It’s very difficult to lie to someone we love deeply but to conceal the truth, it’s entirely an another level. How many more lies Higgins has to tell her to convince her that he is not Quantuman, the superhero in action. And how stupid is she to act like she believes it.

Lara is an actress with hat-trick movies under her belt. She played a superhero in the movie trilogy, and how ironic it is to come to a conclusion that her boyfriend is a superhero. But, Higgins is still set on deceiving her, and his nerdy looks have actually accessorized his lie, she thought.

Looking through his smudged spectacles, Higgins tried to evaluate the map on the computer screen in front of him. Solving it was a crucial part of the plan to bring down city’s troublemakers. The keyword there is “trying.” But try as he may, he couldn’t concentrate because of his girlfriend.

He had a strong suspicion that Lara was onto his secret. That he was a programmer by profession and Quantuman, a superhero, when needed. It was driving a wedge between them and he couldn’t do anything about it. He wanted to propose Lara and even had a big rock ready in his pocket, but with this situation, he was not sure the answer will be a ‘yes’.

Putting the chocolate aside, she wiped the crumbs onto the napkin. The chocolate box was the courtesy of her friends, Matt and Shiney, who got engaged yesterday. The proposal was not even on anybody’s radar, but who would stop the fate, she sighed. Her bare fingers still looked as bare as a Sahara, and with the current doubt, the moment of diamond happiness was not even visible from space. She sighed again!

Deciding that he needed a break, Higgins picked up his keys and wallet and started the car without a destination in mind. All this tension started last month, when he had to blow Lara off of their dates, multiple times.

She had been patient though, accepting his lies and constant put offs. One day, she decided to surprise him and that’s when she found Quantuman scaling Higgins’ apartment in tights. The mask was still in place, so only his eyes were visible.

But that planted the seed in Lara’s mind. Till that day, Higgins was just a programmer. But those eyes, the golden brown pools, she could recognize them anywhere, and seeing those eyes on Quantuman, was a burgeoning shock to her system. Then everything came together like an erupted volcano.

The day Quantuman saved a child from drowning, she and Higgins were supposed to meet on lakefront. When they were enjoying their lunch at a quaint little cafe, Higgins got an office issue and the next hour’s breaking news was Quantuman saving people from a burning building. There were many other instances, all as evidences to her doubt. But she loved him and didn’t want to jeopardize her relationship for this.

His watch, synced to the high alert system on his computer beeped suddenly, jolting him out of his reverie. There was a suspected mob activity near the Town Theatre and it was one of his key places to get details to solve the map.

For today’s scene, Lara had to dance on the Town theatre’s dais, and the mobster comes and kidnaps her. There was something eerie, a feeling of foreboding that was plaguing Lara while shooting that scene. She couldn’t understand what it was.

Higgins approached the theatre as Quantuman, to be welcomed to a gun pointing Lara. He couldn’t fathom how it had come to this; dangerous - his mind screamed. With precision strikes, he eliminated the outward goons. Now it was time to take care of the actual threat.

He never met his eyes with hers as Quantuman, for the fear of her recognizing him. But now, finally, he looked at her, silently asking for support and acceptance. Her face was stony, revealing no emotion at all. Then, when it appeared eons had passed, she nodded a tiny yes, and immediately followed it with a practiced roundhouse kick. That was all the time he needed to finish off the fight.

Getting ready to be dumped, he approached Lara, who had tears in her eyes. It was difficult to put his emotions into words; fear, anguish, and more importantly, love.

“I love you Higgins, no matter who you dress up as.”

That was all he needed to hear in his life!