It was late in the night, past midnight, so everyone was sleeping soundly. This allowed me to escape. I fought my drowsiness and slowly dragged my luggage out, making no sounds at all, I was alert. Like Luke said his secretary was waiting for me inside the car, city B was about a solid 4-hour drive from here, I was sorry for him since he had to work overtime for someone who's not even his boss.
"Sorry to have troubled you," I said politely as he helped me load the suitcase.
"No problem at all ma'am, I'm being paid extra for overtime after all!". He flashed a smile and showed me a thumbs up.
"Ha ha ha." I laughed awkwardly.
After we started I counted the money, I had probably 30 thousand in cash; I was planning to rent a single bedroom house and until the house is finalised I planned to stay at a small hotel and live my life on bread and milk, whatever is cheap. What am I even doing in the middle of the night, sigh.
"What's your name?" I asked out of curiosity, I wondered how it's like to be an assistant since he was one I planned to ask him, you know, to make most of my trip.
"Oh, my name is Bob." He looked back and smiled again.
"Ya ok! Look ahead, please! Oh god!", I almost shouted. There was a truck approaching in the opposite direction. Fortunately, he responded in time and turned the car direction.
"Don't fear Bob is here!", He grinned. His words did not sound comforting, I wondered where the heck did Luke find Bob.
After a few awkward moments of silence I asked, "Umm..... How much do you get paid?"
"Miss!" He shouted out of no-where.
"Ah!" I was extremely concerned about the rest of the journey, I considered dumping him and driving there myself.
"You should not ask another person's salary, it is rude." He spoke in a righteous tone.
"Huh? Ok. Now I know.", I wondered if he is from a mental facility since he was so weird. He did not need to shout to say this.
"So...what do you do?"
"It's top-secret....." he whispered.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I wondered how can any girl tolerate this weird guy.
"No, I'm still a kid. I need to grow up. Do you mind waiting for me, pretty lady?" He looked back and flashed another smile, making me shiver.
"......Sorry, I'm taken." I lied. Bob is obviously in his late 20s, how is he a kid? I knew it! He's nuts!
At this point, I understood it was a waste of time asking him anything. Maybe Luke should get a new Bob, I mean a new secretary. How on earth can I trust a weird guy, how on earth can Luke trust this weird guy? I low-key felt reassured. If Bob can become a secretary, I can too, I much better and NORMAL than him, it should be easy. The thing which I did not know was Bob was putting up an act as per Luke's request, I do not know why Luke asked him to do that but what I understood is that Bob and Luke suite each other.
I dared not sleep in the car alone with Bob, I do not trust him after that 'Do you mind waiting for me pretty lady' I looked at him like he was a serial killer. As soon as dawn broke, I could see the sign, after a few kilometres we would reach city B. I opened the window to let the cold air hit my face since it was so early there were only few vehicles and most of them were goods transport trucks.
We soon entered the city from the highway, I could see numerous buildings, City B was like my city, very commercial, there was only one branch of Oasis here so I intended to stay on the opposite side of the city. Bob soon stopped at a 5-star hotel.
"Umm...Bob? I cannot afford to stay here." I reminded him, my 30 thousand ain't gonna last long here.
"Don't worry, my boss has taken care of it, you can stay here for 2 weeks and then come home." Now, who's gonna tell him that I'll be here for longer than 2 weeks, not me of course, he sends me chills.
"Oh, then tell him thanks." Well, at least I'm sorted for 2 weeks before I become homeless. Since Luke is going to pay for these 2 weeks I might as well enjoy before I get kicked out.
Bob got down and helped with my luggage, he stood especially close to me when I was checking in and he stuck close till I reached the room. "Um, Bob, you can go now. I reached my room, " I reminded him. He stood exactly a foot from the door.
"...."
"Umm Bob?" For crying out loud, just leave you creep. I decided to never ask Luke for help again. This incident taught me a lesson.
He stared at me for one last time before he turned in a robotic manner and left. I saw him go to the elevator before I closed the door. Bob gave me anxiety.
"Boss, I did what you asked me to, but why did you ask me to behave weirdly?" Bob was on the phone as he recalled Amelia's weird expression, she looked like he was an alien, she looked like she was afraid of him too.
"She'll lower her guard this way. Oh, and I am not paying overtime."
"Hey! You promised me extra, did you know how hard it was to make a girl feel creeped out, I'm going to stay a bachelor because of you."
"You and me both brother, you and me both." Luke cut the call. He refused to pay Bob extra. Poor Bob.
I sighed after closing the door. No one made me feel that weird ever before. Luke is going to pay for this! I balled my fists at the thought of Luke and Bob. I jumped on the bed and covered myself with a blanket while turning up the AC to 14 degrees. Ah! This feeling was something I could get used to. I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. Unfortunately, I had a very bad dream.
