꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
༺༻ Chapter 2: trick or greed ༺༻
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
......
༺✦ [location police staff hotel] ✦༻
✦ Time: *midnight* ✦
The small restaurant was nothing like the fancy places he had dined at in Russia, but the smell of spices and fresh bread made his mouth water. Zayne sat on the sofa seat, stubbornly refusing the seat beside her,Priya observed him, amusement flickering in her eyes.
"You're Korean, aren't you?" she asked suddenly.
His muscles stiffened.
For years, people had mistaken him for purely Russian, thanks to his father's influence. He had always buried his Korean heritage, pushing it into the shadows.
He remained silent.
"Don't lie. I know Korean features."priya said
Zayne sighed, finally giving in. "Fine. Half Russian, half Korean. Happy now?"
Priya grinned. "Annyeong."
He nearly choked on his food. He swallowed hard, glaring at her. "...Annyeong." His pride was bruised. "You speak Korean?"
Priya replied with smile "A little."
"Hmm." He went back to eating, though his posture had relaxed slightly. For the first time in years, someone saw past his Russian identity.
He watched as Priya smoothly switched to Hindi. "Mr. Mehta, please bring some dal."
Zayne's gaze hardened. "Mr. Mehta?" he repeated. "Your boyfriend?"
Priya rolled her eyes. "My teammate."
"Hmm." He maintained his cold demeanor, but something about her innocent manner and sharp intelligence drew him in.
"Your family?" he asked, attempting to keep the conversation going.
She ignored the question.
Zayne narrowed his eyes. "Why ignore? Bad family?"
Priya pretended not to hear him and called for extra soup.
A stray dog appeared at the doorstep.
Without hesitation, Priya broke her chapati and fed it.
Zayne's brows furrowed. In Russia, strays were chased away. But here, she treated them like friends.
"You like dogs?" he asked, his voice softer than before.
She smiled. "Dogs are my friends."
Zayne scoffed. "Friends..." He repeated the word, as if testing it. Slowly, he offered a piece of his food to the dog.
The dog wagged its tail, licking his fingers.
Zayne froze, staring at the small creature that had trusted him so easily.
Priya chuckled. "See? Kalu likes you."
He nodded. "Kalu… good name."
Priya glanced at him. "What's your name?"
"Zayne."he answered
"Nice name." Priya appreciates
Her genuine tone made his stomach twist. No one had ever said his name like that before.
"Not married?" he asked suddenly, then cursed himself for his bluntness.
"I'm not," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
He studied her, then shrugged. "No wedding ring. And you're too pretty to be single."
Priya froze, then turned away, pulling out her gun to clean it.
Zayne's fingers twitched toward his own hidden weapon.
Then, Priya's phone rang.
Her expression darkened. "The CM says a Russian mafia entered Delhi."
Zayne's heart pounded.
"Russian mafia?" he repeated slowly.
Priya narrowed her eyes. "Why do you care?"
He forced a smirk. "Just curious. Russians can be bad news."
She studied him before handing him a hotel map.
"I booked a room for you."
His chest tightened at her kindness.
"In India, guests are like gods." She declares
He clenched the key, his fingers tightening around it.
"In Russia, guests are not gods," he muttered. "But I like your culture."
She smiled. "Goodnight, Zayne."
And for the first time in years, he felt something other than greediness in humans…
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂ ꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
༶•┈┈┈༓༓༓༓༓༓༓༓༓┈┈┈•༶
༺ To be continued… ༻
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧂༒༻༺༒꧂
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