Ash is not a careless person like the woman named Aleyah or the vengeful ghost. He works with a well-thought-out plan that is carefully and precisely designed. With his logical mind and sharp intuition, there is no way he could have missed Aleyah who had been chasing his tail.
When in the parking lot of the Crystal company building, Ash knew from the start that when he was lurking from a height there was a woman hiding in one of the cars lined up. He ignored it and eliminated the woman from his mission risk calculation. Aleyah was just a cowardly woman, she would definitely leave immediately after seeing him hurt his victim.
That was Ash's thought, but Aleyah still remained in the same place, she even dared to record the action and take pictures of his face. That's when Ash realized that Aleyah didn't happen to be in the parking lot, she was deliberately following him. Ash wanted to catch her in action that night but he didn't because he was curious, until when and how far Aleyah would chase him.
That night, he secretly smiled fondly when he saw Aleyah's feet from under the car. Ash bit his lip, Aleyah tried so hard and in his eyes, and she was so cute. He would serve this woman, Ash would play with her. Besides, he wanted to know how far Aleyah could chase him.
The same incident happened again in the bank hallway. At that time Ash had finished his work and was on his way home. Ash occasionally stopped on the road to wait for Aleyah so that the woman would not lose track of him. That night Aleyah suddenly disappeared. Ash wanted to ignore her but he was too curious so he went back along the path he had just taken. He found the woman passed out with her face facing the floor. Once again, this woman tried too hard.
As he usually did in every action. Ash called the police and said a mocking sentence, telling them to track his cell phone position and then put the object next to the unconscious Aleyah. Before leaving, Ash always took the time to cover the woman's body with her brown jacket.
Ash had always known that the bread seller was following him every Thursday night. Ash had thought about cleaning up Aleyah countless times but always gave up because of his curiosity. Ash was curious about how far Aleyah would go to chase him. He wanted to know how far Aleyah could surprise and entertain him.
So far, even the police had never been able to follow him. An ordinary person who only knew how to make delicious bread and smile widely was actually ahead of the detectives and police of this country. Ash couldn't miss this surprise.
At first it was like that, just an attitude of tolerance based on curiosity. But lately he had enjoyed it, sometimes he missed her small steps and her heavy breaths, even the smell of her perfume. But tonight it was too much. Mr. Antonio wanted her life and that was not a good thing.
In fact, he shouldn't have defended the woman, let alone helped her escape from Mr. Antonio. Honestly, he didn't know why he was helping the woman.
. . .
Morning came. The woman who had been wandering around last night woke up from her sleep. She stretched her body like a cat taking a nap. It took a long time for Aleyah to realize that she was not in her room. Her feet always touched the edge of the bed, while this one did not. This bed was too big for her, she opened her eyes but she could not see anything.
Everything was dark. "Those bad guys couldn't have taken my eyes, right?" she muttered in shock then she felt her head. That's when she realized that her eyes were tied with a cloth.
"Don't do it." someone interrupted in a low and heavy tone.
Aleyah reflexively turned to her left. She could feel the presence of someone there. She quickly untied the tie on her head but a big hand grabbed her hand. "I said don't do it."
Aleyah screamed and immediately pulled her blanket up to her chest. The image of being kidnapped by thugs filled her mind again. She had to obey anyone's orders so she didn't dare to remove the blindfold. Aleyah just kept quiet when the person made a move, she just tightened the blanket around her body while checking the completeness of her clothes.
The man glanced at Aleyah who was biting her lip to hold back her tears. He could see the cloth covering her eyes starting to get wet. He quickly buttoned up his shirt before she saw what she shouldn't have seen.
"Who are you? You better not mess with me."
The man pulled the corner of his lips. "What will you do if I cross the line?"
Aleyah was very shocked and then scared when she heard the sound of the man's footsteps. He must be approaching her and Aleyah immediately crept in the opposite direction. The man pulled Aleyah's leg and held her hand so she couldn't remove the blindfold.
"Stop fighting before I do something you can't imagine."
Aleyah's lips trembled, she was less strong than this man. Besides, she recognized this smell, but she forgot. With a slow, ragged breath, Aleyah added strength to her hand which was held by the man's hand. And then hit the man's eyes with her forehead.
Ash groaned in pain. Aleyah used that opportunity to remove the cloth wrapped around her head. For a split second she could see the man's face. But both of her eyes were immediately covered again by Ash's palms.
