eyes fixed on her, Rake slowly walked over to Ava and squatted in front of her.

"I am sorry. I know saying this does not make up for what I did to you or the pain I have caused, but I really am sorry." Rake softly said.

"Then why did you leave if you knew that it was going to hurt me?" Ava asked as she lifted her head and gazed at him.

"I can't say." Rake honestly answered while staring deep into her eyes.

Ava knew that he wasn't lying to her, and that caused her to be more curious about the reason he left her.

"Did you even love me?" Ava asked with concern in her eyes.

"I am bleeding. I don't think this is the right time for childish questions." Rake said.

He grabbed the first aid kit and headed into the bathroom, leaving Ava speechless and more hurt.

A minute later, after Rake had patched up his wound and bandaged it, he came out of the bathroom.

"Here your pillow and comforter. You can sleep on the couch for tonight, then I want you out of my house by tomorrow morning." Ava coldly said.

"Are you being serious right now?" Rake asked out of shock.

"Yes, I am."

"Fine."

Rake took the pillow and comforter from Ava's hands. He then walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"It's okay, Av. You have been doing great without him, and you don't need him now." Ava mumbled to herself, yet she was not confident about her words.

The moment Rake threw the stuff on the sofa, his phone started ringing in his trouser's pocket.

"Hello, boss." Rake said after he answered the call.

"Did you get the target?" A rough and cold manly voice harshly flowed into Rake's ears.

"No, boss. The mission was a bust. Someone tipped off the target, and he got prepared for my attack. I was lucky to get out of there with only a bullet wound?."

"Excuses! I need the job done tomorrow, or else a bullet wound will be the last thing you have to worry about."

"Yes, boss."

After the call ended, Rake tossed his phone onto the couch. He then sat down and covered his face with both his hands.

"By tomorrow, I will be gone, and you won't have to see or experience the other side of my double life." Rake mumbled out of frustration as he relaxed on the couch.

Ava opened her eyes to the bright morning light from the rising sun. She tossed on the bed a bit, then Rake came to her mind, so she raced to the living room. The thought that had kept her up for half of the night had come true.

"He's gone." She mumbled as her eyes pitifully stared at the comforter folded nicely on the couch and the pillow beside it.

Ave was about to head back upstairs and sob for a few minutes when a note on the table caught her attention.

"I made you breakfast as a way of saying thank you. I am sorry for every pain that I have caused you. I also hope you can forget about me and move on with your life and find someone better who will be a better partner and man than I ever was to you." The note said.

Ava allowed her tears to escape her eyes as she let the paper slip from her hand.

"You fool! Don't you know that there's no other man for me except you? I have waited for years for you to come back and explain why you left me and my heart broken. Yet, just like that, you disappear without a trace, and I am left picking myself up and putting my heart back together. You are so cruel, Rake!" Ava angrily said as she fell to the carpet on both her knees and wept bitterly.

It took a while for Ava to get herself out of the depressing state she was in and put her emotions under control.

"Well, life goes on without you, and I have to deal with that fact. Now to get ready for work." Ava mumbled.

She gathered all her strength and dragged herself up the stairs. When Ava entered her room, she went directly into the bathroom. Ava then looked in the mirror, and her eyes looked kind of puffy because of all the crying she did. There were black circles around her eyes and her face seemed pale since she spent most of last night overthinking things that happened between her and Rake.

After taking a warm shower, Ava still did not feel like herself. She headed back into her room, and a few minutes later, Ava came back down dressed up in her business attire for her job as the manager for finance at a billion-dollar company.

She went into the kitchen and saw her favorite food that she loves for breakfast on the counter. Ava stared at the blueberry pancakes on the plate, then walked past it to make herself some dark coffee.

'We're not going to see each other again, so I don't need another memory of you stuck in my brain.' She thought as she drank her coffee while staring at the mouth-watering pancakes.

At last, when Ava could not take the temptation anymore, she set down her mug and approached the counter, took the plate, then tossed the pancakes into the trash.

"That's better." She mumbled, feeling a bit regretful.

At nine on the hour, Ava was out of her house and seated in a cab. Her eyes focused on the vehicle's windshield as she tried her best to admire the beauty of the morning, but everything seemed to be black and white.

The moment Ava turned her gaze away from the window and relaxed against the car's seat, her phone began to buzz.

"Gem, what's up?" Ava calmly asked.

"Oho. You only call me by my name when you are upset. What happened? You know that you can tell your best friend anything, right?" Gem's concerned voice flowed from the phone speaker.

"Rake came home last night."

"What! Why?"

"It's all confusing. Rake wouldn't tell me much, and he left early this morning. I am so confused and upset. I thought that I was over him, and now all I want is for him not to leave me again. But he already did, so what am I going do, G?"

Ava's eyes had got watery again, and she could not stop her tears from falling.

"Listen here, babe. You are one of the bravest women I know. You've been through this before, and you came out as a better and stronger person. You can do it again."

Gem's soft voice was like comfort to Ava's soul. She gently smiled as the black and white color disappeared, and she could see everything in their rightful color.

"You know what?" Gem's exciting tone flowed into Ava's ear.

"What?" Ava asked out of curiosity.

"We are going out later for karaoke night. What do you think?"

"It's a date then."

It took a few more minutes after Ava and Gem's phone conversation ended for Ava to arrive at her worksite.

The company looked the same as she walked into the enormous glass building.

She went into her department, and the first thing she did was grab a folder from her desk.

"Is that the report?" One of her work colleagues asked.

Yeah, it is." Ava replied before smiling a bit.

She was about to walk out of the finance department when she bumped into someone else.

"Hey, Av! So you've finally finished it." Another colleague asked.

"Yeah, I did." Ava said with a friendly smile.

