She knew no one was going to come and save her from the people around her, Her knees went numb betraying her and she fell on her knees while the reporters didn't stop even after looking at her condition. She hung her head low and closed her eyes tightly to think correctly while she was on her knees. 'They are worse than those zombies.' Her opinion of the reporters who weren't showing humanity, sensibility, or common sense at all.
She opened her eyes and there was no fear like before, She knew she had to be strong at least till she reached her home, She knew she was the only one who could save herself. She chose to be her own knight in shining armor rather than waiting for someone else to be one for her, She didn't want a prince on a white horse because she was a potent princess herself who didn't need any prince to protect her.
She stood up and glared at the people standing in front of her still asking questions that were coming in their hideous minds. She ignored all of them and her eyes weren't affected by the flashes at all, not even a flinch was there. She started to push them away from her to make a way out.
She pushed two women to get past them and then a man and a woman were before her. She pushed them with all her body strength while the woman moved out of the way but the man on her right side didn't budge at all. She glared at him when he put his mike close to her mouth, She kicked on his foot making him wince in pain, and then pushed him aside making her own way out of a bunch of stupid people.
After struggling a lot, She finally came out of the crowd but they were still after her, chasing her and forcing her to run for her life and sanity. She grabbed both bags' straps and started to run to catch a taxi or anything that she could find in a hurry. A taxi driver came to her asking her where she wanted to go but she ignored his question and jumped into his taxi. He was confused but his eyes fell on the reporters that were running after her, crazily.
He got inside his taxi and started it without thinking or asking her anything while she was just looking out through the closed window at the reporters. The driver started his car and drove away when the reporters started to stop his taxi with their slaps on the taxi's surface.
She breathed heavily after the reporters disappeared from her eyesight. She looked at the driver who was driving with questions on his mind. "Thank you." She thanked him with a heavy voice. "It's alright. Where?" He asked her about her destination and she told him her address with a smile. "Why were they after you?" He looked at the rear mirror to see her with a curious look. "Reporters are crazy. I don't know why they are after me." She answered him, lying. She feared that he would act weird if he recognized her and she didn't want that.
"I think I have seen you somewhere." He said and laughed making her smile forcefully. The rest of the ride was silent but the driver seemed confused and kept forcing himself to remember where he had seen her.
"Oh my god! Aren't you that Miss Zombie girl who was stuck in Aglos?" The driver recognized her after halfway to her home. "Uhm… Yeah…" She agreed awkwardly but she didn't want to, She didn't want anyone to recognize her after looking at how reporters were questioning her. "Woah!! My daughter is your fan." He said in a loud happy voice surprising her, pulling her out of her fear. "She used to be very shy and didn't know how to fight back against people who say shit to her. But she got the courage after looking at those videos of you." He told her about his daughter cheerfully being grateful to her and looked in the rear mirror.
"Really?" She asked for confirmation happily, happy that there was someone who adored her, happy that someone got courage after looking at her, happy that someone looked up to her. "Yes. She always gets angry whenever she sees someone talk bad about you. She even fought once when our neighbors were talking about you badly. She heard and argued with them." He told her proudly while she smiled but not forcefully this time. It was a genuine smile.
"That's very sweet of her. Say, thank you to her for me." She said sweetly as the tension inside her was gone. "Yes…Uhmm." The taxi driver wanted to say something when she cut him. "Uncle, Right from here. Stop the car in front of the first colony." She said pointing her index finger in the right direction. He turned right and stopped where she told him to stop. She started to grab her bags to go out while the driver looked at her wanting to say something.
"Can I go? I will bring my mom to do the payment or you can come with me because I don't have money with me." Tiara said hesitantly when she realized she had no money with her and looked at the driver with puppy eyes. "Of course, You can go and bring your mom but-" He stopped saying and looked at her with the same beg-ness she had in her eyes. "Wh-what?" Tiara asked stuttering after looking at the appeal in his eyes about something. "Can I take a picture with you? If I say that I met you then my daughter won't believe me." He requested her and pulled out his phone from his pants pocket.
"O..Of course." She was struggling to agree because it was the first time someone asked to click photos with her, never in her life had she imagined that something like this would happen and she liked the feeling of it. He nodded smiling at her agreement to take a photo with her and pulled his phone upper to take a selfie. She smiled and made a victory sign looking at the camera. Her phone started to ring just when the driver clicked their selfie, She looked at the caller ID and smiled before picking up.
