CHAPTER 4

VEL

I bump into Ping, when I rush out from Tin's office.

"Oh, hey, just the person I'm looking for" he said when he saw me.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Your office, we just finish cleaning it up, you can use it now"

"Oh, great! Thank you"

This is really great, my own office, a place where I can get my solitude away from that evil sneaky Enigma.

I was just about to walk to the direction of my old office when Ping held my hand.

"Wait, wait, wait, it's not your old office"

"What? Why?"

"Ten use it as the extension of his office now, you got new office"

"Oh, really, then where is my new office?"

"Right here"

To my horror, he pointed at an office room right in front of Tin's office. I got an office right in front of his office! My face dropped from disappointment. If the window blind get opened we can even see each other clearly from our own office. Wonderful!

"Can I have another office?"

"Why? it's bigger than your old office, so no need to get too disappointed"

"Yeah..." I just realized I don't have any good excuse why I don't want an office bigger than my old one. I clearly can't say I don't want my office to be close to Tin, not without any good reason.

"Do you have a problem with dr. Tin?"

I'm surprised Ping can guess it. I think my face just shows it too much. Or did he hear something from me and Tin talk?

"No, no problem at all" I said with a forceful smile "I think sometimes being close to a real life Enigma can be intimidating, right?"

"Yeah... tell me about it" he seems to believe my reason "But you will get used to him, as godly as he seems, he is actually a very friendly person"

"I think I will, I'll meet him everyday anyway, closer than anyone else" I pointed out to me and Tin's office which is literally across from each other.

Ping thinks I must be being sarcastic by saying that, but I'm being completely serious here. I feel like God is playing with my life now, the person I want to avoid the most now becomes my office neighbor. Can today be worse? The answer is: yes it can!

My mom kept asking what answer I should give to Tin's father. I told them "It's up to you and mama", really I don't want to think about it right now.

That was my biggest mistake, because next message from my mom, she said this:

"Since you said the decision is up to us, we already replied to Khun Jack that you accept the request. You'll have a weekend date with Tin!"

I sigh. Just kill me now.

TIN

My dad texted me telling me Vel's parents just accepted our request, I was at Ten's office at that time. I don't know if I should be happy or disappointed.

"I really want to kill you right now!" said Ten in frustration "You know how many videos I've had to watch just in the last 24 hours? I feel like my eyes will jump out of my skull anytime now. Just surrender yourself, please..."

"When you had your first date with your husband, where did you take him?" I absolutely don't care about his ranting and ask him about my own problems instead.

He seems also more interested in my problem than watching tons of video to help the police catch me. He turn to looked at me with a sneaky smile.

"Who is it? Who is the lucky person that will have a date with this gorgeous Enigma?"

"Oh, I haven't told you, haven't I?"

Everything happened really fast and chaotic the last 2 days, that I don't even remember to tell everything to Ten, like I usually did. I start to tell him from the fact that Vel is my one night stand, which makes his jaw literally drop. Then Vel can guess that I'm a psychopath and I admit it, and I'm being his one night stand actually the thing that free me from his suspicion. Also about my dad meeting him at the dinner party last night and sending a request for a date to his parents, and they accepted it.

"Wow! Where am I all this time? Why am I just finding out now?" he said after I finished telling him my story.

"Watching tons of videos to help the police catch me, it seems."

"Huh! You are making fun of me now? I'll find a video where your face recorded and presented it on the next meeting"

"You won't find one. You yourself erased every single digital evidence that contains my identity. You need to beat your own ability to find anything that has my face on it"

"Yeah, that's true" he easily agreed with me "Damn it! why am I so good at my job!"

"Forget about those stupid videos. Now help me, where should I take him?"

He looked at me with that sneaky smile again "He must be that good in bed isn't he? to make you this care about him"

"Better than you"

He gasped in anger when he heard my response "Excuse me! First, I never like being the receiver during sex. Second, I totally just give you a huge help as a good friend when I let you use my hole. Sorry if you don't like it, but as I remember, you cum many time, every time we had sex"

"You too"

"That was completely just a physical response"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we stop talking about the thing we stopped doing years ago? Now please help me, what should I do during a first date?"

He was thinking for a few seconds then said "This is your first date, but your pair already know you are a psychopath and you two already had sex before you even know each other's name. So why don't just cut the Old Value crap and just bring him to a nice hotel, then..."