The man stood with both of his knees on Aleyah's stomach. He used one of his hands to hold the girl's two hands. Aleyah was now lying on her back on the mattress, both of her hands locked up and her eyes tightly covered. Despair and fear took over her.
"Aleyah, it's him, the killer, the guy who murdered me." whispered Sean. Aleyah looked back at the person above her. Ash also looked in the direction the woman was looking, there was no one on her left but the woman seemed to be talking to someone there.
"You are the one who killed them, didn't you?"
Ash laughed mockingly at the woman's question. "Stupidly, you just lost your chance to escape from me," he said.
"Why did you kill them?"
One question and Ash was speechless, he couldn't answer that, he just never thought about it before. Aleyah didn't care about her safety or Sean's warning, she just wanted to say what she wanted to say.
"Then why did you save me?"
"I.." Ash muttered as he searched for an answer to Aleyah's question. He just didn't want Aleyah to be in danger, let alone enter his world, and he realized that he can't say it to her. Now he understood why Smith hid his past from his daughters; they, these kind and beautiful women, didn't deserve to live in that dangerous world.
"Your sins will not be enough to be redeemed by anything in this world. Even if you bring prosperity to other people or even when you saved me from those thugs. That would never be enough, and what about yourself?"
Ash smiled again, typical of Aleyah, she could always find a way to worry about others. "It's such a sweet of you. Worrying about me, as you said the hideous criminals."
"I believe in karma. The universe won't let you do whatever you want, one day you will receive your punishment. You will lose someone, maybe family, a good friend or maybe someone you really care about."
"Too bad, I don't have any of those things. The universe never gave me anything, since I was born, they never gave me anything, the world was never kind to me. When I was starved to the death, do you think anyone care about a stray kid? They spat on me, hit me so many times, cursed at me, and they told me to die."
Aleyah lost her voice when she heard all that. Ash, who just realized his eyes were filled with tears, calmed himself down. "So don't ever talk about how the world works in front of me, you know nothing about hell."
"It's a revenge then," Aleyah took a pause before asking what she was curious about. She just couldn't forget about Sean and his mom. "Are you really happy after killing them? Those murders and your anger to the world, do you really not feel guilty?"
"I don't know." Ash answered shortly.
Aleyah continued her words. "Can't you just stop? Whatever you are doing right now, just stop, they don't deserve it, you don't deserve this at all."
Ash's eyes widened, for some reason he suddenly felt a hot feeling in his chest. He squeezed Aleyah's hand until she groaned in pain. "Who are you to dare stop me?"
"You're hurting me," Aleyah muttered between her tears.
Ash let go of her hand, "Listen, get out of my way if you still want to live."
Aleyah made so many speculations in her head as the man threaten her. A strangled neck, a gunshot, a knife cut or a twist in the neck. Aleyah guessed what kind of killing method the man would choose. "Please don't hurt me." It was a desperate plea.
Ash glanced at the clock, he brought his lips close to Aleyah's ear. "Close your eyes otherwise I will take it off of you."
Aleyah closed her eyes tightly. "Good, now count until 20. After that you can open them and then you have to go to the parking area. Ride your motorbike and never think of getting into trouble ever again. Understand?"
Aleyah nodded several times. Ash wanted to wipe the tears from her cheeks but he didn't. He slowly let go of Aleyah's hand and moved away from the woman's body. Aleyah also still closed her eyes tightly.
"Good girl. Now start counting," said the man then got up from the bed. He grabbed his jacket then put on a black hat. Finally he grabbed his cell phone that was ringing non-stop.
The sound of the door closing was in line with the end of Aleyah's count at twenty. Aleyah opened her eyes and adjusted the light entering her eyes. She checked her body, clothes and limbs, everything was still complete. She was fine, except for her wrist which was red and sore.
Aleyah immediately got up and ran towards the hotel room door. There was not the slightest trace of a person in the long hallway. It felt like she had just talked to a ghost. The man disappeared like ashes in the air. Leaving her in a luxury hotel room with a message.
[Go home]
Her cellphone and motorcycle keys were on the table. Aleyah followed the man's orders and then she rode home on her motorcycle. She was let go by the hotel staff, not charged because the hotel room and services had been paid for by the man. Aleyah could only accept it all in silence. Her high ego challenged her to have a debt of gratitude to the man but what could she do?
She had to admit that the man helped her escape from the two scary thugs. Aleyah took a deep breath. "I was saved from a criminal by a criminal. Could anyone mention what is wrong with me? Why are there no normal people approaching me, why is this happening to me.." she complained throughout the journey.
she complained throughout the journey.