"Where did you reach?" It was her mother's voice that came out of her phone. "I am in front of our colony in the taxi. I was going to get off but you called." Tiara informed her mother about her arrival. "Then come home already." Her mother said impatiently. "No, You come out because I don't have money to pay the taxi's bill." She told her mother about her money situation. "Okay, Hold on. I am coming." Her mother said and cut the call in a hurry.
She giggled after looking at her mother's behavior. "She is coming." She informed the driver when he was looking at the picture they clicked together and she peeked at his phone. "It's good." She complimented her own selfie with the old man and opened the gate of the taxi when she noticed her mother coming in their direction.
Tiara was about to get out when her mother's upper half body came inside the taxi stopping her from doing so. Her mother paid the taxi driver for her ride and pulled her body out of the car allowing Tiara to come out. She hung the bags on her shoulders and got out.
The old lady took her into her embrace quickly and tightly. She brushed her daughter's hair with her fingers and kissed her head without looking around, She didn't care if anyone saw her loving her daughter like that, She couldn't care less because her daughter was back from a death trap. She was happy to see her, to touch her, to take her into her embrace, to be near her. She was her mother after all, how should she control herself from loving her daughter? "Mom, Stop. People are looking." Tiara stopped her mother after she kissed her head because she could feel the stares at them.
Her mother sighed and pulled out of the hug before grabbing her hand to take her home. She heard her brother's voice as soon as they opened the door of their house. "You didn't disappoint us after all." Aarav said sarcastically coming near them. She rolled her eyes at him and dropped her bags on the living room table. "What did you bring? Kaashi gave us your luggage then what is this?" Her mother questioned her looking at the bags.
"I will tell later. I need to use the washroom." She said and walked to the washroom in a hurry. "Dad knew she was coming today, right?" Aarav asked his mother who sat on the sofa. "Yes, I told him… maybe he forgot." She answered him. "Was going out to meet his friends more important than his own daughter? He doesn't work at all and just keeps going out for no reason!" Her brother had enough of his behavior, He knew she would be happy if all the family members were at home for her. "Don't be angry, You know him, right?" The old lady tried to take her husband's side but she couldn't debate with any reason.
"Yeah yeah, I am the mental person who took a holiday and stayed home for her!" Aarav said in a loud voice but still not enough to be heard in the washroom. "Calm down. We don't want a bad mood when she is back home, do we?" Their mother calmed down her son for the sake of her daughter.
"Mom, I am hungry." Tiara said in a loud voice while she washed her hands after opening the door of the washroom. "Yeah, I cooked your favorite food." Her mother shouted back. "And what's that?" She came back to the living room where her brother and mother were sitting and asked curiously not knowing which one of her favorite foods her mother cooked. "Chhole bhature." Her mother answered with a big smile, putting a smile on her lips as well. "Oh my god, Give me!" She requested her mother joyfully and the old lady laughed and went towards the kitchen to bring what she cooked.
"So, What is in these?" Aarav asked her pointing to the bags on the table. "Ahh, These." She took her bag first, in which she had her laptop, ePad, and ePhone. "I took this from the mall when we were about to leave." She informed her brother while taking them out one by one shocking her brother. "You are a thief." His brother accused her of stealing things and she gave him a glare to say it again.
"It's not stealing. These were about to be blasted… So, I just saved these." She explained her brother and their mother came back with a plate full of food. "Mom, She stole all these things. Do you know these things' prices?" Aarav asked her mother while she handed the plate to Tiara and Tiara gave an innocent face to both of them.
The old lady saw the things and sighed afterward. She took a seat beside Tiara finding Aarav speechless and he shifted his gaze to the other bag. "Then what is in that? What else did you steal?" Her brother asked her pointing to the second bag on the table. "Clothes." She replied to him shortly while she took a bite from bhatura and dipped it into chhole before shoving it into her mouth.
"What are you? A beggar? Don't you have everything already then why did you take these things from there?" Her mother had enough of her and ended up asking her. "I… just liked these things." She replied to her continuing eating without looking at their faces.
"You can take the laptop because I don't need it." She said to her brother, bargaining with him to stand up for her, not against her. "Really!?" He was shocked at her offer and asked for confirmation. "Yes." She nodded her head and he picked up the laptop from near her happily. "Weren't you the one who said these are stolen things?" The old lady raised her eyebrow at her son after looking at his changed behavior. "She is right. She did right by TAKING these things. She wanted an ePhone for a while too." Her brother took her side and ended the conversation because it was two against one now. She smiled at his sudden change of mind and continued eating enjoying her victory.