I smack his head lightly to stop him from talking more nonsense, he laughs instead.

"But really, my guess is he wanted a second time with you as much as you wanted a second time with him, so..."

"Then what will he say to his parents? 'Khun Jack's son bring me to a hotel during our date and banging my hole the whole night' That won't be a good review for me and my dad's name"

"Yeah, that won't be good for your dad's reputation"

"Beside, I don't know if he want a second time with me"

"Why not?"

"What if he accepts this request just as a polite gesture to my dad?"

"Huh?" He looked confused with my answer "Who are you? What are you doing to the annoyingly overconfident Tin that I have known for 11 years?"

I don't know myself, why am I feeling this unconfident when it comes to Vel? I don't say it, of course, that would be too shameful to say out loud.

"Then just do it like this" he finally sounded serious when he said his next sentence "Take him to a normal date. Lunch, watching movie, amusement park"

"Really? Lunch? Movie? Amusement Park? Do you think I'm a teenager?"

"Hey! you ask for my opinion, that's where I take Michael during our first date and he loves it. You can bring Vel to somewhere else that you like, but not to the hotel, yet! During your date you can have a proper time to observe to know either he wanted a second time or not"

That will be the best plan, but again, where should I bring him?

"Try to find out about him, what's his hobby? What kind of food does he like? Things like that, try to care about someone other than you for once. Maybe that way you'll learn to be real human"

I barely listen to what Ten said because my brain is too busy trying to make plans.

"What day is it?" I ask.

"Thursday"

"Then I only have today and tomorrow to plan the whole date"

This is way more confusing and frustrating than planning a murder.

Should I just ask him directly? I saw some familiar names on the door of the office in front of mine. Maybe I can talk to him through food?

VEL

For the rest of the day I tried to stay in my office as much as I could. I really don't want to bump into him when I leave my office. We are office neighbors. We are also working on the same case. As much as I can, if not for important work matters, I really really want to avoid meeting him.

There's so many things I need to do anyway. Re-arranging furniture in my office to fit with my movement and also making my own chart for the victims. I'm so busy that I almost lost track of time. When I realize it's already dark outside. My tummy is grumbling because I didn't have my lunch and it's already past dinner time.

The investigation team is still trying to gather info about the victims' last moments and the progress seems slow because we didn't have any other meeting. Since I'm done with my work today, I'm preparing to go home.

When I opened my office door, it felt heavy. I found the cause on the other side of the door's handle. Someone is hanging a bag of food there. I don't even know when it was put there, but it didn't feel warm anymore. It must have been there for quite a long time.

I take it back to my office. There is a note inside it.

"Do you like Chinese food? What kind of food do you like? I really don't know where to take you on our date this weekend, please tell me if you have a place you want to visit. This is my number 0XXXXXXXXX

PS. Welcome, new office neighbor, I hope we can get along well"

I literally burst out laughing reading his note. Are all psychopaths like this? He really is clueless, isn't he? This kind of thing is probably new to him. Can I be the first person he ever asks on a date?

All other psychopaths I've ever met are scary people or borderline scary. I never met one that is actually, unintentionally cute.

I saved his number on my phone but I don't know what name I should use for him. What fits him the most? Psycho Enigma will be perfect, but I feel like that will be too on the nose. I need to choose something that fits him but also something unexpected. So, I chose "Borderline Cute" as his name.

The food is already cold. There's no microwave in my office so I need to bring it home to reheat it.

When I leave my office, the lamp in his office is still on but I don't see movement inside it. He is probably at the lab, supervising his subordinates working on some tests. I'll say my thank you when I get home through text.

The traffic is very congested on my way home. My stomach really can handle hunger anymore, so I end up eating the food that I brought in my car. The dumpling is quite tasty even when it's already cold. It will taste better when it's warm. But I finish it off before I reach home.

There's still some kind of noodle inside the bag. My parents and sister probably already have their dinner so I think I'll just reheat this noodle and eat it silently in my room.

It's almost 11PM when I finally reach home. I ask my maid to reheat the food and bring it to my room while I clean up myself. I walk past my sister's and my parents' room. There's no voice from inside both rooms, so they must be already asleep.

