I heard a couple of raps on my window screen. My room was a converted reception room on the ground floor, which the window is facing the streets of Maine Road so passersby walking past my window at night, talking loudly could wake me up sometimes.

It was 1.00 am and the tap grew louder that it had interrupted my slumber, forcing my eyes to open slowly. Despite my blurry vision, I saw a tall silhouette behind the window through the blinds, sending jolts to my brain that I yelped and fell off the bed. As I cowered to the floor seeking sanctuary, the taps went persistent and a muffled voice outside the window called my name, "Zahida. Zahida!"

It has to be Nick. Who else would call me by that name?

My senses regained and my eyes began to adjust, I looked up to the window and the visual of Nick gradually emerged from the silhouette. I got up, reached for my bedroom door and went straight to the front door. Nick already stood in front of the front door as I opened it, accompanied by the early winter draft gushing in which was sharp and sudden. I looked behind for any signs of my flatmates on the upper floor alarmed by my sudden shrill but they weren't.

"Nick, how do you know my house?" I asked, edgy.

"I summoned the leader of the minions for your address," he mocked. "I'm your boss, what do you think?"

"Yeah, that's a stupid thing to ask," I said, embarrassed by my half awaken consciousness. "Why didn't you call?"

"I did. It went to voicemail."

Did I forget to charge my phone after grocery shopping for Nick earlier today?

"We're sending out armaments to the folks at Hazarajat," he continued. "Do you want to –"

"I'll get ready," I cut off, my consciousness lifted when 'armaments' was mentioned. I went straight to the bathroom for a quick wash while Nick waited for me in his SLR.

Along the way, Nick briefly explained the procedures of transporting the armaments for shipment to Hazarajat just to amuse me. He left out intricate details of the logistic process and doesn't want me to know too much. As I probed further, he either evaded my questions or limited his answers to 'They need to be done in an utmost diligent manner without getting caught.'

"Then why do you wake me up in the middle of the night?" I asked.

"I thought you want to see it for yourself," he replied patiently. As I was about to open my mouth to speak, he continued, "But you need to stay in the car at all times, you'll be safe here. They don't trust new faces, especially pretty naïve-looking ones."

So, am I pretty naïve, or pretty and naïve? I wasn't sure if that was an insult or a compliment. I looked outside through the fully tinted window, too dark to know where we were heading. I hardly see what was outside, I only knew that we embarked on a quiet road through dark woods reminded me of some thriller films I've watched before.

Nick suggested that I could take a nap first since the journey would take us approximately an hour to arrive but I was too excited to sleep. He took a couple of Redbull from the hidden compartment behind us, offered one to me and opened one for himself. He reached out for his iPhone from his inside pocket of his trench coat, connecting it to the car's audio system via Bluetooth and played his Spotify playlist on shuffle.

A sound of a few slow strums emitted from the car's audio speaker followed by a familiar soothing male voice sang out the chorus, "I met a superhero, I lost her, I want her back..."

I turned to Nick, surprised by his choice of songs. "Lauv? Are you serious?"

"What's wrong with him?" Nick smirked.

"Is that supposed to lull me to sleep?" I asked, partially laughing.

"No, it is supposed to quell my stress and anxiety away."

"I thought you would quell to... I don't know rock, rap or anything explicit that could enrage you," I said.

"There's a lot about me you don't know," Nick replied. "I don't like it when you generalise me as aggressive. How would you feel if I stereotyped girls as weak creatures who can't fight boys?"

"Sorry," I said, wiping the grin off my face. "I have never met one before so I thought all of them were hostile. But you guys commit crimes, threaten and take people's lives."

"We are but we aren't hostile against the civilians. Not my team. We don't do bank heist or prey on innocent people. We target the specifics," he clarified.

"More like hitmen?" I asked and Nick responded with a nod and a hum.

"Was I being spared?" I asked bluntly.

"You aren't even on that list to begin with," he answered briefly.

"But you and your G-Wagon guy ganged me up the other day."

He ignored my name calling and answered, "I was trying to break you but I figured you weren't that easy to crack."

Relieved by his answer, I asked further, "Did you actually have issues with me before? Especially when I confronted you?"

"Not really, I get that a lot," he answered. "I just never got it from a female before."

"Not even when I kissed Milla?" I braved another question to which he scoffed.

"You didn't kiss Milla, she kissed you," he said. "The way you touched her was obvious you had no feelings for her."

"I like her to be honest but I am not gay," I replied.

"Why are you saying like being a gay is a crime? This is a liberal country where everyone is free to be what they want and what they want to do with themselves. Instead of judging people for what they are, what they do or how they look, learn to remove that notion in your mind and understand them.

"Like you for instance. If you wanna fight for equal rights, stand up for the weak and vulnerable, go head. I admire that. I respect your belief, your opinions, you want to dress up like Billie Eilish that's cool with me. I basically accept the way you are, I won't judge you," he lectured.

"But you called me it," I reminded him.

"Yeah, I was just messing with your mind," he snickered.