Chapter 78: Playful Banter
The next few days Jin was focused on completing as many missions as he could while also paying attention to Diana. Their usual chit-chat during lunchtime happened like usual. With their chats together Jin also got an idea about the places she had visited before in the Neon City and the places she had not.
Sunday was soon arriving and he needed to decide upon a suitable place for their first outing.
'I'll think about it after completing today's set of missions,' Jin thought in exhaustion. The continuous missions had drained life out of him by now. However, all that effort was not in vain since he was now on the brink of completing his mission.
A few targets and their accomplices whom Jin was forced to deal with gave much more Kill points than he had anticipated. As a result, it seemed that the mission was going to be completed today.
"Hey, are you listening?" Diana noticed that Jin was distracted and asked him about it.
"Oh, my bad. My mind diverted a bit for a second there…," Jin said with a hint of tiredness in his voice.
"Are you sure you're fine? Your skin looks much paler than before…and your eyes look dull as well. You are not sleeping well aren't you?" Diana observed Jin's complexion seriously and confronted him the next moment.
"Since I got the role, I need to go through the script a lot of times so maybe that's why," Jin explained.
"You must pay attention to your health…" Diana started lecturing Jin on how important it was to get a good amount of sleep. Jin could only sigh and accept his faith.
A few police vehicles went past the restaurant thereby attracting their attention.
Diana's eyes frowned a bit.
"I read in the morning news that there have been a lot of murders happening around in the city lately…some have even speculated that it's the work of a serial killer," Diana said with a hint of concern in her voice.
"I too have read those articles. Just what is happening in this city…" Jin sighed and shook his head in concern as he continued, "Be more vigilant while moving around the city alone…"
"Aww, you care about so much? I'm flattered but rest assured no one would be able to touch me…" Diana teased as she took something out of her purse and showed it to Jin. "...See this? It's pepper spray. I ordered it a couple of days ago. What do you think?
Smart ain't I?"
"Sometimes your genius frightens me…" Jin started snickering after seeing that small can of spray.
"What? Why are you laughing?" Diana didn't quite understand why he was snickering at her.
"I mean…" Jin paused and stopped himself from snickering further and continued, "...you don't think that a small spray like that can help you from an attacker now do you?"
"You think I'm joking? This small thing is capable of bringing a 6-foot man to his knees," Diana explained with a serious expression.
However, for Jin who was hearing about pepper spray for the first time in his life, how could he believe such words, "A 6-foot man? This little thing? You just got scammed bwahaha!" Jin finally couldn't control his laughter and let it all out.
Feeling all the eyes of other customers directed towards her Diana felt very embarrassed. Jin's laughter showed no signs of stopping which along with increasing her embarrassment also infuriated her.
To teach him a lesson, she pointed the nozzle towards Jin and slightly pressed the spray cap.
"See if it's a scam yourself then!" She said in anger.
*Psss*
Hearing the voice Jin's laughter stopped all of a sudden and he looked at the spray can. The next moment he said, "See! Nothing happened! You were sca-"
Cough! Cough!
A series of coughs soon interrupted Jin from further continuing his words.
The pungent smell of pepper seemed to have embedded in his throat as the coughing spree continued on non-stop with frequent sneezing in between.
However, it was not just Jin who paid the price. Due to the room being an enclosed area the spray droplets spread in the surroundings aswell and affected the people in the room. Diana, who was closest to Jin wasn't spared as well.
She too along with the rest of the people started coughing and sneezing.
"cough! cough! What the hell!"
"Shitt cough!"
"Outside! cough- Let's go outside!"
The previously quiet and pleasant environment took a turn for the worse and everyone was forced to vacate the room in an unsightly manner.
Around 15 minutes later,
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry. It won't happen again," Diana apologized to the owner incessantly as he lectured her about her actions. The other customers who were a bit angry as well swallowed their anger after seeing the worried expression that was their on Diana's face as she listened to the owner's scolding.
She didn't think that her little action would have such drastic consequences.
As for Jin, He just watched from the sidelines. He had no intention of helping her get out of this situation as she invited it onto herself. It was already good enough that she was receiving only an earful from the angry owner.
The owner soon stopped his lecture and let her off since she was a regular in his small restaurant though it was more likely because of how pitiable she looked at the moment.
A deflated Diana soon walked towards Jin. Jin wanted to laugh seeing her pale appearance but he controlled his expression and maintained a stern face.
"I'm sorry for that. It was my first time using it and I didn't think that just a small amount would lead to something like this," Diana apologized to Jin. Since she was also the victim of the spray she knew how terrible the exposure felt.
"Initially I was indeed very angry at you…" Jin said and paused.
Diana's already damp mood further dampened after hearing his words. Seeing Diana's crestfallen face Jin didn't keep her waiting for long and continued.
"...However, now that I think over it, it was quite fun," He chuckled.
"You singlehandedly managed to mess with everyone in that restaurant. You might really be more dangerous than that killer out there," Jin joked in a silly manner.
"You…" She sighed seeing that he could still joke even in such a situation.
"Thank you, It would be totally justified if you would lash out at me like the owner." She said while looking down at the ground.
"If you weren't the person I liked then I most probably would have held a grudge but alas…you lucked out on this one," Jin said in a regrettable tone.
Diana giggled when she heard this. Thanks to Jin's words her mood had improved.
"You're joking like this to make me feel better aren't you?" Diana asked
"I think you should be more worried about returning late," Jin said as he flashed his phone's screen to her.
"Shit! I'll be rushing back then. Once again sorry for what happened today!" With that said Diana's figure rushed into the direction of her office under the amused eyes of Jin.
Jin then returned to his hotel and had a nap before engaging in the last set of missions he would be doing.
At 2:37 AM Jin finally received the Mission successful message. He had just dealt with around 20 people who were involved in a shady dealing inside a multistorey car park. When the screen disappeared Jin noticed a building-like tall structure a few kilometres away in the night sky and a thoughtful expression formed on his face.
"That's a good place to take her to," He muttered after a while.