Claire groaned and tried to change her sleeping position but of course, she found it very impossible to do.
'Why is my bed suddenly uncomfortable and it seems smaller than usual....' She thought in her sleep.
Something was holding her down on the 'bed' she thought. She could feel pains all over. Unable to bear the discomfort, she opened her eyes and behold, another person was sleeping on her.
"AHHH!!!!" She screamed and pushed the body away from her. Then she noticed something else. She was in a car.
'Where exactly am I?' She thought.
"Why are you being so annoying?" The person beside her said rubbing his head and sitting up.
"Carter, what the hell are you doing here!" Claire yelled.
"Stop screaming, everything hurts" Carter murmured.
'Thats true' Claire thought. She also felt a sudden surge of pain coursed through her head and entire body.
"But why are we here?" She asked.
"Grotto..." Carter muttered. He could not remember much any more. It was as if his mind was blank.
"Ah..." Claire sighed, her senses seemed to return back to her little by little.
"What do we do now?" Claire asked after a moment of silence. Staying in the car at the moment was tortuous.
"Let's just find a way out of here" Carter said. He pushed the door but it was locked. He shared a knowing look with Claire.
"Rhea, Rhea did this. She will be deadly alive the moment I finished with her" Claire uttered. Her face deepened with a scowl.
They had no choice but to wait impatiently for Rhea to come open the door. Time clicked, seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, there was still no appearance of Rhea.
"Curse you! Goddamn you ... you ..you argggghhhh!" Claire became frustrated after waiting for so long to be let out of the car.
Claire cursed her best friend back and forth while Carter gritted his teeth. His face scrunched up as he was in pain. One could have wondered if he had fed on dangerous substance to be in such pain. Perhaps it is true he did.
In the room, Rhea opened her eyes drowsily and yawned loudly before sitting up. It was obvious she had a good night.
She lazily got out of the bed and cleaned up. When she was done, she walked out of the bedroom and looked for her best friend inside the house but could not find her anywhere.
She thought for a second where her friend could be and then it clicked. Remembering what she had done the night before, she burst into laughter.
'I am so dead today' She thought as she checked around for the car keys.
She only locked her friends in the car the last night out of frustration. She planned to open the door before going to sleep but who could have guessed nature would beat her to it. She slept off.
She found the keys and went out of the house. She prayed hard for herself.
"You finally remembered didn't you" Claire said to her with looks tat could kill as soon as she got to the car door. Rhea jumped.
"I swear, I was not planning to make you spend the night in the car. I just slept off... please don't kill me, I am still your best friend after all. If you don't mind, I will spend all day babysitting you — if that doesn't work, how about I be your errand girl for the next few weeks". Rhea ranted.
Unfortunately, Rhea just made the worst choice of her life. As soon as Claire heard the word 'errand girl' and 'babysitting', she forgot all about her pains and grinned widely.
"I forgive you" Claire said while walking out of the car and patting her friend's back comfortingly. Only her knew how much she was planning to make her best friend regret the decision she just made.
Carter followed. He was in too much pains to care about the two best friend's negotiation.
Rhea: "...". She was officially dead.
Rhea hurried after Claire and Carter into the house. Without being told, she looked for pain relieve pills for the two of them and also prepaid a quick breakfast.
She had just agreed to becoming a babysitter and an errand girl after all, she might as well start pleasing her boss. But if only she knew her best friend will not want to be pleased in future perhaps, she could have taken back her offer.
*
"You should just stop already!" Megan said to her friend as soon as she walked into the room.
"He won't pick my calls!" Amelia snapped.
"He probably is busy with w—"
"Its been days!" Amelia yelled in frustration causing Megan to shut her mouth. She was being nosy again.
Megan passed the glass of juice she brought with her to Amelia.
"Just drop it" Amelia said rudely without a word of thanks. Megan was used to her arrogance.
"Arrghh!" Amelia cried after the call went straight to voicemail. She threw her phone angrily and before shocked Megan could catch it, it already hit the wall and was smashed.
Megan gave Amelia a look of disapproval. She could not give an answer to the reason why Eris refused to contact her friend or pick her calls.
Amelia was frustrated. She went to his office a few times but was not permitted to meet with him. Excuses were always made and that hindered her from confronting him for his actions.
"Just forget the guy already, there are better guys out there trying to reach out to you" Megan advised.
She suddenly thought of the guy they met at a party. He was very handsome and looked manly enough but Amelia told him off rudely.
"What do you know! There can only be one Eris and he can only be mine!" She said angrily before picking her bag and storming out of the apartment.
Megan who was not surprised about her behavior could only watch her departing back from where she sat. She reached for the juice she brought for Amelia and gulped it.
'This should not waste' she thought.
Amelia drove to Rose Garden Villa. She was determined to meet Eris not minding what it would take. She parked her car and walked in.
"Miss, you can't take another step further" A security stopped her.
"You foolish security, do you know who I am!" Angrily, she snapped.
"Not minding who you may be, I am only following orders from my boss" The security said.
"Who the hell is your boss, bring him out and let him face me!"
"Sorry miss, but my boss does not have the pleasure of time for this kind of superfluous dramas" The security threw a subtle jab at Amelia in a very formal and unoffensive manner.
"You....you.." Amelia was so mad that she lost her ability to form speeches. She could only glare at the security and if eyes could kill, the poor man would be long forgotten.
In the midst of brewing storm outside, Eris and Taylor sat in the study having a deep discussion on how to improve the company.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Eris who did not like to be disturbed frowned.
"Come in" He said in a cold voice. The old butler of the house walked in. He knew very much that Eris did not like to be disturbed but there was an urgent issue only him can attend to.
"Speak"
"Young sir, the lady wouldn't stop throwing tantrums and creating a scene outside" The butler said. By the lady, he naturally meant Amelia as she was the only one the boss ever brought to the house.
Although she was always rude to him, he had respected her as his boss's woman.
"What do you want me to do about that Conrad? Send her away" Eris answered without a second thought.
"We did sir but she would not go that easily" Conrad complained.
"Use the hard way. Go away, I am busy" Eris said and dropped his gaze on the file before him.
Conrad could only leave the room. He racked his brain on what hard way one could use to make a lady as adamant as Amelia leave.
'why is the boss making me do this. For goodness sake, I am an old man with grey hair' Conrad thought.
"You are not going to confront her?" Taylor asked after the butler left. Eris raised his head and gave him a hard cold look. Taylor zipped his lips and flipped through a random file.
'Mind your business if you love yourself' he thought.
"Miss, please leave" Conrad said to Amelia calmly hoping that she would oblige.
"You this old man, I knew it that you hated me so much but I have no business with you. Bring Eris to me now!" She snapped.
"The boss is not available at the moment. If you do not leave now, we would be forced to call the police on you for this sort of social disturbance" Conrad said without battling his eyes. Amelia was beginning to annoy him more.
"You ... you..!" Furiously, she stomped her feet in the ground and entered her car and drove off. She knew it would not be a threat anymore if the police was called.
The old butler and the security man heaved a sigh of relief as they watched her car leave before returning to their duty.