"Mr. Adams will just be fine, Ms. Newton."
Nova could not find her voice. He was...
His voice was sort of rough yet smooth, she didn't know she could describe it except that it sounded very powerful, commanding and all she could do was stare at him.
"I'm aware Ms. Newton, that my face, or perhaps what's on it, is quite the catch but I would prefer it if my assistant looked more at the case at hand than ogle the damage," he said and again she was brought back to the reality.
He's witty.
When her brain registered just what he had meant by his words she noticed it. On the right side of his face, under his eyes and a bit lower down his cheekbones, there lay a scar. At least she guessed it was a scar. A scar caused by burn. But it was fainter now, she thought, because you could hardly see it.
His dark hair some of which fell down at his forehead almost reaching his perfect blue eyes was what her eyes wandered to next. His perfectly straight and pointed at the tip nose was his second best feature Nova decided.
His lips followed next and it was as if the second best feature should've been them instead; his lips. All in all, she could say that he was â
"Fascinating."
"What?"
Guess she said that out loud.
"You're fascinating."
Let it be this way, then, she decided.
"Are you â" he cut himself off before grumbling, "I don't know what I'd do to James if you're blind." He looked flabbergasted if anything and Nova would've found it to be funny had she not been confused out of her mind as to what in the world he was going on about.
"Are you blind?" he asked then to her. "Or visually challenged maybe?" he asked her.
What?
"My eyes are perfectly fine, Officer â "
" â Mister"
" â Adams."
"Alright, then," he said almost immediately, dismissing the topic altogether very easily as if it was a waste of time and he had absolutely no intention of dragging it on.
"I don't expect you to know each and everything about us, about this association if you'd call it that, but that's what we have James for," he told her and she nodded.
"I also expect you to let me know verbally that you have understood me. I want you to be responsive. Are we clear?"
Nova was about to answer but maybe he didn't want that because he didn't let her.
"I think we're clear. Now, James!"
*
Nova could see now, why Officer Adams only trusted James; the man knew what he was supposed to do and the exact way it was to be done.
Because the man had spent an hour explaining about everything that she needed to know about the current case that Officer Adams had to be working on and all the progression that'd been made and the doubts that came up about the murderer.
It was a murder mystery.
Apparently, a girl was murdered inside her house at night along with the pet dog that they had and the worker of the house. The parents weren't home that night which easily pointed the needle of suspicion on them and they were even sentenced for ten years in jail but we still weren't sure about it, so Officer Adams were given this case because he was one of the best in his job, according to James.
In her opinion, the parents couldn't be the killers because it was just too clear-cut and straight for them to be the murderers. Also because the next morning it was them who called the cops and they couldn't be all that stupid to pull out such a stupid scene because they were both lawyers; they must be aware of how things worked.
The cops did a terrible job, apparently. No pictures taken of the crime scene, the evidence all messed up, the blood all cleaned up and no sample was taken for test to the forensic. It was awful how cops didn't do their only job well. But that was what MI6 was for.
"Are you sure you remember everything that I told you? Each and every bit of it?" James asked her bringing her back to the reality and away from the crime scene that was now stuck in her brain's imagination and subconscious.
She nodded her head and told him that she was sure she understood each and every bit of what he'd told her. James simply nodded his head full of brown locks and pursed his thin lips, his baby blue eyes sweeping to the door and then, he was knocking on it.
The familiar sound of Officer Adams' voice came telling them to come inside and so, they did.
"Mr. Adams, Sir, I have informed everything that I was supposed to inform Ms. Newton," James said when they came right in front of his massive table.
"Adequate, then, James. And does Ms. Newton understand and remember it all?" He asked and she was not sure who he expected the answer from so she just took it as her cue to answer because he had asked about her after all.
"Yes, Officer Adams."
"I'm would not be so sure about that."
She glanced over at James quizzically at Officer Adams' response and then took her gaze back to him.
"Pardon?"
"Since you don't seem to either understand or remember that I prefer to be referred as Mister Adams, Ms. Newton, I'm afraid that I can take your word for it," He said in a nonchalant tone, seeming the least bit interested.
