(In Front Of The Jewelry Store 8:35 am)
Zoey stood there with a tired look on her face. She wore a dark purple skirt that went a little above the knees. Showing off some of her long and fair legs. She wore a loose long-sleeved shirt with two thin straps on her shoulders with it tucked into the waistband of her skirt.
She paired these with purple sneakers with a big happy face with hearts for eyes painted on the toes and thin light pink socks. Along with a choker with little hearts, a small watch with a tan leather strap, and her nails painted a cotton candy pink.
Her hair was in a swept-back ponytail with cute curls at each side of her head. In her right hand, she held a clear sealed cup of lemonade.
Zoey tapped her foot impatiently and glanced at her watch. Her forehead had been taking a beating from the sun making it shiny with sweat.
"*Ugh* Where the hell are they?" Zoey groaned and took a sip from her lemonade. Her face had become flushed with a pink hue and her eyes drained with malice.
[Miss Zoey couldn't you have dressed more professionally and did you have to stop for a drink.]
"One, no it's too hot to wear a pantsuit, suit, office shirt, slacks, tie, a tight ass pencil skirt, you know what! All of it, it's too hot to wear all of it! I don't need any hot any heavy clothes sticking to me.
And two yes! It's fucking hot! Even before I was reincarnated I had troubles with temperatures over ninety degrees. And that was with months of training and with my abilities maxed out.
But Zoey was the type who passed out in seventy-degree heat. So even with abilities giving me a boost in resistance and durability, I can still feel myself being cooked alive.
So if this annoying bastard doesn't hurry up. I'm going to end up a sexy stain on the sidewalk." Zoey groaned.
And almost right on cue, a big black van with no windows in the back and tinted windows in the front rolled up.
Two men jumped out of the van and approached Zoey. They grabbed Zoey by her arms, a little surprised at how huge she was, and attempted to pull her into the van.
Yes, they attempted but Zoey didn't even move an inch. They tugged relentlessly at her arms.
So much so they looked like whiny children tugging on their mom after they were denied a new toy.
But she still didn't move an inch and even with the constant shaking she still casually sipped on her lemonade.
After a few minutes of this, the two men stopped tugging at Zoey and lurched over gasping for breath.
They were wearing black suits and after the full workout from trying to get Zoey to budge.
Their faces were red and damp and they stayed lurched over with their hands on their knees.
Finally, one of them caught his breath and stood up. He cleared his throat and talked a bit breathlessly, " *Ahem* Uh, *gasp* Miss Zoey we're here to, *exhale* escort you to our boss."
"Yeah, I know," Zoey said indifferently before going back to sip her lemonade.
The two men looked at Zoey with wide eyes. They glanced at each other real quick before staring back at her.
After a minute or two of stunned silence, one of the men finally spoke up. "If you knew that then why didn't you come along?"
"*Scoff* Sorry, it's just that you said, 'come along' like you gingerly invited me into your van as if you were tending to a little kitten.
But anyway, as for why I didn't 'come along'. You see that" she pointed her finger up at the sky, " That big ball of yellow in the sky. Yeah, that's the sun and the longer you stand under it the more hot and uncomfortable you become. Which can lead to numerous health conditions."
She took a long and casual sip of lemonade, " So, why is it? That even though I alerted your boss a good eight minutes before I arrived. That I, in this torturous heat, was waiting for a little over half an hour."
Zoey then discharged an aura of sheer anger and malice. Making the men on the sidewalk as well as the men in the van shudder and their chests constrict.
They all were all at a complete loss for words and most of their air.
"Hey now, don't look so frightened. I mean if you had some sort of trouble on the road I can understand. As of why you couldn't contact me to tell that. I can understand that too, I mean the reception out here is REAL shoddy so I can understand that as well."
The two men gulped, was this woman really giving them the chance to lie their way out of this. No, with the aura she was projecting it must have been some sort of test.
So the two just opted to keep quiet, after all, if they told Zoey the real reason they were late they would be subjected to an even worse punishment by Daniel.
This did not appease Zoey however and she spoke in almost an unnerving growl, " Hey, why are you guys so quiet? That's quite rude especially when a person is talking to you, you know. I mean, the question is simple.
