Episode 6

Andrea stood frozen in shock for a minute trying to understand what on earth was going on and why the guy that had rudely left her apartment in the morning had come knocking on her door so late, and worse he wasn’t wearing shoes.

“What on earth are you doing out here?” Andrea furrowed totally speechless. For a second she was confused about what to do, the same man had shoved some money to her face for helping him. Andrea felt her head ached trying to figure out what to do with the man.

“Um, can…can you let me stay here again?” He requested timidly, his hair and clothes dripping, he looked like a lost puppy soaked in the rain, Andrea thought. He really looks a lot better and younger with his hair down, Andrea thought recalling how his hair had been neatly gelled to the back when they first met.

“No” She finally answered after seeing the anticipating look on his face.

“Why?” Why does he sound so gentle and timid? Andrea wondered, it was like he become a completely different person again.

“Are you asking because you don’t know, you accused me of kidnapping you when you woke up, brought your bodyguards into my home, and slam my table with some money, that was quite rude and insulting so no…I’m not helping you” Andrea said that but seeing him tremble in front of her due to cold probed her conscience and her heart ached with guilt.

“I’m sorry, I know this might sound strange but can you at least let me in first, I promise to explain everything” Andrea had become really confused at this point, how could he sound so different from when he woke up and accused him of abducting him? Either way, he was rude to her and he wouldn’t let such a thing happen again but can she really leave him out in front of the door like that? She knew she couldn’t, his shivers had become evident and he seem he would collapse any minute from the cold. ‘He just has to make me into the villain’ Andrea thought biting down on her lips as she contemplated whether or not to let him into her home again.

“Come in” She beckoned, walking into her home ahead of him. The moment Andrea walked in, he moved to the visitors' room and grab a towel for Rio to dry himself.

“Why are you here?” Rio flinched at the cold tone of her voice, he had no idea why she was suddenly cold but she could guess it had something to do with Oliver. While Rio was still trying to think of a way to approach the topic of him having a disorder, Andrea was contemplating whether she should call the police since she didn’t enjoy Rio’s presence like the first time, this time he wasn’t a visitor but an intruder, though she felt it’s a bit unfair to call him that, after all, he had let him in.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know exactly what I did when I woke up but I’m sorry” Andrea furrowed. He didn’t know what he did when he woke up. The man is weird, she decided eyes searching for her phone so that way she could call the police but her done busted open immediately with bodyguards swarming in. Rio suddenly stood defensively in front of her.

“What are you all doing here?” He gritted harshly. His tone was cold and aloof, he sounded so threatening and his vicious glare made him look even more dangerous.

“I’m sorry sir but your father asked us to bring you home” One of the many bodyguards nervously crowding Andrea’s doorway replied in an anxious tone. Why do they all look so scared of him? Their number looked even more menacing than Rio who only blocked her from them.

“Okay fine, I’ll go with you but you’ll have to leave her out of this” Andrea blinked in surprise, is he trying to protect her right now? She wondered staring at his hand stretched out in front of her to stop her from approaching forward, though Andrea was already questioning her life choices to bring the stranger into her house in the first place, seeing him stand his ground to protect her made her ‘speechless’.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that” Now, Rio was frowning and a low growl escaped his mouth before he launched himself at the bodyguards, kicking them and hitting them while protecting her at the same time.

“What the fuck!?” Andrea was shocked beyond words. “You can’t just come in here abducting people, who do you people think you are!?” She yelled out all of a sudden pausing the ongoing fight, that moment of distraction cost Rio greatly since a needle suddenly sinks into his neck, and before he turned to defend himself, his limbs grow weak and ended up falling to the ground with a thud. Andrea’s heart squeezed in her chest. “What…what did you do to him?” She quivered as she ceased her scream of alarm while staring at Rio’s limp body.