Tiara started to live her previous life again but she avoided going out at least for a while to let people forget about the zombie apocalypses or her face to go out normally without anyone chasing her or asking some dumb questions. She locked herself in her home for 3 months but she was planning to do something, a start to do something big, a start for her to be the one to whom everyone looks up to. She never tried to contact any of the people she was stuck with, She was just happy that she got to spend time with such famous people. She learned to drive from her brother by going out at night for a clear road and not having to meet people and got a license soon enough.
She was living her previous life but she wasn't the same as she was before everything happened. She wanted to do something with her life, She exercised to be stronger, and She learned everything she didn't know and was good to learn. She had to choose something which she could do and gain popularity in a good way for which she took 2 months to decide. At last, She chose to be a model and started looking for modeling agencies to sign up.
On the other hand, TR-X got busier than before because they gained lots of popularity because they were one of the people who were stuck in the zombie apocalypse. They were in the best 5 K-pop group in the world before but now, they were at the top. They were admired by others even more and soon, They got a chance to do a world tour to do concerts.
Velvet Brothers were the same as TR-X. They got more popularity ever since but they decided to take a break after a month because they wanted to rest and spend time with their family.
Some members of TR-X tried to search for Tiara's social account which went viral but couldn't as she deleted her account. They wondered where she was or what is she doing. The last news they heard about her was that she took a picture with a taxi driver and then nothing came. It was like she disappeared from the earth for them.
But when they got a chance to do a world tour, something gleaned up in Vin's eyes as if he got an idea of how he could find her again. He regretted letting her go, He regretted not taking her number or anything to keep a contact with her. They were at their office to discuss the tour which they were going to start in a week.
"In which countries… we are going to go to concerts?" JJ asked their agency staff and sponsors who were in the meeting room. "United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, France, Canada, United Arab, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Spain, and-" One of them started to count the whole list of the country they were supposed to do concerts in but the other one cut him off. "Of course, South Korea." She completed the first one's list. "Wow, That seems like all the countries." KR said in surprise after listening to almost every country's name on the list.
"Yes, That's because of the popularity you all gained." Another staff member said, happily. "Aren't you all happy after becoming top 1?" A female employee asked cheerfully. "Of course, We are happy." KR nodded answering her. "Can we add India to our tour list?" Vin asked after knowing that they weren't going to do a concert in India. "Why?" The first female asked him curiously. "We never did a concert in India before… that's why…" Vin answered her while trying to avoid everyone's gazes at him. "Yes, And I know we have a large amount of Souls there." JJ supported Vin and added another reason to do a concert there.
'I know what you are trying to do here.' KR thought and looked at Vin and JJ who were sitting next to each other. "I agree with them too. We even can get more recognition there if we do a concert in their country." Joy joined them giving another reason and looked at the sponsors and staff. "I agree with them." Sam agreed with them and said in a low voice. "Ugh, I agree too." KR sighed after finding out that the rest of TR-X wanted to go to India.
"But I don't think doing a concert in India will be profitable." One of the sponsors exclaimed. "Why? The concert tickets will be sold out because there are many Souls." JJ scoffed proving his point and making them agree. "I don't think they will spend lots of money to buy a ticket." Another sponsor said not agree with them. "Add India to the list or this tour isn't happening." Vin said darkly trying to end the argument getting everyone else's shocked at his remark.
"Okay, If you insist. We will add India to the list." One of them said in agreement after hearing his statement and looking at his dark expression. "But It' won't be profitable." The first sponsor said the same thing that he said before. "We will take care of it If it doesn't make the profit we expect." JJ said nodding with the same dark expression as Vin.
"Okay okay, then it's fine. It's final that India is on our tour list." Joy said hurriedly after looking at the tension increasing in the room. "Okay, We will let you know about our decision by tomorrow." One of the sponsors stood up from his seat and said in a formal tone.
'I wish I would be able to find you again.' Vin wished and hung his head low sitting on the chair and hands on the table. 'I won't let you go away this time if I find you.' JJ thought and leaned back on the chair looking up at the roof while sponsors and staff left them alone in the room. 'Can we meet again, Little friend?' Joy wondered staring at the wall. 'I would like to know how are you doing in your life now.' Sam sighed and looked at the others who were lost in their own thoughts.
'I hope we don't create a mess and ruin our reputation again by doing something stupid.' KR hoped because he could only hope that everything goes right. 'What is going on in all of your minds? Am I right about why you want to go to India?' KR questioned mentally and looked at others to find his answer on their faces.