Part 17 — Confession

6 months after Zap was tied to a chair, Zap was promoted to be in a position just like Jessica's, and he was assigned to partner up with a beginner named Liam. With them now apart in their job, Jessica decided to start visiting the apartment from time to time. Azyra was still away, but she began to call Xin once every few weeks. She also texted her frequently as well.

Xin opened the door. "Hey, Jess! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Xin. I came to meet Zap. Is he here?"

"Yeah. He's upstairs in his room."

Jessica thanked Xin and walked upstairs. Meanwhile, Xin went back to the dining table to finish the breakfast Zap had made. Jessica opened the door to Zap's room. "Hey, Zap."

"Hey, Jess. How's it going?"

"It's going well. How are you and Liam?"

"Liam does well. I don't see any major issues yet, and it's all flowing smoothly."

"That's great to hear...I wish Katherine could be like that."

"Oh? How's Katherine?"

"Try to strap a metal box to you as you run a lap around a race track. That's the burden I have to go through dealing with an unenthusiastic person. Though, she's really clever, and it makes up for it."

"That's something." Zap looked at his door, which was ajar. "Did you need anything?"

"Not really. I just wanted to talk."

"I know you come here to talk, but you've never come at 10:00 in the morning."

"I didn't want to wait! There was no reason to; I was given the day off."

"Isn't that something? That's good."

"Yeah. Gives Katherine some time to breathe, too. I've been getting worried that she was going under too much pressure."

"Pressure...say, how's Samuel?"

"I told you that he was fine. He's still the comms. expert, and he helps Kathrine and me all the time."

"Good for him." Zap watched the door slowly open.

"Say, this big case hasn't troubled you, has it?"

"Not at all. I am keeping away from it though."

"Good to know." Jessica looked at Zap. "I miss being partners with you."

"Same here. At least I didn't have to be the one in charge."

"Pfft. You took that role many times anyway."

"You were slipping away from it! What else was I supposed to do?"

"You're too responsible for your own good. You need to loosen up more."

"I do loosen up when I'm not at my job."

"Really? Huh. I guess I wouldn't really know."

"Come to think of it, you don't really act differently from when you're not at work."

"Yeah. I don't let it bother me."

"Is that why you get distracted often?"

"Huh? No, that's not it. It's, uh...more complicated than that."

Zap looked sideways at Jess. "So why do you always get distracted?"

"Don't worry about that."

"I'm going to worry—"

"Don't worry about it!" Jess tackled Zap and covered his mouth.

Xin walked in to see what was going on. She stared for a moment. "Ah...you're on your own, Zap." She quickly closed the door and ran downstairs.

Jess continued. "Don't worry about any of that." She got up and took her hand off of Zap's mouth. "It's not really important."

Zap took advantage of the situation and pulled Jessica down. Now he was the one above her, pinning her wrists.

"Zapdon'tworryaboutitItoldyounottoworryaboutit!" Jessica quickly said, struggling to get Zap to let go of her.

"I'm not going to lie, you're acting kind of cute and it's weird," Zap told her.

"You shut up! Let me go!" Jessica struggled harder, but it was a failed attempt.

"Stop wasting your time, sweetie," Zap said, letting go of Jessica. "You can't leave this room until you tell me." Zap rushed to the door and leaned on it, preventing Jessica from exiting his room.

Jessica knew she could get Zap off the door and leave, but she didn't try. Rather, she was trying to prepare herself and say what she was about to say. "ZapIloveyoupleasedon'thateme—"

"Huh?"

Jessica stood still. She cleared her throat. "Zap, I love you. Please don't hate me—"

"I heard you the first time. Are you being serious?"

"Ugh...yeah. Why else do you think I keep getting distracted."

"From the beginning?"

"No, not from the beginning. The beginning was only because you were a decent person. It hasn't been a long time since I started feeling this way..." Jessica looked down. "Do you hate me?"

"You can't make good jokes, can you?" Zap walked towards Jessica. "I guess that's what that feeling was..."

"Huh?"

"I guess I love you too. It was hard to explain at first, but when you said it, it made more sense." Zap looked uncomfortably at Jessica. "So..."

Jessica again tackled Zap to the bed, but rather than covering his mouth with her hand, she used her own mouth. When she pulled away, she softly said, "I'm your girlfriend now, and there's nothing you can do about it."