A tow truck carrying a miserable-looking red Alfa Romeo on the platform at the back slowed down and entered a car workshop before stopping.
The door on the passenger side opened, and Tyler jumped down. He was wearing black, a color he seemed to particularly like, the same one his hair was almost identical to.
He looked around the garage full of tools and cars dismantled for repairs or modifications, most of which were pricey, luxurious cars. While there were mechanics working around, the one he was looking for was not present.
"She is not here."
Tyler turned toward the man who had come out from under a Porsche suspended in the air and was wiping his darkened hands on the towel at his waist.
He did not turn shy from having his intentions busted. If anything, his intentions seemed to have never been a secret in the first place.
Tyler smiled at the light reddish-brown-haired man just a few years older than him, almost at the beginning of his thirties, and straightforwardly asked:
"Hey, Conns, where is Kim?"
Other busy mechanics in deep blue overalls turned to smile knowingly at the scene, while Conns pointed at the corridor to at the end of the workshop:
"In her office, probably."
"Thanks."
Tyler gave a nod of acknowledgement, and followed the path pointed for him with his smile changing at the edge to show some of the eagerness he was feeling in his heart.
The corridor was dimmer than the workshop illuminated by both the artificial inside and the natural light of the sun approaching its zenith. After turning a corner, then climbing a flight of stairs, Tyler walked to the door at the farthest, and found it standing ajar.
He breathed to regulate the nervous butterfly in his stomach, and slowly pushed it open after a soft knock to step into the office behind it.
It was around twenty square meters, and brightly lit by the light coming in from the window facing the dealership of luxurious sports cars and off-road vehicles below outside.
The owner of the office, with her short hair giving her an air of independence instead of femininity, raised her head to look at the intruder, before, without a word, she returned her focus to the blueprints on the desk in front of her.
Tyler's smile deepened, not bothered by the indifferent welcome. He looked at the dark-haired woman with a hint of tomboyish temperament, and slowly, stopped caring about the rest of the world. In the silence, his smile which had been carrying eagerness, anticipation and nervousness in equal parts melted into a soft display that almost seemed subconscious.
Only the sound of pencil moving on paper, and paper being ruffled accompanied the quiet blanketing the room. Finally, after a dozen minutes, the dark-haired woman closed the notebook she had been recording her thoughts in, and put it, along with the pencil, on the blueprints to keep them down, and leaned back to look at her guest.
"What are you doing here?"
Tyler put away his infatuated smile and straightened himself as he shifted to a friendly face:
"What? Kim, can't I simply come to see you? Are you building a new engine or planning the modifications on an existing one?"
The girl looked at him impassively. It was obvious that she found his words lacking in credibility, or she simply didn't care. And his attempt at a conversation failed.
It didn't take long for his defense to cave in. He sighed, and sat across from her. He took the cup in front of her to take a sip of the dark coffee that had lost all its warmth under her unperturbed gaze, before he sighed in defeat, whether at her lack of reaction, or at her insistence for the truth.
He put the cup down.
"You win. Alex had an accident with his newest Alfa Romeo yesterday. He asked me to bring it here to see if you can save it or if it must be scrapped for good."
Kim frowned. She ignored Tyler's disappointment to focus on the more important information he had let out. She didn't ask if Alex was alright. Tyler's carefree attitude made the question redundant.
"What happened?"
Tyler let out another silent exhale, and looked at the bright floor below. His eyes lingered for a moment on the beautiful vehicles on display before he turned back, his expression now schooled into a calm mask with a smile:
"I don't know what happened. Alex had big sister Leyna call me to pick up his broken car and bring it here. It is in the workshop."
Kim frowned, then stood up to leave, exposing the same deep blue overall below her dark tank top as the other mechanics in the workshop, hers with the long sleeves tied at the waist.
She had a modest figure, and a slight hint of tomboyishness in her temperament, but she was beautiful in her own way, with a charm of her own.
Tyler followed her with his gaze, his eyes rippling with subtle affection, and stood up to follow behind her.
Taking the same path he took to arrive, they returned to the workshop. At that moment, the good Tyler had come with but which he had forgotten behind to instead go search for Kim had already been discharged, with the tow truck nowhere to be seen.
Kim raised her eyebrows at the deep damage to the body of the red sports car, and walked around it to assess the situation better. She came to a stop beside the right side of the car, and stated seriously after a moment:
"If there has been anyone on the passenger seat inside during the accident, that person might have died."
Tyler came to a stop beside her with his smile faded away. He gave a deep look at the damaged right side of the Alfa Romeo which had practically been compressed inside, and nodded, imagining how it could have suffered like that.
He looked to the side at Kim. Her serious look multiplied her charm in his eyes, and he found himself speaking before his brain could catch up:
"Are you free tonight?"