Chapter 4: A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Chapter 4: A wolf in sheep's clothing. 

I was damn sure that this person in front of me was lying as my father told me 5 years ago about how I got my scar and he also mentioned the scar on the culprit's hand. 

I had to stay calm as I couldn't let him know that I knew the whole story and planned to play along his version of the whole incident. 

" This story of yours still doesn't prove anything. Maybe you are just making things up."

He said that when I was a kid and during our last meeting we decided to share our hidden body marks so that we could confirm each other's identity on meeting again. 

I mocked him saying,"Oh really! Then tell me about my hidden secret body mark."

He again patted my head gently and brushes his fingers through my hair and replied, " You have a birthmark on your lower back that you never show to anybody."

I was startled to know that he actually knew about my birthmark. I never told anyone about it and always covered my waist as I hated that mark so much. 

Now my distrust for him was turning more into confusion. 

I was still in confusion when he continued speaking, " You have a mole on your body that you love the most. The one on your left foot."

I looked at him in surprise as he was right about my favorite mole thing. 

Although I didn't believe everything he told me, I was sure about one thing that he definitely was too close to me to know such things. 

He started driving his car again. Something about this whole story was not right. 

Was he telling the truth? Did my father lie? 

How did he know about my secret birthmark? 

There were so many things on my mind. We both stayed silent throughout our journey. 

His car stopped in front of my apartment. He opened the car door for me. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw my father standing in front of the building waiting for me. He ran towards me and hugged me, " are you fine, my heart. How scared I was when Ben told me about your injury."

"Dad! I'm fine. It's so late. Why you came here at this moment. You should have just called me."

My father looked at Mr Brent and asked me who he was. I introduced him as my research supervisor to my father," Dad!  He is Mr Brent, my supervisor for this year."

The name Brent startled my father. His worry was all over his face. My father walked towards Brent and greeted him. 

Mr Brent introduced himself saying, "Hello! Uncle, it's me Brent, your daughter's childhood sweetheart and I'm here to reunite with her."

My father's hands started shaking as if he had seen a ghost. He hid me behind him and asked Brent to stay away from me. 

At this moment one thing that I was sure about was that both of them were definitely hiding something huge from me.

My father grabbed Mr Brent's collar and warned him to stay away from me and our family. 

I was really curious about the whole thing so asked both of them to clarify the whole situation. 

My father started crying saying Mr Brent's family was the one responsible for my grandparents death and that Mr Brent himself was responsible for my memory loss. 

I looked towards Mr Brent and he looked towards the ground as if he was agreeing with what my father just said. 

"But listen to me Linda, I really love you alot…." he said these words while walking towards me. 

I asked him to stop right there and to never show up in front of me ever again. 

My father took me back to my apartment while Mr Brent was still standing there in front of the building. 

As soon as we entered my house, my father kneeled down on the floor and started crying as loud as he could. 

I had never seen my father this way in my whole life. I sat beside him on the floor and hugged him tightly. Even though I didn't know what actually happened in the past, I could still feel the pain my father was going through. 

I asked my father to openly tell me each and everything related to Mr Brent that happened in the past. 

My father started telling me the whole event saying, "The people we trust the most are mostly the people that end up hurting us."

My father told me that we were not poor to begin with. We had huge business. My grandparents and Brent's grandparents were old friends and our families were too close. They were also working as business partners. Brent was 3 years older than me and he was my only friend at that time.

We used to go to the same school as well. Everything was going well when my grandfather found out that Brent's uncle was creating slush funds and the company was in huge loss. My grandfather along with my grandma went to their house to discuss this matter but Brent's father and his uncle planned their car accident and they lost their lives. My grandfather, before dying, called my father and told him about everything but there was no evidence against them so they couldn't be penalized. 

Killing our grandparents was not enough for them. In the fire of greed, they burn our whole family. They illegally took the whole business from us and sent my father to prison for the charges of corruption and bribery.

We had to sell our house and property to pay for lawyers and court stuff and ended up losing our whole fortune. 

Finally I understood why my father wanted me to stay from Brent but still I couldn't understand why my father would hate a child for what his parents did. 

