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Language was an art.
Some words may be the same, but the effect can change completely depending on tone and sentence segmentation.
From "don't… stop" to "don't stop" to "don't… stop," those three variations alone were enough to clearly and vividly express Felicity's shifting mental and physical state.
With violent winds, crashing rain, and pounding waves outside, Felicity, setting out to sea for the first time in her life, was still caught in the emotional aftershocks.
Gazing at Allen in a daze, her mind spun uncontrollably.
It felt like ever since she met him, her once orderly life had been completely thrown off course.
"We… what are we now?" she asked blankly, her voice almost silent.
Allen chuckled, as if the answer was the simplest thing in the world.
"We can be friends, or a couple."
"Do you have friends like that?" Felicity asked softly, almost afraid to hear the answer.
"I don't, but I might in the future," Allen grinned mischievously.
"What?"
"Is that why you were so attentive to me before, to add me to your list of friends with benefits? Did you think I was an easy prey?" Her voice trembled slightly, eyes shining with a mix of anger and vulnerability.
"Was it all planned? Since you got on my car?"
Allen shook his head immediately, gently cupping her cheek with one hand.
His gaze was soft, yet serious. "Nope, it just happened naturally…"
He wasn't lying, he was overcome with emotion yesterday and things happened.
"Then what will happen now? You want to make this a one-night stand?" Felicity stood up abruptly, anger flashing in her eyes as she glared at him.
"Don't be mad. You're my first girlfriend ever since I got here," Allen said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her gently on the forehead.
"Not just anyone could see this side of me,"
"Really?" Felicity looked at him with deep suspicion, but her anger slowly melted away under the warmth of his embrace.
She exhaled shakily and rested her head against his chest.
"Fine, I'll let it go for now,"
"Tell me about yourself. I don't know anything. Did you really plan to scare me from the beginning? Or basically just kidnap me?"
She struggled to find the right words, the situation was still so surreal.
Because he had told her to drive to her apartment when she had just wanted to give him a lift, that was basically kidnapping.
"Yes," Allen smiled brightly, not even trying to hide it.
"I used to do this sort of thing back in Gotham. It's simple, fast, convenient and very easy. Speaking of kidnapping, I even kidnapped someone earlier today. A police officer's daughter."
"That joke isn't funny," Felicity said with a forced, uneasy smile.
"I'm not joking."
"…What?"
Felicity froze, her heart skipping a beat.
She stared at him in disbelief, then stumbled back a step.
"Are you serious? You… you kidnapped a cop's daughter today?"
"Yes. Well, at least she thinks so. I don't think she called the police, though," Allen replied casually, as if discussing the weather.
"You're insane!" Felicity shouted, panic taking over.
She ran toward the living room in a hurry.
Moments later, she returned, a computer bag slung over her shoulder, and swiftly set up her laptop on the table.
Booting it up, she put on her glasses, and her fingers flew across the keyboard like butterflies dancing in a storm.
In less than twenty seconds, she had hacked into the Starling City Police Department's internal system.
There was no record of Allen at all.
She exhaled in relief, feeling a small weight lift off her chest.
She then turned and looked at him seriously.
"Are you really joking?"
"Laurel Lance. Her father is Quentin Lance. Check it," Allen said nonchalantly, as if daring her.
Felicity quickly pulled up the files on both individuals, her brows furrowing the deeper she dug.
She fell into silent thought as she stared at Allen, her mind racing.
"Why did you kidnap her?" she finally asked, unable to hold back anymore.
Allen looked completely unbothered, leaning casually against the wall with a relaxed smile, which only deepened her unease.
"I'm a little interested in her, but I didn't kidnap her, I saved her from a robber and took her to another place because she was unconscious… I wanted to talk to her, but I knew she would run, so I tied her up until she woke up, when we talked, I let her go… she then called me a kidnapper," he said simply, as if that explained everything.
"That's kidnapping! Did you do it because you were interested in her?" Felicity repeated in disbelief.
"Yep. Your boyfriend's a bit impulsive," Allen said, standing up and wrapping his arms around Felicity from behind.
She frowned, feeling conflicted, and began typing again.
Not only was there no record of a kidnapping, but strangely enough, the police system didn't even have any data on Allen at all.
Growing increasingly suspicious, she thought maybe he was from Gotham.
She quickly accessed the Gotham PD database, but found his file marked top-level confidential.
Even the police commissioner wasn't authorized to access it.
Although she could attempt to crack into it, her current laptop simply wasn't powerful enough to breach those layers of security.
"…Who are you?" Felicity turned to face him; her eyes full of a thousand burning questions.
Allen noticed her reaction to the classified file but didn't seem the least bit concerned.
Instead, he grinned devilishly.
"Your man. Did you forget so fast? Or do you get bored with the old even faster than I do?"
"Get bored with the old?" she echoed, frowning deeply.
She was just about to ask what that meant when Allen interrupted.
"Check Queen Industrial. Steel manufacturing and welding plant."
She gave him a look, and sighed.
She then quickly hacked into the nearby surveillance network, fingers tapping at a furious speed.
Soon, a video feed appeared on her laptop screen, showing footage from inside the plant.
"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously, her heart sinking.
"I brought her there," Allen said casually, like he was discussing a casual lunch meeting.
"Told her if she wants to see me again, she should come find me."
"You still want to see her? You said you're interested in her earlier; do you like her?" Felicity asked, her tone clearly upset and her emotions hard to hide.
"If I really liked her, I wouldn't need to wait around, I can take her whenever I want" Allen replied with a smirk, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Take her by… force? Is this how you usually confess your feelings?" she asked, utterly dumbfounded.
"What's the point of confessing?" Allen said seriously, his tone turning almost cold.
"You'll get rejected for sure. If you can't win her over, then take her." Allen said.
Then seeing his girlfriend's increasingly shocked face, he wanted to mess with her more.
"If that doesn't work, I can drug her. Worst case, I'll take a photo and turn my back on her. Do a little time in jail, and when I'm out, I'll continue from where I left off."
Felicity stared at him in utter disbelief, her mind struggling to process the sheer madness of what she was hearing.
What kind of twisted, antisocial logic was this?