Lucky me, because I really don't want to talk to them right now. They'll be very nosy about my date plan with Tin, and I'm too tired to answer them. I took a quick shower and someone knocked on my door the moment I came out from my bathroom.

I thought it's just the maid who brought me my food. I open the door and it is really my food in front of the door but not the maid who brings it. Instead it was my sister with a big grin on her face.

"I don't know we got a new maid, a pretty Female Omega too"

Her grin got wider and she managed to slip into my room before I even let her get in. She put the food tray on the table and made herself comfy on my bed.

"Why are you not sleeping yet? Don't you have classes tomorrow?"

"I miss my brother who haven't come home for 4 years, I want to do some catch up with you"

"You, mom and mama visit me literally once a month while I'm there, you guys met me just last week to help me move my things. There's no catch up need to be done"

She pouted "But the last 2 days of you coming back home, there's so many things going on. Now, you will have a date with the most eligible Enigma in the country!"

There we go, of course my sister will wait for me coming home from work to ask about this.

"So how do you feel?"

"What do you think? It's not like it's my first date"

"Yeah, but it's your first date with an Enigma who is also happen to be your coworker"

It actually makes me curious, what kind of face would she make if I told her that Tin was the reason I didn't come home the night I came back to this country? She'll probably immediately run to my parents and wake them up to tell them about it.

Then my parents will surely make a big fuss about it. I really don't want to face their fuss now. So as much as I want to see my sister's face, I'm holding my thoughts to tell her about it.

"We were so busy with the recent case, so we didn't talk much about personal thing, only work related"

"Ah... it must be that thumb collector case, isn't it? Everyone in campus talk about it"

I turn to look at my sister. She's actually the first outsider who I can talk to about this case. It also can surely swift her attention from my date with Tin, so I grab this chance.

"Really? What did people say about it?"

"It's mostly New Valuer who is being loud about it. You know there's a lot of Betas who are New Valuer in my campus. They said, 'with all special Alphas in the police force, we can have a serial killer undetected for 11 years!?' things like that"

Ok, this is news for me, I didn't expect this case to become a chance for The New Valuer to diss on The Old Valuer.

It has been a long battle for the last few decades between The Old Value and The New Value.

The Old Value is the Value we've had for centuries and centuries, about all the ethics and way of life we have to follow in our social life. But the core of the Old Value is about the core belief that Alphas are always more superior than Betas and Betas can never have the same opportunities as Alphas.

While the New Value is the complete opposite of that. They have a more free and unruly way of life and always try to defy everything the Old Value holds. For decades they tried to make Betas and Alphas have equal opportunities in society.

Me and my family are coming from the old Alpha family so we naturally follow the Old Value. But even my parents agree some values in the Old Value are out of date and need to be changed. Like an Old Value that said Omegas should never take any paying job and only stay at home, taking care of the household and raising the kids.

My mom especially disagrees with that. My mama has an art history degree and she let my mama work full time as an art dealer. But she also never supports most of New Value. She said whatever they do, Betas will never be more superior than Alphas.

I have a slightly different opinion with my mom. I think a fusion between two values that complete each other will be the best, no need to force any value on anyone. That should be the case, but sometimes I feel like the existence of Deltas and Gammas make everything more complicated, especially those with big influence and big ego. So many violent cases that involve New Valuer and Old Valuer in the past years are mostly instigated by those Deltas and Gammas.

"Then what is your own opinion on it?" I ask my sister.

"I want to told them my brother is one of those special Alphas who work really hard to catch the killer, so they shouldn't diss the police force"

"You shouldn't say that"

"I know, I didn't say it for real, because that would be a perfect recipe to get me bullied. Even though if anyone dare to bully me, mom will surely kick them out from the campus, still, I think it will be better if I don't give them reason to become a bully"

"Wise choice"

"I also think their opinion doesn't make any sense, bad people can always evolve to be as clever as the police. The fact that now they are exposed should become a chance for the police to catch them, we should cheer for the police not diss them"

Despite being a spoiled princess all her life, I never even for a second doubt my sister's sense of judgment and wisdom.

"You are so wise, young lady, and I love you for that!"

I hugged my sister while I said that.

"If you love me, spill me more about your date plan"

There we go, I loved you a second ago but now I hate you again.