I told my father about all the things Brent told me in the car and asked him whether these were true or not. 

My father replied saying, "Linda, my love, let's not dig the past any more."

I really wanted to know the whole truth so I kept on insisting. 

My father told me that I am already suffering from major depressive disorder and anxiety so it's better for me not to remember the past and to stay away from Brent and his family.

I asked my father to let me know the whole story as after my psychiatric treatment I was in a better situation to handle my emotions.

My father told me that Brent was indeed my best friend and we both used to be e childhood sweethearts but just like his family he also betrayed me.

When my father was charged for corruption and bribery by the Brent family, my mother was looking for evidence to prove my father's innocence during which she found a box in grandpa's cupboard.

In the box there was a proof against Brent's father and uncle. We finally had some hope but somehow the Brent family came to know about the evidence.

They decided to take me as a hostage in exchange for the evidence and Brent was the one who took me out of my home to the kidnappers.

Even though we were having trouble with the Brent family, we never involved children in elders matters so we trusted Brent blindly but he just like his father and uncle stabbed us in our back.

He came to our house to play with me and asked my parents to let us go to a park. My parents used  to like Brent a lot so they let him take me to the park little did they know that it would prove to be the biggest mistake of their life.

According to my father, Brent took me to the kidnappers and they demanded evidence in exchange for me.

My parents were reluctant to give away evidence as they were the only source to prove my father innocent so they contacted police for help.

While telling me about my kidnapping scene, my father bursted into tears and said that it was the worst nightmare of their life.

The police were also involved with the Brent family and didn't help us much to find you. You were kept hungry for a whole day and they even had beaten you.

I lied to you about your scar, as it was not from falling during playing but it was a painful memory from the past that we never wanted you to remember.

I tried to run away from their grip on my own and Brent pushed me. 

I fell on the ground and ended up hitting my head against a rock.

My head was bleeding but Brent still didn't let me go and tightly held my leg.

What my father said really hurt me alot.

I really had a bad experience. 

I asked my father about the scar mark on Brent's arm.

He replied," even though you were badly hurt. You still tried your best to escape from Brent's grip and hit him with a rock."

I still didn't manage to escape as kidnappers reached there and trapped me again.

If Brent wouldn't have taken me to the kidnappers or if he didn't prevent me from escaping, my father could have used that evidence to prove his innocence.

Even though he was my childhood sweetheart and my parents trusted him even after what his family had done to us, he just like his family betrayed us in the worst possible way.

I promised my father that I would stay away from Mr. Brent.

I sent my father back and laid down on my bed with all terrible thoughts in my mind.

Ben must have known about it that's why he was asking me to stay away from Mr Brent.

I decided to quit my position as an assistant to Mr Brent.

Next morning I went to the head of  department and asked him to assign me some other position. 

The head of department rejected my request, and asked me to report in front of Mr Brent immediately.

Even though I was against it but I didn't have any say as aur assessment was totally based on this research project so I had to obey each and every command given to me.

I was hesitating about facing Mr. Brent, especially when I knew about everything but I decided not to hide and to bravely face the whole situation.

I went to his office and knocked at the door, "may I come in Mr. Brent".

Suddenly the door opened and Brent was standing in front of me as if he was waiting for me and said, "Linda, I was waiting for you. I didn't expect that you would come today".

”Mr Brent, I am here asking you to assign me some job other than being your assistant”, I asked him without looking at his face.

Mr Brent asked not to call him Mr any more as we used to be best friends. I lost my temper when he referred to himself as my friend.

He started talking about the past even when I didn't mention anything about it. He said that my father must have already told me what actually happened in the past. Brent apologized to me for lying regarding my scar mark and said that everything was just a misunderstanding.

But everything was too clear to be a misunderstanding. I told Mr Brent that I no longer want to have any relationship with him, he was nothing more than a supervisor to me and I do not want to have any personal relationship with him.

He no longer defended himself and respected my choice. He assigned me another task and removed my name from the assistant post.

I thanked him for respecting my choice and asked him that it would be better for us to keep a safe distance.