My Lover is My Target

Prologue

My name is Elena Rouge...I am an ordinary woman, what people don't know about me is who truly I am...They think that I am a reserved woman, a little bit shy or awkward...some people think about it but I always sneer at them and try to shut their underestimate stare at me down with 'whatever you think...'. They never thought that they would ever find me clubbing or partying at night...but they never knew who would be my next target (laughing inside). I was a professional killer...not a bloody killer but I did reveal what people think their hidden secrets were safe...whenever my boss asked me to do some orders that he got from his clients...The public will make a silent murder to all of my targets (smiling on her lips) but ordinary people think I am a common woman who is desperately lonely and avoids any bigger social life...I am glad that they think like that...

"Elena?" A guy with glasses and beautiful green eyes stood in her sight. His index was pointing at her then, he turned his finger to him. "Remember me?"

They were standing on the pavement of the sidewalk. Some people were rushing to go to work and some of them were walking to have sightseeing at the food court area nearby their place.

She widened her eyes. "Martinez?" She tried to guess and her lips shaped a wide smile.

"Yes, I spilled out your coffee when I bumped you..." That young man shrugged and looked around him. "That day." He inhaled and drew a clumsy smile as he took a glance at the woman who was standing in his sight, with her ankle-high boots, a loose sweater with a leopard motif scarf on her neck, and a pair of old jeans.

"Can I buy you coffee?" He bit his lips and his green eyes were staring at Elena. He sniffed and fixed his glasses. He seemed to be a little at the edge.

She nodded her head.

"Great. How about over there? Aren't you busy?" He took a long deep inhale as he found Elena accepting his offer.

The young woman wobbled her head and said, "Lucky me so, I am out to grab some coffee."

She chuckled and Martinez, the young man, imitated her action. He giggled and looked at his 'butterfly in his stomach' state to ease gradually.

"So, how is the dog that you saved when...?" Elena paused her sentence; a pair of her onyx eyes turned its direction from the pavement of the sidewalk where they were walking onto Martinez's face.

"When I bumped you that day?" Martinez squinted his eyes and made Elena deliver him her sweet smile that Martinez remembered since that day.

"Yeah...you say that you needed to save the dog's life because it was hit by a motorcycle," Elena tried to avoid Martinez's piercing stare at her as she looked down to their steps. 'Nice branded sneakers, Martinez!' She folded her two arms and stroked some of the hair strands that were blown by the breeze.

Martinez inhaled. "She's safe but the hit made her some fractures on her right bone leg."

"Really? Oh, poor girl!" Elena paused her steps and gasped as she felt pity for the dog.

"But she's okay and getting better!"

Martinez smiled and they continued their walk on the sidewalk.

They stopped at a coffee station on the sidewalk and there were two people before they queued.

"Were you walking for work on that day?" Martinez twitched one of his legs, he looked at Elena before putting his sight on the ground.

"Yeah. How about you?" Elena wiped her nose and glanced at Martinez.

His wavy berry-coloured hair was messed by the wind. Martinez stroked his fingers into his hair. "Yes, I am a vet assistant. I am working for an animal clinic. How about you?"

They stepped forward as the first person had got his takeaway order.

"I am working at a restaurant. As a washing dish person..." Elena answered and looked at Martinez slightly.

Martinez nodded his head and there was no change in his facial expression. "You are working in a shift?"

Elena inhaled. "Yes. Sometimes with some extra hours. To get some extra tips."

The second person left the queue as she had grabbed her orders. She took a glimpse at both Martinez and Elena as she slid her body to move from the queue and walk away.

Elena looked at the woman's back. 'I think she's from upper middle class. Her shoes I know the brand. It costs hundreds. Hmm...'

"What coffee, Elena?" Martinez startled her. "Cappuccino, latte, black coffee or espresso?"

"Oh...Latte, no sugar, crème with some ice." Elena smiled and she saw Martinez smirking at her.

"Any toppings?" Martinez put his two hands into his jean's pockets.

"Brown sugar powder, if there's any..." Elena stopped and giggled, "Don't make me sound like a complaint customer! Gosh..." She covered her mouth with her backhand at the time she giggled.

