章 25: Fifteen years [3]

Back at the MIB Thrissur sector, Lonappan dragged the alien back on his own. He got a hero's welcome--or that's what he likes to imagine. In fact, the agents around were going on with their own business. However, one person did his best to give Lonappan the hero's welcome he thought he deserved.

"Hey! Congrats on your first solo mission. I'm so proud of you!" Ponnappan patted Lonappan on his back.

Lonappan smiled. "You know how good I am, right?" He asked.

"Yea, yea. The boss is looking for you right now." Ponnappan replied.

"Oh, okay. Let me just put this guy--shit, this person into the detention center." Lonappan spoke and led the alien to the detention center and threw him into one of their cells.

"Ow, be a bit careful! You'll ruin my skin." The alien cried.

"As if you're diamond like skin's ever gonna get destroyed. Besides, even if it did, do you think I care? If anything, you should've never tried selling alien drugs in the streets." Lonappan retorted.

"Well, you guys do not give me a whole lot of money now, do you?" The alien asked, much to the dismay of Lonappan.

"Our salary is lesser than your allowance from MIB. Think about that for a second. Moreover, what's up with lavish spending? I don't get it! We're in India! Everything's considerably cheaper in here when you compare it with the United States! Even then, if you're not able to control your expenses. I will never understand that." Lonappan replied, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Hey! I'm the royal heir to the kingdom of Ciabatta! I deserve extreme care and a first class stay. I do not deserve the treatment I get from here." The alien cried.

"So, you own a white bread. What's the big deal about it?" Lonappan asked, purposefully trying to rile up the alien.

"That's not what I mean!" The alien tried to give out a counter argument, however Lonappan wasn't interested in any.

"Oops! Unlike you, I'm hella busy catching shitheads like you. So, try explaining that shit to yourself until I come back in another fifty years, your highness!" Lonappan mockingly bowed and walked away.

"I'll get you for this, Agent Lonappan!" The alien muttered under its breath.

"Congratulations, Lonappan! Your first solo mission. How do you feel about it?" MIB's commanding officer asked.

"In short, it was generally fine. A bunch of hiccups here and there, however, fine overall." Lonappan answered, as he suddenly remembered Gopan.

"Hmm. I think what you did was exceptional. So, I want you to blend in with the society." The boss spoke.

"You mean?" Lonappan was a bit surprised.

"You're gonna lead a normal life from now on. Of course, that'd be a solid cover, so you can still do what you're doing in the shadows. Furthermore, you can keep surveillance on a bunch of aliens too." The commanding officer explained.

"Where are you posting me, sir?" Lonappan asked.

"Near #306. A relatively new base. You'd be the first one surveilling that area. Congratulations on that as well." The officer shook his hand.

"Thank you sir!" Lonappan had no idea how to feel about this.

"Bwahaha!" Ponnappan laughed out loud.

"Dude, don't laugh like that! You're hurting my feelings ever so slightly." Lonappan spoke with a pain in his voice.

"How can I not laugh? Not only did he sent you to babysit a bunch of aliens, but also he's sending you to one of the secluded areas there for an alien 'babysitting' center." Ponnappan gave out a chuckle.

Lonappan sighed. "It is Alien 'surveillance' center for you! And this Pazhamukku doesn't seem that bad! I'll manage somehow; until they deem me eligible to do bigger and better things." Lonappan looked hopeful as he spoke.

"But, why would the boss do something like this? Isn't this a straight out punishment? Maybe, he cares a lot about you and doesn't want you to go to the front lines, eh?" Ponnappan asked, slightly nudging his shoulder.

"As if the boss is capable of having such emotions!" Lonappan scoffed.

"Well, it's that or he straight up hates you. You can decide on what you want to believe." Ponnappan replied.

"I'll rather believe the hard truth rather than dwell myself on a fantasy of a lie." Lonappan made his decision. He decided to accept this punishment without backing down.

"Hmm. However, if you ask me, I can see pros too. You can marry and have a happily married life with your wife and kids for real! That's a pro for sure." Ponnappan smiled.

