COMMANDANT(E) DE CHARME

Dedicated to PTE Echo November. May your uniform be filled with stars before you turn 30, amen

"There he is."

Your heart jumps in excitement as you set your eyes upon the person your mind has already crowned as the most handsome man on Venus, Mars, Jupiter, I mean, in the solar system. You gaze in admiration as his right foot follows his left one majestically as if he owns the land. His shiny black leather boots smile at you as your eyes climb his legs from a distance. They search his legs, then waist, then chest—a body clothed in a star-spangled military uniform.Your eyes then meet his dark ones, deep and mysterious like a sea that you dream of diving into. He winks at you and smiles. His smile, like a bullet leaving the muzzle, pushes you backward, and you almost fell down. 

"Watch yourself"

He says, raising his voice a little bit, and you feel slightly embarrassed. He approaches and stretches out his hand to you. You hold that firm palm in yours and immediately start to wonder how the very same palm would feel on your naked thigh, or maybe on the soft pears that grow in the North. 

"Lieutenant Nyirishema," he says. 

"I know...I mean, I...I am Magda," you finally say.

"Magda is not a name," he says, smiling. 

"Maybe Mrs. Nyirishema." You think as you look at that embodiment of hotness and politeness. "Kabatesi, sir, you finally say.

He passes you by and greets other people. Your eyes still search him as if he has something you want: a missing piece of your heart or something. He proceeds to his office and puts on a white coat, then comes back. He informs you that he will be calling you one by one to tell you your laboratory results. As for you, you are still wondering why he has winked at you and whether he knows how much that kills you inside.

"Son of a gun...I mean, the son of his mother," you murmur softly under your breath. 

****

"There he is."

Your heart jumps in excitement as your eyes rest on his face. He is in pale green pants and a snow white t-shirt that hugs his chest and shows off his abs. You are in a military green dress that hugs you tight, enhancing your curves and edges. He is still five meters away now, but the particles of his perfume are finding shelter in your nostrils, making your heart race. As he approaches your seat, you muster all your courage and stand up to greet him. You are the one who sent an invitation, so you should take the lead. You extend your hand to him, trying to appear unattached and a bit professional, but he does something that catches you off guard. He holds your soft palm in his and puts it on the back of his neck. He then holds your waist and pulls you close, and the beating of your heart confesses your nervousness. There he goes again, with his little dirty tricks that blow your mind away! If it were up to you, you would be cuddling between soft silk white sheets in a certain hotel, but you still believe in the culture, and in your culture, girls rarely express their feelings of love to a man. However, you are not going to let this night pass before you tell the handsome lieutenant how you feel about him.

"Permit me to say that you look great, sir," you finally say after absorbing what just happened.

"Sir, my foot! Just call me Nyirishema. That's my God-given name," he says.

"Alright, Nyirishema," you say, sitting down 

"I like how my name sounds when you pronounce it," he says, winking again. 

The silence between the two of you is louder than shells; you are simply studying each other and stealing glances. You are wondering how you managed to land this appointment with Lt. Dr. Nyirishema, the man who stole your heart the very first time you met him at Kanombe Military Hospital, when you pretended to be sick! You are starting to lose a game you started, for he is scoring more goals than you. You really don't know if you will even accomplish the mission you were given...

***

There he is, lying beside you. You are nestled between blue linen sheets, naked without shame. Through the window, you can see Kivu Queen gliding in style over the waters of Kivu, and you can hear the birds singing. Somehow, their songs sound like mockery because you cannot imagine what happened! You cannot believe how the previous night you broke your SIM card and went offline, avoiding the constant calls of your bosses. You don't even know why you haven't injected the handsome lieutenant with "green tears," the poison your bosses have given you. Your thoughts are interrupted by him, pulling you closer. 

"Damn, I love you, Cynthia; I think I do," he says. 

You silently swear by Holy Mary, the mother of God, for he just called you Cynthia, your real name, and not Magda or Kabatesi!

"Did you just call me by your ex's name?" You ask, pretending to be shocked. 

"Come on, Cynthia, baby. I know who you are!" He says, as he gives you a kiss on your lips. 

"Excuse me?" You say, shocked.

"Gaju Cynthia Malaika, daughter of Sekamana and Murekatete, was born on 22nd May 1998. I know that you are here because of the DNA and postmortem tests I ran on one of your father's victims. I know that you were sent here to seduce and kill me, and I'm willing to help you achieve that!" the handsome lieutenant says, leaving your mouth wide open like the gates of hell.