Martinez glanced at her and grinned. "One of the nightmares that often show up in your restaurant?"

Elena pulled her backhand from covering her mouth. "Not to me. But some of my friends that work for waiters said that they kind of customers...hmm...you know, they're mean for tips." She giggled again as Martinez smiled widely. Martinez ordered their coffee and they waited for several minutes to get their coffee.

"So, are you walking to work?" Martinez handed her coffee after he paid their orders. He sipped his coffee and glanced at Elena.

"Yeah. I am waiting for my bus. I have plenty of time. How about you?" Elena sipped her latte coffee; she wiped some crème that stained on her lip with her fingers.

"My bad. I have nothing much left to spend this coffee with you. Although I'll be glad to have it..." Martinez rubbed his right temple after he took a glimpse of his watch.

Elena jiggled her head and smiled. 'Why my instinct said that you are not an ordinary person who working as a vet assistant, Martinez. Your sneakers' brand name and the watch that you are wearing sound loud to me about you.' Elena stared at Martinez and sipped her coffee.

"Did you give the dog a name?" She asked Martinez.

"Yeah. I named her 'Fortune', as she could survive the accident!" Martinez sipped his coffee. He turned his eyes to the crowd, people who were passing them by.

Martinez sounded so puffing. "Can I see you again?" He handed his old version of the mobile phone to Elena. "Please, give me your number..."

Elena smiled and took his mobile phone to type her mobile phone number. "That's my number. Perhaps, I won't be able to answer your call so you should message me."

Martinez squinted his eyes and frowned his lips. "You're so vain..." He tried to make a joke and Elena chuckled.

"No, I'm just..." She moved her fingers in the air.

"I know. It's because your shifting hours sometimes ruin your dating schedule..." Martinez beamed.

Elena shrugged. "Perhaps."

Martinez wiped his nose. He whispered in Elena's ear. "I need to go now. Please, answer my call or reply to my messages, okay?" He smiled at Elena since he found that Elena's pupils dilated and she was surprised with what he did.

Elena strode her steps to the elevator and she pushed the button number five. She was the only person who that elevator directly and privately taking her to the fifth floor of that skyscraper building. The elevator door slid open and the company tag on the glass window stand with some classy mosaic ornaments but esthetical captured her eyes, 'Rage and Fame' agency.

She pushed the door of the office and looked around where some beautiful girls and chic men were taking part in some photo sessions. Some of them were waiting for the audition shot.

She saw Johny, her boss, sitting on a long sofa with Jeanette, a senior manager for the agency and one of the other women who liked to stare at her with squinting eyes from her head to toes, for any perspectives of fashion that Jeanette could draw, from Elena's taste in fashion. The best that Elena could do to respond to it, was just to walk away and ignore their perspectives on Elena's fashion taste or style since those perspectives sounded more judgmental than evaluative in her ears.

"Good morning, Boss." Elena was standing in their sights.

Johny paused sipping his coffee and his eyes evaluated Elena from head and toe. His eyes stopped for some seconds on the old jeans that Elena was wearing. Then, he smiled widely and sipped his coffee. "Would you mind if I finish my coffee first, Elena?" His eyes looked at Elena. Johny had ocean green colored eyes with his piercing stare to scan someone's intention.

Elena inhaled. 'His eye color made me remember again the same-colored bag that I decided to not buy it. It cost more than two hundred dollars.' Elena wobbled her head. "No, Boss. I can wait for it." She still stood in her position.

Jeanette's eyes were scanning her from head to toe like the device in a store scanning a price tag. "It's afternoon, Elena. It's nearly lunchtime." She sneered at Elena and sipped her coffee with her scanning eyes on Elena.

"Don't you have another pair of shoes? I see you always wearing those same boots!" She squinted her brown eyes at Elena. "And, that scarf, dear...we don't use that motif this season. My gosh!" She covered her mouth with pink blossomed lipstick as she was surprised by her perspective on Elena's fashion.

Johny cleared his throat. "Jeanette, please. She's not our model. She has another business with me." He put his coffee cup on the table. He breathed in a long deep inhale.