"Back to your room, it's late, you have classes tomorrow"

I lift her small body from my bed and softly push her to the door.

"But you haven't told me anything about the date plan, are you two really haven't talked to each other about it. I have a few suggestion if you need help"

I managed to push her until she was out the door.

"I promise I'll tell you and our parents all the details AFTER the date, but now, please don't ask anything about that"

I said that before I closed the door on my sister's face.

My tummy still feels empty and my noodles are ready to be eaten. But before I eat it, I remember I have to thank the one who gave it to me.

"Thank you for the food, I enjoy it right now. Oh, btw, this is dr. Naret Prompaopun"

I sent it with a picture of the noodles.

I wasn't expecting any reply because I think he was too busy to read my text. But as I enjoy my noodle a reply comes in.

"Hello, dr. Naret Prompaopun, glad you enjoy the noodles. Meanwhile this is what I enjoy right now"

I almost choked on my food because he sent that text with a picture of a dissected thumb.

"You, psycho!" I automatically curse, but that's not really a curse for him because he really really is a psychopath.

If I'm not working for the police and get used to all kinds of chopped human body parts, I'll probably throw up seeing that picture.

His humor sense is really not funny, but again, it probably is not him trying to be funny, he just really wants to make me throw up.

I text him back "That's looks good, but I believe my noodles is better"

He reply just a few second later "Pretty sure your noodles is better, but I got 998 of these so like it or not I have to enjoy this"

Somehow, I laugh reading his unfunny sarcasm. He was trying to complain about his job through this sarcasm? Never know a psychopath can do that.

We ended up texting each other for hours that night. He told me they were trying to find the tools the suspect used to cut the thumbs because really there's so many tools they gathered from that house and they can't find which tools the suspect actually uses and which ones are just decorations. He said if they can find the right tools, they'll be able to determine the suspect's height, body type and probably even age.

We talked about the case for a bit. I told him again how much he fit all my criteria of the suspect and he said he was so lucky he fuck me that night because if not, he probably already in the jail right now.

Then the topics swift to our date this week. He keeps asking where I want to go, but really I have no idea where I want to go. I joke around by saying I want to go to my favorite beach in New Zealand, and he takes it seriously. He asks how long to get there? Can a private jet land near the beach? I have to stop him there by saying I'm just joking.

We talked nonsense and joked around till I fell asleep with my hand still holding my phone, waiting for his reply.

I woke up the next morning and found his last text "Are you asleep?"

I didn't text him back because yes, I was asleep. I'm contemplating whether I should text him back now or not, because we'll meet each other at the morning meeting anyway. But, then I feel like it's not proper to not text back.

So I text him back "Sorry, fall asleep last night, see you at the meeting soon"

He text me back just a few second later with "See you"

Somehow that little 'See you' makes me smile. This Enigma is really an interesting person. I have no doubt he is a psychopath, but whenever we talk I never feel the usual fear I feel when I talk to a psychopath, he is not considerate, his words are straightforward, he is not warm or fun, but still I somehow feel super comfortable with him, the feeling I never feel to anyone else, psychopath or not.

When I have breakfast with my parents and sister, it looks like they have a pact to not ask me anything about my date plan. But as a result they were super silent during breakfast, like they were afraid they would say anything wrong and broke the pact.

I met Tin at the morning meeting but we didn't show any sign we were spending time texting each other for hours last night. We both agreed to not show any closeness during working time and stayed professional at the office.

The meeting didn't present anything new. Tin and his team still can't determine which tools the suspect uses, so they can't determine anything that will help him find the suspect's identity. The investigation team is also still trying to gather evidence about the victims' last moments and haven't found anything new. The PR team said the same thing my sister said last night, that the New Valuer started to make this case as a tool to attack the Old Valuer and mock the police force.

I can feel everyone tense after they heard what the PR team said, I feel that too. The last thing we need right now is another pressure and it's from the New Valuer of all people.

After the meeting, I spend my day inside my office, perfecting my victims chart. Thinking by myself while looking at my chart. 11 years is not a short time. Since they are constantly doing the killing at the same place for 11 years that means they never move anywhere far. Tin comes to mind again. He also never leaves this country. All his colleges and schools are around the city, never too far despite the fact he got all the chances and capability to study abroad.

