[Two days later-]
It took a great deal of effort to push for the Princess comic, but the chapters were finally ready. Today, they were going to surprise both the readers and the Calamity staff members of their sheer will and speed. It would be a massive upload and print-out of fifteen chapters.
All this was only made possible due to the hardworking staff he had and more importantly, the author who was gracious enough to allow them to publish so many chapters in one go. Truth be told, the author did indicate that she was not interested in faster releases nor did she want to annul the contract with MoonChild. It was indeed a relief but just to be on the safe side, the boss still continued to push for a mass release since Calamity was taking an interest in the Princess comic.
At the end of it all, this was the first time they have been so fast to scanlate a comic. After approximately 47 hours of stress, sleeplessness, agitation, and gallons of coffee, the mood was finally light again. Upon the release of the chapters, there was a sense of overall relief, and laughter filled the air. Everyone was happy for everything moving so swiftly, including the man. However-
The man stared at a dark-haired young boy who was busy talking with Jasper and Nash. As if the three could feel his gaze on them, they abruptly stopped talking and turned to look at him. Jasper and Nash gave a nervous laugh while the young boy remained quiet. His calm demeanour gave away no emotion as his cold, dark blue eyes stared back at the man.
"Jeremy," the man uttered softly.
The man felt a hand grab his left arm, "Boss, it's okay. Jeremy happened to be free this week since he'd just finished his semester exams a few days ago." Nash said calmly.
'Was I so engrossed in work that I failed to notice that my own brother was here for two whole days?!'
When neither the man nor boy turned their gaze from each other, the other staff members, who were busy talking moments ago, noticed the tense atmosphere and quieted down. For those who had been working at MoonChild for some time, they were well aware of the estranged relationship the boss had with his younger brother.
It was no secret. They knew that the boss acted as Jeremy's caretaker when their parents had died in a tragic car accident. Although Jeremy and the boss seemed to have a rather bumpy relationship, they never seem to fight with each other--like how other siblings would. Instead, there was always this air of discomfort whenever they were around.
"Boss--," Derek started to say before he got interrupted by the ringing of the man's phone.
Finally turning away from Jeremy, he looked at the caller ID on his phone, "I'm sorry. I have to take this. Thank you all for everything and please rest." With that, the man left the office and went up the stairs to his room.
"Whoa. Who was that calling? Boss looked upset." Raelynn observed.
"Beats me." Jasper shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmm. It may have no correlation but the boss tends to get calls at odd hours from time to time. Well, not 'odd' hours per say", Cassidy did quotation marks with her fingers as she said 'odd', "but there are calls that the boss gets upset when he receives them either late in the night or during the day when all urgent matters have been settled."
Jasper got a low whistle, "You mean that there are upsetting calls the boss receives only at times when he is free?"
"Yes."
"How often has my brother received these calls?" Jeremy asked.
"I'm not sure. I've only been around as the calls came in on a few occasions over the course of the recent months. It's not that frequent but I remember because the boss' whole demeanor changes whenever he receives them." Cassidy replied as she closed her eyes with a hand under her chin. It looked as if she was either contemplating or trying to remember something.
"Do you happen to know if it has been the same caller?" Derek asked.
"No, I've only caught a glimpse of the caller ID once. It was from an unknown number."
"Hmm. If it is something upsetting, why doesn't the boss block that person from ever calling again?" Ellie asked with her head tilted to one side.
"Maybe things aren't as simple as they seem. The way I see it, there are two possible scenarios. One, the caller has some sort of leverage on the boss and that's why he is unable to block the calls and seems obligated to answer all the calls that come in." Nash, who was quiet all this time, spoke thoughtfully.
"Yes, that is possible. What is the second scenario?" Cassidy asked.
There was a grim look when Nash replied, "The second scenario is that the boss has indeed been blocking the calls but that person would then change numbers to continue the harassment."
Derek cussed. "Is there anything we can do if either scenario is the case?"
"Not unless we know more about the nature of these calls. Even then, it will depend on the severity of the situation and whether the boss is willing to lodge a report about this caller." Nash replied.
At that, all of them sighed in unison.
***
The man quickly entered and locked the door behind him. His heart was pounding, and his mind was racing. It was the same number as the other numerous times. It was not anything alarming if he really thought about it. The caller would remain silent whenever he answered the calls, never speaking a single word. However, it was still unnerving and ominous.
For all he knew, it could be someone he knew who was playing a prank on him. Even so, there was one thing for certain- it was not any of his main staff members or Jeremy, who were currently in the office on the second floor. The call had come in a couple of times when he was with them. Moreover, these were the people who he knew longest and were closest with. There was simply no way that it could be them.
In his contemplation, he had already missed two calls, and it was ringing again for the third time. He could have simply blocked the number, but from his past experience with this caller, whenever he blocked a number, that person would change to another number. It happened four times already. It was seemingly a never-ending cycle.
Changing his number was not ideal either since he had many important contacts. A number of high profiled authors and publishers had his current number as well. Most of these people had yet to contact him for upcoming projects and contracts--which were to commence some time later this month or the following month. It was too crucial of a time to make drastic changes just because of a single persistent caller.
He couldn't file a report to the law enforcement because this caller has not actually said or done anything other than calling him. Furthermore, it was always called from a burner phone and the caller was skilled enough to hide his location as well- thus making it practically impossible for the number to be traced. None of the authorities or his technology savvy friends were able to ever pin a location on this caller.
'Well, truth be told, I am not that keen on learning the exact location of this caller. He or she could very well be at the cafe or just outside, watching me.'
The chances of being watched is high because what was more strange and annoying is that this person seemed to know when he was free. The calls always came in when he was not in the middle of an urgent or important meeting, work, and such… It was almost as if the caller was watching his every move.
Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, the man instantly turned towards the windows that were situated about four feet away from where the bed was. The cool evening breeze blew into the room through the opened windows.
'Why do I keep forgetting to close those windows? The windows are large enough for anyone or anything to come through. If I keep on forgetting like this, I'm wondering if I should really nail those windows shut.'
Snapping out of his thoughts, the man rushed over to the windows to shut them and drew the dark blue curtains as well. He proceeded to do a quick sweep around his room to make sure that there wasn't anyone hiding in the shadows and watching him. Once convinced that he was alone, he tried to calm down his breathing, and then picked up his phone. There were now seven missed calls.
It was frustrating that the calls would not stop unless he suddenly gets pulled for an urgent matter. Otherwise, the calls would only cease for the rest of the day once he answered it. He sighed as the phone rang for the eighth time. Resignedly, the man answered.
"Hello?"
Unsurprisingly, there was silence on the other end. A few more seconds passed before the man decided to end the call. But just before he could do so, a low, raspy voice whispered to the man's shock.
"Vale."