"Come to my room, Elena!" Johny rose from his seat and gave Elena a sign with his chin to follow him.

Elena nodded and beamed at Johny. "May I give a reason why I always wear these boots, Jeanette? I love these boots so much since their color reminds me of your eyes!" She nodded her head as a sign to leave the room.

Jeanette gaped and her jaws almost dropped as her ears caught Elena's perspective.

Johny covered his mouth with his backhand and cleared his throat. He tried hard to hide his little laugh at Elena's radical statement.

Johny closed the room door after Elena came after him. "Take a seat, Elena!" He walked to his chair and signed Elena to sit in the front of his desk.

Elena took a seat but, in a few seconds, she rose from her seat and held her back part. "Ouch!" She took a minimum-sized black G-string underwear from the seat with her pinched fingers. 'I am sure that a model has got it before!' She showed it to her boss.

"Its price tag is piercing." She clenched the stick pin and its needle nearly hurt her butt.

Johny took it from the table and put it into the lowest drawer. "I need to see whether she fits best on that underwear or not as our model and brand image." He answered the suspicious sight from Elena.

Elena nodded and inhaled. Her eyes scanned the surface of the seat. 'I hope I don't find anything additional from their performance.' She beamed at Johny and inhaled in a deep relieved breath as she found her seat was clear to be sat on.

Johny took a brown envelope from the upper drawer and straightened his back on the seat. "Have you got your lunch, Elena? I'd like to discuss it with you while we're having lunch." He grabbed his car key and a black leathered jacket that was draped on the arm of his seat.

They came out of the room with some suspicious stares from Jeanette and the other female or male staff and models. They waited for the valet parking to drive a red sporty car in their sight. Elena turned her sight around and kept her ears alert to catch any sounds that made her stay alert.

"That's okay. It's my property, every corner has its own eyes for me..." Johny whispered in Elena's ear and glanced at her.

Elena sighed and tried to relax herself.

Johny drove his sporty car and dropped them both at an oriental restaurant.

"Thank you." Johny beamed at the waitress for serving them some cups of tea. They had beautiful scenery with some medium bamboo plants surrounding the place where they had their lunch. They were inside a chamber with its open air.

"What do you need to discuss with me, Boss?" Elena poured the tea for Johny and herself.

"Thank you. Call me Johny, please...we are not in the office!" Johny beamed at her.

Elena grinned and sipped her green tea.

"I want you to do your job. The pictures of them are in the envelope!" Johny handed her the brown envelope.

Elena put her cup on the table and took the brown envelope from Johny's hand, his wrist was sparkling as his luxurious watch with some diamonds and a beautiful white golden strap reflected the light. She stared at the picture of a man and a woman.

Johny was staring at her and rested the fingers of his right hand on his temple. "The woman is Irène Belle. She's a model and used to work with me." Johny paused. "We've been close enough for three months but you know, she couldn't handle me as she said." He frowned his lips and took a sip of his tea.

Elena looked at him. "Are you still in love with her, Johny?"

Johny wobbled his head. "Not too much. I think we've lost our spark already."

Elena nodded her head and sipped her tea. "Okay. What about the man?"

Johny inhaled. "People know him as Fred Tiger. He was caught by some of my men that he had hired some hackers to steal some information about my business and personal life. He's having a secret affair with Irène Belle."

Elena threw her sight to the open garden. "How much is the assignment?"

Johny sniffed. "Five thousand dollars. You only have to get closer to him and get some sensitive information about him. Don't worry about your safety. My men will keep you close and make sure your safety."

Elena stared at Johny.

"Your main priority is Fred Tiger, but if you can also include Irène Belle, I'll make your payment double!" Johny sipped his tea. "Keep my word, Elena, since you make me interested in knowing and working with you, your safety will be my priority." Johny beamed and caressed Elena's cheek gently. "I don't know why you don't have any interest in working in fashion or modeling. You have all the potential. I can polish you."

Elena beamed and pulled Johny's fingers from her cheek. "Thank you but again, fashion and modeling are not my passion!" She cleared her throat as the waitress came to bring their lunch cuisine.

