Over the next few days, Lillian got accustomed to her new job. The kindergarten children were a handful but well behaved most of the time. At first, they were curious about the new teacher who had joined and were a little hesitant but Lillian's bright personality won them over.
The school was the largest campus in the country. The elementary school had three buildings. One was for the admin and teachers, the second one had all the classrooms while the third one was the activity zone where children learnt skills like swimming, played indoor sports. There was also an auditorium in the third building for school plays.
Several fields were sprawled all over the area, each one for a different game. The buildings were designed with grandeur, painted with soft pastel colors to appeal to the children. Since most of the students were from influential families, the school was able to pay a handsome salary to the teachers.
When Lillian joined, she had read all the rules and regulations by heart in order to understand how to connect with the students and teachers. It did not take her long to get used to the new environment and even managed to befriend many of her colleagues with her easy going personality.
"Tweacher!" one girl chimed up during art class. "I can't dwaw a cwircle!"
The children were learning how to draw the perfect circle that day and were engrossed in their work. Lillian, who was showing another bunch how to draw the circle, finished with them and went towards the child who called for her.
"Let me see…" Lillian said, bending down to check the girl's drawing.
"Drawing circles is very difficult without help," Lillian gently explained. "Here, use this."
She took off the round cap from the girl's water bottle and wiped it dry with a tissue before placing it on the paper. The child watched as Lillian drew around it with a pencil and removed the cap to reveal a perfectly drawn circle.
"Ohhh!" the child exclaimed in awe.
"Easy, right?" Lillian smiled.
The child happily nodded and replied, "Thank you tweacher!"
Lillian patted the girl's cheek and went on to help the other children. By the end of the class, she had taught every one of the kids how to draw a circle. The final bell rang and the children yelled in joy as it meant the end of another school day.
"Remember your homeworks!" Lillian told them. "Draw five circles and color them in different shades!"
"Yes teacher!" the children said in unison. They ran towards the exit while Lillian stayed back to clean up the art classroom. The children made quite a mess, littering the floor with discarded papers and color pencils. She picked up the color pencils and neatly arranged them in sets before putting them away in a cupboard. Throwing away the discarded papers, she scavenged for any more trash which needed to be thrown out.
Once she cleaned up the room, she washed her hands in a nearby basin and wiped them dry.
"There!" she said to herself. "Everything has been cleaned up!"
She picked up her bag and quickly hurried outside. Students were rushing past her, greeting her politely as she walked by. Some of the teachers waved at her and Lillian returned their smiles.
"Lillian!"
She stopped and turned around to find Hannah Qing, a fellow trainee teacher. Hannah was around her age with short cropped hair and a sharp oval face. Her dark eyes beamed at Lillian as she approached her. Since they were of similar age and quite new to the school, they hit it off instantly. Hannah was new to town and lived on her own in a small studio apartment near the school. Both of them were extroverts but while Lillian was gentle and patient, Hannah had a crude side to her which came out whenever she was angry.
"Are you going home now?" Hannah asked.
"I guess," Lillian said. "Why?"
"My boyfriend's band is gonna perform at Club Colaba!" Hannah exclaimed. "And I have an extra ticket. I don't know anyone else here so I thought of inviting you!"
"Oh!" Lillian smiled. "That sounds great! I'd love to go!"
"Let's stop by at my apartment and we can change before heading there!" Hannah suggested. "We can't go there looking like a pair of plain Janes!"
"But I don't have a dress," Lillian frowned.
"I'll lend you mine," Hannah said. "Let's go!"
Lillian nodded and they exited through the gates to walk towards Hannah's apartment, which was not far from the school.
Once inside the apartment, Hannah pulled her towards her bedroom to scavenge the closet.
"Let's see…" Hannah said, looking through all her dresses.
"You have a lot of dresses," Lillian remarked in awe.
"I go clubbing a lot so I bought dozens of them," Hannah replied. "Aha! And it matches your eye color too!"
She pulled out a chic bottle green dress. It was tight fitting with a low neckline. The helm was patterned like a diagonal wave, attached to the side by a bow. It reached a little below the knees and the color would compliment Lillian's peachy skin.
"Are you sure you want me to wear this?" Lillian asked hesitantly. "This dress looks very expensive! I don't wanna ruin it."
"Just relax," Hannah told her. "You'll look great in this. It should fit you perfectly. And I've got matching heels too. You can borrow them."
"Alright," Lillian agreed. "I'll wear it."
They got dressed and decked up for the concert before heading out. Taking a taxi, they drove uptown before getting off in front of Club Colaba.
"Let's go!" Hannah exclaimed, pulling Lillian with her. A bouncer checked their tickets and let them inside. As they were entering the club, a black Maybach also stopped outside.
"We're here, sir," Thomas told his boss. Lucas put his gun inside his suit and got out of the car.
A deathly aura was swirling around him as he slowly stepped towards the club. His dark eyes were field with an iciness which made even an affable man like Thomas feel his bones go chill. Lucas put on a facade of calm but it hid his murderous intentions.
Lucas put on a pair of sunglasses, strutting into the club. One bouncer was about to stop him but a guard stopped him with a dark look.
"Don't," the guard muttered. "That's a dangerous man to anger. Let him enter."
The bouncer nodded and stepped aside to let Lucas enter the club.
"Where is he?" Lucas asked in a low tone.
"He'll be arriving in an hour," Thomas replied.
"Then we wait," Lucas stated. Thomas nodded and followed his boss to the VIP section where a table was reserved for them. Lucas glanced down at the dance floor which was full of crazy people dancing like maniacs. The disco light was reflecting too many lights for his liking, rotating so fast that he felt that his eyes were being attacked by the lights.
A white light reflected on him and despite the sunglasses on his eyes, he was almost blinded by it. When the light moved away, his gaze fell on someone across the floor, making him freeze on the spot.
He took off his sunglasses to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him but there was no mistaking it.
She was softly smiling at another girl while pointing at something. Her eyes crinkled to a half moon shape whenever she smiled. The girl was intently listening to the music by the band on stage, enjoying the tunes. She seemed happy.
Lucas' fingers clenched into a fist as he watched her from afar. It was her. Eleven years had passed and he could still recognize her. He could never be mistaken about that girl.
Thomas glanced at his boss and was surprised. Lucas' usually impassive face was contorted into pure fury. The cold aura was now replaced with a blazing fire in his heart as Lucas stared at the woman who appeared in his nightmares everyday.
"Lillian," he whispered.