KATIE’S POV"Oh wow," I liked the look of awe I saw on Zuhra's face as she stepped into my new house. She had never worn that expression back at my old apartment. It felt nice to have something to impress her with when usually she was the impressive one."This must have cost a fortune," she exclaimed. I was about to reply when I saw an envelope trapped beneath the door. It looked like the one I had seen the other day, and I still couldn't make any sense of it.I had a feeling it would contain better information, so I softly pushed it under my couch. "Well, it did cost quite a lot," I admitted."Wait, are you working another job you didn't tell me about? You're low-key rich!" she gushed, running her hands along the beautiful wallpaper. "I always used to wish for one of these exact prints.""Two jobs?" I asked incredulously. "I can barely handle one. It was gifted to me.""Oh," Zuhra's face fell a little."What's the problem?" I asked."Oh no, it's nothing. Do I get to know who gave it
KATIE’S POV "Oh my God, is she okay?""Call 911!""No, call the ambulance.""I sure hope someone is chasing after that fucker.""Yes. The boys are up to that..."I caught snippets of conversations around me, and I wished I could make them all just shut up. This would be a perfect time to have that as a surprise superpower.I kept replaying what happened in my head like a sick, broken record. Zuhra pushed me against the wall so fast I was sure she intended to harm me. I still felt a sharp pain between my shoulder blades when I got to the edge of the wall.But that was nothing compared to what happened to her. Out of the blues, barely seconds after she hugged me, a motorbike rammed into her. I winced at the crack I kept hearing in my mind. Whatever she had broken must be really serious. I was sure to have nightmares about this accident tonight."Miss, are you okay?" someone asked, tapping me lightly on my arm. That was the only reason I even knew someone was talking to me, but I couldn
KATIE’S POVI picked up my bag, intending to rush home immediately, but then I thought, I can't just leave here without checking up on Zuhra. I walked up to the nurse at the front desk, wishing I had just asked the doctor before he left."Please, can I see the patient brought in with an ambulance? It's important."The bespectacled lady looked up at me. "I'm sorry, dear, I'm not sure you can. She was unconscious when she was brought in, and we'd like to keep her that way while we initiate the treatment. I'm sure you wouldn't want her awake to bear something that's going to be very painful."I shook my head. The last thing I wanted was to cause Zuhra any more pain than she already was in. It wouldn't be cool to wake her up to speak to her and tell her how sorry I am for putting her in this situation. "It's fine then," I said, "but when can I speak to her?"The nurse shrugged. "Well, I'm sure she'll be much better by tomorrow. She has the whole night to rest. Come by in the late morning,
KATIE’S POVMy eyes immediately fixed on Zuhra's frail body on the hospital bed as soon as I was let in through the door. I came just as the nurse instructed, and the doctor told me I could see her today. "Zuhra," I whispered, wondering if she was asleep.She stirred and lifted a hand in a wave. "Hi, Tessa."I wanted to cry. Her left leg was bandaged, and her right leg rested in a sling. I put her in this position, something I never thought possible. "I'm so sorry about all this," the words choked out of me. "You shouldn't have come in the way...""Are you serious?" Zura asked, the sass in her voice not matching her condition. "Tessa, you're two people in one body, and I was supposed to stand by and let a bike hit you? If it had, then you would have been badly injured, and even worse, you might have lost the baby. There was no way I was letting that happen."I sniffed at the words she spoke, the tone of her voice so empathic that I wondered what I did to deserve someone this kind ar
KATIE’S POV"Quite a crowd they are, aren't they?" Zuhra commented as I stepped back into the room. Her friends had left some time ago; I saw them pass by the lobby. I had stayed outside until they left, not wanting to interrupt their discussions."Yes," I agreed, "they must be a handful doing practice."Zuhra smiled lightly, tapping the side of the bed for me to sit."You knew what was at stake when you jumped before me, right?" I accused."You know, you could just stop whining about it and say thank you to me for saving your life," Zuhra sighed."I know, but there should be a line between your feelings for me and common sense. You can't ruin your show just because of me.""No, now, I wonder why I didn't think twice before stepping in front of you. What's even the point? You already hurt me, and yet I did that, and still, I'm the one at fault again. I don't understand you, Tessa."I hurt her. There, she said it. Even though she didn't want to address the issue now, I could tell she w
KATIE’S POVThe threats kept coming, even after I called Blaze to plead with him to tell them to stop. It was as though I hadn't spoken, or he didn't care that I was not in a relationship with Zuhra. Maybe he just wanted to punish me; this was his plan.Well, at least no one has shown up at my doorstep to threaten me. But I could feel it coming, so I couldn't relax.Over the week, the threats became more threatening. I couldn't get over the picture sent with the letter two days ago. It was a picture of me, but the person had used some object to mar the surface. Jagged lines scraped from my eyelids to my chin, busted lips illustrated by red paint... it was like some child who hated me decided to demonstrate how he'd like me to look. And yet, it filled me with chills. The suspense was killing me. Threats and threats, and nothing had happened yet. It seemed like the person was giving me sufficient warning, and I didn't know how to stop it.I wished Blaze just listened to me and called o
AUTHOR’S POVBlaze scrolled down to the bottom of the page, his eyes scanning the document once more like he had done five times already. He grunted in annoyance. If he couldn't even focus at home, then why had he brought the work home? He had just gotten tired of the work environment, so he asked his manager to send him the file. He'd work on it at home.As it turned out, that was a bad idea. His mind kept drifting midway through the file, drifting to none other than Katie.She was so far away from him, making her way to Raleigh alone. Of course, there was that Zuhra girlfriend of hers. That still made him smile when he remembered the look of shock on her face when he asked Katie's real name.At least she had a friend to care for her during the time it took him to realise she was innocent. And if there was anything romantic between them, even better. He wondered how strong they were, though.He thought back to the call yesterday, and his brows furrowed in confusion. He was even surpr
KATIE’S POVI sighed, leaning my head back on the headrest of the chair. What wouldn't I give to disappear right now?The only thing worse than the person giving me a request to leave Raleigh was telling Zuhra all that had been going on. She'd think it was all happening because of her, and I didn't want her to feel wrong about anything.Maybe it would be best if I left. Then I'd be safe, and so would she since it was because of me she was mistakenly targeted. But still, two days?I had things to do here. A job filled with lovable people, a house given by my nemesis, but a house either way..."You know I'm waiting for an explanation, right? Seriously, a dead rat?" Zuhra asked, gesturing to the way the nurse had gone out through.The pungent odor had cleared up, but I still felt like it was here. When I get home, I'd have to wash the smell off my nose."It's complicated... I don't want you to worry...""Stop that, Tessa. I'm your friend; I have to worry about you. Even when you're safe,