"Where were you, Tamim? I have been calling your phone and even the chauffeur's" her mom seemed a little agitated.
'oh shit'
"I went out with Li" Tamim said simply.
"But I called Li and she said you would soon be home in an hour but this is close to 2 hours" Jun hee, Tamim's mother said as she pauses to face her husband. "I told you that that chauffeur is nothing but trouble, what if he wanted to harm my baby girl " she added.
"If he did, she wouldn't be here would she?" Jake said, he seemed to trust the chauffeur and had disregarded every decision to fire him.
Jun hee however did not like the chauffeur as he treated her daughter normally rather than the special treatment that everyone gave her. She warned the chauffeur repeatedly but it seems it only make her daughter fond of him more. She disliked him because of that.
"Where did he take you to?...did he hurt you? Oh my poor child" Jun hee laments while ransacking Tamim's body for any slight mishap but she was disappointed.
Yes, Tamim had cuts and some pink skin from all the fighting but it wasn't in the place her mom was looking.
'Oh good lord, this woman...'
"Cho hee call Mr Kim this instance" Jun hee said more irritated than ever.
The interrogation began and Mr Kim had to deny all the allegations against him. He knew where Tamim went to but he also knew he couldn't give it out as not only him will be in soup but also his favorite boss.
"Tell me or you'll lose this Job" Jun hee pestered.
"Mom...." Tamim finally spoke up.
"We stopped by for some coffee and sundae. Mr Kim did nothing wrong he's just following my orders." Tamim said.
"Aw my baby, you should have told me earlier" Jun hee finally lets go. She hugs Tamim tightly and kisses her forehead before dismissing Mr Kim, with quick exchange of nods Mr Kim and Tamim bidded each other goodbye.
Of course, Jun hee did not like that but had to accept the fact that her daughter likes the chauffeur.
With that they all went to bed as if nothing had happened.
Tamim was upstairs in her room, doing some homework on her laptop before she went to bed. She got sleepy and closed her laptop heading to bed.
She said her night prayers and was about to close her eyes when she suddenly remembered something.
Why did her parents come back early?
Why was her mother stressed?
Something didn't feel quite right and there seemed to be some incredible tension during that argument plus her father said little as possible and tried averting her gaze. Well, she decided to nudge it off and just go to sleep.
The next morning was just as every morning, same church bell, same prayers and same dressing except today's uniform was different.
She grabs her stuff and realized she was about 20 minutes late. She had spent most of her time brainstorming about what might have gone wrong yesterday, her hunch was never wrong and sooner or later she'll figure it out but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't find any reason at all.
Anyways, when she got downstairs she didn't see her parents but she sat down for breakfast, she thought perhaps they already had their breakfast.
But as she started to dish out her food, she realized that they haven't had breakfast either, as their food was yet to be touched, they were always the first to get to the dining room.
Now something was definitely wrong.
She proceeded to ask one of their maids.
"Good morning Clara" Tamim said.
"Good morning Miss" Clara replied with a smile on her face.
"Where's mom and Dad?"
"They haven't stepped out of their room today"
"Oh, is that so?" Tamim said deeply in thoughts.
"Yes Miss" Clara replied.
"Has anyone checked on them yet?"
"Madam Patricia did, they told her that they should not be disturbed"
"Oh I see..." Tamim said, now she was convinced that something was wrong, she was lost in thoughts then she realized she hadn't dismissed Clara.
"Oh you can go Clara..." Tamim said, then Clara left to finish up some chores.
Genuinely, Tamim didn't like the fact that she had to dismiss someone before they can go but after mom punished several maids for leaving without dismissal it became an habit for all the workers.
As always she couldn't be late for school, she decided to let them be and left. She pulled up to school as always with her chauffeur.
Her bestie was by the entrance waiting for her.
"Yo what happened yesterday?" Li asked hastily.
"Stopped by for some coffee" Tamim said,
Her reply was always short and straight to the point, Li was already used to it.
"Huh huh... are you sure? It was about 2 hours after we left the karaoke before you got home" Li pestered.
"It's nothing. Class is starting soon. Did you prepare for the test?" Tamim replied and somehow disregarded the question at hand. She didn't tell Li about the defense class, she didn't feel like it because it'll raise questions on why she practiced it.
"Oh yeah, I'm gonna beat you this time" Li joked.
"That's the same pledge you say everytime before you lose" Tamim smiled abruptly.
They entered the class and started the class as usual, their third period was a free period and Li seemed to be more happy than ever over that.
"Why do you seem happy?" Tamim asked curiously.
"Free period means I can read more. Reading more means I'll be able to beat you" Li said.
"I'd like to see you try...." Tamim said with eyes on the book she was reading, it wasn't the subject she had though. She didn't feel the need to read the subject because she was quite knowledgeable in the area.
The bell was rung for the next period and the teacher comes in.
"Good morning Mrs shin hye" the whole class greeted. The school was an international school and a lot of international students attended it so English was made the official language during school hours.
"Good morning to you too. Quickly submit your notebooks and get ready for the test" Mrs shin hye said and paused for a while to look for someone.
"Tamim...?" Mrs shin hye called out.
"Yes...?" Tamim replied.
"Your attention is needed in the staff room"
She added.
"Why...? If I may ask" Tamim asked curiously.
"I don't know either but go now.."
"But the test..?"
"You'll do it later" Mrs shin hye assured.
Tamim looked at Li's face who just shrugged oblivious of whatever is going on.
Ten minutes later after Tamim left for the staff room, she comes back looking a little annoyed or perhaps worried. She started packing her stuffs as if she was going home.
"What's going on?" Li asked worried.
"I have to go..." and that was all Tamim said before she left the class while a test was going on and the teacher never raised an eyebrow.
'I wonder what's wrong, did she get in trouble for last night?' Lillian thought.