About three minutes later, Nina's body went slack. She leaned back in John's arms, and her eyes became blurry.

"Did you smoke on your way back? The smell's a bit heavier than usual." Nina turned around in his arms, still stepping on John's feet. To keep herself from falling, she stood on tiptoe and wound her arms around his neck. She sniffed him and commented, "Really, the smell is really heavy. You smoked a lot, didn't you?"

One of the first things that she found out about John was that he was a heavy smoker. He liked smoking very much.

Strangely, however, she had never seen him smoking in front of her. Whenever he smoked, he would stand by an opened window so that the smell of smoke could be dispersed.

She vaguely felt that it was something he did for her sake.

Nina had always lacked a sense of security since she was a child and was sensitive by nature. She plucked up courage to say those words to John just now.

John knew that Nina had keen observation skills. He just said softly, "Yes."

His dark eyes grew even darker. He looked down out the young woman in front of him with a frown

s hold became.

"It's not a joke? Huh?" Under John's cold stare, Nina felt like weeping.

Nina was so anxious that she was at a loss for words. Besides, her mouth was twisted because of John's hold.

'One day, she will make me lose my temper,' he thought.

His hold on her cheeks loosened, and he said in a deep voice, "Never make such a joke ever again."

"Okay, okay," Nina said reassuringly. She felt that calming John down was her first priority at that moment.

After he let go of her, he looked at her with narrowed eyes and asked the question that had been bugging him for a while now.

"Are you the famous painter Elk?"

"Yes." Nina nodded calmly.

"The international hacker Elk?"

This time, Nina didn't answer directly—instead, she stared up at him, stunned. Her eyes became unreadable pools, as if she had guessed what he was worried about.

She still nodded, "Yes."

"Then..." John looked away from Nina and looked at the boundless night through the glass window.

With a complex expression on his face, he asked in a voice lower than usual, "Who are you?"

'Nina, who are you?'