"I can't think of marriage and stuff when I have many things I want to do as a field agent." Lonappan replied, contradicting his future self.

"Very well. I hope you continue having this drive. It'll lead you to great things!" Ponnappan gave out an expression filled with pride towards his junior.

"Thank you, Ponnappan for your extreme confidence in me even when they deemed me a failure." Lonappan bowed his head.

"Hey! This is just a small hiccup. They probably made a mistake or something! If he didn't, then he misjudged your strive to achieve greatness in this business. So, don't lose your hope! You can still do it." Ponnappan assured, which cheered Lonappan up.

"Yea! I'll try my best." Lonappan nodded his head.

"Good. Now, get your bags head to #306, I guess." Ponnappan replied.

"Hmm. Mundur bus stop. Where to go now?" Lonappan looked around once he got out of the bus. The directions he got were very vague. So, he was stumped. "Wait, I remember seeing an auto stand a few meters before. I'll just hand this address to them." Thinking that, he headed towards the auto stand and jumped into the first auto he could see. It was an auto taxi.

"Where do you wanna go, sir?" The driver asked without turning his head.

Lonappan gave the parchment to the driver, still reluctant in turning his head. "Get me here." He instructed.

The driver nodded and they began the journey, which ended in ten minutes or so, when the driver abruptly stopped. "Oh, did we reach the place? Well, how much is it? Wait. Is this the right place?" Lonappan asked as he saw a large banner with WPP written on it before him.

"Well, you did say you'll join WPP last time didn't you?" The driver asked.

Lonappan was perplexed. "What do you? Oh no! It's you!" Lonappan sighed.

The driver turned his head back. It was Gopan, to no one's surprise. "What a coincidence, don't you think? For us to end up meeting like this?" Gopan gave out a bright smile.

"Wait, what about going to my home first?" He asked.

"Nah, you'll disappear on me like last time!" Gopan replied. "Moreover, who knows! WPP is a wonderful political front. You might even make a few good friends!" Gopan smirked as he dragged Lonappan to the establishment.

"Wait. Did you come back just to tell us that backstory?" Taro asked. He was confused when Lonappan suddenly came back after his emotional scene with Gopan.

"Well, I thought it would be a travesty if you can't enjoy this moment with context." Lonappan replied.

"Wait, what happened with your beef with the former boss?" Thankappan asked.

"Ah, well. It seems Ponnappan was right and he actually liked me and cared about me a lot." Lonappan explained with a smile.

"How did you come up with that conclusion?" Thankappan asked. He wasn't well informed about the beef between Lonappan and the old boss, so he was interested in this.

"You see, he's my father-in-law now." Lonappan gave out a cheeky laugh.

"What! Then your wife is…"

"The boss' daughter. He actually came to me one day eight or nine years ago and we had this deep conversation. At the end of it, he asked about my thoughts on marriage. I told him that I don't particularly care. He said that it'd be difficult for me to find a person for myself since I have no background and said that he knows someone who's fine with that. And I said cool. Therefore, I ended up marrying his daughter and now we have two kids." He explained.

"What did she think about it? Like, that was a straight up arranged marriage, wasn't it?" Thankappan asked.

"Well, she said she'd be fine if I allowed her to continue with her job." Lonappan answered.

"And what did you say?" He asked.

"I said that her career and future isn't mine to decide or play with. So, she still teaches to tenth grade kids and we've been married happily for eight years now." Lonappan gave out a thumbs up.

"Ah, that's good!" Taro felt thankful that Lonappan didn't pull out an entire episode's worth of story.

Suddenly, Thankappan jumped back in on the conversation. "By the way, totally random question, what happened to that drug-dealing alien? It didn't seem that happy when you completely humiliated it. Did it come seeking revenge?" He asked.

Lonappan sighed. "I guess you could say that. However, I can't exactly call it a revenge. Hell, might as well tell that tale now that I'm in that mood now!"