A four walls filled with darkness in every corner, and only a fainting lamp placed on a wooden table, emitted rays of light, falling on the face of Collin who sat on a chair. In his hand, there was a lighter that he clicked open every now and then, adding to the numbered light rays there were.
Not too far from him, but somewhere the light of the lamp couldn't reach, came the noise of a man groaning in pain and various solid objects clamoring against him. "Please... don't... don't kill me. Ah!"
Collin remained calm hearing the man getting battered with rods and human legs. He kept fidgeting with the lighter that he held in his hand.
"Boss! looks like he is going to die if we keep beating him like this," said one of the men.
Collin again lights up the lighter and brings it in their direction, and looks at the scene with utter sereneness on his face. A man lay on the floor half dead, and several other gang members surrounded him with tools in their hands. "But he hasn't opened his mouth to say anything yet," Collin said. "He doesn't seem to get hurt easily, you should continue until he spreads his mouth."
They followed his order and those disturbing noises continued echoing inside that room. One of the members of the gang, tired of using his strength on an unarmed man, walked up to Collin while panting out his breath and took a seat beside him.
"Boys, take care of the guy, Imma have some rest."
While retrieving the normal pace of his breaths, the member abruptly asked Collin, "Where is big boss?"
Collin tossed aside the lighter that he was playing with. "He had some other business to deal with, he won't bother coming for this little mouse here."
"Ahh! Don't" the man groaned.
The other members begin chuckling loudly saying, "we know what's this new business that our boss is interested in, the very business is rather beautiful I would say."
Others also accompanied him with the joke and laughed out loudly in his face. "I don't think he is bothered by anything else these days. Ha ha ha..."
The unpleasant laughter brought a frown upon his face. He turned to give them an intimidating glare, and all those chuckles subsided as he did so. "Remember the purpose that we're here for."
He took the lighter in his hands and creatively ran it through his fingers. The thought of Oriel and Mr. Bruce being together, seriously troubled his mind and he was unable to shift the direction of his uncontrollable thoughts.
He was assigned the last job by Mr. Bruce, that was to take care of their fraudulent dealer. He was soon to escape that den at the first chance he got. However, little did he know that his life had something else in pocket for him.
******
At the advent of the dawn, Oriel woke up in the arms of Mr. Bruce. He lied next to her on her bed, embracing her body with love, awaken, and staring at her for a long time now. "Good morning," he said as soon as she saw him.
"Good morning to you too," she smiled,
Under the sheets, their hands held on to each other. It was the first night that twenty fiver year old Oriel had ever spent with a man and it had also been a while in the case of Mr. Bruce.
They couldn't rise from the bed, leaving the pleasant sight of one another.
"You, Mr Bruce are the very first man of mine," said Oriel.
He smiled, lying on his side, facing her, "and you Miss Oriel, are probably the last woman of mine," he replied.
Oriel gently placed a finger on his lips, as if stopping him from saying inauspicious words. "Never say such things in the hours of dawn; it is believed that the things we say during morning hours come true."
He removed her hand from his lips and said, "what I meant was that it is going to be no one if not you, and not because I am presuming my death." Saying, he kissed her hand, and she blushed while getting out of the bed.
"Hurry up! you will have to start your treatment from today onward," ordered Oriel, heading toward the bathroom.
"As my boss commands."
Looking outside the opened window that was in her room, stood a man with shadowy looks, appearing to be spying on them. He sees Oriel passing through the widow and also notices the car of Mr. Bruce parked near the street. He takes out his mobile and dials someone, placing the phone on her ears, "He is here since last night, it looks like it's just the two of them. Her adoptive mother is not here as well," he conveyed through the mobile.
The other side of the call had Ursula as its face. She listened to her informer with a calm temper. "Is she wearing clothes?" she asked.
"I am not sure, I can't see that well from here. However, it looks like what you are afraid of has already happened, mam," suggested the informer.
Slowly, her face contorted as she developed a frown on her face, "you should stop yourself from giving your verdict if you want your pay, understand?" she scolded."
She hurled her phone in the air with so much force that it dented the surface on which it landed. "Scoundrels!" exclaimed Ursula.