In my dream I could see my father looking at me with disdain, he looked disappointed in me, this made me shiver. I always looked for his approval but he would not say words of appreciation to me so I thought I gave up on him, but this dream proved it otherwise, I forgot whatever the psychologist told me, deep down I still knew that I yearned for his attention and approval which I never got. When I woke up, it was already half past noon, though the room was cold I had beads of sweat on my forehead owing to the nightmare I just had. My stomach grumbled loudly, I was very hungry, it has been so long since I had eaten anything. I took a quick bath, cleaned my teeth. Thank god for room service, I did not need to get ready; I ordered a pizza and sat in the room watching TV when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and it flashed 'MOM', I panicked on seeing her call, I quickly cut the call and removed the sim, I cannot afford to be tracked or else I would be done for.
After I had calmed my racing heart with extreme difficulty I started thinking of what I would do in the future. I planned to into hiding for at least two months, until then I needed to manage. I would attend the interview tomorrow hopefully getting the job, or I would have to work as a waitress somewhere, not that I'm complaining...... Ok, I am complaining, when doing my first job I would not be able to work to my fullest potential or in a field I excel in. Anyway, I browsed through the cheapest possible rentable single bedroom house while munching on the pizza. I do not know how or when I fell asleep but by the time I woke up the sky had already darkened; I wiped off the drool on my chin feeling embarrassed though no one was there to witness this moment. In the end, I could not find a good house, it was either too far or the community was bad. I got ready and dragged my lazy butt outside to get a new Sim card, I cannot live without a phone. After I successfully bought a new sim the first person I called was Luke.
"Pick up you idiot!", I scowled, I already called him twice, but he did not pick up.
Meanwhile, on the other side.... "Luna Brown? Who is this? I don't know any Luna Brown. I am not picking up.", he thought 'Luna Brown' was another poor hopeless girl who had a crush on him so he did not pick up after Amelia repeatedly called him over ten times before he finally picked.
"Hello? Do you not understand when someone is avoiding you?", Luke said in frustration he was annoyed by the persistent girl who called him without a break.
"Shut up, you idiot! How much time does it take to pick up a call?", Amelia shouted from the other side. She was irritated by the fact that Luke was acting like the most sought after bachelor in the whole country.
"Amelia? Whose number is this? You cannot just give random girls my number, they will save my number and stalk me."
"Oh please, girls in my hostel do not know about you much less the girls of a different city."
"*Ahem* anyway, I am not comfortable with others knowing my number."
"This is my number, I took out my old sim because I was afraid of being traced. How's the situation at home?", I asked, I was curious about what was happening in our home since my mother decided to call me, she surely knew that I went missing.
"Umm, everything is just fine Lia, just focus on not being caught for these 2 weeks." He answered, but due to his tone, one could find out that something was wrong and he was hiding it.
"Come on, do you expect me to believe a word that you say? Now, what is really happening there?"
"Okay Lia, you caught me. Aunt Leah and my mom discovered that you were missing, and Uncle Ronald got very angry about it. He said that if he could he would drag you to the wedding venue without any further discussions because he was tired of convincing you.", Luke felt a little awkward.
"What about Aunt Cassandra and Uncle David? Your dad always liked me more than you so he would have supported me.", I said, not minding about the insult.
"Lia, shut up, please. And no, my dad did not support you, he was also kind of disappointed that you were so childish, he described your behaviour as 'erratic', I'm not lying."
I was astonished, I could not believe that Uncle David said that, I remember the days when my uncle always had my back; it was almost like I was his daughter. Without a doubt, it was expected of him by me that he would stand by my side and prevent this forceful marriage, but now after hearing Luke's words, I started reconsidering my situation.
After Luke said that my uncle had not supported me, I did not feel curious about the situation on the other side nor did I have the urge to continue the conversation, so in the end, I cut the call despite Luke asking me not to. I decided to support myself with a job until the anger of my family members cools down, then I would decide what to do in my life. I decided to live for myself and to not doubt my choice ever again because it would only make me more miserable than I already am. My dream was a proof that my old life was coming back, I did not want to go through that again. The few years of treatment with the psychologist had gone to drain. The only person who knew about it was Lisa. I do wonder what she is up to, though.
"Oh crap!", Lisa stumbled on the cardboard boxed scattered on the floor and spilled a perfectly good cup of coffee on the beautiful white silk dress sitting on a mannequin. She kicked the boxes aside in anger and put her cup of coffee aside. She fumbled while carefully undressing the mannequin with her shivering hands. Jaque had specified and stressed on the fact that the client was very important and now her clumsy, uncoordinated body brought her an unforeseen misfortune. She quickly washed off the coffee, but the damage was already done. On the supposedly flawless white clothing was a blotch of brown from the black coffee made by a very sleep-deprived Lisa.