Gust of white smoke flown in the air as he lit his cigarette, leaning on the balcony in that crack of dawn. Winds blew swiftly, ruffling his long hair sliding down to his left cheek, an old bruise peeking through the undercut on the other side rod his head, an inch long horizontal cut from his temple to the top of his ear.
The balcony he stood, resided a potted plant of a purple flower whose enchanting color could please one’s mind and the fragrance pricked his nose even after he was smoking. He loved this fragrance. Every time he came there in distress, he remembered all those last memories of him, everything which he should forget. But those memories strengthen him to stand his ground and became what he was now. His bare body bent down the fence, his well built back spread across the railing and his elbows standing in the steel bar. He hovered his eHope you guys like this chapter. Leave your thoughts on how you like the new version of Ryan. He had changed a lot and you'll see a lots of mysteries unfolding. 😉 Have a nice day~
They departed for the mansion Jim referred to, the mansion where he once lived and from where he once escaped. The mansion was in a suburban area, right in the middle of the forest in Clabar town. The first owner made it to hide in the woods as they most of the times hid there or spent their exclusive life from the humankind.Ryan spoke nothing as Jim drove him through that deserted road surrounding the forest trees, shading the sunlight from coming to them. The forest lit dimly from the light coming through the thick shawl of leaves.“It’s been a long since you went there, right? Uncle told me you won’t ever agree to come. Guess he knew it right. You almost threw the mug at me.” He whimpered, driving through the straight road with no turns for over a mile according to the GPS. He knew the place as he too once lived there, but it was long before and the roads must have changed that he couldn’t see any familiar places there.
“Did he come?” an icy voice asked behind a high armchair, facing backward while a day in a black officer skirt and blazers stood upright, as if she came from a military family.“He did, sir.” She said, her voice so melodramatic that it sounded like a sarcasm.“Was it really him?” asked the male voice behind the chair. He sounded like a worn out crow, barely managing to say those words. Clearly, he was nervous. Nervous to know if the person she met was really someone he expected.“Sir. As far as I know. You asked me to search for him. And he was not near the one you described,” she said, eyeing at his boss, who turned a bit, but his face was not clear to see his expression. Her hands occupied a thick file, half opened to a page where a detailed bio data was written about someone named Ryan Welsh, which missed the crucial part of the details, his photo.
“Where is it?” asked an ash blonde guy, his long hair waving along every step he made on the pathway. Another guy walking beside him, bearing a serious look on his face who seemed to lose the track of his way. His confused face said he didn’t know which way they should go.“Almost here,” Jim said, fluttering his fingers on his mobile to see where he should take him.Impatient at his secretary’s worthless brain, which doesn’t seem to work at crucial times. Ryan was getting late for his interview at the radio station, yet they were walking around the building hopelessly to find the main entrance, which apparently existed behind them. Neither of them noticed the entrance and the swarm of peoples getting inside as they turned their back that way.Another important thing that Ryan didn’t notice was the car beside them, feet away. Inside was the very person he wished to meet alone. Ms. Stephanie had not con
His heart raised as if it wants to come out of his mouth and be free. He tried to calm himself down, yet he felt uneasy about his core to the point he can’t even control his breathing. Tears were trying to blind him when he noticed the silhouette outside his window glass.A woman yelled outside, slamming her fist on the bulletproof glass. His head ached from the banging, but the voice seemed someone familiar. He rubbed his eyes to see clearly who she was, while he had almost crashed. His heart sank to see Stephanie. And from the yell he could hear, her boss was in the car and what could’ve happened if two cars crashed, they might be dead and she claimed compensation for it.Ryan couldn’t think of anything. His head glided side to side to think of a way to slide out of this situation. His head exploded at the shriek of yells when he suddenly clutched the gear to turn back and drove at once again, leaving her yelling on the empty road.