***

CYNTHIA 

Of course I am Cynthia Gaju Malaika! To those who thought I was Magda Kabatesi, screw you! My body was trained to be a weapon, and my beauty was my ultimate element to set an ambush. I was told by my adoptive father that men were evil people, so I never fell in love with any of them. My missions always involved seducing and killing. "Green tears" was faster than light when it comes to killing; a hug and a syringe were all I needed to execute my plans, and all my victims died while unzipping their pants. I rarely used a gun because my adoptive father always said that bullets were expensive. The handsome lieutenant was the first man I slept with because I was too weak to inject him. I fell in love with him the moment I was given his picture as my next target. He was to be killed because he knew the truth about Laurent, the man my adoptive father killed, and lied that he committed suicide. Because the handsome lieutenant was still a young man, I was the one to do the job. I always thought that my adoptive father had good reasons to kill people until the handsome lieutenant told me everything, starting with the fact that he was the one who killed my parents in a planned accident! From that very moment, I was no longer Magda Kabatesi but the full rightful Gaju Cynthia Malaika 

***

There you go, carrying a lifeless body in a black plastic bag. The job was so easy because you didn't even spend a single bullet on him;just a dirty hug and a quick injection on his neck, and boom, he was gone. This feels suicidal, but still, you go to NM213ST, the very same place where every victim of your adoptive father was placed for "handling." You placed the black bag there, whistled, and waited for a black van with black windows to appear.Simba, the son of your adoptive father, who happens to be also your boss, comes out and hands you a bag too. You already know what's inside, so you didn't bother opening it. Simba picked up the bag and went back in the van. After a few minutes, he shouts angrily, and before you knew it, you were on the ground, your tongue feeling the metallic taste of your blood. Even with your injured body, you regret nothing. You knew that killing one of your leaders and submitting his body was going to send you to Hades, but again, you couldn't have killed Nyirishema, the only man you have fallen in love with in your whole career of being a commandant of charm. As you keep thinking of all those things, your eyelids get heavier than the earth and the sky combined, and then everything turns black.

***

Your heavy eyelids make a way for your irises, like clouds making a way for sunrise, and there he is, the handsome lieutenant, sitting on a chair in front of your bed. He approaches a little bit and kisses your forehead.

"Thank you for coming back, Malaika. We almost lost you." Lt Nyirishema says 

"You and who?" You say, trying to sound cool although your whole body is aching.

"I, me, and myself," he says, smiling, trying to hide drops of tears lining up in his dark, mysterious eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, bro. I'm here to stay," you say as you squeeze his palm.

"You better get well soon. I have twins inside of me, and they are saying that they want to be released in your womb," he says, winking at you. 

"Son of a gun," you say, laughing as softly as your pain would allow. "Is that what you tell somebody who saved your handsome ass?" You say 

"I saved your life too, little witch," the handsome lieutenant says

***

LIEUTENANT NYIRISHEMA 

I am lieutenant Nyirishema, or the handsome lieutenant as Thia or Cynthia, my beautiful wife likes to call me. My colleagues know me as Mr Ice or Freezer because I appear cold, colder than the coldness itself. By the time I was given this star-spangled military uniform, I had made a promise to God, my country, and myself that I would only fight for the truth. It's easy to do so when you are in a green uniform, but by the moment you add on a white medical coat and go to work in a forensic laboratory, things change a little bit. I may have two eyes, but believe me, they are everywhere, searching for everything that would harm me or people under my care. When I find such I think, I either shoot or inject to kill...or sometimes be a sweetheart and send the threat to the police. My eyes were spying when they fell on the tall brown hourglass! She had a shiny smile and beautiful big eyes. I mean, I haven't seen such a beautiful woman before! From a distance, I could feel her eyes climbing me, searching me as if I owed her something. I was so lost in her beauty, but I tried to collect myself so as to not appear as a womanizer. She was there to get the results of a test, and I was the one to give them to her. She left in my office a purse, and when I opened to see what was inside, I was surprised to see that I was her next target, or better, her adoptive father's next victim. That was the moment that I became a "commandant de charme."

I made love to her several times and made sure she moaned my name even in her sleeps. Well, one would say that I was simply good. Fate tied us in a strange, stupid way, and she ended up confessing her love to me right after I told her that I loved her.

Cynthia was my yellow rose, and she's still my yellow rose now that she's pregnant with our firstborn twins! I don't want to remember how I almost lost her to the cruel Simba or how I managed to rescue her on time.

My children will know how their dad was so charming that he sent a commandante de Charme in retirement!