Chapter 2

Kristine sat on the jetty and took in the environment. She had taken off her head scarf so that the mild evening breeze blew through her hair. The mood was great, the scenery was perfect. The dark blue waters met the light blue sky at a farther point. The waters were a perfect match to Kristine's blue eyes and her yellow sunflower woven dress fit perfectly in the background, making her presence a beautiful work of art. She watched as the mini waves hit the shores, a number of boats riding at a distance and surfers waiting for the bigger waves. But one thing that wasn't a fit in this environment was the voice the male voice she least expected.

"Still on your bucket list of favorite places?" It was the voice of Darius her ex-boyfriend.

A little over two months back and Kristine would had been overly excited to have heard that one voice. They were lovers for a staggering four years until Darius started keeping late nights and missing dates. It went on for many months and for each missed dates or late night, he had a perfect alibi.

Common instincts told Kristine it was over, but she decided to hold on and hope for the best. She kept up the act until she decided to check-in Darius’ alibi one evening, and it turned out to be true in an unexpected way. Whatever she saw that evening wound her up so bad she now detested the one voice that could soothe her even in her most troubled state of mind.

"I was around and felt you'd be here, so I thought I should check and well, I wouldn't say to my surprise...But you're here."

Kristine did not reply, react nor flinch, even when she felt the urge to, she maintained her calm instead and continued to admire the environment.

"I see we're still on this. I'll take my leave now." He said and retreated towards the direction he came from.

Kristine held herself from uttering a word. She knew if she did, she could ruin her healing process and she wasn't going to let anyone have the honours. He was lesser than a stranger to her now. She had erased him from her life and it had to remain that way. This short encounter showed how her recovery process was going.

Not too long ago, Kristine had enrolled for a therapy session and was set on a path to recovery. Although it worked perfectly, one thing from the past still had her in the lock - her late dad's debt.

Aaron Richards was a top business man and socialite in his time. Lots of occasion had him headlined and ofcourse he lived up to expectations.

Average height, non-athletic build with a well trimmed moustache, he was a figure that brought life to every environment he stepped into.

He dealt mostly in mid grade artworks and although he had an eye for the bigger things, he was one to thread lightly.

One October, when the leaves on some trees in the park had all gone red-brown and they shed so much that it looked like someome had shook them on purpose. On this day - a day Kristine could never forget, she had gone to the park with her dad; a normal routine during the autumn season for the both of them. As a kid she loved to feel the crunch of leaves under her feet and view the brown nature-themed park, beautified by the green lake. The duo sat by the lake and dipped their feet in the water, feeling all the goodness and calm when a man walked down to them and excused Aaron.

"Aaron Richards." a voice called from behind them.

Both Kristine and her dad turned around to see a man dressed in a dark suit and shades standing behind them. Kristine looked at her dad and noticed his face had turned blue. 'maybe he has a fever' she thought to herself.

"I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." Mr. Richards said to his daughter and joined the man towards a row of trees not too far off where two other men waited.

One of the duo wore a black suit just like the one who came over and stood at a towering height, and the other, a very young man, wore a beach shirt and a pair of white pants. He had an unlit cigar and sniffed at it the whole time.

Although it was odd for Mr. Richards to leave Kristine alone as it never happened before, but she thought it was business and must be very important.

The conversation continued a long time and Kristine noticed the young man in beach shirts demonstrated aggressively towards her dad, who stood mute and sometimes took a pleading position. She couldn't place things together as she had never seen anyone act like that towards her dad.

At a point she got up and walked towards their position.

"Your daughter may have to grow without a father." she heard beach shirt speak.

Mr. Richards saw his daughter and her facial expression betrayed her. The other men turned and saw her behind them, wearing a frightened look.

Beach shirt smiled and motioned for her to come over, but she was too scared to move and looked at her dad who nodded as a sign that it was okay.

"Hello Kristine" beach shirt greeted.

Kristine was silent.

He was much younger that she thought initially. 'What could her father want from this kind of person?'

"You may not know me. My name is Octavio and I'm your dad's friend." he smiled. It was obvious he was forcing a friendly conversation which wasn't part of his plan.

She remained silent.

Octavio continued "me and daddy, we are business partners. We discuss business okay?"

Kristine nodded.

"Did you?" He asked.

Kristine looked at him expressionless still no word.

He rubbed his hands on his forehead and let out a sigh. Perharps he noticed he scared the little girl.

"Were you listening to our conversation?" He asked plainly

Kristine shook her head.

"Good. Its never good to listen to grown up conversation. Daddy ever told you so?" He asked and looked at Mr. Richards, who had a look of pain and regret on his face.

Kristine nodded.

"Good girl" he smoothened her hair "now go wait for daddy" he finished and handed her a candy which she took and walked off, not looking back or sideways until she got to her dad's van. She looked back at where the men stood and saw Octavio had resumed his confrontation with her dad.

On the way home Kristine sat in the passenger seat of the van, strapped in as Mr. Richards drove home. She was obviously lost in thought; better put, she was physically present in the van but mentally at the park replaying what she saw earlier. It was the first time she had seen anyone confront her dad as he was a man who commanded respect and people loved him. She had seen him confront a number of people, although they were bad people according to him. 'Could he be a bad person now?' she thought to her self, then she turned and looked at him.

Mr. Richards noticed his daughter's stare and pulled up by the road side. He saw the curious expression on her face and knew she needed an explanation.

"I know you have questions" Mr. Richards started "you know sometimes business goes bad, and not everyone takes such events lightly especially those who invested large sums."

"The weird man is one of such people?" She asked

"As a matter of fact, he's our biggest investor. Things went bad, real bad. And now he's very upset."

"I'm scared dad." she said as tears began to form at the base of her eyeballs.

Mr. Richards looked at his daughter and took her face in his palm, his pain was visible. He knew what could happen if things went worse and although he had a plan for every bad scenario, he still had doubts about this one.

"You don't need to be scared. Everything will be just fine." he assured her.

At supper, Kristine played with her food. She obviously lacked appetite and Mr. Richards knew exactly why, but he also knew not to talk about anymore. He would just let her rest and by morning she'll be like nothing happened.

Kristine stayed up that night. She replayed the event in her head over and over again, and tried to contrast it with her dad's assurance. But in the end, she thought the man's behaviour was more realistic than her dad's assurance, and whatever the problem, it was far from being just fine.

*

Kristine’s phone rang and she hurriedly picked it up. It was her friend Camille.

“Hey”

“You good?” Camille asked.

“Uhm yeah. Any news?” Kristine asked.

“Guess what”

“You’re getting married?”

“Maybe if you had a husband, I could have considered him an option” Camille joked. “We found it... The location.”

“Don’t mess with me. You know this is very important.”

Although Camille sounded as serious as possible, Kristine needed to be very sure she wasn't getting pranked. It was a normal routine between them, but whatever was at stake this time was too important to be used as a prank tool.

“I’m not messing honey. The best part is we got the go ahead.”

Kristine threw her hands in the air for a victory punch.

“So when do we leave?”

“Uh about that, I and the team will go ahead. I'll make the arrangements so you’ll meet us there. You’ve got four days”

"That’s no problem. I don't care if the arrangement would have me strapping myself to a plane wing"

Camille laughed over the phone and ended the call.

Kristine couldn’t contain her excitement. She screamed from the excitement and shot both hands in the air. That was a call she had been expecting for some time from her best friend Camille. And when she got home, she cared little about anything else, not even a meal nor her voicemails. She began preparations at once.