I don't understand why he keeps coming to my mind even when I think about the case. He has a perfect alibi and the reason why he never studies abroad can be because he doesn't want to be far from his widower father. During the dinner party, I can see he's quite close to his father.

My phone ding, swift my focus from my chart. It was Tin, did he know I was just thinking about him? He just sent me a picture without any message. At first I thought he sent me some dissected thumb pictures, but I was wrong. It was the picture of my office door with another food bag hanging on the door handle.

I hurriedly came to my office door and brought the food bag in. It's not Chinese food this time, but a tasty steak. still warm too. Another note also inside.

"Do you like steak? If you like this one we can go eat at this restaurant tomorrow for lunch"

I smile at his note. He really is awkwardly cute. Why leave a note and not just text me this message?

I took a picture of his note and text my reply "Let me taste it first, if the taste is more than 9/10, we can eat at this restaurant tomorrow"

His answer "Bon Appetit"

I sit on my desk, open the food container and taste it. Totally one of the best steaks I've ever tasted. It was juicy, soft, seasoned well and also, how did he even know I like my steak to be medium rare?

It will be an easy 10/10 if I eat it on a proper plate and fresh from the kitchen, I finish my meal before sending my answer "9,5/10"

He answered almost immediately "Lunch, check, where else do you want to go?"

Our date is tomorrow and we only have our lunch planned, nothing else. I'm a planner, I'm not the type of person who will say let's just go with the flow or let's see tomorrow. I need to have a perfect plan for everything. And it looks like Tin is also that kind of person. We have to come up with an idea now.

I never had a date with an Enigma before so I don't really know what they like and what they don't like. All my dates before are Omegas, and we can just take them to lunch, watch a movie or opera or go to ride a boat across the river, all short of romantic and sweet things. But Enigma surely has a different taste.

At that time, I had an idea.

"Do you race?"

"Race? Like horse races?"

"No, car race"

I explain to him, this used to be me and P'Sai's hobby for a long time. During the weekend we usually go to the race track and have a race to beat each other. I won 7 of 10 times. I don't know if P'Sai purposely lost for me but it was a fun and exciting activity. Since he got married and had a child we never raced again. We have people taking care of our car to make sure they are always in good condition even after we don't use them for a long time. This will be a good chance to use them again.

" I never race in a car before but that's sound fun"

"If you agree, I'll tell the people at my garage to prepare our car for tomorrow"

"Ok, can't wait for tomorrow"

Then that's a check for our dating activity. I'm no pro racer but I'm a pretty good one. Yet the only people I ever race with are P'Sai and some of our closest friends. Tomorrow will be the first time I ever race with an Enigma. He said he never raced on a car before but everyone knows Enigma is a quick learner. I can't wait to see how fast he learns to race.

TIN

It's finally our date day. I'm happy we managed to agree on what we both will do today. Vel wanted us to go have some car races. I have little to no knowledge about car racing, so yesterday I left the office early to learn as much as I can about car racing.

It doesn't look so hard, just like a normal drive but it is faster and needs some technique on break and gear changing to match the movement of the fast car.

In the afternoon, I picked him up at his house and asked for his parents permission to take him on a date with me. His parents welcome me happily at their house. I gave his mama a bouquet of pink roses. Vel said that's her favorite flower. She accepted it with gratitude and a big smile.

Vel looks like he doesn't want me to be with his parents for too long and drags me out of the house even before I have a proper chat with his parents. In the car he said his parents have been so fussy about our date since he came back from the office last night and he doesn't want them to be fussy to me too.

So far our chat is mostly through text and we never have a proper chat face to face, that's why I kinda expect our date today will be full of silence. But I was wrong, it turns out Vel is very chatty in person. He kept having things to talk about that our drive to the restaurant wasn't silent at all.

He asked me where I found this restaurant and I told him, I own the building where this restaurant is located and the chef who runs the restaurant is also a chef that often cooks for my dad's party. He should have been the one who cooked dinner for my dad's dinner party last time, but he got a bad cold. His sous-chef is the one who cooks for the dinner party and it's not as good.

I also told Vel, I saw him and his family leave the party before finishing their steak, so when the chef said he got better and was ready to cook again, I asked him to make one of his best steaks so Vel could taste it.

"Oh, you saw us leaving?"

