"Sorry for being so rude, but I had to take this chance at making your most esteemed acquaintance."
Laura just stared at him speechlessly. He raised his forefinger and summoned a waiter.
When the waiter arrived, the stranger grinningly ordered champagne. Laura did not know what to do about the situation at hand.
There was no champagne, so he ordered a cappuccino instead.
Laura felt annoyed, but also fascinatingly challenged.
She knew that it would seem wise to get up and leave, but what if this man was to apprehend her and lead her out at gunpoint? What if he had others waiting for her outside?
She felt half-flattered by the attention, but also half-frightened.
She looked at the stranger with more attention. Did she know him?
He was tall and handsome, with wavy dark hair and he had deep-set, hazel-brown eyes. They were really attractive upon closer inspection. Laura wondered whether she was charmed by his appearance.
She continued staring at him in amazement, because he just continued to grin at her without saying a word further.
He then started to draw deep on a long cigarette and Laura realized that she was sitting in the smokers section of the restaurant.
What if there was someone else waiting outside for her, with a gun, she wondered. Was this guy her stalker?
"And why can't I talk?" Laura asked herself.
So far the stranger was apparently at ease, because he sipped his coffee patiently while smiling dreamily at Laura.
"You're even more beautiful in person," he purred.
The waiter had not delayed in serving him. Laura also noticed at this point, that he had both hands in view.
The shopping mall outside the coffee shop was so busy that people out there would not take notice of her being followed by someone with a gun. They will not see the gun in the first place.
Laura stared at the stranger and began to rise, without having touched the extra cup of coffee which the waiter had brought her.
"In here, I might be able to deal with him, because he seems to be by himself and unarmed. At least, by the looks of it," she told herself.
She wondered if she should give the waiter a sign that she was in distress.
Meanwhile, the stranger had started to introduce himself as a film producer on the lookout for new talent. He persuaded her to sit down again and sip her coffee.
"I am also an actor and my name is Gilles Thompson," he told her.
"I feel certain that you should co-star with me in a new film, which I am currently producing," he continued in an animated tone.
The waiter returned to top up their coffee and to take their meal order from the menu which he had left on the table earlier.
Laura wondered whether she ought to give him a look of desperation, to indicate her need for rescue. She decided against this. He might misinterpret her actions.
So Laura decided to excuse herself by visiting the ladies cloakroom instead. She would take two sips of the coffee first and then go on to phone Blake and Ferdinand Marcel from the ladies room, using her cell phone.
So, she took the two sips, but then suddenly she began to feel extremely brave and smug, while her companion continued to explain about the thrills of the film industry, in comparison to the modelling industry. She prepared herself to sit out whatever else was coming and finished her coffee as well. The waiter had left without a meal order.
Laura did not notice when she finished her coffee. Everything around her began to seem unreal. The man opposite her seemed to come closer and then move away, as if he was continually zooming in and out.
The people around her were chatting, but they seemed to be in a different dimension from hers. It was all very confusing until the stranger rose to take Laura by the arm and lead her out of the coffee shop. From then onwards, everything else became a blur.
***
On that same Thursday, Jared showed up on Blake's doorstep and told him about his plans and hopes. After talking for about two hours, they decided to drive off to the farm near Bronkhortspruit, a nearby town quickly, in order to pick up Jared's belongings.
Blake left a note for Laura, asking her to go and pick up Monique at the crèche, because something came up and he could not do it himself.
The two friends drove for about thirty-five minutes before they arrived at the farm. There they discovered that Jared's uncle was out, even though Jared had called to inform him about his intention to come and fetch his clothes over the following couple of days.
"Well, perhaps he suddenly had to go somewhere," Jared decided.
Blake and Jared quickly collected a few of Jared's personal belongings and drove off again.
As they reached the gates however, they discovered that they were locked.
When they decided to find the farm-hand called Lukas, so that he can open the gates for them, they were suddenly surrounded by men who appeared as if from out of nowhere and pointed pistols at the two completely shocked men.
The strangers were wearing masks. One of them told Jared and Blake that they could not leave and that they should return to the main house.
He spoke in a firm, harsh voice. Blake and Jared could not believe what they were seeing. Was this the same farm which Jared left earlier?
***
Two days later, Jared and Blake were still in the farmhouse, locked up in one of the guest rooms without explanations from anyone.
At first, they thought the men were robbers, but then they found out that they were being held captive.
Today was Saturday and they hoped for some news concerning their immediate future. They had decent meals and were paraded off to the bathroom under watch, whenever they had a call of nature to answer.