Sunrays bathed the entire room as numbers of books trampled on the floor with loud noises. Several books and dozens of papers scattered from the files, which Jim couldn’t understand where to stick those papers back to. He just stuffed them abruptly in those files randomly and put them back from where they dropped.The brightly lit room covered a series of bookshelf, the owner of this study room must be a bookaholic, he could say from the sea of books. The long window in between two large shelves with a wooden cabinet at the bottom illuminated the room with the sunshine coming through. Curtains hanging there greeted with their melancholic waves with the morning breeze.Jim came to Jordan’s house. His last resort, who could tell him about Ryan’s past or perhaps he could even recognize this guy who wrote this letter. But Jordan was busy at the moment and asked him to wait in his study room. His curiosit
Amy sighed, her knees kissing the ground in front of a vending machine. Her sulking face told, she missed her breakfast as her grumbling stomach confirmed it. She barely came to her work today after a handful of argument she had with her mother in the early morning before she came here.The place she crouched was quiet as she. She had come way too early. Her normal routine was coming there ten minutes earlier than her work started. Good news was, her this new job was far from her home and she had to stay there long until six in the evening. Her gleaming reflection on the glass of the vending machine looked over at the can of juices which whirled inside the machine, making her notice the sound and follow throughout the machine.The ivory blouse wrinkled around her collar, which she straightened as the can of cold coffee with following a bag of plain salty potato chips slid out of the machine.Her eyes fixed
A long shadow covered her crouching figure before the vending machine. Amy lost in thought, still clutching the drink and the pack of snack she bought from the machine. The shadow galloped her entire slouching body when she realized the dark thing and turned to see a guy who bent over to look after her.“All fine, Amy?” The guy in a peach shirt smiled at her. His square face gleamed through the daylight coming behind him as his high-bridged nose of his stuck out to be noticed.“Yep!” Amy yelled suddenly, making him jolt at her reaction. She fell behind, bumping her butt against the hard surface as her face turned peach red, similar to that guy’s shirt. The guy reached out for her hand, stretching his palm to her with a wide smile on his face. Amy felt her stomach lurching, but not because of anxiety but for the flutter of her heart, which seemed to throw all her blood into her stomach.
The rushes of footsteps filled the corridor of the ground floor as it was about time for the office workers to arrive. People rushed through the elevator, a long queue in front of it while another lift was free from them. The empty space made it look like the elevator didn’t even exist while Mrs. Lavenda took Ryan to that empty elevator and closed the door. Now he knew why this one was not crowded. No normal employee would dare ride on the elevator, specially designated for executives.“Will I know why you called me here?” Ryan asked briskly, leaning onto the opposite wall, one hand on a railing near his waist while the other one in his pocket. The lady took no concern for his question and tapped the buttons on the right to close the door and tapped the Britton for the seventeenth floor. Ryan noticed it. He also noticed a small screen showing five human figures, four in red and another in black. It was the capa
“We apologize for what happened. Stan Welsh, reportedly, was sighted in the other area and we fastened security there, but never thought it could be a trap.” Said a bulky police officer in his tidy uniform. Owen and Jim stood on either side of him, listening to him carefully. Jim furrowed his eyebrows to hear him being a murderer. “Stan was on run for several months from the mental facility. At first they hushed up the case, but later they admitted their negligence and were punished for that. He had been hiding with one of his friend whom he later killed by stabbing with a sharp piece of glass. And he dumped his body in the river after it decomposed. Neighbors complained about smell, but he scared them off.” The officer sighed to see Jim’s widened eyes, while Owen looked miserable. Jim saw Amy behind the officer, running towards them when the officer asked for his leave. He nodded, and Amy joined them. “How is he?” “Doctor said. He’s fine. Just lost too much blood and when we found
His doorbell rang as he combed his silvery hairs down to his temples. Looking excited, the person he expected all day had come and on time. The sky illuminated the dusky glow with the setting sun. His heart thumped. It was like a dream. He slapped his cheeks to get out of it, but was glad to see it was real.Ryan walked confidently to the door. This time was different. They had no feud, no disagreement, and they were just going to reconcile officially with whatever dispute they had before. The memory lane of the day he confessed came down to him. The face, he remembered, the stone face insulting his feelings. But it was a long ago.He should not dwell on that painful past and accept this present like a god sent gift. His steps staggered near the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door, his face delighted to think he was meeting him.But the moment he opened the door, his eyes found a strange man peeking at him, a man in his forties, a face
Chapter 61: Linda’s last favorThe hall filled with gloomy conspiracies of how Natalie must have killed her husband and attempted to kill his son too, just for his wealth, and stepped back from her any chance they got. Natalie glared around those people gossiping and found her daughter in a stunning white dress in the crowd, glaring at her. She never saw this kind of look on her face. It was disgust, a pure disgust that Natalie had never received from anyone.The stage was hectic, and a pair of wide hands grabbed Ryan’s neck firmly. He staggered behind. His windpipe tightened, and he felt no air inside him. These hands belonged to Lavenda, who was out of her mind, he guessed. Her blood-red eyes darting him and cursing at her top voice, he heard not much. People from beside them pulled her off when, a minute later, he found his neck released. The sudden gust of air slammed into his lungs. He felt his life coming back slowly.Jim was behind him, holdin