"My apologies, Officer Adams, but I do understand as well as remember that you've corrected me quite a couple of times in the past," she explained. "But the reason I prefer Officer Adams is that you've earned that prefix, you're working as an Officer in the biggest agency in England, I do not intend to disrespect any of it." She told him what she thought, with all honesty.
He just looked at her and then looked at James.
"Make sure the reports come to me soon. And you may leave now," he said then and James went out after uttering a "Sir!"
As James took his departure, Officer Adams kept going through the papers he had been going through when Nova and James had come in and Nova just stood there not knowing what to do.
So she decided to just ask him.
"Officer Adams?" She called out and he looked at her after a few seconds only to look back down and take another set of papers which sat at his neat table.
"Ms. Newton, the next time that we will be seeing each other will be your first official day of internship which will be one month from now, that is the first of November. Till then, make sure you learn to address me correctly," he tells her, glancing for a split second at her and then back down.
"And you don't have to work on The Murder Mystery, it was just a little test, to check on you. That is all you have to do. Now you may take your leave," he says without looking at her, his eyes glued to the papers he was reading.
She nods her head at him and after uttering out a, 'Yes, Sir,' goes outside.
Just beside the door, like a doorkeeper, stood James as if waiting for her to come out.
"What are you doing here?" Nova asked him, curious.
"I'm supposed to take you back to your house." He answers and she nods because it wasn't like she had any other choice. She didn't bring her car with her because James was her driver, she could take the bus but now that James offered to get her back home she didn't really feel the need to do that because if she declined she knew what he'd say.
"No, no, it's alright, James. I can go on my own. The trains are a big help," she tries it anyway, seeing if there was any chance of it working.
In vain because, "Mr. Adams told me to take you back home," was his reply.
"Okay, then. Let's go."
The ride home started off as silent, because again, neither of them were that big of a talker but since James seemed the only one close enough to Officer Adams, Nova decided to ask him some questions that were swirling in her mind.
"Hey, James," she started trying to get his attention which she got when he looked at her through the rearview mirror.
"Why does Officer Adams want to be called Mister Adams? Do you know?" She shot the question, only praying that if he knew he would tell her.
"Mr. Adams is a man of preference, Ms. Newton." He answered.
Well, she knew that much but the question was why on that particular topic? But since she couldn't really argue about something this minor to her senior, she settled with just an "Oh."
James chuckled at that and glanced at her again.
"Ms. Newton, there are things that we prefer and there are reasons behind it. We don't always want to share those reasons, because some times its way too personal. I can't say that I know the reason behind this particular preference of Mr. Adams, but I do know that I should respect it because that's what I'm supposed to do," he said which did make sense somehow, so she only nodded her head.
The rest of the ride went silently, her drowning in her thoughts and James simply doing his job.
James was probably in his early thirties which meant he didn't really have that much experience with Offi â Mr. Adams, but the way he seemed to understand him well enough, spoke volumes about his character and his personality.
He was smart, and he was good at everything he did.
His ring finger signalled that he was married which made more thoughts erupt in her head.
Being in his early thirties and also being married and then to be working for the MI6 â it could not be an easy life and for that, she empathised with him. He had a family, and he was also a part of a risky job. The weight of all of it must be too much but seeing the kind of person James was, she somehow knew that he managed it perfectly.
Which brought her back to Mr. Adams.
It was weird, he was so... wanting to be referred as just plain and simple Mister so much that it was... just weird.
But she didn't give it much thought because now, she had one month to prepare herself, one month in which she had to study for her final exams as well as write that project report on a person â for which she chose her neighbour who was also her supervisor, her boss â and she had to go through all the nicks and Crooks of that murder mystery. Though she wasn't supposed to but she just felt like she should. Not to mention she found the case to be extremely interesting.
This was going to be one hectic month but definitely not boring month and Nova was looking forward to it.
Although she wanted to tell her parents all about it, she knew she couldn't because even though her Dad was one well known Solicitor and Mum a very famous Social Activist, she just couldn't tell them, that was one big risk to be taking.
And even if she could tell them, she didn't think she would want to because both her parents didn't look too enthusiastic when she proposed the idea of working as an agent all those years ago and now that she was technically an assistant which meant she had to do some of that risky work that her parents were afraid of, she doubted if it was a good idea telling them. But she will have to. Because this was what she'd always wanted.
And it was finally happening.