Johny grinned, he pulled his credit card from his upper fit's pocket. "Use my card whenever you need. Fred Tiger is a guy with good taste in women and fashion." He handed his card.

Elena nodded and took the card from Johny's hand. "I'll use it wisely, Boss...I mean Johny!"

Johny beamed again and sipped his tea. "Good. Trust is number one for me, Elena Rouge!"

They stopped talking as the waitress put their meals on the table dish by dish.

"You know, Elena, I think I will be the first man who gave you this confession. Your pretty face makes me remember Jane Dovey." Johny stared at Elena and his eyes were squinting as he was thinking. "Except your eyes' color, Jane Dovey's are deep ocean blue...I love Jane Dovey's eyes."

"Who is she?" Elena chopped her noddle and put it into her mouth.

"You don't know Jane Dovey?" Johny furrowed his eyebrows. "She's one of the most famous models in her era. Where have you been, Elena?" Johny pointed his chopstick to Elena and giggled. He chopped his chicken breast and chewed it.

Elena smiled. "My family aren't quite familiar with models, fashion, and some stuff like that, Johny. We prefer talking about food, education, perhaps. We only talk slightly business in our family time. You know that's why, now I am studying business and management. I love studying business and management from you too." Elena confessed and put a fried tofu with a soybean sausage into her mouth.

Johny shrugged. "Thanks for your compliment." He beamed and sipped his tea with his eyes staring at Elena who enjoying her noodles.

"That's James Stone, Mr. Edward!" Bernard whispered in Edward Phillipe's ear. They were coming into the lounge hall where there were two men seemed to have waited for them both.

Both Edward and Bernard were walking to the lounge hall of a hotel where James Stone and his marketing team were shooting for their new product launch, snacks for snacking time for the teenagers. Edward glanced at the banner that the marketing span at the corner of the hall, 'a crunchy, healthy, fast satiating with affordable price to reduce your consumptive number of calories' was the voice of the marketing banner they spanned along the hall. He snorted and covered his mouth with his backhand as he cleared his throat.

The man with some blink-blink accessories was sitting on the couch, his fashion reminded Edward of a rapper singer with some white luxurious golden accessories, he had strawberry-coloured hair with some shaggy cut medium length for guys and the other young man with blonde coloured hair was wearing nice, neat outfits with soft colour and he had slender outlook. He had a single white golden earring on his left ear. They looked quite similar to their facial features. Both of them had a straight nose, strong jaws, pale tone skin, nearly similar facial features, nearly the same height and beautiful jade-coloured eyes. From the distance, they looked like twins with two different sides of a coin in their fashion style.

Edward glanced at Bernard and squinted his eyes a bit. "That man who appears blink-blink or the other one who looks much funky? They look much similar to each other." Edward gritted his teeth to make his voice lower.

Bernard smirked. "The blink-blink man is James Stones." He murmured and then shaped a big smile on his lips.

"The more flamboyant man is his secretary, Duncan Gordo." Bernard continued to explain and lower his voice. He pushed himself to smile and fixed his upper fits.

"James, it's nice to see you..." Edward tapped James' backhand as he approached James and saw James put one of his arms out to offer Edward a warm handshake. His lips shaped a wide smile.

"Edward Phillipe, how're you, man?" James grinned and shook Edward's hand. "This is Duncan Gordo, my man." He signed his hand to the blonde-haired man with his earring.

"Good morning, Mr. Edward." Duncan Gordo shook Edward's hand firmly and Edward smirked.

"This is Bernard Austin, the best man that I have, James and Duncan!" Edward tapped the shoulder of Bernard, a man with a robust posture, dark brown wavy hair, and a shaped jaw and he was 6'5" in his height.

"Mr. James, Mr. Duncan..." Bernard shook each hand in a shift.

"Edward, I know that you have a big interest in taking care of your health..." James tapped Edward's shoulder as they walked along the room to the open-air space. "We're having a shot for our new product. A very healthy pack of snacks, Edward." James strode his steps and he stopped as he clapped his hands. "Clara, would you come here!" He shouted to a girl with gingered hair who just finished doing a shot for the product launch.