Why were you so late? Flat tire? The trouble with the engine? Got lost? Helped another person with car troubles? C'mon just tell me. I can spot a lie a mile away so I know that you'll tell me the truth.
But that won't be necessary because you have no reason to lie to me... right?"
The men glanced at each other again. What were they supposed to say?! They then glanced over to the van for help but the door immediately slid shut.
"*Sigh* I'm started to get frustrated here. There should be no reason why you can't tell me why you were late..... unless, " Zoey tilted her head creepily and her eyes widened unsettlingly and her pupils seemed to decrease to the size of a pin.
She looked like an evil doll or vengeful spirit fresh out of a horror movie. She looked straight at the two men who had now collapsed to their knees.
"Unless, you were intentionally so late to pick me up. But you wouldn't do such a thing, right? You would've have been here as soon as you could, right? Or else your boss would've punished you, RIGHT?" She continued.
Zoey saw the men's complexions worsen alt her last question and smirked inwardly, " Bingo." She said to herself.
She tilted her to the other side and asked a seemingly innocent question with her malicious aura even more powerful than before.
"Oh? Could it be that... your boss ordered you to pick me up late?"
The two noticeably flinched and looked down at the pavement.
"I really hope it's not true. Because I was prepared to go along with whatever plan you had. I was even willing to let you put a bag over my head you know.
But if it is true then I'll have to leave and you'll have to go back to your boss empty-handed."
The men gasped and were visibly panicking. It was true Daniel had someone spy on Zoey, hoping that she would rush to the jewelry store the moment she got his text.
But was annoyed at Zoey's relaxed demeanor and sluggishness. She dressed casually with little to no effort put into her outfit with no jewelry or makeup.
How could that be!? Every woman he knew would put on pounds makeup and glamorous stones whenever they met with.
Granted they all knew who he was but Zoey was poor and desperate for money. Yet acted as if she was meeting an acquaintance for lunch.
She even stopped for lemonade?! But even through all this Daniel couldn't help but become more intrigued by her.
However, he couldn't just take this lack of respect for sitting down. So he decided to teach her lesson, which was that she should be glad that she even had the slightest affiliation with him and basically that he was above her in every way. (A/N (ಠ_ಠ)
Unfortunately (for him), Zoey had known someone had been following her. She just didn't care too much as they were easily avoidable.
But she had her suspicions of who it was so she decided to test her theory by acting as annoying as possible. And thanks to the two men sniveling on the ground she just confirmed it.
The man in charge of the jewelry store had sent a tail after her and she wouldn't be surprised if he had also dug into her past.
"*Sigh* Great these are all the telltale signs of a male lead. If I have to deal with another arrogant rich prick. Everything is going to go red and I'm going to wake up handcuffed to a hospital bed with on my hands and extremely high blood pressure." Zoey sighed in her head, unwittingly making a fearsome scowl.
This, in turn, made the men slightly wet their pants. Valuing their lives over all else, they put their hands on the pavement and slammed their foreheads onto the scalding sidewalk.
"Please forgive us!"
They both exclaimed simultaneously.
Zoey was a little caught off guard by this and decided that they had been tortured enough.
She put her head back upright and returned her eyes back to normal. She took away her oppressive aura and mumbled out a bored, " M'kay."
She walked past them and headed straight for the van. She knocked on its door and yelled, " Come on let's get going, I've already wasted enough time with you guys and I have things I need to do later."
There was a minute of silence before the door slowly slid open and Zoey was greeted by two rows of leather seats.
She climbed into the van, sitting down in the back row. Her head slightly hit the ceiling and the tightness made her legs uncomfortable. So she slightly arched her back and rest her arms and chin on the seat in front of her.
She held her cup in front of her and took another sip. She glanced at the two men who sat in the driver and passenger seat who avoided eye contact. Then glanced over to the two men who still kneeled on the sidewalk.
"Hey, didn't you hear me!? Let's go!" Zoey exclaimed.
The two men gulped and even though they were intimidated they quickly scrambled up from the ground and jumped into the van.
They too didn't dare to look meet Zoey's eyes and just closed the van door. Everyone except for Zoey buckled their seat belt and the van started to drive in silence.
(At A Police Station)