"Of course, my dad is also aware, we were wondering if something is wrong with the food?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with the food. Something came out and we needed to leave early. My mom already call your dad to apologize about it"

I have a feeling there's more behind the reason they leave. His face and his voice shows he doesn't want to talk about the real reason so I don't pursue him.

He then changed the topic to horse racing.

"Why is horse racing the one you mention when I said 'race'?"

"I seriously thought you were going to take me to gamble at a horse race"

He laughed when he heard my answer. This is actually the first time I saw him laugh like that. I didn't even realize a smile appeared on my lips when I saw him laugh.

"But I see your point, you must be thinking taking your first date to gambling on a horse race would be something so groundbreaking, isn't it?"

"Nah, that would be too psychopath 101. I need to be more subtle"

He laughed again hearing my answer. His laugh is so contagious, this time I laughed with him. A real laugh, not a polite fake laugh I usually use.

Vel is the only person, except Ten, who I can truly be myself without the need to hide the fact that I'm a psychopath.

Ten is just a friend that I used to fuck. Even though we had sex multiple times in the past, our feelings for each other are never more than friends. But, Vel is nothing like Ten. I had sex with him, but I never want to be just friends or coworker with him. This feeling seems so foreign to me but I don't hate it.

The restaurant was full when we arrived. It is usually always like this at lunch time during the weekend. I own the building so it's always easy for me to make a reservation anytime. Other people will need to wait for weeks or even months to get a table here. I made a reservation last night and got the table for lunch the next day.

I book a table a little bit far from the other table so other people's noisy voices won't disturb our meal. We talk a lot during our meal. He told me even the steak here tastes super good but still can't beat the streak he eats in New Zealand.

"New Zealand has the best steak in the world"

"Really? I never been there before"

"Yeah, the meat there is different, I can't even explain it with words. You have to taste it yourself"

"Will you take me there someday?"

"Sure" he answer without any doubt "I can also take you to my favorite beach, private plane can't lands near the beach but they got airport few hours away from the beach"

I smiled, he teased me for that time when I mistaken his joke as a real idea. But, with our dynamic now, I have no doubt one day we will actually go there just the two of us.

In the past I was always afraid of a date. It was hard enough for me to keep my friendly and fun persona in front of a lot of people, but I doubt I can keep it when I have to be close and personal with someone. I'm too afraid I'll make mistakes and give my date a bad impression about me and my dad.

I guess it all depends on the date partner. When my partner is Vel, I don't need to feel that fear at all. I can be myself without hiding anything and he will be ok with it. We enjoy our food while talking about ourselves.

Vel told me about his siblings. His older brother, P'Sai who I haven't met, and his sister Jade, who I meet during the dinner party. I'm an only child and I don't know how it feels to have siblings. Most of the time it's just me and my dad, because my papa is already gone.

"Meal time in your house must be so quite"

"Yeah, it's just me and dad after all"

"I hope if someday you have a meal at my house you will get used to the noise, everyone in my family is noisy"

We finish our meal and go to our next destination, the race track.

We drive for about 45 minutes and arrive there. I've never been to a race track before yet the atmosphere here makes me excited. The sound of a car engine, the smell of gas and oil, it's all new for me but I feel this can be my new hobby.

Vel introduced me to a male Alpha named Benz. He and his racing team is the one who is taking care of Vel's and his brother's car. His brother is sponsoring Benz's team in exchange for taking care of their cars. Unlike Vel, Benz is a pro racer. He and his team have won a lot of championships, so Vel thinks Benz will be a good mentor for me today.

Me and Vel change our clothes to racer suits in the locker room. I don't know what Vel was thinking by asking me to change clothes with him. He mustn't know how much I have been carving his body since the night we spent together. I tried my best to not look at his body too long when I saw him change his clothes. Looking at it for too long will make me want to do something else here in this windowless locker room instead of racing. The mark I left on his body has mostly already disappeared but I can see some faint mark still there. I wish I can renew it and add some more new marks.

Vel helped me put on my own clothes, since I don't know how to put it on correctly. He clearly knows what I thought when I saw him changing his clothes.

When he zipped my front zipper up, he said "Whatever you think, hold it until later"

Then he gave me a quick peck on my lips before slid away out of the locker room before I could even hold him back.

I smirk seeing his action. He really teases me isn't he?