"That's good. Okay, good luck then."

"Thanks."

After her brief conversation with her colleague, Ava rushed to the elevator and hurried in. She has been working on her financial report for days now, and today was her deadline to get it to her boss. So she did not want to get it to her boss late.

The elevator made a few stops, and people got off until Ava was the only one in it. Then the elevator finally stopped on the eleventh floor. She stepped out and walked toward the CEO's company office door. When Ava got there, she knocked, but at that moment, she heard a gunshot.

In fear, Ava hurriedly opened the door. She rushed in and noticed that a gun pointed directly at her, and the person holding the gun was her ex-fiance.

The room became silent as they both stared confusedly at each other without saying a word for a few seconds.

"Rake?" Ava asked out of shock when she finally accepted that this was reality and that her ex-lover had just murdered her boss.

"What are you doing here, Ava?" Rake asked as he lowered his gun.

"You killed my boss! Are you an assassin?" Ava asked.

She was still in a state of turmoil over everything, and the sight and scent of blood were not helping her think straight.

"You work here?" Rake asked.

He put his gun back in the black bag on the floor, then stood up and stared at Ava's upset face.

"Is that all you can say? How about explaining why you have a gun and the reason you killed my boss?" Ava screamed.

"Okay, this is not the time and place for such a conversation! You don't know the enormous problem you have created for being here! I tried so hard to keep you out of this mess. I guess fate had to mess up everything!" Rake angrily said.

Ava folded her hand into a fist in rage as she gazed into Rake's restless eyes. She felt furious, and yet she was more worried about him.

"We've got to get out of here. You ruined my mission." Rake said.

"What did I do! You are the one shooting and killing people with no explanation!" Ava yelled.

Rake did not answer as he picked up his bag from on the floor. He then held Ava's hand and led her out of the office.

"What are you doing?" She mumbled.

"Getting the both of us out of this death trap. Now keep quiet and follow my lead." Rake whispered back.

When they got onto the elevator, Ava asked no further questions as she and Rake stood in silence.

The elevator reached the first floor, and they both got out. Rake was still holding onto Ava's hand as he led her outside the building.

The moment they got into the taxi, Ava looked back and saw a bunch of black cars stopping in front of the company.

"Who are they?" Ava cried in fear as she stared at the men in black suits rushing into the building.

"Those are bad people, and that's all you need to know." Rake said.

He hurriedly took out his phone and dialed a number while Ava confusedly gazed in his face, waiting on him to give a sensible answer.

"Hey, Jax. I need the chopper ready. I am on my way." Rake said.

"Good for you, boss! You got the job done!" A male voice came out of the phone speaker.

"Not really."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a mess. I will explain later."

"Okay, boss."

The moment Rake dropped the call, a bullet flew next to the back door and banged into the side mirror of the taxi.

"Shit! Shit!! They have looked through the CCTV cameras." Rake shouted.

"Excuse me, sir. What have you gotten me into?" The driver asked.

"A pretty dangerous situation!! So you either drive, or we all die!!" Rake screamed.

"Fair enough. You should tip me well after this!"

"Sure! Now, drive!"

The driver stepped on the accelerator, and the race took off with a bunch of black cars chasing after a taxi in the street of ORA city.

"Rake, what the freaking hell is going on!" Ava yelled in fear.

"Keep your head down!" Rake shouted.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Ava, this is not the time to act unreasonably. We are in a freaking death and life situation!"

Ava stubbornly kept her head up to annoy Rake, but then a bullet landed on the trunk, and he instantly used his body as a shield to protect her.

"Please stay down. You are the only good thing in my life, and I can't lose you. I promise to tell you everything when we are safe." Rake pleaded.

Ava kept her head bent without saying a word as tears rolled down her eyes and dropped onto the car floor.

"Why does it have to take us dying for you to show me you care?" Ava whispered as the salty taste from t her tears settled on her tongue.

The driver handled the steering like a rollercoaster. He drove the taxi on all four lanes of the road as he tried to shake the black cars off his tail.

Once they reached the side of the street that did not seem occupied with many cars, Rake took out his gun and drew the left back door window glass down. He then put the upper part of his body out the window and opened fire.

Rake shots were accurate. Each time he released the gun's trigger, the bullet precisely hit where he was aiming at, and with his perfect aims, the black limousines were exploding up like time bombs. Some vehicles were bumping into each other, causing them to stop, while the others kept up the chase.

Rake hurriedly drew back in the car when he saw a bullet flying towards him. It smashed into the second side mirror, and now there were two mirrors down, leaving the driver with only the V mirror for vision.

"You got to pay for the repair of my car too!" The driver shouted.

"Yeah! I know! Now keep driving!" Rake screamed.

A few minutes through the shooting, a shot hit the back windshield, breaking the glass into pieces. In that instant, Rake rushed over Ava's body as the bullet flew over their heads and hit the front windshield, then passed through it.

"Are you okay?" Rake mumbled as Ava's body trembled under him.

She tried to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat. Ava then nodded her head, but that's all she could do.

The chase lasted for a while. But in the end, only the half-damaged taxi was still moving since Rake had fired at the remaining vehicles, setting them up in flames.

"You can sit up now!" He said.

Ava lifted her head as her body trembled in fear. She then gazed at him with watery eyes while tears rolled uncontrollably down her face. Before Rake could say a word, Ava rushed into his arms and wept.

"It's okay." He softly said as he gently patted her head.

Ava's hands wrapped around his body. She then felt a wet liquid on her skin, so she let go of Rake and stared at the spot.

"You are bleeding." Ava cried.

"As for the bullet wound, I will be fine. But everything else is a mess. The boss will not be happy about this." Rake mumbled.