“Yes.” 

Francesco widened his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe it, then smiled broadly upon realisation, with his cheekbones rising up. Francesco looked at her lovingly and Marcella blushed, glancing away slightly. 

Francesco held her hand tightly and pulled her gently to an embrace. 

He murmured against her ears. “I love you.” 

Marcella leaned against his shoulders and whispered. “Me too.”

They let each other go after embracing for a while, and Francesco ruffled Marcella’s hair. “Take some rest, I’ll check on you in the morning.” 

She nodded as he lifted the blankets and caressed her forehead. She closed her eyes with a smile on her face and went back to sleep. 

He looked at her sleeping figure lovingly for a while, then left the room. 

Francesco spent the rest of the night thinking of what were the possible solutions to the spy problem. He has encountered guards who brought him back home forcefully, just like the ones in the airport. For those, there were two ways to avoid yourself being caught - first one, was to hide from the guards so they can’t find you. He tried this before but this didn’t work because, apparently, the guards had a tracking device on him. If there was no tracking device or technology involved, the “hiding” strategy could work, just like how it worked in the airport. 

There was also a second way - bribe. A lot of the spies working probably have some problems that require money to fix, because spy/guard pay are very good, especially from rich clients like Marcella’s father. He didn’t know who her father is and what her background is because she’s never told him, but he was sure that its definitely someone with a lot of money. 

If he could investigate, then offer something to the spies that was better than her father’s offer, the spies could stop. 

He decided to pursue the second method. 

A few weeks later, it was the Easter holidays, so there was no school. For the whole time, Francesco and Marcella kept their relationship a secret - well besides from Krystal, but other people didn’t know. It was to keep them safe from the spies. The spies probably assumed that Marcella took account of their threats, so they only followed her and continued to send messages to her phone. They didn’t confront her physically yet.

He spent the time investigating on the spies who were in this mission. He used his family’s large database to find these people’s identities. Some of them were just normal students, they got the money from spy companies and just did it out of greed. Some were officially part of the company. They all had complicated backgrounds and Francesco was wondering which one he should bribe on. He had to find someone who, not only has a leverage that he can act on, but also must be one of the heads of the company - so they have the power to stop the whole mission.

As he scrolled through the list of names and photos that he has recorded, one face became really familiar. It was the girl that he saw in the Art room with Marcella last time, threatening her to go back. 

He decided to take a look at this girl. 

He found out that this girl is named Minah, and her father is staying in one of the hospitals in New York. He guessed of Minah’s intentions right away. 

She probably needs the money from Marcella’s father because Minah’s father is suffering from some kind of disease, and will need a lot of hospital fee. 

He also found that Minah was one of the leaders of the organisation, so she would be able to stop the operation against Marcella if she wants to.

With his own guesses, he decided to confront this Minah girl. 

School started again and he looked for that girl. He found her in the same art room that she had threatened Marcella before. 

Before he can walk up to her, Minah squinted her eyes at him and spoke. 

“Ah. Here’s the lover boy. Trying to help your girl Marcella? Know your grounds boy, this is not something that you can stop.”

He smirked. “How do you know that it is not something that I can stop?”

She frowned at his confidence. 

He cleared his throat, then started. “I know who you are. You’re Minah, you’re 20 years old, and... you have a father who’s desperately in