The girl was wearing a black tight leathered mini skirt and she had a body shape that every man would stare at her for a while. That morning, her lower cleavage in a tight vivid red T-shirt crafted a passionate morning to every pair of man's eyes.

Edward smirked as he caught accidentally those sneaky bumped tilts and he cleared his throat. "Is it about spicy products, James?" He looked at James and his question made James laugh.

"You have a good sense of humour, Edward." James tapped Edward's shoulder.

"It's nice to see you, Miss Clara." Edward took the girl's backhand and landed his kiss from his moist lip on her hand. He did it with his two eyes staring at the girl.

"Mr. Edward Phillipe!" The girl swayed her hip a bit. She tried to give an impressive naughty but also graceful gesture as Edward liberated his gentle hold on her hand. The girl appeared to hit her mid-twenties with some energetic vibes of the cheerleader girl. She dressed up in an animated costume play.

Edward grinned at her in an enigmatic stare and he saw James was smirking. "What should we discuss about your products?"

James put one of his hands into his trousers' pocket. "She is one of our ambassador products." He signed his chin to the girl who was walking next to Edward and was followed by Bernard. "You could discuss our products at dinner time with Clara, she's good at explaining that. But the best deal that we will find more interesting is talking about your buying passions in our company, Edward."

Edward smirked. "It seems like you jump to boogie about it." He inhaled deeply. "Anyway, let's bumpy jumping about it." Edward giggled and took a glimpse of Bernard.

Edward was staring at the coffee cup that he held and took a sip of it. "Bernard, I need you to give this sample to Ruth." He handed it to Bernard after they finished having some explorative, investigative conversations with James Stones' marketing team and Duncan Gordo, his secretary. He and Bernard were inside the car driving them back to the farming factory that Edward managed and he should visit his grandfather, Louis Phillipe who was living near the farming area.

"I will, Mr. Edward." Bernard took the full coffee cup. He observed the cup from its outward look and began to be suspicious as his finger touched the package and sniffed the aroma. "They add some additional flavour in the coffee, it could be hazardous if the substance piles up in our body." He looked at Edward.

Edward inhaled and wiped his nose. "I sense the same thing. Let Ruth and her team make an essential analysis about it." He threw his sight out of the car's window.

"Tell me what you think about it, Bernard." Edward glanced at Bernard after there was a haze of pause in the air.

"About our last conversation with the marketing team?" Bernard inhaled. "Personally, I agree with your steps, Mr. Edward. For the moment, we should explore some options that they offered to us before deciding to buy or just making an insignificant partnership."

"The products have some spots on the teenagers though." Edward unwrapped a bag of snacks, one of James' company's products. He tasted it and squinted his eyes.

"Let your tongue become your guidance. What do you say about it?" He handed the snack to Bernard. "I think it doesn't fit the calorie campaign they spread. They should be wise in talking about calories, they're just teenagers." Edward rubbed his temple and exhaled harshly.

"The taste is too salty, it's a combination of salt and cheese improperly. Is it the favourite flavour for teenagers?" Bernard squinted his eyes. He turned his head to Lorraine and offered her the snacks. "What do you think about it? My bad, it's not my kind one."

Lorraine took a piece of the snack and she chewed it. She squinted her eyes. "Spicy and salty. It's not savoury, it's salty." Lorraine shrugged. "It's not my kind too. I prefer savoury but not too much salty."

Edward smirked. "All the samples that we've got, please give it to Ruth for researching."

Bernard nodded his head.

"And one thing, you should represent me for their dinner invitation with Clara. I have something else to do." Edward showed his stern gesture. "Dig up more information from her. I think she's not only quite spicy but she also has a good brain too." He stared at Bernard. "You know what you should do to get important information from her. I sense that she's not only an ambassador of the products." Edward sniffed and smirked. "She will do anything to make us agree to sign a contract with the amount of three million dollars investment to James' company." He whispered in Bernard's ear.

"I will, Mr. Edward," Bernard smirked and looked at Edward in his amazing stare.