“Don’t worry ma’am, it’s only sedative, he’ll wake up in no time, I apologise if this looks rude but you’ll have to come with us as well” Andrea was shaking, who are these people? Why are they here? What did they want with her and Rio? Her hand trembled as she slowly moved back feeling intimidated by their presence but before she could take a run for it, she was grabbed by one of the men, and then she felt a tingling sensation in her neck as a sharp needle sank in. She struggled against the man for a while but she soon lost the strength in her limbs.

Andrea woke up in her feeling a strange ache in her neck, there was also a tingling sensation that reminded her of being pricked by a needle while sewing, she raised from the Sofa she seems to have been laid in and stood upright.

“Where am I?” She thought out loud taking in her new environment that of course differs from her home. She winced as her head throbbed painfully while she tried to recall what happened, eventually the memories replayed in her head like a video roll and her eyes widened in alarm.

She suddenly heard footsteps heading towards the room she was in, it doesn’t exactly seem like a room, more like an office or a study. The shelves that spread from end to end of the right wall, and the chair and desk at the end facing the door were enough to deduct the place was no ordinary office. Apart from that, the furniture and decoration of the room looked quite luxurious to belong to just anyone.

“Where on earth am I?” Andrea muttered looking around suspiciously but then the fear returned as he recalled being sedated together with Rio but she seems to be the only person in the room, where is Rio? She wondered they didn’t do anything to him right? Her heartbeat accelerated at the thought of the man dying. She recalled him telling her she was running away from his sister’s bodyguards who were trying to abduct him but the one who sedated him seemed to be from his father. “He must really come from one messed up family” Andrea concluded, she could hear the loud thumping sound of her heart the moment she heard walk steps progressing to the door of the study she was in.

Her limbs felt a bit numb so she couldn’t move so, she patiently waited for what awaited her behind the door that was soon to be opened. Her heart racing loudly in her chest, and when the door finally creaked open, she didn’t expect the heavy sigh of relief that escaped her mouth, though shock was the aftermath, because she was soon standing face to face with someone she only saw on TV, the president of Boris entertainment.

“Oh, she’s finally awake” The over 60year old man smiled warmly at her before taking slow prudent steps in her direction. Andrea’s eyes followed the old man that seem too agile for his age as he slumped himself in the opposite sofa in front of her.

“You must be Andrea Morgan, I’m Owen Harrison-

“I know who you are” Andrea finds herself cutting in curtly.

“Oh, you seem rather feisty. Well, it’ll be weird if you didn’t know me after all you are a social butterfly or something” What’s up with this old man, is being a social butterfly something to be proud of or something? Andrea wondered wearing a furrow.

“I see my son’s counterpart has taken a liking to you-

“What!?” Andrea blurted out in confusion.

“Rio seems to like you” Oh, Rio must be his son, Andrea deduced.

“We’ve only met twice-

“And he kept wanting to go back to you, again and again, it’s strange really, I heard he even protected you when I asked them to bring you back with him, actually he’s not the one to do that…and despite being sedated, he woke up as himself again demanding you from me, he even threatened me because of you, isn’t that just fascinating” Yeah that’s it, Rio came from a really messed up family, that explains the whole abduction thingy, Andrea thought as she narrowed her eyes at the man who seems to be enjoying her random change in expression. “You see…my son has a mental condition which made him-” The president paused after the door was forced open and an enraged Rio came in with bleeding knuckles while the bodyguards tried their best to stop him.

“Let her go, she had nothing to do with this…please” Rio fell to his knees, trembling after seeing Andrea’s horrified expression. “I’ll do what you want from now on, I’ll be obedient and I’ll stay in the cage if you want me to so please…don’t drag her into this. She’s just a clueless person” Andrea’s eyes widened in shock and horror. Cage?

“You put him in a cage?” Andrea snapped her head angrily in the president’s direction while he wore a triumphant smile.

“Before but now I see, he’s more human than I thought. Contrary to what you think Rio…I merely want to offer her a deal” Owen grinned delighted at Rio’s sudden change, for the first time, he saw the tenacious cold look on Rio’s face twist in anxiousness, and for a girl…this is quite interesting, he thought.

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