There comes a time in everyone's life when we wish for the entire world to stop, for time to stand still, for the present moment to linger. Perhaps the love birds in the Matthew Mansion yearn for this moment today. However, the labyrinth of Harlin's mind becomes lost among desires and pursuits. She has done something remarkable 'The Slayer of Her Father.' When Rowen looked into Harlin's eyes as their lips met in a passionate embrace, Harlin came to a halt. Harlin pushes him away before he can fully comprehend and throws him to the other side of the bed. Rowen looks at Harlin with wide eyes.
"Bravo, Mr. Rowen. You have splendidly entrapped me. Who can truly surpass you with your deftness at every turn and your business acumen?"
"Harlin, What's the connection between them?" Rowen arched eyes with this sudden statement.
"Seriously! What I mean is, you do not get it. For the past few years, you've been immersed in 'Harmony.' After I joined Harmony and began working on a game model, you abruptly began working with the same model. When you realized I was not there, you stole the source code and documents from my created game and are now releasing it!" She retorted dryly.
"The game that my company made was scripted and developed by you!" Rowen raises his gaze upward. Harlin signaled Rowen to pause with a raised hand.
"No need for theatrics, Mr. Rowen."
"Harlin, that's impossible. Yes, our game project is complete, and I haven't seen anything of this project. I wasn't in that state mentally as I was worried about you….." Rowen muttered the last words.
He worried about me! Did he know that I was there that night? No, no, there's no way he could have figured it out.
"Wow, Mr. Rowen Matthew wants to tell me about the project where he aimed to defeat his enemy. The theme of that project was testing and building, and after so much, a decision was made about its release date. And he knows nothing about it. Huh! Are you telling a fairy tale to a child?" Harlin snarked and turned her eyes.
"Mind your language, Harlin. Rowen hasn't faced such a difficult time letting your concocted project run with his name. What do you think of yourself? Just because Harmony offered you a job, you believe you're the best. My company's developers and programmers have all studied at various prestigious universities and are quite talented. They're not so incapable that they have to steal to create something." Rowen growled with a perpetual scowl on his face.
"Talent never solely depends on an institution. Hard work, ambition, and dedication make a person talented. Alright, will you deny this? Yesterday, you staged an accident to stop me from joining the company. I've known for so long that you're a murderer, but now I see you're a thief as well." Harlin fixed her gaze, waiting for the answer.
Yesterday, he wanted to protect the girl and scratch her skin with love. How to say her, yesterday, not she but he was who got hurt most.
Rowen's patience lasted only a few seconds while talking to Harlin; he exhaled loudly.
Rowen raised an eyebrow and asked, "Ok, let's agree with what you say, but any proof, Ms. Harlin?"
With a gaze filled with intensity, Harlin replied, "I don't need any proof to recognize you, Rowen Matthew. I know you can cause more harm than my thoughts ever could. You're the bloody-shit for anyone's life."
Rowen chuckled, his lips curling into a smirk, and took a step back from Harlin. Advancing further, he raised a foot onto the sofa, placing the other leg on top. Leaning against the cushon, he extended his hand nonchalantly and said,
"These lines of yours have become quite outdated, Harlin. I've become bored of listening to these fucking words continuously. Didn't you learn anything new from Canada?"
Harlin's anger flared, and she stepped down from the bed, taking two strides towards Rowen. She stood tall and declared, You're having fun at my expense, taking a person's dream and wiping away their hard work, all for a smug grin on your face?" Tears welled up on her eyes
"Please stop, Harlin," Rowen said, as he saw tears in her eyes and struggled to hold back his emotions.
With a heavy sigh and a pained expression, Harlin continued, "I never imagined the effort I put into creating those products. Day and night, tirelessly, I worked to build everything from scratch. And you? You've set fire to all of that in your anger."
Harlin's eyes were brimming with tears, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. Her cheeks were damp as well. Rowen looked into Haroin's eyes, and for a fleeting moment, his heart quivered. But he didn't want to dwell on the bitterness for long.
Rowen gathered himself, stood up, and composedly replied, "Ms. Harlin, I have plenty to do as well. If you want to cry, please leave."
Rowen's stern words surprised Harlin. This man took me here yesterday and is now telling me to leave.
Harlin wiped her eyes with her hand, took a deep breath, and then said firmly, "I'll go. I didn't come here to stay anyway. But don't forget, it's not me, but you, who brought me here. I have no desire to be around you any longer. However, remember this one thing: don't think that by being unjust this time, you'll win. I won't let you win. I'll deliver the consequences of your wrongdoing to you at the right time.
"So? Will you punish me? Or your alleged lover?" Rowen gave a fluttering laugh and said.
"Lover." Harlin narrowed her eyes and replied.
"If you pretend not to know, then what can I do?"
In response, Harlin said with excitement, "Don't put crime against my headrest. Even though I know you are my father's murderer, I've kept this big truth hidden from the world. I haven't reported you to the police. Did you take me as weak for this? Yet you committed such a heinous crime? Didn't this much deter you?"
"So? You let me go? Seriously? A girl pleads for mercy for her father's murderer, do you let her go? I didn't know that. You haven't done anything to me, because you didn't have that power. Just as you don't today. And without evidence, no one in the world will believe you, and you yourself know that very well. So, Harlin, making baseless lies won't gain you anything. Speak with evidence, and then file a report against someone. Such baseless arrogance is not acceptable." Rowen chuckled and stated.
"Did I let you go due to a lack of evidence? Is that what you believe? Could it possibly be true or not? Yes, how can someone like you even imagine more than just that? You are mentally as sick as you are physically. In your case, I am the most convincing evidence of my father's murderer. These two eyes of mine—I saw my father's lifeless body lying on the ground, and you stood there with a blood-stained hand. What more proof do I need?"
Rudra cocked his brow and said, "Then why didn't you catch me?"
Harlin remains silent for a moment. Seeing her quiet, Rowen chuckles again and says, "Because you were the culprit yourself. You had guilt in your heart too. The sin of betraying my trust."
At this point, Harlin stands up and says, "Why do you keep blaming me repeatedly? To hide your own faults? Taking a life isn't anything new to you. All this violence is just your modus operandi. How many innocent people have you murdered before anyone even knew? Ohoo, I forgot all this bloodshed is in your veins. For the man who faced the noose for the crime of killing his own wife, how can his son be a better version than him..."
Rowen couldn't digest Harlin's untenable remark, before Harlin could finish her words, in a fit of anger, Rowen kicked the glass center table in front of the sofa, shattering it into pieces with the kick.
With a fierce expression, Rowen's anger intensifies as she places her foot on the shattered glass pieces on the center table and shatters them further with a swift kick. The glass shatters into fragments in an instant.
In a menacing tone, Harlin walks away, her face contorted with fear. Rowen clenched his fists, looked at Harlin. Seeing her fearful face, he held back his anger. Rowen takes deep breaths in anger, then, with two fingers, he massages Harlin and says in a calm voice, "Leave."
Saying this much, Rowen looks at Harlin again with bloodshot eyes, his gaze piercing through her startled face, and adds,
"Disappear from my sight right now, Harlin. Looking at your face evokes my loathing."
Without saying a word, Harlin picks up her phone and purse from the table and walks away.
"Today you poured so much venom in me, where you know your opinion is far from the truth. Maybe, I could forgive you again, could be with you again, but not after today."