Chapter 60: The eventRyan looked up at the enormous chandelier hung from the white ceiling, sparkling the whole place with its mesmerizing shine. It covered the entire ceiling of the great hall of the banquet palace they hired for this event. He himself dressed up like a prince in his all white three-piece suit, a glimmering wrist watch, his grandfather gave him two days ago.His grandfather called him a day before yesterday evening suddenly to his mansion. Although not quite satisfied with this family, Ryan reconciled with him and decided to throw this event on his grandfather’s eighty-fifth birthday. He was more than delighted to hear his arrangements and Lavenda too, threw a family get together for her father but on Ryan’s request they turned it into a big event.He looked at his square golden watch. Mr. Dayholt specially ordered it from France to gift him. It was around eight o’clock and the hall was filling with their expected guests. He
Jim lunged at his feet, startling her, and he mistakenly stepped on her feet and was about to scream in shock, but Amy slapped her palm on his lips, forced to mute him. Her strength made him stagger, and his back stamped on the wall behind.Amanda, on top of him, glared at him to stay quiet. Her feet must have hurt a lot. He saw her watery eyes. The torch rolled down the ground; it lit the entire floor.The lady outside quieted down and her heels slapped against the floor further away. Amanda sighed with relief, still cupping his mouth in her palm. Jim tried to speak to tell her about the uncomfortable position they were in. His chest pressed against hers, his ears burning. He felt his torso tensing up, and wanted to push her off, but he can’t thrust her off with a person lingering outside.“Shhhhh…” she flapped her finger on her lips, “I think it’s Stephanie. She must have stayed late,” she wh
A faint caramel aroma spread through the table where Amanda sat alone. People around her gossiped on their table in their own world, trying out the delicious desserts they ordered. The walls on her side had peculiar looking arts hanging through the entire wall.Maybe art lovers will see the beauty in it, but Amy only saw some unusual blocks and colors mixed together. The owner must be a well off art lover to afford these art pieces, she reckoned when a gentle young boy, around in his teen, walked in with a tray full of desserts and served the ones she ordered.He looked as delicious as those desserts, but she had to refrain her hungry heart from doing some terrible act of flirting with a teenager. The boy left for another table and she addressed the desserts. The mouthwatering fragrance choked her. Now she understood why this place was so popular on the internet. It was far from where she worked now but a safer place in case someone eavesdrop at the
Chapter 57: New CEOA newspaper hung low over the table, stating business news over the country, and the biggest headline was about them. Natalie crushed the newspaper with her bare palm. She wished the news would crush like that, too. She breathed heavily over the paper, glaring at the headline which said, “Owen, still missing. His family does not know. Are they really his family or are they after his wealth, after all?”She finally threw the paper aside with a nasty loud grumble, stamping her fist on the polished wooden table. Pens rattled on there but the other busybody did not even flinch. Over the table, another person sat quiet. His fingers playing with his mobile, a stack of papers left untouched right beside his head.“That son of a…” Mrs. Davenport cursed in air, her eyes hovering around to find any chance to yell at something or someone. There was only her son, David, busy in his mobile, with no attention to what’s
Chapter 56: Livin’ bar“WHAT!” Bellowed Jim. His influential voice resonated through the walls and forced its entrance into Ryan’s ear, which he pressed shut, expecting this reaction. Jim gasped at the news he just received and took the seat beside him on the armchair. Eyes widened to the size of a ping-pong ball, Jim gawked at him for more information. Yet Ryan reluctantly waited for his excitement to subdue.The room filled in silence for an entire minute when Jim broke it. “What that cracked nut came here for!”“What nut?” Ryan asked. The words he said sounded foreign to him. He rested himself on the armchair beside Jim.“Cracked nut not walnut,” Jim corrected him, thinking how could he hear cracked nut, a walnut. But the topic was what Owen was doing here. Of all places, how could he know his residence and what about the confidentiality procedure they applied? It was nonsense to think of him
Chapter 55: In the family album“Onto our next hot topic. The Davenports found a traitor in themselves. The cars they were supposed to use in their new big project of racing course next city, they used for extra profit. And according to sources, the CEO of Dayholt, who still kept us in the dark, not revealing his identity, had no knowledge of this scam he received. Mr. Owen Davenport made no statement regarding this issue, yet this morning, sources said he went missing. His secretary, Ms. Stephanie, went to say her last goodbye to him at his apartment and she found no one while he should at least be hiding in his room.” Said a blonde Latina woman flaunting her wide chest and smiling vaguely, as if trying to seduce her audiences. She somehow reminded him of Linda, same gesture, same voice tone she used while she talked about how much she like him.Thinking of her, he realized how long it was that she stopped contacting him. She was like a bugging insect, pes